| Indie pop | |
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| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | Late 1970s, United Kingdom |
| Derivative forms | |
| Subgenres | |
| Fusion genres | |
| Local scenes | |
| Dunedin | |
| Other topics | |
Indie pop (also typeset asindie-pop orindiepop) is a music genre and subculture[3] that combinesguitar pop with aDIY ethic[4] in opposition to the style and tone of mainstreampop music.[5] It originated from Britishpost-punk[6] in the late 1970s and subsequently generated a thrivingfanzine,label, and club and gig circuit. Compared to its counterpart,indie rock, the genre is more melodic, less abrasive, and relatively angst-free.[7] In later years, the definition ofindie pop has bifurcated to also mean bands from unrelated DIY scenes/movements with pop leanings.[6] Subgenres includechamber pop andtwee pop.[7]
Indie pop is defined by itsDIY ethos, upbeat melodies, and an overarching sense of "authenticity." It primarily takes influences frompost-punk,jangle pop, and its counterpart,indie rock. While sharing overarching similarities, indie pop is more melodic, simplistic, and accessible, eschewing the more abrasive and conventional aspects ofindie rock.[3] Music journalist Nitsuh Abebe noted inPitchfork that:
Indie pop is not just "indie" that is "pop." Not too many people realize this, or really care either way. But you can be sure indie pop's fans know it. They have their own names for themselves ... the music they listen to ... their own canon of legendary bands ... and legendary labels ... their own pop stars ... their own zines ... websites ... mailing lists ... aesthetics ... festivals ... iconography ... fashion accessories ... and in-jokes ... in short, their own culture.[3]
Music criticSimon Reynolds says that indie pop defines itself against "charting pop".[5] Abebe explains:
One of those things was the idea that rock music was supposed to be cool – "cool" meaning sexy, tough, arty, fiery, or fantastical... The charts had "cool" covered – these kids, in their basements and bedrooms, were trying to hand-craft a mirror-image of it, a pop world where they were the stars... and a little bit of a raspberry blown at the larger musical world, which (sensibly) went right on preferring something more interesting than average white kids playing simple pop songs.[3]
Indie pop was an unprecedented contrast from the gritty and serious tones of previousunderground rock styles, as well as being a departure from the glamour of contemporarypop music. Distinguished from the angst and abrasiveness of its indie rock counterpart, the majority of indie pop borrows not only the stripped-down quality of punk, but also "the sweetness andcatchiness of mainstream pop".[8]
Indie pop and twee music scenes have often vocally rejected the sexist, homophobic, and racist attitudes of both mainstream and underground music scenes.[3] However, while it has often been more inclusive than other forms of independent music in terms of gender and sexual orientation, its lack of racial diversity has been noted by critics.[9][10]
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According to Emily Dolan, indie pop is predicated on the music ofthe Velvet Underground, and "some of rock's more quirky and eccentric figures", such asJonathan Richman.[8] Abebe identifies the majority of indie as "all about that 60s-styled guitarjangle" as credited to bands likethe Byrds. Other influences and precursors includethe Beach Boys'Smiley Smile,[11]Paul McCartney'sRam,[12] as well as thepower pop ofthe dB's andAlex Chilton'sBig Star[13] labeled the "power pop group to which all good indie melodicists pray".[14]
Despite their relatively minor commercial success, theTelevision Personalities are highly regarded by critics and have been widely influential, especially on theC86 generation,[15] while also inspiringAlan McGee to startCreation Records.[16] Reynolds has said that "what we now know as indie music was invented in Scotland",[17] with reference to the emergence ofPostcard Records in 1979. Subsequently,Pitchfork cites Scottishpost-punk bands such asOrange Juice,the Vaselines, andJosef K as influential to indie pop as well as female ledpost-punk bandsthe Raincoats,Marine Girls,Young Marble Giants andthe Chefs.[3][18] However, some have posited that the concept of indie music did not crystallize until the late 1980s and early 1990s.[8]
Brisbane bandthe Go-Betweens were an early influential indie pop band, releasing their first single "Lee Remick" in 1978.[19] Other influences includethe Deep Freeze Mice andthe Monochrome Set,[20] the latter's early singles greatly influenced the indie pop bandthe Smiths, who went on to be one of the most important and commercially successful bands in the genre.[21][22]
The Cure's early singles have been described as an influence on indie pop with their later song "Friday I'm in Love" being labeled byNME as a "bona fide indie pop masterpiece".[23][24]
New Zealand'sDunedin sound was a key influence on indie music, with bands such asthe Chills,the Clean,Tall Dwarfs,the Verlaines,the Bats andStraitjacket Fits setting the stage for indie pop music.[25]
Bothindie andindie pop had originally referred to the same thing during the late 1970s, originally abbreviations forindependent andpopular. Inspired more bypunk rock's DIY ethos than its style, guitar bands were formed on the then-novel premise that one could record and release their own music instead of having to procure arecord contract from a major label.
