View source for Indie rock

{{short description|Genre of rock music}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox music genre
| name              = Indie rock
| stylistic_origins = {{hlist|[[Punk rock]]|[[DIY punk ethic|DIY]]|[[jangle pop]]|[[post-punk]]|[[Dunedin sound]]}}
| cultural_origins  = Early to mid-1980s, United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand
| derivatives       = {{hlist|[[Chillwave]]|[[Britpop]]|[[chamber pop]]|[[grunge]]|[[post-Britpop]]|[[post-rock]]}}
| subgenres         = {{hlist|[[Grebo (music)|Grebo]]|[[blog rock]]|[[landfill indie]]|[[math rock]]|[[Midwest emo]]|[[noise pop]]|[[post-punk revival]]|[[slacker rock]]|[[slowcore]]|[[shoegaze]]}}
| fusiongenres      = {{hlist|[[Alternative dance]] ([[baggy]])|[[alternative R&B]]|[[grindie]]|[[indie folk]]|[[new rave]]|[[indie surf]]}}
| regional_scenes   = {{hlist|[[Australian indie rock|Australia]]|[[Indie rock in Belgium|Belgium]]|[[Paisley Underground|California]]|[[Rock music in the Netherlands#Indie rock|Netherlands]]|[[Music of Nevada#Indie|Nevada]]|[[The Scene That Celebrates Itself|Thames Valley]]|[[New Yorkshire|Yorkshire]]}}
| local_scenes      = {{hlist|[[Popular music of Birmingham#Indie and post-punk revival|Birmingham]]|[[Dunedin sound|Dunedin]]|[[Hamburger Schule|Hamburg]]|[[Music in Leeds#Alternative rock|Leeds]]|[[Madchester|Manchester]]|[[Culture of Sheffield#Popular music|Sheffield]]}}
| other_topics      = {{hlist|[[Indie pop]]|[[DIY ethic]]|[[alternative rock]]|[[Lo-fi music|lo-fi]]|[[noise rock]]}}
}}

'''Indie rock''' is a [[Music subgenre|subgenre]] of [[rock music]] that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through [[independent record labels]], by the 1990s it became more widely associated with the music such bands produced.

The sound of indie rock has its origins in the [[Early UK DIY|UK DIY music]] of [[Buzzcocks|the Buzzcocks]], [[Desperate Bicycles]]<ref name=":4" /> and [[Television Personalities]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cober-Lake |first=Justin |date=2025-01-17 |title=Television Personalities: Tune in, Turn on, Drop Out – Radio Sessions 1980-1993 |url=https://spectrumculture.com/2025/01/16/television-personalities-tune-in-turn-on-drop-out-radio-sessions-1980-1993-review/ |access-date=2025-07-18 |website=Spectrum Culture}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Felsenthal |first=Daniel |title=Television Personalities: …And Don't the Kids Just Love It |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/television-personalities-and-dont-the-kids-just-love-it/ |access-date=2025-07-18 |website=Pitchfork}}</ref> and the New Zealand [[Dunedin sound]] of [[the Chills]], [[Tall Dwarfs]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pearis |first=Bill |date=2022-06-08 |title=Tall Dwarfs announce 'Unravelled: 1981–2002' box set; full discography streaming for first time |url=https://www.brooklynvegan.com/tall-dwarfs-announce-unravelled-1981-2002-box-set-full-discography-streaming-for-first-time/ |access-date=2023-11-22 |website=BrooklynVegan}}</ref> [[the Clean]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Clean {{!}} NZ Music Hall of Fame |url=https://www.musichall.co.nz/portfolio/the-clean/ |access-date=2023-11-19}}</ref> and [[the Verlaines]], alongside [[Australian indie rock|Australia]]'s [[the Go-Betweens]]<ref>{{Cite news |last=Scott |first=Hayley |date=2016-06-08 |title=The Go-Betweens – 10 of the best |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2016/jun/08/the-go-betweens-10-of-the-best |access-date=2025-06-26 |work=The Guardian |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> and early 1980s [[college rock]] radio stations who would frequently play [[jangle pop]] bands like [[the Smiths]] and [[R.E.M.]] The genre solidified itself during the mid–1980s with ''[[NME]]''{{'}}s ''[[C86]]'' cassette in the United Kingdom and the underground success of [[Sonic Youth]], [[Dinosaur Jr.]] and [[Unrest (band)|Unrest]] in the United States. During the 1990s, indie rock bands like Sonic Youth, [[the Pixies]] and [[Radiohead]] all released albums on major labels and subgenres like [[slowcore]], [[Midwest emo]], [[slacker rock]] and [[space rock]] began. By this time, "indie" had evolved to refer to bands whose music was released on independent record labels, in addition to the record labels themselves. As the decade progressed many individual local scenes developed their own distinct takes on the genre: [[baggy]] in [[Manchester]]; [[Grebo (music)|grebo]] in [[Stourbridge]] and [[Leicester]]; and [[shoegaze]] in London and the [[Thames Valley]].

During the 1990s, the mainstream success of [[grunge]] and [[Britpop]], two movements influenced by indie rock, brought increased attention to the genre and saw record labels use their independent status as a marketing tactic. This led to a split within indie rock: one side conforming to mainstream radio; the other becoming increasingly experimental. By this point, "indie rock" referred to the musical style rather than ties to the independent music scene. In the 2000s, indie rock reentered the mainstream through the [[garage rock revival|garage rock]] and [[post-punk revival]] and the influence of [[the Strokes]], [[the White Stripes]] and [[the Libertines]]. This success was exacerbated in the middle of the decade by [[Bloc Party]], [[Arctic Monkeys]] and [[the Killers]], while indie rock further proliferated into the 2000s [[blog rock]] era and the British [[landfill indie]] movement, as well as the [[indie sleaze]] aesthetic.

==Etymology and characteristics==
{{Quotebox
| quote = Lately we've been hearing the tag "'90s indie rock" used to describe bands ranging from [[Waxahatchee]] to [[Speedy Ortiz]] to [[Yuck (band)|Yuck]], and while our brain immediately turns a switch that associates the phrase with "sounds like [[Pavement (band)|Pavement]]", '90s indie rock was really as eclectic and undefinable as, well, contemporary indie rock.
| source = Philip Cosores of ''[[Complex Networks]]'' (September 18, 2013) [https://www.complex.com/pigeons-and-planes/a/pigeons/best-90s-indie-rock-albums]
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The terms "independent record label" or "independent music" were originally used in the 1930s to 1950s for American artists associated with [[jazz]], [[rhythm and blues]] and early [[rock and roll]], who were predominantly Black musicians initially sidelined by [[major labels]], therefore relied on independent distribution to release their work.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dom |date=2019-05-30 |title=Why were independent record labels and recording artists more likely than the majors to adopt innovative production techniques during the 1950s? |url=https://soundoutput.co.uk/articles/why-were-independent-record-labels-and-recording-artists-more-likely-than-the-majors-to-adopt-innovative-production-techniques-during-the-1950s/ |access-date=2025-06-27 |website=Sound Output}}</ref> 

By the early 1980s, the earliest known use of the term "indie rock" was made in an article of ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' magazine, titled "Despite Hard Times, Indie Rock Labels Survive" on 15 January 1983 by writer Roman Kozak, in which he used a short-hand for the term "independent rock", to describe a growing trend of successful [[Independent record label|independent record labels]] in New York that primarily focused on the emerging [[alternative rock]] music scene.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Kozak |first=Roman |date=1983-01-15 |title=Despite Hard Times, Indie Rock Labels Survive |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZCQEAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22indie+rock%22&pg=PP1 |url-status=live |access-date=2025-10-13 |magazine=Billboard |pages=1}}</ref> Indie rock originally described a style of alternative rock that was associated with small and relatively low-budget independent labels  a [[DIY ethic|do-it-yourself]] attitude. Drawing influences from [[punk rock|punk]], [[psychedelic rock|psychedelia]] and [[post-punk]].<ref name="BrownandVolgsten2006p.194">{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Steven |title=Music and Manipulation: on the Social Uses and Social Control of Music |last2=Volgsten |first2=Ulrik |date=2006 |publisher=[[Berghahn Books]] |isbn=1-84545-098-1 |location=New York City |page=194}}</ref> Although record deals were later often struck with [[Major label|major corporate companies]], "indie rock" became more closely associated with a specific style of rock music rather than its mode of distribution.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Ultimate Guide to Indie Rock {{!}} Tutorial {{!}} by ujam |url=https://www.ujam.com/tutorials/the-ultimate-guide-to-indie-rock/ |access-date=2025-08-12 |website=www.ujam.com |language=en-us}}</ref><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> 

{{Quotebox
| quote = Indie, in the beginning, was simply short for "independent" – the term was first applied to a bunch of British bands operating through independent record labels in the 1980s, most notably The Smiths. But indie-coded bands quickly became very, very popular. Defining indie as something commercially niche then made little sense, especially in the 2000s, when indie bands competed with rappers and pop stars for the top chart positions. So what are we left with? A songwriting sensibility that's a little weirder than down-the-line rock. Guitar work that often (but not always) tends towards the sharp and angular. A lot of blazers about too, but indie bands like to break rules.
| source = Lucy Ford, Daisy Jones and Josiah Gogarty of ''[[GQ Magazine]]'' (February 12, 2025) [https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/best-indie-albums]
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[[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>

