ArtsEtc.

Commercially sound: ‘indie’

Despite what anyone claims about it being an amorphous industry title, indie music was a genre. No, really, it was.

While this musical grab bag of thrift-store production and creative license on a schizophrenic mixture of tranquilizers and cocaine seems to be viewed as a “fill-in-the-blank” genre today, the fact of the matter is that “indie” had a meaning without the rebellious frill of its “independent” proclamation.

In fact, it had a whole lot less significance. In the grand scheme of musical movements, it was pretty lame. Especially for the U.K.

In the early ’80s, England was done dreaming, but no one in America seemed to care. After taking punk to its natural end, Johnny Rotten reclaimed his Lyndon heritage, started proclaiming his love for Reggae and showed up on Top of the Pops butchering classical music with a bizarre little song called “Death Disco.” From there and everywhere else came post-punk. There’s no need to rehash the history, as Rip It Up and Start Again does it far better than I could and I would only end up drawing the ire of more informed indie devotees who treat it as the only Bible they know of.

However, while punk’s collapsing core seemed to provide the red giant of post-punk, NME — sort of like Rolling Stone for the U.K., except filled with complete and utter gossipy bullshit — decided to ride the soon-to-be supernova’s shockwave.

So they released a cassette in conjunction with indie powerhouse label Rough Trade called “C81.” It is stuff of legend: It fostered underground cassette trading, showed the vibrancy of the little guy and the diversity of the U.K. post-punk scene. Five years later … not so much.

“C86” was released in order to “encapsulate a scene” as I’ve seen nearly every site summarize.

If that’s the case, then I can only assume the U.K. music scene in 1986 was comprised of artists who, in the midst of trying to build upon post-punk experimentations, suffered a series of massive strokes but decided to continue playing. Included among this abysmal collection of post-punk nadir are bands who loosely strum only two chords for two minutes (and barely in time), whispered female vocals punctuated by minimalist cutesy tones and attempts at jazz or… something else by groups with names like “We’ve Got a Fuzzbox and We’re Gonna Use It.”

The fact that anyone would find this music appealing, let alone groundbreaking, seems almost painful. And yet, others took the sound and built upon it. Some of the cutesier, softer forms became popular thanks to Belle and Sebastian. Americans came to emulate the rickety, slapdash guitar and lack of vocal integrity as bands like Pavement strived to make loose band chemistry and volatility somehow endearing.

While the U.K. was fooling around, America’s independent musical movement fostered juggernauts such as Dinosaur Jr., Sonic Youth and Pixies that formed the basis for the alternative genre. And we all know where that went: grunge, Lollapalooza and oblivion. But the brief success made it clear to the record industry that music that might not follow any standard melody or structure could become mildly successful.

Meanwhile, indie was sprawling out into different territory. Indie began to revert back to “independent” and fit a range of different sounds. You could make indie pop, indie rock, indie rap, indie jazz, and it would all fit under the same general umbrella because its labels fall out of the mainstream and the bands “sounded different.”

But don’t kid yourself — indie is still a definite genre. At least as far as the mainstream is concerned.

You’ve heard that Apple commercial, haven’t you? You know, the one with the guy/girl/backbeat that sounds a bit off and is pretty annoying but somehow you find yourself downloading it because it’s seeped into cracks of your mind? Yael Naim, CSS and all those half-assed artists? How about back in the day when BMW used to do it with cleaner, well-produced independent artists? Or countless movie trailers?

That’s the true indie. Sure, independent labels foster creativity and exciting variations on older sounds, but they also foster pointless noise created by kids with no talent. And with the mainstream media treating it like the commercial minor leagues for the purpose of filler, the crap actually rises to the top first.

Of course, not all indie is abysmal. While groups of indie glory such as Modest Mouse and Interpol could hardly be seen as pop sensations, their abrasive vocals and non-traditional song structure have just enough appeal and lyrical quality to redeem the music for some.

But not the genre. If what we call “indie” is going to be part of the new musical revolution, then the actual DIY mantra needs to be infused with some drive. The battles of upcoming indie bands need to be no longer based on commercial concerns but instead based on a system more conducive to the marketplace of ideas.

Jason Smathers (jsmathers@badgerherald.com) is a senior majoring in history and journalism.