Manic Street Preachers bassistNicky Wire remembers that it was the bands' very independence that gave the scene coherence:[26]
"People were doing everything themselves—making their own records, doing the artwork, gluing the sleeves together, releasing them and sending them out, writing fanzines because the music press lost interest really quickly."
Names that indie pop fans use for themselves arepopkids andpopgeeks, and for the music they listen to,p!o!p,twee,anorak andC86.[3]
Abebe says that the Scottish groupthe Pastels typified the "hip end of 'anorak': Their lazy melodies, lackadaisical strum, and naive attitude transformed the idea of the rock band into something casual, intimate, and free from the pretense of cool".[3] Stephen Pastel's label 53rd & 3rd released other influential bands such as the sole album from the initial-run ofThe Vaselines, which was famously appreciated byKurt Cobain.[9]
Quinn Moreland, writing forPitchfork, said the influence of English bandFelt's 1986 albumForever Breathes the Lonely Word can be heard in later groups such asThe Field Mice, and "from C86 all the way toSlumberland".[27]
American indie pop bandBeat Happening's 1985eponymous debut album was influential in the development of the indie pop sound, particularly in North America.[28]
Most of the modern notion of indie music stems fromNME's 1986 compilationC86, which collects many guitar bands who were inspired by the earlypsychedelic sounds of 1960sgarage rock.Pitchfork credits theC86 compilation as leaving a mark on "various waves of indie pop since the tape was first released in 1986".[29]
Although many music critics such asEverett True, a formerNME writer, argued thatC86 was neither a label nor a defining factor behind indie pop—adding that "C86 didn't actually exist as a sound or style"—they still acknowledged that there wasn't much of an indie pop subculture before the tape's release, noting that prior to the compilation, the indie pop scene mostly amounted to "[...] boys likeBobby Gillespie andEdwyn Collins wearing their hair like members ofThe Byrds."[30][31]
Bob Stanley (formerMelody Maker journalist and founding member of the pop bandSaint Etienne) acknowledges that participants at the time reacted against the lazy labelling, but insists they shared an approach:[32]
"Of course the 'scene', like any scene, barely existed. Like squabbling Marxist factions, groups who had much in common built up petty rivalries.The June Brides and theJasmine Minks were the biggest names atAlan McGee's Living Room Club and couldn't stand the sight of each other. Only whenThe Jesus and Mary Chain exploded and stole their two-headed crown did they realize they were basically soulmates".
Many of the actualC86 bands distanced themselves from the scene cultivated around them by the UK music press - in its time,C86 became apejorative term for its associations with so-called "shambling" (aJohn Peel-coined description celebrating the self-conscious primitive approach of some of the music).[33] The scene included bands likethe Pastels,Talulah Gosh,the Bodines,the Shop Assistants andthe Brilliant Corners, all of which were featured on either the original compilation or the expanded box set released in 2014.[34][35]
In the early 1990s, British indie pop influenced and branched off to a variety of styles. The US, which did not have as much of a scene in the 1980s, had many indie pop enthusiasts by the mid 1990s.
Following on from the aforementioned Postcard Records, in the UK, Bristol-basedSarah Records became the archetypal indie pop record label. They began releasing 7-inch singles in 1987 by bands with overtfeminist andleft wing principles that made "sweet pop".[9] They released bands such asHeavenly,St. Christopher,the Field Mice, andEven As We Speak, before stopping in 1995.[9]
In 1990,Rough Trade Records released the "indie pop classic"Reading, Writing and Arithmetic, the debut album by English bandThe Sundays.[9]
Scotland'sBelle and Sebastian began releasing albums in 1996, with their fandom initially spreading by word-of-mouth. They used a more lush instrumentation than the typical rock band format, with their songs including trumpets and violins, closer to what is calledchamber pop.[9][36]
In the US, Beat Happening'sCalvin Johnson had foundedK Records inOlympia, Washington, in 1982. During the 1990s the label released bands such asLois,Tiger Trap,the Softies,All Girl Summer Fun Band, andGaze. K and later labels likeSlumberland (Velocity Girl,Rocketship,Henry's Dress,Black Tambourine) andHarriet (Tullycraft,the Magnetic Fields) encouraged the genre's spread across the country.[9]
In Canada, in the mid-1990s, the bandCub was at the forefront of a subgenre of indie pop dubbedcuddlecore.[9] Other Vancouver indie pop bands of the time includeGaze,[9] and former Cub memberNeko Case's later bandMaow.
