| Post-punk revival | |
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| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | Late 1990s and early 2000s, United States, Europe, and Australia |
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Post-punk revival (also known asindie rock revival)[1] is asubgenre ofindie rock, as well as a musical scene and movement that emerged in the early 2000s. Originating as a stripped-down and back-to-basics version ofguitar rock inspired by the original sounds and aesthetics ofpost-punk,new wave andgarage rock,[2] the movement became closely associated with thenew wave revival[3] andgarage rock revival.[2][4]
The genre has an emphasis on "rock authenticity" that was seen as a reaction to the commercialism ofMTV-orientednu metal,hip hop and "bland"post-Britpop groups. The commercial breakthrough of the genre came with the release ofthe Strokes'Is This It andthe White Stripes'White Blood Cells, both in 2001. The genre reached a zenith in the middle of the decade with the success ofBloc Party,Arctic Monkeys,the Killers, andYeah Yeah Yeahs. Over time, later indie and post-punk bands were criticized with the term "landfill indie".
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The termpost-punk was coined to describe groups who tookpunk and experimented with more challenging musical structures and lyrical themes, and a self-consciously art-based image, while retaining punk's initialiconoclastic stance.[5]
In the early 2000s, a new group of bands that played a stripped down and back-to-basics version of guitar rock emerged into the mainstream. They were variously characterized as part of agarage rock,new wave or post-punk revival.[3][6][7][8] Inspired by the original sounds and aesthetics ofgarage rock of the 1960s andnew wave andpost-punk of the late 1970s and early 1980s,[3][2] with other influences that ranged from traditionalblues, through new wave togrunge.[9] They shared an emphasis on energetic live performance and used aesthetics (in hair and clothes) closely aligned with their fans,[10] often drawing on fashion of the 1950s and 1960s,[9] with "skinny ties, white belts [and] shag haircuts".[11] There was an emphasis on "rock authenticity" that was seen as a reaction to the commercialism of MTV-orientednu metal,hip hop[10] and "bland"post-Britpop groups.[12]
Because the bands came from countries around the world, cited diverse influences and adopted differing styles of dress, their unity as a genre has been disputed. For garage rock historian Eric James Abbey, these were diverse bands that appropriated (or were given) the label "garage" to gain a degree of credibility.[9]AllMusic argued that rather than a revival, the history of post-punk was more of a continuum from the mid-1980s, with scattered bands that includedBig Flame,World Domination Enterprises, andMinimal Compact extending the genre. In the mid-1990s, notable bands in this vein includedSix Finger Satellite,Brainiac andElastica.[3] At the turn of the century, the term "post-punk" began to appear in the music press again, with a number of critics reviving the label to describe a new set of bands that shared some of the aesthetics of the original post-punk era. Music criticSimon Reynolds noted that bands like the Rapture andFranz Ferdinand were influenced by the more angular strain of post-punk, particularly bands such asWire andGang of Four.[13] Additionally, cultural theoristMark Fisher opined thatFranz Ferdinand were taking influences from the '80s Scottishpost-punk scene by comparing their sound to bands likeJosef K.[14] Subsequently,Franz Ferdinand would go on to cover the song "Get Up and Use Me" by Scottish post-punk bandthe Fire Engines. Others identified this movement as another wave of garage rock revivalism, withNME in 2003 designating it a "new garage rock revolution",[10] or simply a "new rock revolution".[11] According to music criticJim DeRogatis,the Strokes,the White Stripes andthe Hives all had a sound "to some extent rooted inNuggets-era garage rock".[7]
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There was interest in garage rock and elements of punk in the 1980s and 1990s, and by 2000 local music scenes in several countries had bands playingalternative andindie music.[15] The Detroit rock scene includedthe White Stripes andthe Von Bondies.[16] New York's scene includedthe Strokes,Interpol,Yeah Yeah Yeahs,Le Tigre,TV on the Radio,LCD Soundsystem,the Walkmen,the Rapture, andLiars.[17] In Los Angeles and San Francisco, the scene was centered aroundBlack Rebel Motorcycle Club,Brian Jonestown Massacre,the Dandy Warhols andSilversun Pickups. Other countries had their own local bands incorporating post-punk music.[18][19][20]
