Editing Indie rock (section)

===Mainstream–underground split: 1990s===
[[File:Sonic Youth 2009.05.30 001.jpg|thumb|left|The success of grunge allowed [[Sonic Youth]] to breakthrough into the mainstream.<ref name="Spin breakthrough" />]]
In the early 1990s, the Seattle [[grunge]] scene, and its most visible acts, [[Nirvana (band)|Nirvana]], [[Pearl Jam]], [[Soundgarden]] and [[Alice in Chains]], broke into the mainstream.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Childers |first1=Chad |title=Every 'Big 4' (Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden) Grunge Album, Ranked Worst to Best |url=https://loudwire.com/every-big-4-alice-in-chains-nirvana-pearl-jam-soundgarden-grunge-album-ranked-worst-to-best/ |website=[[Loudwire]] |date=7 October 2022 |access-date=18 June 2023}}</ref> The monumental success of these bands, particularly Nirvana, brought increased attention to the indie rock scene, which initiated a shift in which the indie rock descriptor became displaced by the term [[alternative rock]].<ref name="Spin breakthrough">{{cite journal |last1=Aaron |first1=Charles |title=Notes from the Underground |journal=[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]] |date=October 2005 |volume=21 |issue=10 |quote=But none would have the cultural impact of Nirvana, and few would see any financial windfall. While Cobain became deeply conflicted about the media notoriety that came with Nevermind's popularity (he was constantly referred to as the voice of a generation), indie artists also grew ambivalent. Was Nirvana's success, and even Sonic Youth's safe major-label passage, a case of "we  won," or just a pathetic grab for validation? Did former indie kids-now referred to as "alternative rockers"-really believe that major labels would bestow them with expense accounts and not ask for serious concessions? Nirvana had cited the R.E.M. Model}}</ref> As a result, the term "alternative" lost its original counter-cultural meaning and began to refer to the new, commercially lighter form of music that was now achieving mainstream success. ''[[New York (magazine)|New York]]'' magazine writer Carl Swanson argued that even the term "sellout"  lost its meaning as grunge made it possible for a niche movement, no matter how radical, to be co-opted by the mainstream, cementing the formation of an individualist, fragmented culture.<ref name="Swanson">Swanson, Carl [https://nymag.com/arts/art/features/1993-new-museum-exhibit/ "Are We Still Living in 1993?"], retrieved 26 February 2013.</ref> 

In his book ''Popular Music: The Key Concepts'', media academic Roy Shuker states that "Grunge represented the mainstreaming of the North American indie rock ethic and style of the 1980s", going on to explain that a band's status as independent became "As much a marketing device as [indie rock and alternative rock were an] identifiable 'sound'".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shuker |first1=Roy |title=Popular Music: The Key Concepts |date=27 March 2017 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |page=162 |quote=Grunge represented the mainstreaming of the North American indie rock ethic and style of the 1980s (Azerrad, 2001). As much a marketing device as an identifiable 'sound' (cf. alternative rock, which it is often conflated into), grunge initially developed in the Seattle area (USA) in the late 1980s, associated with the influential indie label, Sub Pop. Pearl Jam and Nirvana were the two most influential bands, credited as leading the commercial break through of grunge/alternative rock into a relatively moribund music scene in the early 1990s.}}</ref> In the wake of this increased attention, indie rock experienced a split: accessible bands who catered to the now-popular alternative rock radio; and bands who continued to experiment, advancing in the underground.<ref name="AMCollegeRock" /> According to ''[[AllMusic]]'', it was during this split that "indie rock" solidified itself as a term for the style of music played by these underground artists, while the mainstream indie rock-influenced bands became termed alternative rock.<ref name="AllMusicIndie"/>

