Indie rock

"Being in an indie band back then, you weren’t allowed to have dreams of being huge. None of the major labels [had] touched anything that’s remotely left of field since the punk movement. It was all Huey Lewis. That changed with Sonic Youth and then Nirvana signing to Geffen. Alternative became this huge business, and now Arcade Fire or Vampire Weekend can be No. 1."

"Indie rock is difficult to define not only because of crossover appeal but also because the music has never had a specific sound, unlike other musical genres such as jass, blues or country. There are no telltale sounds like country music's guitar twang or signature motifs such as as jazz's improvisations. Although indie rock is a form of rock and roll and uses guitars, basses, and drums in the basic band unit, the music encompasses a wide range of sounds."

"Indie [rock began] as a subculture — and a subgenre — and it became one, once again. The spotlight moved on, and in a world of Kanye and Kim and Taylor, indie seemed backward-looking, retro, private and small. The Columbia University philosopher Arthur Danto used to talk about visual art reaching the end of its history — the conclusion of a master narrative that began with Renaissance painting. The dream of indie rock, that it could somehow become the vanguard and the mainstream at the same time, is now as dead as Caravaggio. But in the hearts, minds, and record collections of more than one generation, the reality of indie lives on, noisy and sublime."

"As the title of a fan blog puts it, indie is not a genre. It is potentially every genre. It's an attitude, an approach, a commitment to self-expression without regard to, or in spite of, mainstream demands. It's the blend that nobody can label, the outré, the ahead-of-its-time, the defiantly retro."