== Influences ==

=== 1960s–1970s ===
{{See also|Proto-punk|Glam rock|Power pop|Art rock}}[[File:Velvet Underground & Nico publicity photo (retouched).jpg|thumb|[[The Velvet Underground]] was an influential [[experimental rock]] act during the late 1960s.]]
[[The Velvet Underground]] and [[the Kinks]] have been cited as early musical influences on indie rock, with [[David Lowery (musician)|David Lowery]] of the band [[Cracker (band)|Cracker]] stating: "The Kinks were like the first indie rock band, in a weird way".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hagan |first=Joe |date=26 May 2002 |title=Music; Ironic and Detached Long Before Fashion Caught Up |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/26/arts/music-ironic-and-detached-long-before-fashion-caught-up.html |access-date=3 December 2024 |work=[[The New York Times]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111012210038/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/26/arts/music-ironic-and-detached-long-before-fashion-caught-up.html |archive-date=12 October 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref> Furthermore, [[Pitchfork (website)|''Pitchfork'']] cited [[the Beach Boys]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pitchfork |date=2017-08-22 |title=The 200 Best Albums of the 1960s |url=https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/the-200-best-albums-of-the-1960s/ |access-date=2024-12-06 |website=Pitchfork}}</ref> as well as [[the Byrds]] as pivotal influences, noting that "without the Byrds, the entirety of [[college rock]]—and, from it, indie rock—wouldn't exist".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gordon |first=Jeremy |title=The Byrds: The Notorious Byrd Brothers |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/the-byrds-the-notorious-byrd-brothers/ |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=Pitchfork}}</ref> Other influences include [[Syd Barrett]] of [[Pink Floyd]] and [[Alex Chilton]]'s<ref>{{Cite web |last=Deusner |first=Stephen M. |date=2014-04-11 |title=A Man Called Destruction: The Life and Music of Alex Chilton |url=https://pitchfork.com/features/paper-trail/9377-a-man-called-destruction-the-life-and-music-of-alex-chilton/ |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=Pitchfork}}</ref> [[Big Star]], with [[the Guardian]] noting that Barrett's "influence became built into the music we now know as indie rock",<ref>{{Cite news |last=Harris |first=John |date=2006-07-12 |title=Barrett's influence |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2006/jul/12/popandrock.sydbarrett2 |access-date=2024-12-04 |work=The Guardian |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> and describing [[Big Star]] as the "ur-band" for "emotionally acute indie-rock".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Costa |first=Maddy |date=2012-05-29 |title=Big Star Third – review |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/may/29/big-star-third-review |access-date=2024-12-04 |work=The Guardian|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> Alongside, ex-[[Roxy Music]] member, [[Brian Eno]]'s [[Here Come the Warm Jets|debut]] and [[Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)|sophomore]] albums.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Brian Eno is MORE DARK THAN SHARK |url=https://www.moredarkthanshark.org/eno_int_av-jun11.html |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=www.moredarkthanshark.org}}</ref>

In New York's [[CBGB]] scene, [[Patti Smith]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Rombes |first=Nicholas |title=Horses |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |year=2005 |isbn=9780826416520 |series=33⅓}}</ref> became the first punk artist to self-release a single with her 1974 cover of "[[Hey Joe]]", featuring "[[Piss Factory]]" as the B-side. This was later followed by [[Television (band)|Television]]'s "[[Little Johnny Jewel]]" in October 1975, their melodic guitar interplay on [[Marquee Moon]] proved influential to the early indie scene.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Genius of... Marquee Moon by Television |url=https://guitar.com/reviews/album/the-genius-of-marquee-moon-by-television/ |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=Guitar.com {{!}} All Things Guitar}}</ref> [[Pere Ubu]] also self-released their [[30 Seconds Over Tokyo (song)|debut single]] in December 1975.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Quietus |first=The |date=2018-01-22 |title=40 Years On: Pere Ubu's The Modern Dance Revisited |url=https://thequietus.com/opinion-and-essays/anniversary/pere-ubu-the-modern-dance-review-anniversary/ |access-date=2024-12-03 |website=The Quietus}}</ref> Other influences included [[proto-punk]] artists [[the Stooges]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Stooges |url=https://www.rhino.com/article/the-stooges |access-date=2025-06-27 |website=Rhino}}</ref> and [[the Modern Lovers]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=#288 The Modern Lovers, 'The Modern Lovers' (1976) |url=https://www.rs500albums.com/300-251/288 |access-date=2025-06-27 |website=Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time |archive-date=8 December 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241208023143/https://www.rs500albums.com/300-251/288 |url-status=dead }}</ref> 

=== Late 1970s ===
{{See also|Sex Pistols at the Lesser Free Trade Hall|Post-punk}}
[[File:Sex_Pistols_June_4_1976.jpg|thumb|[[Sex Pistols]] at Manchester's [[Lesser Free Trade Hall]] on 4 June and 20 July 1976 inspired the formation of [[Joy Division]], [[The Fall (band)|the Fall]], [[the Smiths]], [[Simply Red]], [[Magazine (band)|Magazine]], [[Buzzcocks]], [[Factory Records|Factory]] and [[Creation Records]]]]
During the advent of [[punk rock]] in the late 1970s, bands began to embrace and popularize a [[DIY ethic]] that encouraged anyone, regardless of skill or musical background,<ref name="King2012">{{Cite news |last=King |first=Richard |date=2012-03-22 |title=How indie labels changed the world |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/mar/22/indie-record-labels-changed-world |access-date=2024-12-07 |work=The Guardian |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> to form a band. On June 4 and July 20, 1976, [[the Sex Pistols]], performed at the [[Lesser Free Trade Hall]] in Manchester, which inspired the formation of influential groups like [[the Smiths]], [[Buzzcocks]], [[The Fall (band)|the Fall]] and [[Joy Division]] as well as the launch of influential independent record labels such as [[Factory Records|Factory]] and [[Creation Records]], as [[Tony Wilson]] and [[Alan McGee]] cited the performance as inspiring their interest in British alternative music.<ref>{{Cite web |title=BBC Radio 6 Music - Radcliffe and Maconie, Live from Manchester's Lesser Free Trade Hall - They Swear They Were There: Sex Pistols at the Lesser Free Trade Hall |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4f0B5rf6z2wYQpm5WNqsqP7/they-swear-they-were-there-sex-pistols-at-the-lesser-free-trade-hall |access-date=2024-12-06 |website=BBC}}</ref> 

Furthermore, independent record labels became integral to the early years of punk rock musical distribution, as seen with [[Beserkley Records]] in the US, who put out the [[The Modern Lovers (album)|debut album]] of [[The Modern Lovers (album)|The Modern Lovers]] which was recorded years earlier. In the UK, indie label [[Stiff Records]] released the first UK punk single "[[New Rose]]" by [[The Damned (band)|the Damned]]. In [[Australia]], Brisbane band [[The Saints (Australian band)|the Saints]] had their first punk release outside the US, "[[(I'm) Stranded (song)|(I'm) Stranded]]", on their own "Fatal Records" label. This was followed by [[the Go-Betweens]] releasing "[[Lee Remick (The Go-Betweens song)|Lee Remick]]" a few months later.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Go-Betweens – The Vogue |url=https://thevogue.com/artists/the-go-betweens/ |access-date=2023-11-21}}</ref> 

By the late 1970s, the [[post-punk]] scene emerged in the UK, encapsulating bands that while retaining the DIY ethos of punk, began to push its boundaries. Artists such as [[the Cure]], [[the Monochrome Set]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-04-30 |title=The Monochrome Set Stay a Very Strange Course on 'Maisieworld', PopMatters |url=https://www.popmatters.com/monochrome-set-maisieworld-2563838656.html |access-date=2024-12-06 |website=PopMatters}}</ref> [[Felt (band)|Felt]], [[the Raincoats]] and [[Young Marble Giants]] who were mostly signed to independent labels like [[Rough Trade Records|Rough Trade]], [[Factory Records]] and [[Cherry Red Records|Cherry Red]], served as a foundational influence on indie rock and later alternative music. Additionally, art punk band [[Wire (band)|Wire]] influenced later acts such as [[Guided by Voices]] and [[Hüsker Dü]].<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=2024-12-03 |magazine=Billboard}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |date=2023-10-10 |title=The ultimate beginner's guide to Wire |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/ultimate-beginners-guide-to-wire/ |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=faroutmagazine.co.uk}}</ref> Likewise, [[the Soft Boys]], became cult favorites in the US where bands like [[R.E.M.]] and [[The Replacements (band)|the Replacements]] "memorized every lick".<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-11-11 |title=63. The Soft Boys, 'Underwater Moonlight' |url=https://au.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-of-1980-19101/63-the-soft-boys-underwater-moonlight-19120/ |access-date=2024-12-06 |website=Rolling Stone Australia}}</ref>

Scottish [[post-punk]] bands, [[Orange Juice (band)|Orange Juice]], [[Josef K (band)|Josef K]] and later [[the Vaselines]] also proved to be influential.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Abebe |first=Nitsuh |date=2005-10-24 |title=Twee as Fuck |url=https://pitchfork.com/features/article/6176-twee-as-fuck/ |access-date=2024-12-06 |website=Pitchfork}}</ref>  

American groups like [[the Feelies]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Plotnick |first=William |title=Old age does no harm to indie rock legends The Feelies |url=https://dailycollegian.com/2017/03/old-age-does-no-harm-to-indie-rock-legends-the-feelies/ |access-date=2025-06-30 |website=Massachusetts Daily Collegian}}</ref> [[Mission of Burma]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Agit Reader • Feature: Mission of Burma |url=https://www.agitreader.com/features/mission_of_burma-10.26.html |access-date=2025-06-27 |website=www.agitreader.com}}</ref> [[Talking Heads]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hermes |first=Will |date=2007-01-14 |title=Indie Rock's Patron Saint Inspires a New Flock |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/14/arts/music/14herm.html |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> and [[the Embarrassment]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Embarrassment |url=https://www.bar-none.com/the-embarrassment |access-date=2024-12-03 |website=Bar/None Records }}</ref>—the latter an influence on [[R.E.M.]]<ref>{{Cite news |last=O'Brien |first=David |title=Q&A: Mike Mills of R.E.M., on his sweet life and hardcore sports fandom |url=https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/1884875/2020/06/22/qa-mike-mills-of-r-e-m-on-hardcore-sports-fandom/ |access-date=2024-12-03 |work=The New York Times |date=22 June 2020 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> were also important to the development of indie rock. 