[[Slowcore]] developed in the United States as a direct counterpoint to the rapid growth of grunge.<ref name="Rogers p640">{{harvnb|Rogers|2008|p=640}}: "Opposition and fluidity reside at the core of the genre's aesthetic. For example, as US rock band Nirvana succeeded commercially, indie fans grew more interested in post-rock and slow-core,  both  minimalist  genres  antithetical  to  Nirvana  despite  that  band's  origins within indie."</ref> Although loosely defined, slowcore generally includes slow tempos, minimalist instrumentals and sad lyrics.<ref name="Far Out comeback">{{cite web|url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/slowcore-isnt-making-a-comeback-its-always-been-here/|title=Slowcore isn't making a comeback, it's always been here|work=[[Far Out (magazine)|Far Out]]|accessdate=20 May 2023|date=13 June 2022|first=Jamie|last=Kahn}}</ref> [[Galaxie 500]], particularly their second album ''[[On Fire (Galaxie 500 album)|On Fire]]'' (1989), were heavy influences on the genre,<ref name="DIS Guide">{{Cite web|date=31 January 2019|first=Samuel |last=Rosean|title=The Beginner's Guide To: Slowcore|url=http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4152207-the-beginners-guide-to--slowcore|access-date=23 February 2021|website=[[Drowned in Sound]]|language=en|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230614164708/https://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4152207-the-beginners-guide-to--slowcore|archivedate=14 June 2023|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Earles 124 2">{{harvnb|Earles|2014|page=124}}: "Like many bands featured in this book, Galaxie 500 was a big influence on a successive subgenre of band within indie rock. In the case of this seminal Boston trio, they are seen as progenitors of what the music press came to call 'slowcore'".</ref> with ''[[Bandcamp|Bandcamp Daily]]'' writer Robert Rubsam, calling them the "fountainhead for all that would come".<ref name="Bandcamp timeline">{{cite web|url=https://daily.bandcamp.com/lists/slowcore-a-brief-timeline|title=Slowcore: A Brief Timeline|first=Robert|last=Rubsam|date=27 April 2017|work=[[Bandcamp]]|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230524135010/https://daily.bandcamp.com/lists/slowcore-a-brief-timeline|archivedate=24 May 2023|accessdate=27 May 2023}}</ref> The first wave of bands in the genre included [[Red House Painters]], [[Codeine (band)|Codeine]], [[Bedhead (band)|Bedhead]], [[Ida (band)|Ida]] and [[Low (band)|Low]]. The genre originated from around the United States, with no geographic focus, and very little interaction between its artists.<ref name="Bandcamp timeline" />

A younger subset of grebo bands emerged around 1991, who were in turn labelled "fraggle" bands.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Harris |first1=John |title=Hail! Hail! Rock'n'Roll The Ultimate Guide to the Music, the Myths and the Madness |date=7 January 2010 |publisher=[[Little, Brown and Company]] |quote='''Fraggle''' c.1991: Name for alternative rock bands, some of whom basically represented younger end of 'Grebo' genre, reputedly coined by band-booker at indie venue Harlow Square in recognition of similarity between scruffily attired groups/fans and characters from Muppets spin-off TV show Fraggle Rock. Bands: Ned's Atomic Dustbin, Senseless Things, Mega City Four}}</ref> During this movement, the dominant sound was a style of indie rock that was heavily indebted to punk and Nirvana's album ''[[Bleach (Nirvana album)|Bleach]]'' album, while also occasionally making use of [[drum machines]].<ref name="Beaumont 2018" /> ''[[Gigwise]]'' writer Steven Kline described the style as "filthy guitars, filthier hair and t-shirts only a mother would wash". Prominent fraggle acts included [[Senseless Things]], [[Mega City Four]] and [[Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine]].<ref name="Beaumont 2018">{{cite web |last1=Beaumont |first1=Mark |title=Nine NME-invented scenes that shook the world (or didn't) from C86 to shroomadelica, fraggle and the NAM |url=https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/2360346-2360346 |website=[[NME]] |date=27 July 2018 |access-date=17 June 2023}}</ref>

