13. History of Indie Rock

History Of Indie Rock
Independent music (indie music) was firstly used as a term to describe artists being independent from major record labels.
These artists are autonomous and self made,they did everythiong from recording to publishing by themselves.In other words, these groups were not interesting in gaining help from big industry labels. However now it is seen as a genre with artists that differ from generic pop sounds and style.


After researching i found it hard to find out when indie rock really did first begin, most sources said between the 1960s and early 1980s. I did find that the band 'The Velvet Underground' did inspire indie music, they were the first to record their music independently. However they were pretty unsuccessful and sold few records.


The 1970s is an era in which more experimental music has origainated. A handful of bands tried to be diverse and create new, fresh sounding music. One form of music that emerged here was 'Progressive Rock', sounding considerably different to that of 'The Beatles'. It is thought that this was the base of the electronic instumental era that erupted in the 1990s. Music bands like Sire records became popular, followed by a 'new wave' form of msuic being created.

In the 1980's Indie music exploded. This period allowed for a new form of music called 'alternative music' to immerge, it was a sound created out of a distortion of garage bands.


However in the 1990's Indie music changed completely. Although the music was more popular and filled a gap in the industry, it was being commercialized. Artist became tied with major record lables rather than creating their success off their own backs. This upset alot of the orignal indie music fans, but this sounds like it went unnoticed due to the growth of the genre.


Overall i found that the Indie Music industry has changed completely over time.It started of as being more of a protest agains major record labels and generity & couldnt really be labelled a 'genre'. However to the disapointment of the original fans the meaning changed.Artists joined the labels that they were once completely against. Nowadays i think that Indie music can be called a genre, it fills a gap in the market and juxtaposes the sounds of pop.

    (The Velvet Underground)