Comments on: Did Grunge Kill Indie Rock?

By: Sara

Sara — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 02:26:38 +0000

brent - that list made me a little moist. let's hang out.

By: Creative Loafing tampa » Tampa Calling » Blog Archive

Creative Loafing tampa » Tampa Calling » Blog Archive — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 23:49:29 +0000

[...] ‘Did Grunge Kill Indie Rock?’ (Washington City Paper). [...]

By: Comely Mike

Comely Mike — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:58:45 +0000

When Guy Picciotto said "I hate the sound of guitars" what he was really saying was "I hate the macho bullshit associated with loud guitars because I'm a tender flower of geektweeb emotionalism and everyone should admire me for it." Or something like that.

By: Brent Burton

Brent Burton — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:25:35 +0000

Don, you might be right about math-rock being a negative influence on indie rock. One thing that I think I failed to get across is the idea that anything taken to an extreme without any influx of external ideas (i.e. grunge bands that only listened to other grunge bands) can just wear people out. I think that, by the late '90s, indie musicians had ear fatigue and, in general, didn't want to hear loud guitars anymore. Perhaps math-rock contributed to this. But I never said that indie-style music "has given up guitars." What I said was the indie rock "had given up on the guitar." Listen to the Decemberists or Arcade Fire and tell me that they care as much about doing something new with the instrument as, say, Sebadoh or Superchunk or Unrest or Pavement. Now, as far as "the garage scene," you really can't compare it to the current alt-metal scene because even the boring bands are usually doing several things at once. That is, Om, for example, isn't just playing orthodox genre music. For better or worse, they're taking several different genres or microgenres (minimalism, doom, psychedelia) and combining them to make music that just wasn't being made before. Can you say the same of any band in the "garage scene"?

By: Don

Don — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 13:51:42 +0000

Once again this is "I like this style of music so this is the style of music that's important." Kraut Rock Revival / Math rock was entirely a negative influence on indie rock and the scene hasn't fully-recovered. However to say that other indie-style music has given up guitars is as wrongheaded as Sasha's navel-centric article. Case in point, the garage scene. Unexplored in your piece because it's music you don't like. Therefore, to you, it doesn't seem as inventive or a culturally critical as metal. A logical fallacy that permeates almost all music writing.

By: Joe Warminsky

Joe Warminsky — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 20:52:59 +0000

I shoulda put up the Valnott link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WcsV7hQ1V4

By: Brent Burton

Brent Burton — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 18:23:51 +0000

This one is almost as good:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sju3o-2XQOQ

By: Joe Warminsky

Joe Warminsky — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 18:01:27 +0000

Long live the Valnott!