[[File:Stevemalkmus(by Scott Dudelson).jpg|thumb|[[Pavement (band)|Pavement]] singer/guitarist [[Stephen Malkmus]]]]
''Spin'' writer Charles Aaron described [[Pavement (band)|Pavement]] and [[Guided by Voices]] as "the two bands that came to exemplify indie rock in this period, and still define the term in many people's minds". Both bands made use of a [[Lo-fi music|Lo-fi]] production style which romanticised their D.I.Y. ethos.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Aaron |first1=Charles |title=Notes from the Underground |journal=[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]] |date=October 2005 |volume=21 |issue=10 |quote=But the two bands that came to exemplify indie rock in this period, and still define the term in many people's minds, were Pavement and Guided by Voices. A furtive collective from Northern California led by singer/guitarists "SM" (Stephen Malkmus) and "Spiral Stairs" (Scott Kannberg), Pavement created lo-fi bedroom dramas that romanticized the misty bewilderment of college kids on the cusp of entering the adult straight world. Their free-associating lyrics over melodies that seemed embedded in the staticky fuzz of a transistor radio were a cryptic denial of alt rock's ambition. Malkmus had a gift (like Kurt Cobain) for inside-joke aphorisms that felt like generational broadsides. On the 1992 album Slanted and Enchanted, he mused with a stricken hauteur: "I've got a lot of things I want to sell / But not here, babe," and "All the things we had before / You sold us out and took it all." Guided by Voices, a revolving-door group led by thirtysomething Dayton, Ohio schoolteacher Robert Pollard, had been churning out blearily melodic, cruddy-sounding recordings for years, but their literate, elliptical bursts of British Invasion-tinged rock never caught much attention. However, with the release of 1994's breathtakingly composed Bee Thousand, Pollard was suddenly a mini cause célèbre, a symbol of the uncompromising, self-reliant indie artist who eventually gets the recognition he deserves.}}</ref> Pavement's 1992 album ''[[Slanted and Enchanted]]'', was one of the defining albums of the [[slacker rock]] subgenre.<ref>{{cite web |title=A Rough Guide To: Slacker Rock |url=https://blog.roughtrade.com/gb/a-rough-guide-to-slacker-rock/ |website=[[Rough Trade (shops)|Rough Trade]] |date=27 April 2021 |access-date=18 June 2023}}</ref>  ''Rolling Stone'' called the album "the quintessential indie rock album", placing it on the magazine's list of [[Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|the 500 greatest albums of all time]].<ref name="RS2012" >{{cite news |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-20120531/pavement-slanted-and-enchanted-20120524 |title=500 Greatest Albums of All Time |magazine=Rolling Stone |at=135: ''Slanted and Enchanted'' - Pavement |author=''Rolling Stone'' Staff |date=31 May 2012 |access-date=21 February 2017 |archive-date=13 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170313191128/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-20120531/pavement-slanted-and-enchanted-20120524 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In the North Carolina [[Research Triangle]], an indie rock scene was being spearheaded by groups enfranched [[Merge Records]] like [[Superchunk]], [[Archers of Loaf]] and [[Polvo]].
describing a growing scene of indie-rock bands who were influenced by hardcore punk and post-punk.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fidler |first1=Daniel |title=Robbing the cradle |date=Nov 1992 |publisher=SPIN Media LLC |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2bSupwnJ2pIC}}</ref> At the time, publications such as ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'' took to calling the college town of [[Chapel Hill, North Carolina|Chapel Hill]] the "next Seattle".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ew.com/article/1993/01/08/chapel-hill-nc-new-seattle/|title=Chapel Hill, N.C.: The new Seattle?|website=EW.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.newsobserver.com/entertainment/music-news-reviews/article246438740.html |title=Chapel Hill NC music scene, indie rock once called Next Seattle &#124; Raleigh News & Observer |access-date=28 February 2021 |archive-date=28 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228231436/https://www.newsobserver.com/entertainment/music-news-reviews/article246438740.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Superchunk's single "[[Slack Motherfucker]]" has also been credited by ''Columbia'' magazine with popularizing the "[[slacker]]" stereotype, and as a defining anthem of 90s indie rock.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://magazine.columbia.edu/article/merge-records-and-explosion-american-indie-rock|title=Merge Records and the Explosion of American Indie Rock|website=Columbia Magazine}}</ref>

