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Indie rock
Stylistic origins:	Punk rock Post-punk Garage rock No wave
Cultural origins:	1980s United Kingdom
Typical instruments:	Guitar - Bass - Drums - Keyboard
Mainstream popularity:	Largely underground, but several bands have had mainstream success.
Regional scenes
Largely global, England - Scotland - Wales - Ireland - USA - Canada - Sweden - Japan
Other topics
Timeline of alternative rock

Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that primarily exists in the independent underground music scene. The term is sometimes used interchangeably with underground music as a whole, though more specifically implicates that the music meets the criteria of being rock, as opposed to indie pop or other possible match-ups. These criteria vary from an emphasis on rock instrumentation (electric guitars, bass guitar, live drums, and vocals) to more abstract (and debatable) rockist constructions of authenticity. It is, however, not uncommon to see a variety of instruments that are rarely used in other rock genres, such as the violin and the harmonica.

"Indie rock" is shorthand for "independent rock", for many of its artists are or were unsigned or signed to independent record labels, rather than major record labels. It is not strictly a genre of music (although the term is often used to reference the sound of specific bands and the bands they have influenced), but is often used as an umbrella term covering a wide range of artists and styles, connected by some degree of allegiance to the values of underground culture, counterculture, and (usually) describable as rock music. Genres or subgenres often associated with indie rock include lo-fi, post-rock, sadcore, C86, and math rock, to list but a few; other related (and sometimes overlapping) categories include shoegazing and indie pop.

Indie rock artists place a premium on maintaining complete control of their music and careers, releasing albums on independent record labels (sometimes their own) and relying on touring, word-of-mouth, and airplay on independent or college radio stations for promotion. Some end up moving to major labels, often on favorable terms won by their prior independent success.

Contents 1 History 1.1 U.K. 1980s 1.2 U.S. 1980s 1.3 U.S. 1990s 1.3.1 Main indie rock genres of the 1990s 1.4 After 2000 1.4.1 Main indie rock genres after 2000 2 References 3 See also

In the United Kingdom, indie music charts have been compiled since the early 1980s. Initially, the charts featured bands that emerged with a form of guitar-based alternative rock that dominated the indie charts, particularly indie pop artists such as Aztec Camera and Orange juice, the C86 jangle-pop movement and the twee pop of Sarah Records artists. Some definitive British indie rock bands of the 1980s were The Smiths, The Stone Roses and The Jesus and Mary Chain, whose music directly influenced 1990s alternative movements such as shoegazing and Britpop.

In the United States, the music commonly regarded as indie rock is descended from an alternative rock scene largely influenced by the movements of the 1970s and early 1980s and their DIY ethos. In the 1980s the term "indie rock" was particularly associated with the abrasive, distortion-heavy sounds of Hüsker Dü, Dinosaur Jr (who coincidently are often mentioned as an influence on the shoegazing movement, though they were hardcore punk bands), Sonic Youth, Big Black, and others that populated American indie labels, separating them from jangly college rock bands like R.E.M. and 10,000 Maniacs, who, by the end of the decade, were signed to major labels.

During the first half of the 1990s, alternative music, led by grunge bands such as Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam, broke into the mainstream, achieving commercial chart success and widespread exposure. Shortly thereafter the alternative genre became commercialized as mainstream success attracted major-label investment and commercially-oriented or manufactured acts with a formulaic, conservative approach. With this, the meaning of the label "alternative" changed away from its original, more counter-cultural meaning to refer to alternative music that achieved mainstream success and the term "indie rock" was used to refer to the bands and genres that remained underground. One of the defining movements of 1990s American indie rock was the lo-fi movement spearheaded by Guided by Voices, Pavement, Sebadoh, The Grifters, Liz Phair, The Elephant 6 Recording Co., and others, which placed a premium on rough recording techniques, ironic detachment, and disinterest in "selling out" to the mainstream alternative rock scene.

• Lo fi, as already mentioned above
• Noise rock, (continuing with Unwound, Shellac, Blonde Redhead)
• Riot Grrl, (Bikini Kill, Bratmobile)
• Math rock, (Chavez, Jesus Lizard, June of '44)
• Post rock, (Slint, Mogwai)
• Twee pop, (Belle & Sebastian)

• Post-punk revival: Maxïmo Park, Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party, Editors, Interpol, The Cribs, The Killers, Arctic Monkeys, Fratellis
• Garage rock revival: The Strokes, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, The Hives, Ikara Colt, The Libertines, Mclusky, The White Stripes, The Vines, The Von Bondies, Yeah Yeah Yeahs
• Noise rock: Melt-Banana, The Locust, Lightning Bolt, Neptune, Black Lips
• Dance-punk: !!!, The Faint, The Rapture, Liars, Moving Units, New Young Pony Club, Death From Above 1979, Klaxons.

Additional, less clearly defined genres include:

• Baroque pop: Arcade Fire, Danielson Famile, Sufjan Stevens, The Decemberists, John Vanderslice, Broken Social Scene, Islands, Stars
• New prog: Mew, Porcupine Tree, Mars Volta, Muse, Radiohead, Los Hermanos
• New weird America or freak folk: Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom, Animal Collective, Six Organs of Admittance, Camper Van Beethoven
• Psych folk: No-Neck Blues Band, Brightblack Morning Light, Wooden Wand and the Vanishing Voice, Entrance

• Mathieson, Craig (2000), The Sell-In: How the Music Business Seduced Alternative Rock, Sydney, Allen and Unwin

• Independent music
• Indie (culture)
• List of indie rock artists
• List of DIY artists
• Anti-Serious Music

v • d • e Alternative rock
Alternative metal - Britpop - C86 - College rock - Dream pop - Dunedin Sound - Geek rock - Gothic rock - Grebo - Grunge - Indie pop - Indie rock - Industrial rock - Jangle pop - Lo-fi - Madchester - Math rock - Noise pop - Paisley Underground - Post-grunge - Post-punk revival - Post-rock - Riot Grrrl - Shoegazing - Slowcore - Space rock
Other topics	Artists - College radio - History - Independent music - Lollapalooza