When did 'indie' become a genre

[deano_l]

So I was having a cuppa and reading an old GT this morning, and there was an article about Kasabian, who were described as a classi "indie" band.

I remember the term "indie" coming in in the 90's and meant that a band - regardless of genre - was signed to an "independant" record label, rather than one of the large corporate ones such as Sony etc.

Now it seems to describe a genre, a sort of modern pop/rock band.

I like blues, country and "classic" rock, and have never knowingly listened to Kasabian. I have listened to Oasis who were also described as "indie" in the article. I'm not keen on Oasis - to "Beatles'ey for my tastes".

What would be the hallmarks of the "indie" genre (blues has the pentatonic clases, the 8, 12, 16- bar repeating chords, etc).

And when did "indie" become a genre of music rather than an indicator of a bands record label?

I have nothing against "indie" bands, or Kasabian by the way, I'm just an old-fogey trying to understand the modern world!

[Not_the_DJ]

I take it to be skinny white guys playing guitars.

[zenzeypher]

............wearing cardigans.


that's a thing now...cardigans.

[RocknRollDave]

When The Chart Show arrived on the scene with its Indie Chart, IMO.

[stickyfiddle]

When The Chart Show arrived on the scene with its Indie Chart, IMO.

Nah, that was actually the chart of bands on indie labels.

Indie became an all-encompassing term to mean "telecasters+skinny 20-somethings+no imagination" just after Britpop died.

[jonnyburgo]

It Sprang from Punk, DIY ethos, little labels releasing albums that didnt sell very well, students liked it, pale young boys making maudlin bedsit music and jangly pop. In the 80s it wasnt unusual to get battered in a pub for dressing like an "indie" fan where I come from.

Then after the "MAdchester" explosion indie became more mainstream and seeped into the "LAD" culture of the mid 90s became a big money spinner and the guys who took the piss out of me 5 years earlier were now professing lifelong allegiance to bands that were once for "queers and weirdos" As usual something different and imaginative was appropriated and diluted for mass consumption.

The original indie labels died or were swallowed up by the majors, there arent really any "indie" bands now.

The major irony that people seemed to miss out on is that the "Rage against the Machine for Xmas number one" campaign was actually a shambles as RATM are owned by Sony, still i guess it was a bit of fun and made a change from the usual shit but it was very removed from being a rebellious act.

[RG550DY]

When The Chart Show arrived on the scene with its Indie Chart, IMO.

I'm pretty open minded when it comes to music (now) but one sure way to put me on the back foot is to call something indie. I actually think it has something to do with The Chart Show indie charts (well, partly any way). In my teens I would wait patiently for the rock chart then the indie one would come up instead (they alternated if I remember correctly) and I'd have to listen to The Sugar Cubes or some such drivel (speaking how I felt at the time) when I wanted to see Skid Row or whatever it was I was listening to at the time.
To this day the word indie gives me horrid feelings!!! Don't get me wrong, it doesn't mean I wont like an indie band but if they sound anything like The Smiths (which almost every single band I saw in my youth going to gigs around Wales did) there's not a hope in hell. That type of sound actually gives me physical symptoms e.g cold chill down my back.
To all indie / The Smiths fans, I mean no offence. I once mentioned to someone that I wasn't to keen on ABBA and he reacted like I verbally abused his mother due to them being her favorite band!

[zenzeypher]

Surely any self funded band is indie?

[monquixote]

I don't think you could put a marker on it of a definitive year.

It's just the kind of music that would be signed to an independent label in the late 80's early 90's.

When those bands started to get signed to majors they started calling it Britpop then when that term wasn't cool anymore they went back to indie even though it was meaningless because there are virtually no indies.

[erictheweary]

Yep, there was an independent chart by the end of the 70's at least.

Googles

Tum te tum te tum.

1980 - in Record Week then Sounds.

[long explanation of why I don't like modern Indie deleted]