== Background ==
{{See also|Independent music|Independent record label|UK Indie Chart}}

Before [[punk rock]] and the [[independent music]] boom of the late 1970s to early 1980s, independent music already had a rich history of promoting developments in popular music, particularly in genres overlooked by major labels. Prior to the late 1970s, major record companies held so much power that independent labels struggled to establish themselves, as they often failed commercially or were eventually absorbed by major labels. However, this dynamic began to change in 1979 when [[Rough Trade Records|Rough Trade]] released the album ''[[Inflammable Material]]'' by [[Stiff Little Fingers]] which went on to be the first independently-released album to sell over 100,000 copies and enter the [[UK Top 20]]. This success sparked major record companies' interest in independent music and by the end of the decade, the establishment of the [[UK Independent Singles and Albums Charts|UK indie charts]] signaled the growing popularity of the movement.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Peacock |first=Tim |date=2024-02-07 |title=Music For Misfits: The Story Of Indie Rock |url=https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/story-of-indie-music/ |access-date=2024-05-21 |website=uDiscover Music}}</ref> The [[BBC]] documentary "''Do it Yourself: The Story of Rough Trade''"<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tKE-hDDgZQ |title=BBC - Do It Yourself   The Story of Rough Trade |date=2022-09-07 |last=Wilson |first=Chris |type=Television production |language=English |access-date=2025-11-18 |via=}}</ref> stated that:{{cquote|"[...] when Rough Trade began in 1976 there were about a dozen independent labels in Britain, by the end of the decade there were over 800."
}} Other notable early indie labels include [[Mute Records|Mute]], [[4AD]], [[Factory Records|Factory]], [[Beggars Banquet Records|Beggars Banquet]] and [[Creation Records]].<ref name="King2012" />

=== Early UK DIY Movement ===
{{See also|DIY punk ethic}}
[[File:Television Personalities (5363667797).jpg|thumb|188x188px|Dan Treacy's [[Television Personalities]], one of the leading bands of the UK DIY wave and forerunners to [[indie pop]]]]
The ''[[BBC]]'' documentary ''Music for Misfits: The Story of Indie'' remarks that the self-publication of the ''[[Spiral Scratch (EP)|Spiral Scratch]]'' EP by Manchester [[punk rock]] band the [[Buzzcocks]], on their independent record label [[New Hormones]] on 29 January 1977, was a pivotal moment in the development of indie rock, as well as  the wider English independent music scene.<ref name="A definition of indie music">{{Cite web|url=http://www.23indie.com|title=A definition of indie music|website=23indie.com|access-date=21 March 2016}}</ref><ref name="bbc.co.uk">{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06g64wb/episodes/guide|title=Music for Misfits: The Story of Indie – Episode guide – BBC Four|website=BBC|access-date=21 March 2016}}</ref> Writer Kevin Dunn's ''Global Punk'' highlights how the [[Buzzcocks]]' debut EP inspired a wave of independent DIY releases across the United Kingdom: "...the EP literally showed how one could make a record, with the details of the recording process (e.g., number of takes and over-dubs) and pressing costs printed right on the record cover."<ref>{{cite book |last=Dunn |first=Kevin |title=Global Punk: Resistance and Rebellion in Everyday Life |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |year=2016 |location=New York}}</ref> 

Similarly, the earliest releases by the [[The Desperate Bicycles|Desperate Bicycles]]<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=The Desperate Bicycles |url=https://punk77.co.uk/band/the-desperate-bicycles/ |access-date=2025-06-26 |website=Punk 77}}</ref> showed listeners how to produce and distribute their own records independently at very low cost, with the sole objective of undermining the monopoly that major record labels held over the wider music industry. Both the Buzzcocks and Desperate Bicycles helped inspire a wave of [[DIY punk ethic|DIY punk]] bands like [['O' Level]], [[Television Personalities]], [[Swell Maps]], and others—who followed suit in producing and distributing their own records.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Quietus {{!}} Features {{!}} A Quietus Interview {{!}} Organised Chaos: Swell Maps Interviewed |url=https://thequietus.com/articles/30006-swell-maps-interview |access-date=2023-11-19 |website=The Quietus |date=24 May 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Dale |first=Jon |date=2014-10-01 |title=The story of UK DIY: 131 experimental underground classics from 1977-1985 |url=https://www.factmag.com/2014/10/01/the-story-of-uk-diy-131-experimental-underground-classics-from-1977-1985/ |access-date=2023-11-21 |website=Fact Magazine}}</ref> Distribution was further improved with the establishment of 'The Cartel', an association of companies like [[Red Rhino]] and [[Rough Trade Records]] who would take the releases from these small labels and get them into [[Record stores|record shops]] nationwide.<ref name="Lazell">Lazell, Barry (1997). "Indie Hits 1980–1989", [[Cherry Red Books]]. {{ISBN|0-9517206-9-4}}</ref> [[Stephen Malkmus]] later cited the British DIY era as a foundational influence on [[Pavement (band)|Pavement]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Blog |first=N. M. E. |date=2010-05-12 |title=Stephen Malkmus - What Rock'n'Roll Has Taught Me |url=https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/stephen-malkmus-what-rocknroll-has-taught-me-778838 |access-date=2025-06-28 |website=NME}}</ref>

=== Dunedin Sound ===
[[File:The_Chills,_Indietracks_2014_10.jpg|thumb|[[The Chills]] performing at [[Indietracks]] in rural [[Derbyshire]] in 2014]]The city of [[Dunedin]], New Zealand, produced the independent record label [[Flying Nun Records]], whose artists defined the [[Dunedin sound]], which would be particularly influential on the development of indie rock's sound.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gordon |first1=Alastair |last2=Dines |first2=Mike |last3=Guerra |first3=Paula |last4=Bestley |first4=Russ |title=Trans-Global Punk Scenes The Punk Reader Volume 2 · Volume 2 |date=15 February 2021 |quote=Dunedin, the second-largest city in the South Island ... would become famous for the 'Dunedin Sound'. The term 'refers loosely to the output of a number of acts affiliated with the Flying Nun label during the 1980s, whose legacy is celebrated among indie rock circles internationally' (Wilson and Holland 2018: 69). The Dunedin Sound produced bands such as the Chills and the Clean and many others emerged due to 'much intermingling of artists, with group members often moving from one group to another or playing for several groups at one time' (McLeay 1994: 38). While the Dunedin Sound was predominately associated with indie rock, Aotearoa has since produced diverse bands, such as the Datsuns, Suburban Reptiles and Die! Die! Die! that encompass a mix of genres, such as rock, punk and post-punk respectively.}}</ref><ref name="McConnell">{{Cite web |last=McConnell |first=Glenn |date=2023-02-15 |title=These Dunedin students want to revitalise the city's live music scene |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/music/131226947/these-dunedin-students-want-to-revitalise-the-citys-live-music-scene |access-date=2023-09-15 |website=Stuff}}</ref><ref name="daily.bandcamp.com">{{Cite web |date=2018-04-04 |title=New Zealand Indie: Beyond Flying Nun and the "Dunedin Sound" |url=https://daily.bandcamp.com/scene-report/new-zealand-indie-list |access-date=2023-09-15 |website=Bandcamp Daily}}</ref> According to [[AudioCulture|Audioculture]], one of the earliest Dunedin Sound band was [[Chris Knox]]'s band [[The Enemy (New Zealand band)|the Enemy]], which emerged as a post-punk group, whose members also included [[Alec Bathgate]]. Although the group was only around for a short time, their shows impressed the teenage musicians that came to see them, including a young [[Shayne Carter]], who went on to form [[Bored Games]], [[the DoubleHappys]] and [[Straitjacket Fits]]. Knox later formed another short-lived punk band called [[Toy Love]], and after it broke up, he went on to start the influential band [[Tall Dwarfs]], who were an integral influence on the emergence of home-recorded [[Lo-fi music|lo-fi indie]].<ref name="Allmusic">{{cite web |last=Ankeny |first=Jason |date=1997-02-11 |title=Tall Dwarfs – Music Biography, Credits and Discography |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/tall-dwarfs-mn0000157091 |access-date=2013-01-07 |publisher=AllMusic}}</ref> The punk-inspired aspects of the scene were often inspired by opposition to [[Robert Muldoon]] and his government, which prompted satire or outright criticism.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Popular music in New Zealand from 1900 to today |url=https://my.christchurchcitylibraries.com/popular-music-in-nz-from-1900 |access-date=2023-09-24 |website=my.christchurchcitylibraries.com}}</ref> The scene saw bands take influence from punk rock, but strip away its aggression for a [[reverb]] heavy, [[pop music|pop]]–influenced sound. Marked by [[the Clean]]'s 1981 debut single "Tally-Ho!" and 1982's ''[[Dunedin Double (EP)|Dunedin Double]]'' EP featuring [[the Chills]], [[Sneaky Feelings]], [[the Verlaines]] and [[The Stones (band)|the Stones]], its guitars were often jangly and droning and vocals indistinct.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Bannister|first=Matthew|date=|title=Anything Could Happen - Flying Nun History 1980-1995|url=http://www.undertheradar.co.nz/utr/article/UAID/3/Flying-Nun-History-1980-1995.utr|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171028164654/http://www.undertheradar.co.nz/utr/article/UAID/3/Flying-Nun-History-1980-1995.utr|archive-date=28 October 2017|access-date=13 February 2021|website=Under the Radar}}</ref> The following years, the Dunedin sound spread to other New Zealand cities such as [[Christchurch]] or [[Auckland]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dunedin Sound - the sound of honesty? - Article {{!}} AudioCulture |url=https://www.audioculture.co.nz/articles/dunedin-sound-the-sound-of-honesty |access-date=2023-09-14 |website=www.audioculture.co.nz}}</ref><ref name="daily.bandcamp.com"/><ref>{{Cite web |title=Dunedin Sound genre {{!}} Artists, music and albums |url=https://www.chosic.com/genre-chart/dunedin-sound/ |access-date=2023-09-15 |website=Chosic}}</ref><ref name="McConnell"/>