With the rise of [[Britpop]], many of Britain's earlier indie rock bands fell into obscurity.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Thornton |first1=Tim |title=Ten Early 90s Indie Songs That Say It All |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/tim-thornton/early-90s-indie-songs_b_8636470.html |website=[[Huffington Post]] |date=24 November 2015 |access-date=17 June 2023}}</ref> Fronted by [[Blur (band)|Blur]], [[Oasis (band)|Oasis]], [[Pulp (band)|Pulp]] and [[Suede (band)|Suede]],<ref>{{cite web |last1=Minelle |first1=Bethany |title=Pulp are getting back together for gigs in 2023, Jarvis Cocker confirms |url=https://news.sky.com/story/pulp-are-getting-back-together-for-gigs-in-2023-jarvis-cocker-confirms-12659506 |website=[[Sky News]] |access-date=17 June 2023}}</ref> the bands in the movement were advertised as being underground artists, as a means to compete commercially with the United States' grunge scene.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Huq |first1=Rupa |title=Beyond Subculture Pop, Youth and Identity in a Postcolonial World |date=24 January 2007 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |page=142 |quote=The British music industry seized on Britpop as the impetus to revive sagging fortunes following the early 1990s grunge-led American chart-sales hegemony. Britpop's indie identification signifies autonomy from the negatively viewed major record labels, conveniently hiding the fact that many of its most successful exponents are financially backed by the multinationals. Of the US$32 billion global music fiscal cake in 1996, 16 per cent of ownership rested with Sony whose umbrella sheltered Oasis (in its 49 per cent ownership of Oasis' one-time 'independent' base Creation Records); a 14 per cent share was held by Polygram whose subsidiary Island is home to Pulp; and 13 per cent was owned by EMI, whose artists include Blur (on offshoot Food Records). This seemingly confirms Adorno's fear (1991 [1941]: 87) that the}}</ref> While Britpop was stylistically indebted to indie rock and began as an offshoot of it, Britpop bands abandoned the genre's earlier anti-establishment politics and instead brought it into the mainstream, with bands like Blur and Pulp even signing to major labels. 

In her essay ''Labouring the Point? The Politics of Britain in "New Britain"'', politician and academic [[Rupa Huq]] states that Britpop "began as an offshoot of the independent British music scene but arguably ended up killing it, as a convergence took place between indie and mainstream, removing the distinctive 'protest' element of British-based independent music"<ref name="Huq 2016">{{cite book |last1=Huq |first1=Rupa |title=Labouring the Point? The Politics of Britain in "New Britain" |date=15 April 2016 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |page=93 |quote=If we take the definition of indie proposed by Bannister of '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', much of its content applies to Britpop... Early 1980s indie was not only, as Bannister notes, self-positioned away from mainstream music industry values, but often had an anti-government orientation... This oppositional element was largely missing from Britpop. Although some Britpop acts were on independent labels (for example, Oasis were signed to Creation), most were signed to mainstream labels, be they offshoots of majors (such as Blur on Food/EMI) or medium-sized companies (Pulp on Island). In some ways Britpop was indie's nemesis. It began as an offshoot of the independent British music scene but arguably ended up killing it, as a convergence took place between indie and mainstream, removing the distinctive 'protest' element of British-based independent music.}}</ref> Music journalist [[John Harris (critic)|John Harris]] has suggested that Britpop began when Blur's fourth single "[[Popscene]]" and Suede's debut "[[The Drowners]]" were released around the same time in the spring of 1992. He stated, "[I]f Britpop started anywhere, it was the deluge of acclaim that greeted Suede's first records: all of them audacious, successful and very, very British."<ref>''The Last Party: Britpop, Blair and the Demise of English Rock''; John Harris; Harper Perennial; 2003.</ref> Suede were the first of the new crop of guitar-orientated bands to be embraced by the UK music media as Britain's answer to Seattle's grunge sound. Their debut album ''[[Suede (album)|Suede]]'' for the fastest-selling debut album in the UK.<ref name="British alt-rock">Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. [https://web.archive.org/web/20101209194628/http://allmusic.com/explore/essay/british-alternative-rock-t579 "British Alternative Rock"]. ''[[AllMusic]]''. Retrieved on 21 January 2011. Archived from [https://www.allmusic.com/explore/essay/british-alternative-rock-t579 the original] on 9 December 2010.</ref>

