The death of indie rock is happening right before my very ears. The MTV-ization of emo, an increasingly popular style within indie rock, is clearly obvious to even the most casual observer. The success of Dashboard Confessional on modern rock radio stations and MTV has done most of the work, and their inclusion on a major Hollywood action blockbuster soundtrack like Spider-Man 2, as the lead single, no less, completes the process of "selling out." Is there still legitimate emo out there? For sure. But soon, the emo bands that completely lack indie cred and are in it for the money will so saturate the market that the genre will become a joke, a la grunge. This is an apocalyptic vision of mine that is already being played out if you pay attention. This is not my worry, whatsoever. I've already come to accept the corporatization of emo.
Unfortunately, it's happening in other areas of indie rock as well, namely, the garage sound made so popular by indie rock darlings the Strokes. I don't know what to call it, or if it even has a snappy name like emo, but this is most assuredly another style within indie rock, and I can already see the copycat signs from big corporations. First, it was Franz Ferdinand, who are a good band and make good music, getting a bunch of corporate support, being all over the radio, and having tons of CD's on display at the very front at Best Buy. This is not Franz Ferdinand's fault; this is simply a sign of recognition from Corporate Music, Inc. They have spotted their new style/victim for MTV-ization. Soon, the good bands with corporate backing will give way to the bad bands created by and for money-making machines. There's already one out there. I don't know what they are called, but I heard them on the radio today, singing with Strokes-like vocals, but with a little less edge and a little less care, strumming on their guitars that Universal or Capitol probably bought for them. They definitely weren't the Strokes, and they definitely weren't Franz Ferdinand; the song had that corporate feel of death about it. I can only expect that I will be hearing more and more such bad bands on the radio, as the garage style of the Strokes is easier to replicate than the pain and suffering in emo music. So that's two styles of indie rock that are being shot down by MTV already.
It's coming, inevitably. The death of indie rock. There will have to be another way for everyone to try to pretend to be hip and cool now...
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15 comments:
mike, you REALLY did not have to tell me that.
err.. what is 'emo'?
I think that pretty much any band/artist that signs a record contract is in it for the money. Sure they say it's for the music, but ultimately they are making money off of their product. I have no problem about with that. It seems that every style of music starts out cool and is then corrupted by huge corporations. I'm guessing that some of these bands see the $$$ they can make and just go with it. Who would have thought that you would ever hear a Weezer song in a commercial..or Moby or any of the many others. Just my thought on it :)
This has happened repeatedly to the underground throughout history. Rap/Hip-hop, Grunge, Electronica, and now Emo. It is just the nature of the beast. Still, you can't fault for someone for making a livlihood for themselves doing something that they love. Given the choice between being a starving artist and a VIP, most people would choose the latter.
A comment from Don Mega. You know who I is.
Seems like you have put my feelings into words, but there is still some good music out there. Also Franz Ferdinand seems to have taken their formula from Modest Mouse, a good band which has been around for a while. That formula is going to probably take over the New Found Glory emo punk crap. Some of it is good, but like you said, lots of them are part of the "money-making machine." Newer bands I've liked are The Cursive, Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service.
But whatever man, I was put on this earth to sit, relax and eat buffalo wings; the good music will come.
Don Mega again... Where the hell did my comment go?
This is not like XanGAY at all. My comments seem to be lost in space. Whatever... It wasn't that important anyways.
don't worry don mega, they just take a while to appear.
incidentally, "good news for people who love bad news" is being widely heralded as modest mouse's "sellout" record. like yvette, said, the "underground" is continuously going through upheaval and being dragged up into the "overground" by corporate america. what i find most interesting is what new name they're going to come up with for "underground" rock. first they called it "alternative," clearly an explicit expression of their difference from what was on the radio, but then that word got destroyed. then they came up with "indie" to signify their independence from big label record companies, but now that distinction is getting seriously blurry as well. if "indie" goes the way of "alternative," what will the new word be? i am extremely curious. and after 50 more years of rock, will we run out of words?
Good question. I would venture to say that, one day, the genre labels will get so blurred that all of the alternative titles will go away. My dad told me when I when he was a kid, it was all Rock 'n Roll. And, listening back, they clearly could have broken it down, but chose to keep it simple. Someday, out of laziness, I think we'll do the same. :)
Hey!! Don't forget "Progressive" that was before alternative. Oh shit, I'm showing my age on that one aren't I.
Hey!! Don't forget "Progressive" that was before alternative. Oh shit, I'm showing my age on that one aren't I.
Another oldster here - I think indie rock ended with the invention of the CD. Just kidding. But maybe I'm not. But I can't stand that emo stuff. Sorry.
i agree..i hate JC Chavez (ex Nsych member now claiming to be a "rocker"..what the f.uck is he thinking?!
I agree with you, but it seems like this happens no matter what genre of music you look at historically. Corporations are always out there looking for "the next big thing." Unfortunately, it doesn't look like that is bound to change any time soon, if ever. I think the most unfortunate thing isn't necessarily their success (I mean, is it really so tragic that other people are enlightened by their sound after all of the musical BS we constantly hear?) but more that they are so often forced to change their vision that made them such a success in the first place to make them fit the mainstream. That's the worst part for me.
Anyhow, you should check out a couple of local bands that I like: Bugs in Amber and Waxwing. Both are really great and the guys in them are cool. Bugs has their new album streaming on their website.
BIA: http://bugsinamber.com/
Waxwing: http://www.bugsinamber.com/waxwing/
Incidentally, the violinist who was in Bugs in Amber (Seth Warren) is a member of Red Stars Theory, of which Jeremiah Green (from Modest Mouse) is also a member. You might want to check them out too.
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