Editing Indie rock (section)

==Characteristics==
The term indie rock, which comes from "independent", describes the small and relatively low-budget [[independent record label|label]]s on which it is released and the [[DIY ethic|do-it-yourself]] attitude of the bands and artists involved. Although distribution deals are often struck with major corporate companies, these labels and the bands they host have attempted to retain their autonomy, leaving them free to explore sounds, emotions and subjects of limited appeal to large, mainstream audiences.<ref name="AllMusicIndie">{{Citation |title=Indie rock |url=https://www.allmusic.com/explore/style/d2687 |journal=AllMusic  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110105070517/http://www.allmusic.com/explore/style/d2687 |archive-date=5 January 2011 |url-status=dead}}.</ref> The influences and styles of the artists have been extremely diverse, including [[punk rock|punk]], [[psychedelic rock|psychedelia]], [[post-punk]] and [[country music|country]].<ref name="BrownandVolgsten2006p.194">{{cite book|first1=Steven|last1=Brown|first2=Ulrik|last2=Volgsten|title=Music and Manipulation: on the Social Uses and Social Control of Music|publisher=[[Berghahn Books]]|location=New York City|date=2006|isbn=1-84545-098-1|page=194}}</ref>

The [[lo-fi]], experimental and art rock sound of [[the Velvet Underground]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kot |first=Greg |authorlink=Greg Kot|title=The Velvet Underground: As influential as The Beatles? |url=https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20131125-do-the-velvets-beat-the-beatles |date=21 October 2014|access-date=19 November 2023 |website=[[BBC]]|language=en}}</ref> as well as late 1970s [[Punk rock|punk]] and [[post-punk]] bands such as [[The Fall (band)|the Fall]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-01-26 |title=The Ugly Truths of Loving the Fall's Mark E. Smith |url=https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/the-ugly-truths-of-loving-the-falls-mark-e-smith/ |access-date=2023-11-19 |website=Pitchfork}}</ref> [[Buzzcocks]], [[Wire (band)|Wire]], [[Television (band)|Television]] and [[Joy Division]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Did Joy Division Create Indie Rock? {{!}} Ben Vaughn |url=https://www.benvaughn.com/did-joy-division-create-indie-rock/ |access-date=2023-11-19 |website=www.benvaughn.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-09-14 |title=Joy Division: The Pioneers Of Indie Rock – CloudKickerMusic |url=https://cloudkickermusic.com/joy-division-the-pioneers-of-indie-rock/ |access-date=2023-11-19}}</ref> would be influential to the genre.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Hart |first=Ron |date=2018-06-21 |title=Wire Looks Back on Its Pioneering Art Punk Trilogy |url=https://www.billboard.com/music/rock/wire-interview-reissues-8462176/ |access-date=2023-11-19 |magazine=Billboard}}</ref>

[[AllMusic]] identifies indie rock as including a number of "varying musical approaches [not] compatible with mainstream tastes".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/style/indie-rock-ma0000004453|title=Indie Rock – Significant Albums, Artists and Songs – AllMusic|work=AllMusic}}</ref> Linked by an ethos more than a musical approach, the indie rock movement encompassed a wide range of styles, from hard-edged, grunge-influenced bands, through do-it-yourself experimental bands like [[Pavement (band)|Pavement]], to punk-folk singers such as [[Ani DiFranco]].<ref name=Bogdanov2002USAlternative>S. T. Erlewine, "American Alternative Rock / Post Punk", in V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra and S. T. Erlewine, ''All Music Guide to Rock: the Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul'' (Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books, 3rd edn., 2002), {{ISBN|0-87930-653-X}}, pp. 1344–6.</ref> In his book ''DIY Style: Fashion, Music and Global Digital Cultures'', Brent Luvaas described the genre as rooted in nostalgia, citing the influence of [[garage rock]] and [[psychedelic rock]] of the 1960s in progenitors [[the Stone Roses]] and [[the Smiths]], in addition to a lyrical preoccupation with literature.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Luvaas |first1=Brent |title=DIY Style Fashion, Music and Global Digital Cultures |date=2012 |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing]] |quote= In the UK, on the other hand, indie was used as a descriptive moniker from the mid- 1980s onwards, largely among industry insiders and journalists (Wendy Fonarow, personal communication, 2011). It referred, ostensibly, to the independent status of a band's record label, but also to something of its general sensibility, a preferencing of earlier aesthetics of pop rooted in the folksier, less improvisational genres of garage and psychedelic rock. As in the United States, it was a largely white, middle-class phenomenon, rooted in a nostalgia for an imagined, pre-corporate past (Hesmondhalgh 1999; Fonarow 2006), when there was still some aspect of everyday life as of yet outside the commodity system. In the UK, it could have been The Smiths or The Stone Roses who deserve to be called the first genuine indie rock bands, groups with a throwback 1960s sound and a fey, bookish disposition.}}</ref> 

In this same vein, [[Matthew Bannister (musician)|Matthew Bannister]] defined indie rock as "small groups of white men playing guitars, influenced by punks and 1960s white pop/rock, within a broader discourse and practice of (degrees of) independence from mainstream musical values."<ref name="Huq 2016" /> According to anthropologist [[Wendy Fonarow]], a key element of indie is the dichotomy between a "puritan ethos" and a "romantic one", with the former using austere ethics, and the latter being eccentric. This is best seen in the contrast between the indie music of United States and the United Kingdom in the 1990s, with British acts being flamboyant performers, while American acts used their lack of virtuosity as a mark of authenticity.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Barker |first1=Nicola |title=Nicola Barker Critical Essays |date=20 October 2020 |quote=As Wendy Fonarow argues, a tension between a puritan ethos (representing an austere aesthetics and ethics) and a romantic one (flamboyant and eccentric) has come to define indie music as a genre (Fonarow, 2006). This is mirrored in the genre's identity tug-of-war between a communal and individualist ethos. There is perhaps also a distinction to be made between an American brand of lo-fi indie bands for whom anti-virtuosity and non-style are badges of sincerity and authenticity, on the one hand, and the flamboyant performativity of Britpop indie bands like Pulp and Blur, on the other.}}</ref>

Indie rock is noted for having a relatively high proportion of female artists compared with preceding rock genres, a tendency exemplified by the development of the feminist-informed [[riot grrrl]] music of acts like [[Bikini Kill]], [[Bratmobile]], [[7 Year Bitch]], [[Team Dresch]] and [[Huggy Bear (band)|Huggy Bear]].<ref>M. Leonard, ''Gender in the Music Industry: Rock, Discourse and Girl Power'' (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007), {{ISBN|0-7546-3862-6}}, p. 2.</ref> However, Cortney Harding pointed out that this sense of equality is not reflected in the number of women running indie labels.<ref>{{Cite magazine|title = UpFront: The Indies – Where the Girls Aren't: Why Aren't More Women Running Indie Labels|last = Harding|first = Cortney|date = 13 October 2007|magazine = Billboard }}</ref>