====Diversification====
[[Sunny Day Real Estate]]'s debut album, ''[[Diary (Sunny Day Real Estate album)|Diary]]'' (1994), began a new wave of the [[emo]] genre, by incorporating elements of it into their indie rock sound.<ref name="Cateforis 2013">{{cite book |last1=Cateforis |first1=Theo |title=The Rock History Reader |date=2013 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |page=354|quote=The DC emo scene exploded and became excessively popular amongst the underground. However, it fizzled out almost as fast as it had begun.<br>In the early 90's, two new bands, Sunny Day Real Estate and Jawbreaker, started the new wave of emo music. SDRE started the "post indie emo" genre. Bands that can be categorized under this genre could be Texas Is The Reason, Taking Back Sunday, Mineral and other music following those lines, that are often confused for emo.}}</ref> Sunny Day Real Estate and other second wave emo bands, including [[Piebald (band)|Piebald]], [[the Promise Ring]] and [[Cap'n Jazz]] distanced emo from its hardcore roots and allowed the genre to develop a much more realised scene than its first wave.<ref name="Connick" /> 

This style of emo broke into mainstream culture in the early 2000s, with the platinum-selling success of [[Jimmy Eat World]]'s ''[[Bleed American]]'' (2001) and [[Dashboard Confessional]]'s ''[[The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most]]'' (2001).<ref name=DeRogatis2003p373-4>J. DeRogatis, ''Turn on your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock'' (Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard Corporation, 2003), {{ISBN|0-634-05548-8}}, p. 373.</ref> One particularly notable scene during this wave was the [[Midwest emo]] bands of the latter half of the decade, who incorporated the jangly guitar tones of earlier indie rock and elements of [[math rock]] to create the distinctive style of groups like [[American Football (band)|American Football]].<ref name="Connick">{{cite web |last1=Connick |first1=Tom |title=The beginner's guide to the evolution of emo |url=https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/emo-wave-guide-evolution-2302802 |website=[[Alternative Press (magazine)|Alternative Press]] |date=30 April 2018 |access-date=18 June 2023}}</ref> The popularity of emo, also allowed a number of "not-quite-indie-not-quite-emo" bands like [[Death Cab For Cutie]], [[Modest Mouse]] and [[Karate (band)|Karate]] to gain significant attention.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Mair |first1=Rob |title=The Van Pelt – Artisans & Merchants |date=15 March 2023 |url=https://upsetmagazine.com/reviews/albums/the-van-pelt-artisans-merchants/ |access-date=18 June 2023}}</ref>