==History==
=== Origins ===
[[File:Jesus and Mary Chain 2007.jpg|thumb|British band [[the Jesus and Mary Chain]] performing in California in 2007]]
{{See also|College rock|Jangle pop}}
The early to mid–1980s saw the growing popularity of [[Campus radio|college radio]] stations, primarily in the United States, who would play independent artists of various genres, including [[alternative rock]], [[New wave music|new wave]], [[post-hardcore]] and [[post-punk]]. The bands broadcast on these stations became dubbed "[[college rock]]" by fans, another term which lacked any stylistic implication. The most prominent college rock bands were [[jangle pop]] groups [[R.E.M.]], from the US, and [[the Smiths]], from the UK, who [[Matthew Bannister (musician)|Matthew Bannister]] states were the earliest indie rock groups.<ref name="Bannister" /> These bands' influence was quickly seen in the formation of [[Let's Active]], [[the Housemartins]] and [[the La's]].<ref name="AMCollegeRock">{{Citation|title=College rock |journal=AllMusic |url=https://www.allmusic.com/explore/style/d11971 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101229184652/http://www.allmusic.com/explore/style/d11971 |archive-date=29 December 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> By this time, the term "indie rock" had begun to be used to describe the bands who produced music on independent record labels, rather than simply the record labels themselves. This made it the only genre at the time which was defined by the methods by which the music was distributed rather than the sound of said music.<ref name="BrownandVolgsten2006p.194" />

Journalist Steve Taylor also cited the bands involved in the [[Paisley Underground]] scene as early indie groups.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Taylor |first1=Steve |title=The A to X of Alternative Music |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Academic]] |date=27 September 2006 |page=129 |quote=There was nothing going on in the British music scene in 1984. Even the new romantic scene was dying a slow and painful death. Howard Jones, Eurythmics and Nik Kershaw were the bright new pop things and as far as the indie scene was concerned, it started and ended with the Smiths. American bands led by REM and the Paisley Underground scene were clearing up on the gig circuit and in the music press.}}</ref> In the following years [[the Jesus and Mary Chain]] and Flying Nun Records bands like the [[Jean-Paul Sartre Experience]] morphed the genre into a slower, darker and more hypnotic style.<ref name="Bannister">{{cite book|title=White Boys, White Noise: Masculinities and 1980s Indie Guitar Rock|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lt2hAgAAQBAJ|year=2013|publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.|isbn=978-1-4094-9374-7|pages=87 |author=[[Matthew Bannister (musician)|Matthew Bannister]] |quote=If early indie's biggest bands were jangle pop groups like R.E.M. and The Smiths, then their relative success made them and similar groups no longer indie - in order to go on being different, the style had to go on remaining different from the mainstream. As the 1980s progressed, Flying Nun bands tended towards a slower, more hypnotic feel, increased use of the 'wall of guitars, more distortion, more aggression and a generally 'darker", gloomier, more 'rock' sound, contemporaneous with the increasing influence of groups like The Jesus and Mary Chain and Sonic Youth. The Jean-Paul Sartre Experience typify this progression, initially experimenting with pop and soul styles before settling into the classic indie mould.}}</ref> The number of college radio stations in the US decreased significantly following [[NPR]]'s lobbying against noncommercial station during the 1980s. In turn, the name "college rock" fell into disfavour, soon being replaced by "indie".<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Svenonius |first1=Ian |title=The Rise and Fall of College Rock |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/123187/how-npr-killed-college-rock |magazine=[[The New Republic]] |date=23 October 2015 |access-date=16 June 2023}}</ref>

===Development===
{{See also|C86}}
[[File:Bilinda Butcher (cropped 2).jpg|thumb|left|150px|[[My Bloody Valentine (band)|My Bloody Valentine]] pioneered the indie rock subgenre [[shoegaze]].]]
In the United Kingdom, ''[[NME]]'' released the ''[[C86]]'' compilation cassette, which consisted of tracks by groups including [[Primal Scream]], [[the Pastels]] and [[the Wedding Present]]. Intended to showcase the UK's current independent music scene, the album was made up of groups combining elements of jangle pop, post-punk and [[Phil Spector]] indebted [[Wall of Sound|Walls of Sound]]. In 2006, [[Bob Stanley (musician)|Bob Stanley]] called it "the beginning of indie music".<ref>{{Citation|last=N. Hasted |title=How an NME cassette launched indie music |journal=Independent.co.uk |date=27 October 2006 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/how-an-nme-cassette-launched-indie-music-421802.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120727024017/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/how-an-nme-cassette-launched-indie-music-421802.html |archive-date=27 July 2012 |url-status=dead }}.</ref> C86 became a descriptor in its own right, describing not only the bands on the tape but also bands who it influenced, often used alongside terms like "anorak pop" and "shambling".<ref>{{cite web |title=C86 |url=https://www.allmusic.com/style/c-86-ma0000011816 |website=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=18 June 2023}}</ref> Some C86 bands found significant commercial success: [[the Soup Dragons]] went on to sell out [[Madison Square Garden]]; Primal Scream were critically acclaimed, receiving the first ever [[Mercury Prize]] in 1992; the Wedding Present charted eighteen times in the Top 40; however many bands in its twenty-two track runtime also fell into obscurity.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Tassell |first1=Nige |title=Reel lives: how I tracked down the class of NME's C86 album |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/aug/08/reel-lives-how-i-tracked-down-the-class-of-nmes-c86-album |website=[[The Guardian]] |date=8 August 2022 |access-date=18 June 2023}}</ref>

In the United States, the popularity of R.E.M. allowed those disliking of [[hardcore punk]]'s aggression and militancy to become a part of the [[underground music]] scene. This empowered an array of musicians, particularly those in what would become the [[post-hardcore]] scene as led by [[Minutemen (band)|the Minutemen]]<ref name=AzP94>{{Cite book |last=Azerrad |first=Michael |title=[[Our Band Could Be Your Life|Our Band Could Be Your Life : Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981-1991]] |date=2 July 2002 |isbn=9780316787536 |edition=First Back Bay paperback |location=Boston |pages=94}}</ref> who in the hardcore scene were often met with hostility, with [[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Masters |first=Marc |title=Minutemen: Double Nickels on the Dime |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/22506-double-nickels-on-the-dime/ |access-date=2024-12-06 |website=Pitchfork}}</ref> citing "the first time they opened for [[Black Flag (band)|Black Flag]], the Minutemen were showered with spit from the crowd", further stating that "they just weren't that hardcore". Despite this, they've been credited with providing "the life blood of indie rock for decades".<ref name=AzP94 /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Moody |first=Mark |title=Minutemen – Reflecting on the 40th Anniversary of "What Makes a Man Start Fires?" |url=https://www.undertheradarmag.com/blog/minutemen_reflecting_on_the_40th_anniversary_of_what_makes_a_man_start_fire/ |access-date=2024-12-06 |website=Under the Radar Magazine}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Reft |first=Ryan |date=2013-01-10 |title=Economic Hardcore: Remembering the Minutemen Nearly 30 Years Later |url=https://tropicsofmeta.com/2013/01/10/economic-hardcore-remembering-the-minutemen-nearly-30-years-later/ |access-date=2024-12-06 |website=Tropics of Meta}}</ref> Similarly, [[Wipers (band)|Wipers]], who with their melodic riffs and emphasis on guitar leads and solos, also stood out in the hardcore scene, influencing emerging indie artists such as [[J Mascis]] of [[Dinosaur Jr.|Dinosaur Jr]], helping re-introduce guitar virtuosity back into alternative music.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sacher |first=Andrew |title=Dinosaur Jr's J. Mascis lists 10 albums that changed his life |url=https://www.brooklynvegan.com/dinosaur-jrs-j-mascis-lists-10-albums-that-changed-his-life/ |access-date=2024-12-06 |website=BrooklynVegan}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Sylvester |first=Nick |date=2012-01-16 |title=Wipers |url=https://pitchfork.com/features/underscore/8751-wipers/ |access-date=2024-12-06 |website=Pitchfork}}</ref>

