History of Indie Music – 1980’s
The 1980s were an incredibly important decade in indie music history. It was during this decade that the first indie charts were compiled in the United States and in the United Kingdom; whether or not appearing on these lists was considered a sell-out depended on who you talked to. Fat chicks in tight leather would probably list Sonic Youth among those who ruined the indie scene; less stringent fans might decide that any type of success was not necessarily a bad thing for the movement as a whole. What would remain constant was the watchful eye of the big labels, who were always eager to exploit the underground scene and turn a profit on the “new” sound they had discovered.
The early ’80s saw unity among indie artists in the United States and to some extent in the United Kingdom. The creation of charts meant that any record released on a small label was considered independent; thus, you could have New Wave influenced prog rock like that turned out by REM in their college-playing days and the more distortion driven, under-produced sounds of Husker Du or Dinosaur Jr. in the same category. The big difference in the 1980s was that by the end of the decade, one type of music had slipped into the mainstream, while the other had not. The distortion of the garage bands would thus become known as “alternative music.”
Several big indie labels were formed during this time, which were to achieve notoriety in the 1990s, including Sarah Records in 1987 and Sub Pop in 1980. Founders of Sub Pop Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman actually went against everything indie music was supposed to stand for, relentlessly promoting their artists and seeking to popularize the music that they were turning out. Perhaps this is where fans of indie music should take a hard look at their criteria for bands; if music was not worth being listened to by a lot of people, it simply should not exist. The founders of Sub Pop embodied that in their promotion of bands such as Soundgarden, and of course Nirvana. In fact, the label would spawn a movement called the Singles club which would extend into the ultra glitzy and oily grip of Hollywood, about as counter to the idea of indie as you could hope to get.
In both the UK and the US, the indie scene was a direct reaction against the macho personas of big rock acts. Both the alternative sound in the US and the jangly genre of the UK represented artist’s thorough disgust at the excesses, prejudices, and false images of bands like Poison and Nelson.
Towards the end of the 1980s, the “major” indie artists were actually acting almost like recruiters for the big labels. Again, this should give many indie fans pause before judging one band or another as sell outs due to their “commercialization”. The term is better applied to imitators of the original sound for the purpose of money rather than to the sound developers. There is not a lot of credibility in the sell out argument when one realizes that it was Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth who set up Nirvana’s flight to fame, or that Breeder’s singer Kin Deal was an integral part of the incredibly ground-breaking and highly influential Pixies.
I was searching for an article about the history of Indie music and found this, some great comment and observations that make it into an all in all good read, well writen by whom so ever wrote it.
I never knew about Kim Gordon, good eye opener that
You mention commercialization. I think that the 80’s had a way too much of that in all genre’s not just one or the other. I seen a lot of bands move in that direction and that is what allowed the Pop/R&B/Rap scene to open up and therefore pushed other genre’s out.
there are more hybrid genre’s are coming, all the genre’s are just coming back, i mean they are adding some new instrument in a song and they will name it a new genre, i can’t wait too hear what is new this 2008 genre..
You know marc you are very right, there are more hybrid genre’s coming of age. I think that since most music flows in an out over the years, you will see the older genre’s emerge with new style and flair. I would really like to see what happens over the next few years and see where music really goes.
yeah attagirl. music keeps on growing and growing. it is good to see that music is really improving. and i can not also say anything about the old music. and it is great to know that music will still continue to touch people’s lives. and i am also looking forward in seeing what will happen in the next few years with our music.
Great article. Love your take on “Selling out” and “commercialization”.
cheers!
John
Wow! This article is amazing. I would like permission to put a copy on my website. If not I will put up a note and a link.
Losillë
CFM Music Scene introducing fans to original, new, hot music!
most of this is crap it barely scratches the serface of indie music of the 80’s. it only talks about the major bands that made it big.
This is an article not a full history of all bands. The series is meant to show the evolution of the industry and major bands that made it big pushed indie into the mainstream. Perhaps we’ll take a deeper dive in the future.
Nirvana might never have made it had Mudhoney not turned down Geffen. Mudhoney (according to Sub Pop owners) financially kept the label alive. Geffen wanted Mudhoney to stop their involvement in (rumoured) over a dozen bands. They said no. Geffen went back to Sub Pop and took the next new thing they had…..thus Nirvana.
Someone previously said this commentary doesn’t even scratch the surface……..if you were going to say something then you gotta dig deeper…..there were so many bands during this time period that have become influential and they don’t even get mentioned.
Kim Fowley was one of the most influential men on the US indie scene in the mid to late sixties…..not mentioned…..Billy Chilish is synonymous with british independant music through the late seventies up until today and he doesn’t get mentioned once…..Alan McGee owner of undoubtedly the finest indie label Creation Records….neither mentioned…..
Do you actually know anything about indie music?