Indie Music – The miscellaneous cool file of Rock since…since… The Smiths?

And the only reason this genre goes back this far is they were added in after the fact.

There was no indie music in the early 80’s-all the cool music was thrown into that big “alternative music” pile and sorted out from there.

Listening to this song now-I can see why the indie crowd wants to claim it as their own.

“Hang the D.J- because he does not play anything good.” Is the basic premise of this uplifting little tune.

To get to indie music you have to go under the surface. Like those old movies when you swim underwater to emerge in a secret cave below the depths; another world that only the cool kids know about.

I think of indie music as the new growth of rock music after the big forest fires of excess wiped out all the old guard. The geezers still pretend to hang around with nostalgia tours featuring 2 original members if you are lucky, but it is a joke. Is just a quick stumble from this to the final walk of fame: selling reverse mortgages and walk-in bath tubs to the last few who still remember.

So as I try to finish out my medals category because the stray dogs of this Olympic site are looking at me with an angry growl-I just run out of bones.

Here we go.

The Bronze:

Arctic Monkeys.Do I wanna Know?

The riff is what makes this work. Psychedelic Led Zeppelin with this great high harmony  “Do I wanna know” in the chorus… this puppy works-this puppy will crawl up to you, sneak on the end of the bed and get comfortable in your rock n roll head.

Infectious and Indie.

The Silver:

Silversun Pickups.The Pit

Good Indie music always has this quiet scream to it. It does not yell at you but instead it keeps nudging and nudging until you find yourself getting swept away with it. Silversun getting the Silver [see what I did there?…Do you hipsters?…course you did-you guys are too smart for me]

The Gold:

Bon Iver.Skinny Love

Bon Iver  is French for “Good winter”- This song is so cool that it is below zero cold just like it is going to be again tonight here at the cave.  I don’t know what the French word is for endless brutal winter but I am hearing a ton of non-french words around here to describe it.

I know I have featured this song before….but damn-it is good.

And one more for the road:

The Black Keys may be indie but I can’t call them that anymore because they are too big.1

You can only be indie for a small amount of time- A time when passion for the craft of music does not always equate to success. A time when you do what you love and let the chips fall as they may-a time when struggle is life and life is struggle but so what-Let’s rock anyway.

Cheers from the cave!