Furthermore, major labels began to pursue underground bands, with both [[Hüsker Dü]] and [[The Replacements (band)|the Replacements]] releasing albums on majors in the middle of the decade. While these albums did not see the same success as R.E.M., and major labels soon lost interest in the scene, they did have a large impact on younger bands. Some groups like [[Camper Van Beethoven]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Camper Van Beethoven and their recording odyssey |url=https://tapeop.com/interviews/bonus/camper-van-beethoven-and-their-recording-odyssey/ |access-date=2024-12-03 |website=tapeop.com |archive-date=4 December 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241204094436/https://tapeop.com/interviews/bonus/camper-van-beethoven-and-their-recording-odyssey/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[the Dead Milkmen]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jones |first=Kevin L. |date=2015-04-17 |title=Punk's Comedy Troupe The Dead Milkmen Discuss the Old Days |url=https://www.kqed.org/arts/10562911/punk-rocks-comedy-troupe-return-for-another-lap-around-west-coast#:~:text=As%20the%20'80s%20went%20on,mind%20you%20%E2%80%94%20and%20end%20their |access-date=2024-12-03 |website=KQED}}</ref> and [[Violent Femmes]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Clarke |first=Patrick |date=2024-11-08 |title=Reissue of the Week: Violent Femmes' Hallowed Ground |url=https://thequietus.com/quietus-reviews/reissue-of-the-week/violent-femmes-hallowed-ground-reissue-review/ |access-date=2024-12-03 |website=The Quietus}}</ref> infused the scene with sardonic humor and irony. In the following years, [[Sonic Youth]], [[Dinosaur Jr.]] and [[Unrest (band)|Unrest]] began to release music on independent labels indebted to these bands, and soon too picked up the categorisation of indie rock.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Aaron |first1=Charles |title=Notes from the Underground |journal=[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]] |date=October 2005 |volume=21 |issue=10 |quote=R.E.M., in their way, made the country seem less foreboding and more inclusive, replacing hardcore's iconoclasm with a warm invitation to less-hip kids who didn't live in California or the Northeast. "When I was 15 years old in Richmond, Virginia, they were a very important part of my life, as they were for all the members of our band," said Bob Nastanovich, of '90s indie-rock doyens Pavement... "They were the first [underground] band that the frat guys looked at and didn't say, 'Oh, let's beat up some fags.""...<br>By the mid-'80s, the raw sprawl of post-hardcore "underground rock" was coalescing, and after R.E.M.'s success, a number of bands started to think they could also buy in. Major-label reps were showing more interest... Still, in 1985, the most incorrigibly ill-behaved rock band in America, Minneapolis' the Replacements, signed to Sire and released their major-label debut, Tim, a perfectly ragged collection of anthemic pleas written by singer/guitarist Paul Westerberg... Former hardcore punks Hüsker Dü (Minneapolis natives like the Replacements) recorded their major-label debut, Candy Apple Grey, for Warner Bros., a ten-song stunner of punk-pop head trips, but it never earned a nod from commercial radio. The moment's hopeful ambition faded...<br>As major labels moved on to hump the L.A. hair-metal ass party, underground rockers began to lose their craving for mainstream validation. The new role models became uncompromising label owners like Greg Ginn of Southern California's SST, and Ian MacKaye of Washington, D.C.'s Dischord. SST, which had started in the late '70s with Ginn's pioneering Black Flag, was a relentless force, signing up the most significant underground bands of the early to mid-'80s, including Minutemen, Hüsker Dü, Meat Puppets, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr....<br>As this shift took place in the underground scene, a new tag for the music began to crop up: "indie rock"... Unrest mixed winsome, strummy love songs with a brash, pop-culture irony that would later become a defining indie-rock trait}}</ref> As the 1980s closed, both Sonic Youth and [[the Pixies]] signed to major labels.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Aaron |first1=Charles |title=Notes from the Underground |journal=[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]] |date=October 2005 |volume=21 |issue=10 |quote=Bookending this period were two bands: Sonic Youth spent the pre-indie era as a cooler-than-you, downtown New York art-noise clique before developing into a R.E.M.-like presence through the mid-to late '80s; and Boston's Pixies, who bypassed the U.S. indie circuit, first finding success for their abstract pop squall in the U.K. Both were led by male-female duos-Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon, Pixies' Black Francis and Kim Deal-and their music could feel like an ongoing 3 A.M. heart-to-heart, flipping from eerie whispers to alien croons to gnomic shouts. So when they signed to major labels-Pixies to Elektra in 1988 and Sonic Youth to Geffen in 1989-it was an acknowledgment that indie's reinvigorated version of rock might finally be market ready.}}</ref>

In the late 1980s, the indie rock subgenre [[shoegaze]] emerged, as a continuation of the wall of sound production being used by groups like the Jesus and Mary Chain. The genre merged this with influences from [[Dinosaur Jr.]] and the [[Cocteau Twins]], to create a dark and droning style so cacophonous that instruments were often indistinguishable. The genre was pioneered by [[My Bloody Valentine (band)|My Bloody Valentine]] on their early EPs and debut album ''[[Isn't Anything]]''.<ref name=AMShoegaze>{{Citation|title=Shoegaze |journal=Allmusic |url=https://www.allmusic.com/explore/style/shoegaze-d2680 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110224064714/http://www.allmusic.com/explore/style/shoegaze-d2680 |archive-date=24 February 2011 |url-status=dead }}.</ref> The band's style influenced a wave of bands in London and the [[Thames Valley]] area including [[Chapterhouse (band)|Chapterhouse]], [[Moose (band)|Moose]] and [[Lush (band)|Lush]]. This scene was collectively termed "the Scene That Celebrates Itself" by ''[[Melody Maker]]'s'' [[Steve Sutherland (DJ)|Steve Sutherland]] in 1990.<ref name="Larkin">{{cite book |last=Larkin |first=Colin |title=The Guinness Who's Who of Indie and New Wave Music |year= 1992 |publisher=Guinness Publishing |isbn=0-85112-579-4 }}</ref>

[[file:Stone Roses-17-07-2012 Milan.JPG|thumb|[[The Stone Roses]]' 1990 [[Spike Island (concert)|Spike Island]] concert was the highest attendance performance by an independent artist of its time.]]
[[Madchester]] was another style and scene that originated in the late 1980s. Defined by its merger of  C86 indie rock, [[dance music]] and [[Hedonist]] rave culture, particularly its emphasis on the use of psychedelic drugs, the scene was centred in [[Manchester]].<ref name="Barnett 2020">{{cite news |last1=Barnett |first1=David |title=Spike Island at 30: the Stone Roses gig was scary, shambolic – and pure bliss |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/may/27/spike-island-at-30 |website=[[The Guardian]] |date=27 May 2020 |access-date=17 June 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Lashua |first1=Brett |last2=Spracklen |first2=Karl |last3=Yavuz |first3=M. Selim |last4=Wagg |first4=Stephen |title=Sounds and the City Volume 2 · Volume 2 |date=24 October 2018 |publisher=[[Springer Publishing]] |page=305 |quote=The 'Madchester' scene was defined by what Redhead describes as 'hedonism in hard times' (1993). The emphasis was on partying in the post-industrial, 'no future' city. At the centre of this partying was the newly arrived drug, ecstasy (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine or MDMA). The 'spectacular' drug taking of Happy Mondays and the ravers of Manchester's club culture were part of the fuel that sparked nationwide moral panics and the subsequent regulation of 'rave' lifestyles (culminating in the 1994 Criminal Justice Act). Sarah Champion, Manchester-based music journalist during the Madchester era, summarised Madchester in the following way, 'White scallies put down guitars, picked up the groove. Indie bands released 12 inchers; clubs spun rock tunes. Happy Mondays' "Hallelujah", The Stone Roses' "Fools Gold"....' (1992: 41), and acknowledges ecstasy, which induces euphoria, empathy and heightened sensations, as being a centrally important driving force behind the Madchester scene, and highlights the fusion of 'indie' rock music with dance music.}}</ref> The scene was based around [[the Haçienda]] nightclub, which opened in May 1982 as an initiative of [[Factory Records]]. For the first few years of its life, the club played predominantly club-oriented pop music and hosted performances by artists including [[New Order (band)|New Order]], [[Cabaret Voltaire (band)|Cabaret Voltaire]], [[Culture Club]], [[Thompson Twins]] and the Smiths.<ref>John Robb, ''The North Will Rise Again'', Aurum Press, London, 2009, p 233</ref> The Madchester movement burgeoned by 1989, with the success of [[the Happy Mondays]] second album ''[[Bummed]]'' and [[the Stone Roses]]' [[The Stone Roses (album)|self-titled debut]], which became the most influential work in the scene. In the following years, addition high profile acts included [[The Charlatans (English band)|the Charlatans]], [[808 State]] and the [[Inspiral Carpets]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=Chapter Three – Madchester |url=http://www.manchester.com/music/features/music5.php |work=manchester.com |access-date=25 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604190208/http://www.manchester.com/music/features/music5.php |archive-date=4 June 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The Madchester scene's distinct combination of indie rock and dance music became termed [[indie dance]] by critics, or more specifically the subgenre [[baggy]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Muggs |first1=Joe |title=Twisting my melon, man! The baggy, brilliant indie-rave summer of 1990 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/jul/07/1990s-indie-dance-boom-happy-mondays-primal-scream |website=[[The Guardian]] |date=7 July 2020 |access-date=17 June 2023}}</ref> Madchester and baggy's most infamous moment was the 27 May 1990 [[Spike Island (concert)|Spike Island]] concert headlined by the Stone Roses. With an attendance of around 28,000 and lasting twelve hours, it was the first event of its size and kind to be hosted by an independent act.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Stanley |first1=Bob |title=A cold night of chemical hair: the reality of the Stone Roses at Spike Island |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2015/may/27/stone-roses-spike-island-the-reality |website=[[The Guardian]] |date=27 May 2015 |access-date=17 June 2023}}</ref>

