Indie fact file

History of the culture group:

Indie History

In the mid-1980s, the term "indie" began to be used to describe the music produced on post-punk labels rather than the labels themselves. The indie rock scene in the US was prefigured by the college rock that dominated college radio playlists which included key bands like R.E.M. from the US and The Smiths from the UK. A number

 of prominent indie rock record labels were founded during the 1980s. These include Washington, DC's Dischord Records in 1980, Seattle's Sub Pop Records in 1986 and New York City's Matador Records and Durham, North Carolina's Merge Records in 1989. Chicago's Touch and Go Records was founded as a fanzine in 1979 and began to release records during the 1980s.

Alternative enters the mainstream

The 1990s brought major changes to the alternative rock scene. Grunge bands such as Soundgarden, Nirvana, Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam broke into the mainstream, achieving commercial chart success and widespread exposure

Mainstream success: 2000s–present

In the 2000s, the changing music industry, the decline in record sales, the growth of new digital technology and increased use of the internet as a tool for music promotion, allowed a new wave of indie rock bands to achieve mainstream success. 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 has ceased to be a meaningful term.

Geographical locations:

The Indie social group tend to not have a certain geographical location. People who are Indie are mixed throughout society, and are seen to mix with other culture groups.

Fashion:

Indie fashion tends to be wearing ‘odd’ forms of clothing that many people in mainstream society wouldn’t or don’t wear. For instance, mainstream society wears jeans as their main form of casual trousers, however the Indie cultures main form of trousers is chinos. Indie clothing is becoming more fashionable however, with more and more people conforming to their style, this is shown through the high street brand Topman adopting Indie as its main form of clothing.

Music:

Indie music is primarily music that is ‘independent’ meaning that the band or artist is solely responsible for the publishing and creation of the music among other things. Not all Indie artists conform to this however, but there music to an extent remains the same. Some of the most known Indie bands are Bombay Bicycle Club, Friendly Fires, YUCK and Post War Years.

Related media:

There is no real media coverage of the Indie culture at this moment, with the newspapers shunning them at this moment in time for more controversial culture groups.

What might it be a reaction to?

This might be because this group does not present a danger to the established hegemony of society, and so there is no need to create a moral panic and demonise this culture group.