The loosely defined [[Elephant 6]] collective – which included [[the Apples in Stereo]], [[Beulah (band)|Beulah]], [[Circulatory System (band)|Circulatory System]], [[Elf Power]], [[the Minders]], [[Neutral Milk Hotel]], [[of Montreal]] and [[the Olivia Tremor Control]] – merged indie rock with [[psychedelic pop]]. ''[[Gimme Indie Rock: 500 Essential American Underground Rock Albums 1981–1996|Gimme Indie Rock]]'' author Andrew Earles stated that the collective, namely Neutral Milk Hotel on ''[[On Avery Island]]'' (1996), "helped keep the genre artistically relevant while other bands defected and other underground styles rose to prominence".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Earles |first1=Andrew |title=Gimme Indie Rock 500 Essential American Underground Rock Albums 1981-1996 |title-link=Gimme Indie Rock: 500 Essential American Underground Rock Albums 1981–1996 |date=15 September 2014 |publisher=Voyageur Press |page=219 |quote=Though overshadowed by Neutral Milk Hotel's 1998 breakthrough album, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, the band's debut from a couple of years earlier is no small feat of mid-'90s indie rock, and it helped keep the genre artistically relevant while other bands defected and other underground styles rose to prominence in the latter half of the decade. One of the best early transmissions from the Elephant 6 collective of indie-psych-pop bands, On Avery Island is a collection of songs written by bandleader Jeff Mangum, recorded on a four-track reel-to-reel, and accompanied by a different backing band than the one that would fill out the legendary lineup heard on NMH's second release.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Shook Jr |first1=Lee M. |title=Interstellar Pop Underground: A History of the Elephant 6 Collective |url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/interstellar-pop-underground-a-history-of-the-elep |website=[[Paste (magazine)|Paste]] |access-date=18 June 2023}}</ref>

Indie electronic or indietronica<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wearetheguard.com/music/indie-electronic|title=Indie Electronic|website=WeAreTheGuard.com}}</ref> covers rock-based artists who share an affinity for electronic music, using samplers, synthesizers, drum machines, and computer programs.<ref name=AMGO>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/style/indie-electronic-ma0000012275|title=Indie Electronic – Significant Albums, Artists and Songs|work=AllMusic}}</ref> Less a style and more a categorization, it describes an early 1990s trend of acts who followed in the traditions of early electronic music (composers of the [[BBC Radiophonic Workshop]]), [[krautrock]] and [[synth-pop]].<ref name=AMGO/> Progenitors of the genre were English bands [[Disco Inferno (band)|Disco Inferno]], [[Stereolab]], and [[Space (UK band)|Space]].<ref name=AMGO/> Most musicians in the genre can be found on independent labels like [[Warp (record label)|Warp]], [[Morr Music]], [[Sub Pop]] or [[Ghostly International]].<ref name=AMGO/>

[[Space rock]] took the [[psychedelic rock]], [[ambient music]] influence of [[Pink Floyd]] and [[Hawkwind]] and incorporated them into an indie rock context. The style began with [[Spacemen 3]] in the 1980s, with later groups including [[Spiritualized]], [[Flying Saucer Attack]], [[Godspeed You! Black Emperor]] and [[Quickspace]].<ref>{{Citation|title=Space rock |journal=Allmusic |url=https://www.allmusic.com/explore/style/space-rock-d2784 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200213193714/https://www.webcitation.org/5wUOtn84J?url=http://www.allmusic.com/explore/style/d2784 |archive-date=13 February 2020 |url-status=dead }}.</ref>