In [[Stourbridge]], a scene of indie bands who took influence from [[electronic music|electronic]], punk, [[folk music|folk]] and [[hip-hop music]] emerged, dubbed [[Grebo (music)|grebo]] by critics. Fronted by [[Pop Will Eat Itself]], [[the Wonder Stuff]] and [[Ned's Atomic Dustbin]], "grebo" was broadly defined, and was used more as a name for the Stourbridge scene than as a genre label. However, the bands quickly gained attention: Pop Will Eat Itself's 1989 singles "[[Wise Up! Sucker]]" and "[[Can U Dig It?]]" both entered the UK Top 40 and Stourbridge briefly became a tourist attraction for young indie rock fans. The seminal albums from the scene were released between 1989 and 1993: the Wonder Stuff's ''[[Hup (album)|Hup]]'' and ''[[Never Loved Elvis]]''; Ned's Atomic Dustbin's ''[[God Fodder]]'' and ''[[Are You Normal?]]''; and Pop Will Eat Itself's ''[[This Is the Day...This Is the Hour...This Is This!]]'' and ''[[The Looks or the Lifestyle?]]''. In this period, the scene's bands became fixtures, sometimes headliners, at [[Reading Festival]], sold millions of albums and were frequently featured on the covers of magazines like ''NME'' and ''[[Melody Maker]]''.<ref name="Guardian Grebo">{{cite news |title=Wise up suckers! How grebo rivalled Britpop as the sound of 90s indie |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/mar/29/wise-up-suckers-how-grebo-rivalled-britpop-as-the-sound-of-90s-indie |website=[[The Guardian]] |date=29 March 2018 |access-date=17 June 2023 |last1=Sword |first1=Harry }}</ref> Grebo bands were distinct from prior indie rock groups not only because of their broad influences, but their subversion of the twee or unhappy moods of most other bands in the genre, and their pursuit of a heavier sound and aesthetic. The scene  came to include the stylistically similar bands of nearby Leicester: [[the Bomb Party]], [[Gaye Bykers on Acid]], [[Crazyhead]], [[the Hunters Club]] and [[Scum Pups]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Banks |first1=Joe |title="A Burst Of Dirty Thunder": The Rise And Fall Of Grebo |url=https://thequietus.com/articles/30791-rich-deakin-grebo-the-loud-and-lousy-story-of-gaye-bykers-on-acid-and-crazyhead-interview |website=[[The Quietus]] |date=6 November 2021 |access-date=17 June 2023}}</ref>

===Mainstream–underground split: 1990s===
[[File:Sonic Youth 2009.05.30 001.jpg|thumb|left|The success of grunge allowed [[Sonic Youth]] to break through 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|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]]|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>

===Mainstream success: 2000s===
====Post-punk and garage rock revival====
{{Main|Post-punk revival|Garage rock revival}}

[[File:The Strokes by Roger Woolman.jpg|thumb|[[The Strokes]] are one of the most influential bands to indie rock in the 2000s.]]
The mainstream attention which indie rock garnered in the 2000s began with [[the Strokes]] and their 2001 debut album ''[[Is This It]]''. Playing a style indebted to '60s-70s bands like [[the Velvet Underground]] and [[the Ramones]], the band's intention musically was to sound like "a band from the past that took a time trip into the future to make their record."<ref name="Indie88">{{cite web |title=Indie Anthology: The Strokes release their influential debut album 'Is This It' |date=19 September 2022 |url=https://indie88.com/indie-anthology-the-strokes-debut-is-this-it/ |publisher=[[CIND-FM]] |access-date=16 June 2023}}</ref> The album peaked at number thirty-three in the United States, staying in the charts for two additional years and debuted at number two on the [[UK albums chart]].<ref name="Indie88" /><ref>{{cite web |last1=Daly |first1=Rhian |title=The Strokes' world-changing 'Is This It' at 20: "They had a 'last gang in town' mentality" |url=https://www.nme.com/features/music-features/the-strokes-is-this-it-at-20-years-anniversary-3006402 |website=[[NME]] |date=30 July 2021 |access-date=16 June 2023}}</ref> When the Strokes made their commercial debut, the public perception of "rock music" was based in [[post-grunge]], [[nu metal]] and [[rap rock]], putting their throwback style of [[garage rock]] as a stark contrast to the mainstream. The band's immediate influence allowed fellow classic rock influenced New York bands like the [[Yeah Yeah Yeahs]], [[Interpol (band)|Interpol]] and [[TV on the Radio]] to gain mainstream attention.<ref name="Golsen 2022">{{cite web |last1=Golsen |first1=Tyler |title=Is This It' at 20: How The Strokes changed music forever |date=30 July 2021 |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/how-the-strokes-album-is-this-it-changed-music-forever/ |access-date=16 June 2023}}</ref> The Strokes were accompanied in this commercial breakthrough by [[the White Stripes]], [[The Vines (band)|the Vines]], and [[the Hives]]. These groups were christened by parts of the media as the "The" bands, and dubbed "the saviours of rock 'n' roll",<ref name=Smith2009>C. Smith, ''101 Albums That Changed Popular Music'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), {{ISBN|0-19-537371-5}}, p. 240.</ref> prompting ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' magazine to declare on its September 2002 cover, "Rock is Back!"<ref name=Youngs2002>{{Citation| last = I. Youngs| title = New bands race for rock stardom| publisher = BBC News| date = 22 October 2002| url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/2346791.stm| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090104075622/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2346791.stm| archive-date = 4 January 2009| url-status = dead| df = mdy-all}}.</ref>

[[File:The Libertines (40466665072).jpg|thumb|[[The Libertines]] were described by [[AllMusic]] as "one of the U.K.'s most influential 21st century acts".]]
The success of the Strokes revitalised the then-dying underground post-Britpop scene in the United Kingdom with groups who took the band's influence and experimented with their sound. This first wave of UK acts included [[Franz Ferdinand (band)|Franz Ferdinand]], [[Kasabian]], [[Maxïmo Park]], [[the Cribs]], [[Bloc Party]], [[Kaiser Chiefs]] and [[the Others (band)|the Others]].<ref name=":0" /> However, [[the Libertines]], who formed in 1997, stood as the UK's counterpoint to the Strokes, being described by [[AllMusic]] as "one of the U.K.'s most influential 21st century acts"<ref name="Phares, AllMusic">{{cite web |last1=Phares |first1=Heather |title=Biography: the Libertines |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-libertines-mn0000080649/biography |website=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=16 June 2023}}</ref> and ''[[The Independent]]'' stating that "the Libertines wanted to be an important band, but they could not have predicted the impact they would have".<ref name=independent0703>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/after-the-libertines-what-todays-bands-owe-carl-and-pete-439391.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080608030141/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/after-the-libertines-what-todays-bands-owe-carl-and-pete-439391.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=8 June 2008|title=After The Libertines: What today's bands owe Carl and Pete|access-date=27 February 2008|author=Thornton, Anthony |author-link=Anthony Thornton (writer)|date=9 March 2007|work=[[The Independent]] | location=London}}</ref> Influenced by [[the Clash]], [[the Kinks]], [[the Smiths]] and [[the Jam]],<ref name="Phares, AllMusic" /> the band's style of tinny, high register, sometimes acoustic, guitar parts topped by lyrics of British [[Parochialism|parochial]] pleasures in the vocalists' authentic English accents became widely imitated.<ref name=independent0703 /> [[The Fratellis]], [[the Kooks]], and [[the View (band)|the View]] were three such acts to gain significant commercial success, although the most prominent post-Libertines band was Sheffield's [[Arctic Monkeys]].<ref name=independent0703 /> One of the earliest groups to owe their initial commercial success to the use of [[Internet social network]]ing,<ref>A. Goetchius, ''Career Building Through Social Networking'' (Rosen, 2007), {{ISBN|1-4042-1943-9}}, pp. 21–2.</ref> the Arctic Monkeys had two No. 1 singles, and their album ''[[Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not]]'' (2006) became the fastest-selling debut album in British chart history.<ref>{{citation |last=A. Kumi |url=https://www.theguardian.com/arts/news/story/0,,1698025,00.html |work=The Guardian |title=Arctic Monkeys make chart history |date=30 January 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110823024750/http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2006/jan/30/arts.artsnews |archive-date=23 August 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In this success, legacy indie bands soon entered the mainstream,<ref name=Spitz2010>M. Spitz, [https://books.google.com/books?id=yqmlNOuYQdEC&pg=PA95 "The 'New Rock Revolution' fizzles"], May 2010, ''Spin'', vol. 26, no. 4, ISSN 0886-3032, p. 95.</ref> including Modest Mouse (whose 2004 album ''[[Good News for People Who Love Bad News]]'' reached the US top 40 and was nominated for a [[Grammy]] Award), [[Bright Eyes (band)|Bright Eyes]] (who in 2004 had two singles at the top of the Billboard magazine [[Hot 100 Single Sales]])<ref>{{Citation|last=J. Arndt |title=Bright Eyes Sees Double |journal=Soul Shine Magazine |date=23 November 2004 |url=http://www.soulshine.ca/news/newsarticle.php?nid=1293 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514021037/http://www.soulshine.ca/news/newsarticle.php?nid=1293 |archive-date=14 May 2011 |url-status=dead }}.</ref> and Death Cab for Cutie (whose 2005 album ''[[Plans (album)|Plans]]'' debuted at number four in the US, remaining on the Billboard charts for nearly one year and achieving platinum status and a Grammy nomination).<ref>{{Citation|last=A. Leahey |title=Death Cab for Cutie: Biography |journal=Allmusic |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/death-cab-for-cutie-p365455/biography |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110424203425/http://www.allmusic.com/artist/death-cab-for-cutie-p365455/biography |archive-date=24 April 2011 |url-status=dead }}.</ref> This new commercial breakthrough and the widespread use of the term indie to other forms of popular culture, led a number of commentators to suggest that indie rock had ceased to be a meaningful term.<ref>{{Citation|last=K. Korducki |title=Is indie rock dead? |journal=The Varsity |date=17 July 2007 |url=http://thevarsity.ca/articles/99 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110916134124/http://thevarsity.ca/articles/99 |archive-date=16 September 2011 |url-status=dead }}.</ref><ref>{{Citation|last=R. Maddux |title=Is Indie Dead? |journal=Paste Magazine.com |date=26 January 2010 |url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2010/01/is-indie-dead.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110403102612/http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2010/01/is-indie-dead.html |archive-date=3 April 2011 |url-status=dead }}.</ref>

