Resolved: Indie Rock & 70s Prog Rock

[AboutAGirl]

Wherever it came from, Indie rock is a great genre. But if you ask me, indie rock tends to disingenuously align itself with punk rock while having virtually nothing to do with the genre. Granted, some indie rock bands have certain connections to punk rock. And indie rock maintains close ties to punk because they share a DIY network which allows them to exist outside of the proper mainstream, but to be fair, heavy metal shares that same network.

Musically, indie rock is vastly more closely connected to 70s prog rock than to any punk bands I've ever heard. I mean, Christ, listen to anything Pink Floyd recorded before the late 70s. Indie rock features complex instrumentations, cascading stream-of-conscoiusness lyrics, overt experimentation, ambient passages and heavy use of vocal harmonies.

Personally, I wouldn't even say that indie rock represents a mixing of punk rock and prog rock. There were definetly some punk ideologies in the early days when indie rock was evolving out of the harder edged alternative rock, but as time has passed this link has become basically non-existant.

Indie fans today don't even seem to listen to very much punk rock anymore. On the indie board I go to, threads for punk bands get zero replies, unless you're talking about The Pistols, Clash, Andrew WK or Henry Rollins. Even The Misfits get no love.

But don't let me convince you. A few minutes of music should be enough to prove my point beyond a reasonable doubt.

PUNK ROCK =



PROG ROCK =



INDIE ROCK =



Let's do that again...

PUNK ROCK =



PROG ROCK =



INDIE ROCK =



Does hightea post here? Pretty sure he shares these views.

So, do you agree? Disagree? Maybe I'm wrong to think that there's an implied link between the two genres in the first place. But in any case, I NEVEr hear any indie people talk about prog, but I'd say the connection to 70s prog is actually at least as strong as the connection to Alternative Rock.

 

[LG]

You make a fine point AAG, and yes AK does post here when he has time. I am already in the camp that really doesn't see the Indie/Alternative label as anything but a name to separate them from older bands, for almost every new band in those genres, you could find Similar bands from the old days if you looked hard enough. That is not taking anything away from these new artists or their fans, the fact they persevere and record without major labels is worthy of respect, but that is nothing new either, many bands have been doing that for decades before the Indie movement was born.

 

[Foxhound]

... indie rock tends to disingenuously align itself with punk rock while having virtually nothing to do with the genre. Granted, some indie rock bands have certain connections to punk rock. And indie rock maintains close ties to punk because they share a DIY network which allows them to exist outside of the proper mainstream, but to be fair, heavy metal shares that same network.

Musically, indie rock is vastly more closely connected to 70s prog rock than to any punk bands I've ever heard. I mean, Christ, listen to anything Pink Floyd recorded before the late 70s. Indie rock features complex instrumentations, cascading stream-of-conscoiusness lyrics, overt experimentation, ambient passages and heavy use of vocal harmonies.

Personally, I wouldn't even say that indie rock represents a mixing of punk rock and prog rock. There were definetly some punk ideologies in the early days when indie rock was evolving out of the harder edged alternative rock, but as time has passed this link has become basically non-existant.

I agree. I don't think most indie rock is anything like the punk rock of the seventies - for two reasons:

1. The punk rockers of the seventies were seeking to return rock to the two and a half minute singles of the mid sixties. They thus strove to keep it simple. This is in stark contrast to both the art rock of the seventies and much of today's indie rock.

2. My sense is that the indie rockers take their music very seriously. Well the punk rockers of the seventies certainly didn't take either their music or even themselves seriously. They would kill themselves giggling over the concept of themselves as "artists". 'Yeah, yeah, I'm autistic fer sure! Giggle!"

 

[Aktivator]

yeap I post here and agree to a point and heck I'm may even give myself so credit for inspiring so of the local bands out of NYC in the early to mid 2000's in going in that direction. In the early 2000's I helped some friends with a party that had local up and coming bands play. These led to late nites usually spent talking to members of some of these bands. I always tried to throw in the prog recommendations to some of the musicians. While I don't think I influnced them that much some bands did start listening to 70's prog.
okay maybe not.

I think the problem in mentioning 70's prog to indie bands is they shy away from comparisions and the prog influence is more thru bands that formed in the early 80's(talking heads) and early 90's(shoegazer bands, Neutral Milk Hotel and space bands like spaceman 3) that had prog influences along with one main component Brian Eno. Somehow Brian Eno has been accepted in the indie world while 70's prog is not. Roxy Music in my eyes is a prog band along with Brian Eno's solo albums. Just look at the musicians on those albums most came or played with prog bands. Also the VU connection and glam genres also are part of this scene. It's why I argue today that Punk(at least the more artsy punk) mixed with prog ending up as New Wave. It's funny how the media hides from this fact along with most modern bands. Tell a modern band that Brian Eno is prog and they will say no he wasn't.

 

[Zombeels]

Indie rock is not a genre

 

[AboutAGirl]

Indie rock is not a genre

Oooooh yes it is. "Independant music/rock" has a broader applicable definition, but that doesn't change the unadulterable fact that "indie rock" also refers to a specific style of music. Same as "heavy metal" being a term both for all metal and for a specific type of metal.

I really don't get why anyone on Planet Earth still pretends Indie isn't a genre. I mean, sure, indie rock is broad, there's diversity in the genre. But hip hop, country, metal, folk, every genre is broad. Indie is no more broad than any other genre, that's for damn sure. It's more a style of rock than a full autonomous genre.

Indie rock has a particular sound. When you hear an indie song come on the radio, you can tell within seconds that it is an indie rock song. Indie rock is music of a quirky, geek-aesthetic, tender or intentionally esoteric nature which almost unanimously features soft to mid-level, serene atmospheric instrumentations and higher-register singing (if singing is present), and also commonly features a hip/modern stylistic perspective, a focus on mood and elongated instrumentations, common influences from alt-rock and new wave, as well as emotional & poetic, impressionistic lyrics frequently focusing on the splendor of human interaction or an idyllic vision of youth. This is the standard for indie rock from NMH & The Microphones to Animal Collective, Arcade Fire, you name it. The basic, widely adopted formula for indie rock then branches out into other forms of music such as electronica, indie rap, post-rock, and noise.

Call it whatever you want, and I'll agree with you about it. But certainly you must agree with me that this specific style of music I described exists, whatever it's called, and it is currently gaining mainstream popularity and has been the prefered style of music on college campuses for years.

 

[Aktivator]

haha so I write this post today and then tonight I see a warmup act of 15 year old girls(supercute) covering Pink Floyd's Pigs

 

[AboutAGirl]

That's freakin' awesome. I'm off to youtube to find this.