As Britpop waned towards the end of the decade, [[post-Britpop]] took hold within the UK's indie rock scene.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Moore |first1=Allan F |last2=Martin |first2=Remy |title=Rock: The Primary Text Developing a Musicology of Rock |date=28 September 2018 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |quote=The styles performed by post-Britpop bands are often condensed down to the single label 'indie rock', which contains a myriad of young British artists with varying influences from punk, grunge, folk and electronic dance music. Critics are keen to characterise its key players as taking part in a post-punk revival, but the constellation of stylistic influences which span this musical world are diverse indeed. The fresh face of this music, which began to appear around the turn of the millennium, remains a fairly significant commercial force (Harris 2003). It was likely the best known face of}}</ref>
From about 1997, as dissatisfaction grew with the concept of [[Cool Britannia]] and Britpop as a movement began to dissolve, emerging bands began to avoid the Britpop label while still producing music derived from it.<ref name=Harris2004>J. Harris, ''Britpop!: Cool Britannia and the Spectacular Demise of English Rock'' (Da Capo Press, 2004), {{ISBN|0-306-81367-X}}, pp. 369–70.</ref><ref name=Borhwick&Moy2004>S. Borthwick and R. Moy, ''Popular Music Genres: an Introduction'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2004), {{ISBN|0-7486-1745-0}}, p. 188.</ref> After the decline of Britpop they began to gain more critical and popular attention.<ref name=Harris2004/> [[The Verve]]'s album ''[[Urban Hymns]]'' (1997) was a worldwide hit and their commercial peak before they broke up in 1999, while [[Radiohead]]{{spaced ndash}} although having achieved moderate recognition with ''[[The Bends (album)|The Bends]]'' in 1995{{spaced ndash}} achieved near-universal critical acclaim with their experimental third album ''[[OK Computer]]'' (1997), and its follow-ups ''[[Kid A]]'' (2000) and ''[[Amnesiac (album)|Amnesiac]]'' (2001).<ref name=Bogdanov2002Radiohead&Verve>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. 911 and 1192.</ref> [[Stereophonics]], used elements of a post-grunge and hardcore on their breakthrough albums ''[[Word Gets Around]]'' (1997) and ''[[Performance and Cocktails]]'' (1999), before moving into more melodic territory with ''[[Just Enough Education to Perform]]'' (2001) and subsequent albums.<ref name=Bogdanov2002Stereophonics>V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra and S. T. Erlewine, ''All Music Guide to Rock: the Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul'' (Backbeat Books, 3rd edn., 2002), {{ISBN|0-87930-653-X}}, p. 1076.</ref><ref name=AllMusicStereophonics>[{{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p225008|pure_url=yes}} "Stereophonics"], ''Allmusic'', retrieved 3 January 2010.</ref>

[[Feeder (band)|Feeder]], who were initially more influenced by American post-grunge, producing a hard rock sound that led to their breakthrough single "[[Buck Rogers (song)|Buck Rogers]]" and the album ''[[Echo Park (album)|Echo Park]]'' (2001).<ref>[{{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p224868|pure_url=yes}} "Feeder"], ''Allmusic'', retrieved 3 December 2010.</ref> After the death of their drummer [[Jon Lee (drummer)|Jon Lee]], they moved to a more reflective and introspective mode on ''[[Comfort in Sound]]'' (2002), their most commercially successful album to that point, which spawned a series of hit singles.<ref>[{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r640675|pure_url=yes}} "Feeder: Comfort in Sound"], ''Allmusic'', retrieved 3 December 2010.</ref>

The most commercially successful band in the millennium were [[Coldplay]], whose first two albums ''[[Parachutes (Coldplay album)|Parachutes]]'' (2000) and ''[[A Rush of Blood to the Head]]'' (2002) went [[Music recording sales certification|multi-platinum]], establishing them as one of the most popular acts in the world by the time of their third album ''[[X&Y]]'' (2005).<ref name=AllMusicColdplay>[{{AllMusic|class=artist|id=coldplay-p435023|pure_url=yes}} "Coldplay"], ''Allmusic'', retrieved 3 December 2010.</ref><ref>{{Citation |author=Stephen M. Deusner |date=1 June 2009 |title=Coldplay LeftRightLeftRightLeft |journal=Pitchfork |url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13074-leftrightleftrightleft/ |access-date=25 July 2011 }}.</ref> Snow Patrol's "[[Chasing Cars]]" (from their 2006 album ''[[Eyes Open (Snow Patrol album)|Eyes Open]]'') is the most widely played song of the 21st century on UK radio.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-49008689|title=And the most-played song on UK radio is... Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol |work=[[BBC News]]|date=17 July 2019|access-date=17 July 2019}}</ref>