Additionally, a second wave of bands emerged in the United States that managed to gain international recognition as a result of the movement included [[the Black Keys]], [[Kings of Leon]], [[the Shins]], [[the Bravery]], [[Spoon (band)|Spoon]], [[the Hold Steady]], and [[the National (band)|the National]].<ref name=DeRogatis2003p373-4/> The most commercially successful band of this wave was Las Vegas' [[the Killers]]. Formed in 2001, after hearing ''Is This It'', the band scrapped the majority of their prior material to rewrite it under the Strokes' influence.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/the-strokes-talk-the-killers-rivalry-2072222|title=The Strokes talk about their rivalry with The Killers|first=Luke Morgan|last=Britton|date=15 May 2017|work=[[NME]]|access-date=25 June 2019}}</ref> The band's debut single "[[Mr. Brightside]]" spent 260 non-consecutive weeks, or five years, on the [[UK Singles Chart]] as of April 2021, the most out of any song,<ref name="copsey">{{cite web|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/the-killers-mr-brightside-claims-record-breaking-260th-week-exactly-five-years-on-the-official-singles-chart-top-100__32800/|title=The Killers' Mr Brightside claims record-breaking 260th week – exactly five years – on the Official Singles Chart Top 100|last=Copsey|first=Rob|publisher=Official Charts Company|date=1 April 2021|access-date=2 April 2021}}</ref><ref name="moore">{{cite web|url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/the-killers-set-new-uk-chart-record-with-mr-brightside-2912306|title=The Killers set new UK chart record with 'Mr. Brightside'|last=Moore|first=Sam|website=NME|date=1 April 2021|access-date=2 April 2021}}</ref> and {{As of|2017}}, it had charted on the UK Singles Chart in 11 of the last 13 years,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.npr.org/2017/06/04/530079710/mr-brightside-will-never-die-and-heres-why |title='Mr. Brightside' Will Never Die, And Here's Why |first=Stephen |last=Thompson |date=4 June 2017 |work=NPR Music}}</ref> including a 35-week run peaking at number 49 in 2016–2017.<ref name="MetChart">{{cite web |last1=Westbrook |first1=Caroline |title=Mr Brightside by The Killers has been in the UK charts every year since 2004 |url=http://metro.co.uk/2017/05/20/mr-brightside-by-the-killers-has-been-in-the-uk-charts-every-year-since-2004-6650448/ |work=Metro |date=20 May 2017 |access-date=31 May 2017}}</ref> Furthermore, it was the UK's most streamed pre-2010 song, until it was surpassed in late 2018,<ref>{{citation |title=(What's The Story) Morning Glory? [Remastered] |date=2 October 1995 |url=https://open.spotify.com/album/1VW1MFNstaJuygaoTPkdCk |access-date=16 November 2018}}</ref> and continued to be purchased for download hundreds of times a week by 2017.<ref name="200weeks"/> In March 2018, the song reached the milestone of staying in the Top 100 of the UK Singles Chart for 200 weeks.<ref name="200weeks">{{cite web |url=http://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/why-the-killers-mr-brightside-refuses-to-leave-the-official-singles-chart-top-100__19190/ |title=Why The Killers' Mr Brightside refuses to leave the Official Singles Chart Top 100 |date=16 March 2018 |first=Rob|last=Copsey |work=Official Charts Company}}</ref>

====Landfill indie====
{{main|Landfill indie}}

[[File:Alex Turner and Nick O'Malley Roskilde 2014.jpg|thumb|150px |[[Arctic Monkeys]] are one of the most commercially successful bands to emerge out of the [[landfill indie]] movement.]]
The impact of the Strokes, the Libertines and Bloc Party led to significant major label interest in indie rock artists, which was then exacerbated by the success of the Arctic Monkeys. In the years following ''Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not'' there was a proliferation of bands such as [[the Rifles (band)|the Rifles]], [[the Pigeon Detectives]] and [[Milburn (band)|Milburn]], who created a more formulaic derivative of the earlier acts.<ref name="vice.com">{{Cite web |last1=Akinfenwa |first1=Jumi |last2=Joshi |first2=Tara |last3=Garland |first3=Emma |date=27 August 2020 |title=The Top 50 Greatest Landfill Indie Songs of All Time |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-top-50-greatest-landfill-indie-songs-of-all-time/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221111203505/https://www.vice.com/en/article/bv8a8w/the-top-50-greatest-landfill-indie-songs-of-all-time |archive-date=11 November 2022 |website=Vice}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nme.com/features/landfill-indie-snobbery-2741199|title=The term 'landfill indie' is nothing but musical snobbery|website=Nme.com|date=1 September 2020}}</ref> By the end of the decade, critics had taken to referring to this wave of acts as "[[landfill indie]]",<ref>{{Cite web|last=Power|first=Ed|date=28 July 2019|title=How landfill indie swallowed guitar music in the mid-Noughties|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/landfill-indie-kaiser-chiefs-album-razorlight-kooks-ricky-wilson-a9022051.html|access-date=29 August 2020|website=Independent.co.uk}}</ref><ref name="Beaumont 2020">{{Cite web|last=Beaumont|first=Mark|date=4 May 2020|title=From Britpop to 'landfill indie', lockdown forces us to face our musical pasts|url=https://www.nme.com/blogs/britpop-landfill-indie-razorlight-nostalgia-2658671|access-date=29 August 2020|website=Nme.com}}</ref><ref name="T. Walker">{{Citation |last=T. |first=Walker |title=Does the world need another indie band? |date=21 January 2010 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/does-the-world-need-another-indie-band-870520.html |journal=Independent  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100304122059/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/does-the-world-need-another-indie-band-870520.html |archive-date=4 March 2010 |url-status=dead}}.</ref> a description coined by [[Andrew Harrison (journalist)|Andrew Harrison]] of ''[[the Word (UK magazine)|the Word]]'' magazine.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=S. Reynolds |title=Clearing up the indie landfill |journal=Guardian.co.uk |date=4 January 2010 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2010/jan/04/clearing-up-indie-landfill |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111117025019/http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2010/jan/04/clearing-up-indie-landfill |archive-date=17 November 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> A 2020 ''[[Vice Media|Vice]]'' article cited [[Johnny Borrell]], vocalist of [[Razorlight]], as the "one man who defined, embodied and lived Landfill Indie" due to his forming of a "spectacularly middle-of-the-road" band despite his close proximity to the Libertines' "desperate kinetic energy, mythologised love-hate dynamic and vision of a dilapidated Britain animated by romance and narcotics".<ref name="vice.com"/> In a 2009 article for ''[[the Guardian]]'', journalist [[Peter Robinson (journalist)|Peter Robinson]] cited the landfill indie movement as dead, blaming [[the Wombats]], [[Scouting For Girls]], and [[Joe Lean & the Jing Jang Jong]] by stating "If landfill indie had been a game of ''[[Buckaroo!|Buckaroo]]'', those three sent the whole donkey's arse of radio-friendly mainstream guitar band monotony flying high into the air, legs flailing."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/jan/17/florence-and-the-machine-indie|title=Peter Robinson on the death of landfill indie music|date=17 January 2009|website=The Guardian}}</ref>