In Australia,Melbourne labelCandle Records put out music by bands and musicians with wistful and humorous lyrics, likethe Lucksmiths.[37]
Slumberland Records continued to release bands into the 2000s. By the end of the decade a scene of bands in New York emerged who explicitly claimed the label's releases as an influence. Slumberland went on to work with several of these includingthe Pains of Being Pure at Heart,Cause Co-Motion!, andCrystal Stilts.[38] Fellow New Yorkers,Vivian Girls, were also often compared toC86, theOlympia music scene surrounding K Records, and Slumberland.[39]
InCardiff, Wales,Los Campesinos! formed in 2006 andThe School formed in 2007.[40][41] The School released albums on Spanish indie pop labelElefant Records.[41]
In the UK the record labelFortuna Pop! in London, though active since 1995, rose to prominence in the 2010s with indie pop bands likeAllo Darlin',Evans the Death,the Spook School, and more indie-punk crossover bands likeJoanna Gruesome, andMartha.[42][43] The label had been sharing releases withSlumberland since co-releasingthe Aislers Set'sThe Last Match in 2000, and after that many bands signed initially to just one of the labels had albums released by Fortuna Pop in the UK and Slumberland in the U.S. This was ended by Fortuna Pop's eventual closure in 2016.[44]
In 2010, London based bandVeronica Falls released two singles on the American labelCaptured Tracks. They went on to release two albums,Veronica Falls (2011) andWaiting For Something to Happen (2013), onBella Union in the UK / EU and Slumberland in the US.[45]
Glasgow based bandSacred Paws began releasing music in 2015, formed byRay Aggs and Eilidh Rogers who initially met when their old bandsTrash Kit and Golden Grrrls played a show together.[46]
Slumberland Records are still a going concern having celebrated their 35th year in early 2025. A concert to celebrate the milestone included recent signingsJeanines and Lightheaded, as well as older act Lorelei.[47]
Twee pop is a subgenre of indie pop[7] that originates fromC86. Characterised by its simplicity and perceived innocence, some of its defining features are boy-girl harmonies, catchy melodies, and lyrics about love. For many years, most bands were distributed by Sarah Records (in the UK) andK Records (in the US).[48]
Shibuya-kei is a Japanese style from the 1990s that was embraced by indie pop enthusiasts, partly because many of its bands were distributed in the United States through majorindie labels likeMatador andGrand Royal. Out of all the Japanese groups from the scene,Pizzicato Five was the closest to achieving mainstream success in the US.[49]
Chamber pop is a subgenre of indie pop that features lush orchestrations. Heavily influenced byBrian Wilson andBurt Bacharach,[7] the majority ofLouis Phillipe's productions forél Records embodied the sophisticated use of orchestras and voices that typified the style,[50] whilstthe Divine Comedy were the most popular chamber pop act of theBritpop era.[51]
Instead, we're focusing on a more classic definition of the genre, one that marries guitar pop with D.I.Y. ethics.
Beat Happening can't be given credit for creating the indie pop genre, but they certainly gave it life in America.
The modern notion of indie music was formed to a large extent by the sounds of melodic guitar bands from declining industrial cities in Margaret Thatcher's Britain, many of which were collected by music weekly the NME on its iconic 'C86' compilation album. Disaffected by the implosion of punk and inspired by the proto-psychedelic sounds of '60s garage rock, bands such as The Wedding Present, The Pastels, Close Lobsters and others retained punk's wariness of the commercial music industry but developed a more tuneful, occasionally whimsical musical style.
In the U.K., the hub of the twee-pop scene was for many years the now-legendary Sarah label, home of groups including the Field Mice, Heavenly, and the Orchids; upon Sarah's demise, its founders created a new label, Shinkansen. In the U.S., the twee-pop scene took root most notably in the Olympia, WA area, the home of K Records, a label owned and operated by Beat Happening's Calvin Johnson.
If you're going to start digging around in theShibuya-kei crates, Pizzicato 5 is the best place to start. Our reasoning for this is simple, out of all the bands that came out of this scene, they came closest to breaking through on a wide scale in the U.S.
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