The commercial breakthrough from these scenes began initially in the UK,[21] and was led by a small group of bands. The Strokes emerged from the New York club scene with their debut album,Is This It (2001), which debuted at No. 2 in the UK and cracked the Top 40 in America. The White Stripes, from Detroit, released their third album,White Blood Cells (2001), which charted decently in both the US and the UK, as well as spawning two transatlantic Top 25 singles. The Hives, from Sweden, became a mainstream success with their compilation albumYour New Favourite Band (2001) which peaked at No. 7 on the UK charts. Also in 2001,Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's debut album,B.R.M.C., hit No. 5 in the UK.The Vines, from Australia, releasedHighly Evolved in 2002, which was a top 5 success in both England and Australia, and peaked at No. 11 in the US.[22] Along with the Strokes, White Stripes, Hives and others, they were christened by parts of the media as the "The" bands, and dubbed "the saviours of rock 'n' roll",[23] promptingRolling Stone magazine to declare on its September 2002 cover, "Rock is Back!"[24] This press attention, in turn, led to accusations of hype,[23] and some dismissed the scene as unoriginal, image-conscious and tuneless.[24] According to Reynolds, "apart from maybe the White Stripes, none could really be described as retro".[25]
In the wake of this attention, existing acts likeYeah Yeah Yeahs were able to sign to major record labels.[26] A second wave of bands that managed to gain international recognition as a result of the movement includedInterpol,the Black Keys,the Killers,Kings of Leon,Modest Mouse,the Shins,the Bravery,Spoon,the Hold Steady, andthe National in the US,[7] andFranz Ferdinand,Bloc Party,the Futureheads,the Cribs,the Libertines,[27]Kaiser Chiefs andthe Kooks in the UK.[28]Arctic Monkeys were the most prominent act to owe their initial commercial success to the use ofInternet social networking,[29] with two No. 1 singles andWhatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (2006), which became the fastest-selling debut album in British chart history.[30]
In the years followingWhatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not there was a proliferation of bands, such asthe Pigeon Detectives,Milburn,the Fratellis andthe Rifles, who created a more formulaic derivative of the earlier acts.[1][31] By the end of the decade, critics had taken to referring to this wave of acts as "landfill indie",[32][33][34] a description coined byAndrew Harrison ofThe Word magazine.[25] In a 2009 article forThe Guardian, journalistPeter Robinson cited the landfill indie movement as dead, blamingScouting For Girls,the Wombats andJoe Lean by stating "If landfill indie had been a game ofBuckaroo, those three sent the whole donkey's arse of radio-friendly mainstream guitar band monotony flying high into the air, legs flailing."[35] A 2020Vice article citedJohnny Borrell, vocalist ofRazorlight, as the "one man who defined, embodied and lived Landfill Indie" due to his forming of a "spectacularly middle-of-the-road" band despite his close proximity to the Libertines' "desperate kinetic energy, mythologised love-hate dynamic and vision of a dilapidated Britain animated by romance and narcotics".[1]
By 2008, the initial success of the movement was beginning to subside, leading commentators to discuss its decline as a phenomenon and argue that it had been overtaken by the more musically and emotionally complex music of indie rock bands likeArcade Fire andDeath Cab for Cutie.[11] By the end of the decade, many of the bands of the movement had broken up, were on hiatus, or had moved into other musical areas, and very few were making significant impact on the charts.[36][34][37]
Bands that returned to recording and touring in the 2010s included Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys,[38] the Strokes[39] and Interpol.[40]
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Post punk artists that attained prominence in the 2010s and early 2020s includedParquet Courts,Protomartyr andGeese (United States),Preoccupations (Canada),Iceage (Denmark), andViagra Boys (Sweden).[41][42][43]
In the mid-to-late 2010s and early 2020s, a new wave of post-punk bands from Britain and Ireland emerged. The groups in this scene have been described with the term "crank wave" byNME in 2019, and as "Post-Brexit New Wave" byNPR writerMatthew Perpetua in 2021.[44][45][46] Perpetua describes the groups in the scene as "U.K. bands that kindatalk-sing over post-punk music, and sometimes it's more likepost-rock."[46] Many of the acts are associated with producerDan Carey and his record label Speedy Wunderground, and withThe Windmill, an all-ages music venue inBrixton, London.[45][47] Artists that have been identified as part of the style includeBlack Midi,Squid,Black Country, New Road,Dry Cleaning,Shame,Sleaford Mods,Fontaines D.C.,the Murder Capital,Idles andYard Act.[44][45][46][48]
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