===Continued success: 2010s–present===
There continued to be commercial successes in the 2010s [[Arcade Fire]]'s ''[[The Suburbs (Arcade Fire album)|The Suburbs]]'' (2010), the Black Keys's ''[[Turn Blue (album)|Turn Blue]]'' (2014), Kings of Leon's ''[[Walls (Kings of Leon album)|Walls]]'' (2016), the Killers's ''[[Wonderful Wonderful (The Killers album)|Wonderful Wonderful]]'' (2017), which reached number one on the Billboard charts in the United States and the official chart in the United Kingdom, with Arcade Fire's album winning a Grammy for Album of The Year in 2011.<ref>{{Citation|title=53 Annual Grammy Awards: Awards and Nominees 2010 (Official Webpage) |website=Grammy.com |date=23 November 2004 |url=http://www.grammy.com/NOMINEES |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501020009/http://www.grammy.com/nominees |archive-date=1 May 2011 |url-status=dead }}.</ref> Other indie rock acts like [[Florence and the Machine]], [[the Decemberists]] and [[LCD Soundsystem]] gained number one singles in the United States during the decade, with [[Vampire Weekend]], Florence and the Machine, Arctic Monkeys, [[Bon Iver]], the Killers and [[the Postal Service]] gaining platinum selling records.<ref name="Clark 2019">{{cite web |last1=Clark |first1=Tyler |title=Did Vampire Weekend Win the Indie Rock Age? |url=https://consequence.net/2019/05/did-vampire-weekend-win-the-indie-rock-age/ |website=[[Consequence (publication)|Consequence]] |date=8 May 2019 |access-date=22 June 2023}}</ref> Vampire Weekend's third studio album ''[[Modern Vampires of the City]]'' (2013) received the [[Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album]] in 2014, with [[Consequence (publication)|Consequence]] writer Tyler Clark stating that in 2019 it was still "an indie rock standard bearer in the wider world of music".<ref name="Clark 2019" /> Arctic Monkeys' fifth album ''[[AM (Arctic Monkeys album)|AM]]'' (2013) was one of the biggest indie rock albums of the decade, charting at number one on the [[UK Albums Chart]], having sold 157,329 copies, thus becoming the second fastest-selling album of the year.<ref>{{cite news |last=O'Neill |first=Lauren |date=9 May 2018 |title=How Did Arctic Monkeys Become the Biggest Band in Britain? |work=[[Vice (magazine)|Vice]] |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/how-did-arctic-monkeys-become-the-biggest-band-in-britain/ |url-status=live |access-date=10 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180515044033/https://noisey.vice.com/en_us/article/59qmgz/how-did-arctic-monkeys-become-the-biggest-band-in-britain |archive-date=15 May 2018}}</ref> With the debut of ''AM'' on the chart, Arctic Monkeys also broke a record, becoming the first independent-label band to debut at number one in the UK with their first five albums.<ref name="OCC">{{cite web |last=Lane |first=Daniel |date=15 September 2013 |title=Arctic Monkeys make Official Albums Chart history with AM |url=http://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/arctic-monkeys-make-official-albums-chart-history-with-am-2489/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130929175156/http://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/arctic-monkeys-make-official-albums-chart-history-with-am-2489/ |archive-date=29 September 2013 |access-date=10 December 2023 |publisher=[[Official Charts Company]]}}</ref> As of June 2019, ''AM'' has spent 300 weeks in the top 100 of the [[UK Albums Chart]].<ref name="Sound Mouth">{{cite web |date=19 June 2019 |title=Weekly Rock Chart Round-Up |url=https://soundmouth.blogspot.com/2019/06/rammstein-knocked-off-uk-top-spot.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190619202308/https://soundmouth.blogspot.com/2019/06/rammstein-knocked-off-uk-top-spot.html |archive-date=19 June 2019 |access-date=10 December 2023 |website=Sound Mouth}}</ref> The album also peaked at number one in Australia, Belgium (Flanders), Croatia, Slovenia, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Portugal, and reached top ten positions in several other countries. In the United States, the album sold 42,000 copies in its first week, and debuted at number six on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart, becoming the band's highest-charting album in the United States.<ref name="US sales">{{cite web |date=19 September 2013 |title=Arctic Monkeys return to US top ten for first time since 2007 |url=https://www.nme.com/news/arctic-monkeys/72760 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201231804/http://www.nme.com/news/arctic-monkeys/72760 |archive-date=1 February 2014 |access-date=10 December 2023 |website=[[NME]]}}</ref> In August 2017, ''AM'' was certified [[RIAA certification|platinum]] by the [[RIAA]] for combined sales and [[album-equivalent unit]]s over of a million units in the United States.<ref name="US2">{{cite web |title=American certifications – Arctic Monkeys |url=https://www.riaa.com/gold-platinum/?tab_active=default-award&ar=ARCTIC+MONKEYS&ti=AM |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220924093247/https://www.riaa.com/gold-platinum/?tab_active=default-award&ar=ARCTIC+MONKEYS&ti=AM |archive-date=24 September 2022 |access-date=10 December 2023 |publisher=[[Recording Industry Association of America]]}}</ref> As of the 14th of April 2023 every track from the album was certified silver or higher by the BPI with "Mad Sounds" being the last to be certified.<ref name="BPI">{{cite certification|region=United Kingdom|title=|artist=Arctic Monkeys|type=|access-date=10 December 2023}}</ref>

When [[the 1975]]'s merger of indie rock and mainstream pop began gaining commercial attraction in the early 2010s, it was controversial; they received the award for "Worst Band" at the 2014 ''[[NME Awards]]'', but by 2017 received "Best Live Band" at the same award show.<ref>{{cite web |title=Music: The 1975 |url=https://www.thenational.scot/news/17330092.music-1975/ |website=[[The National (Scotland)|The National]] |date=7 January 2019 |access-date=21 June 2023}}</ref> ''[[Alternative Press (magazine)|Alternative Press]]'' writer Yasmine Summan stated that "If you could summarize 2013 and 2014 in one album for indie and alternative fans, it would be the 1975's [[The 1975 (album)|self-titled release]]".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Summan |first1=Yasmine |title=10 incredible alternative albums that turn 10 in 2023 |url=https://www.altpress.com/2023-album-anniversaries/ |website=[[Alternative Press (magazine)|Alternative Press]] |date=6 January 2023 |access-date=20 June 2023}}</ref> In an article for ''[[the Guardian]]'' accrediting the 1975 as the band to "usher indie into the mainstream", writer Mark Beaumont compared vocalist Matty Healy's influence on the genre to that of Libertines vocalist [[Pete Doherty]],<ref>{{cite news |last1=Beaumont |first1=Mark |title=The 1975 review – rock rebels usher indie into the mainstream |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/mar/06/the-1975-brixton-academy-london-review |website=[[The Guardian]] |date=6 March 2016 |access-date=20 June 2023}}</ref> and ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]'' listed them as one of the most influential artists in music since 1995.<ref>{{cite web |title=The 200 Most Important Artists of Pitchfork's First 25 Years |url=https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/most-important-artists/ |website=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]] |date=4 October 2021 |access-date=21 June 2023}}</ref> In the 1975's wake, a number of other [[indie pop]] artists gained popularity. Some critics termed this phenomenon "Healywave", which notably included: [[Pale Waves]], [[The Aces (indie pop band)|the Aces]], [[Joan (band)|Joan]], [[Fickle Friends]] and [[No Rome]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Connick |first1=Tom |title=Get to know Healywave – the scene indebted to The 1975's signature sound |url=https://www.nme.com/blogs/the-1975-healywave-new-bands-2300319 |website=[[NME]] |date=21 September 2018 |access-date=20 June 2023}}</ref> Of this group, Pale Waves were particularly commercially prominent, with their debut album ''[[My Mind Makes Noises]]'' peaking at number eight on the UK albums chart, ''[[Who Am I? (Pale Waves album)|Who Am I?]]'' (2021) at number three and ''[[Unwanted (album)|Unwanted]]'' (2022) at number four.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Griffiths |first1=George |title=Kasabian on track for sixth UK Number 1 album with The Alchemist's Euphoria, out-selling rest of Top 5 combined |website=[[Official Charts Company|Official Charts]] |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/kasabian-on-track-for-sixth-uk-number-1-album-with-the-alchemist-s-euphoria-out-selling-rest-of-top-5-combined-__37151/ |access-date=22 June 2023}}</ref> At around the same time [[Wolf Alice]] became a prominent force in the scene, with their second album ''[[Visions of a Life]]'' (2017) winning the Mercury Prize in 2018 and third album ''[[Blue Weekend]]'' (2021) being nominated.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wolgamott |first1=L. Kent |title=The accolades for U.K. rock band Wolf Alice are rolling in — but they're not letting it get to their heads |url=https://www.metrotimes.com/music/the-accolades-for-uk-rock-act-wolf-alice-are-rolling-in-but-theyre-not-letting-it-get-to-their-heads-31192815 |website=[[Metro Times]] |date=28 September 2022 |access-date=22 June 2023}}</ref> Writer Martin Young stated in a 2021 article for [[Dork (magazine)|Dork]] that "It's impossible to truly state just how important Wolf Alice are. They are the catalyst for almost all the amazing bands you've read about in ''Dork'' over the last 5 years."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Young |first1=Martin |title=MARTYN YOUNG'S TOP 10S: THE BEST BRITISH BANDS OF THE LAST DECADE |url=https://readdork.com/features/martyn-youngs-top-10s-best-british-bands-of-the-last-decade/ |website=[[Dork (magazine)|Dork]] |date=14 February 2021 |access-date=21 June 2023}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Independent music]]
* [[Indie music scene]]
* [[List of indie rock musicians]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite journal|title='You've got to go to gigs to get gigs': Indie musicians, eclecticism and the Brisbane scene|first=Ian|last=Rogers|year=2008|issue=5|volume=22|journal=[[Continuum (journal)|Continuum]]|pages=639–649|doi=10.1080/10304310802311618|s2cid=144566463 |url-access=subscription|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10304310802311618}}

{{Rock}}
{{Alternative rock}}

[[Category:Indie rock| ]]
[[Category:2000s fads and trends]]
[[Category:2000s in music]]
[[Category:2010s in music]]