more proof: indie is the new mainstream

MSN's take on what incoming college freshmen should familiarize themselves with…

http://music.msn.com/music/photos/rock-and-rap-101/?GT1=28102&silentchk=1&

run dmc? really?

can indie just go away like rap and grunge for fuck sake, already?

i'm sorry, not go away. i spoke too soon. i like a lot of "indie" acts. can people just listen to music and be happy without labels? and cds will so come back into style.

Originally posted by walkonby:
can people just listen to music and be happy without labels?

Hahahahahahahahahahaha

ah.


No.

what in the name of col. custer's scalp is "indie" anyway? can't anything not signed to a major label be called independent? Can't "indie" bands liek The Format be signed to big labels?

I also happen to hate labels as well.

Why does that list make me feel old?

No Wolf Eyes or Sunn O)))?

I think the Internet is the great equalizer, bringing formerly "indie" and "alternative" music to everyone.

I know when I was in high school, I turned to punk in part to get away from all the douchebags who were into mainstream rock. In those days [old man voice], anything non-mainstream required actual work to find, and the people willing to make the effort were few. But now douchebags have equal access.

Back then, as now, the only real answer is to forget about pre-packaged culture and make your own music…

Originally posted by They call me Doctor Doom.:
I think the Internet is the great equalizer, bringing formerly "indie" and "alternative" music to everyone.

I know when I was in high school, I turned to punk in part to get away from all the douchebags who were into mainstream rock. In those days [old man voice], anything non-mainstream required actual work to find, and the people willing to make the effort were few. But now douchebags have equal access.

Do we blame internet, labels or radio such as sell out HFS? ;) (old person voice) I could hardly get a signal to HFS except on my brother's car stereo. I coveted every ounce. ;)

[Grandpa Simpsons Voice] Yeah, HFS used to be worth actual work to pull in the signal! When I was a boy we'd string wire out into the yard just to listen to it! And by the time most people realized they had sold out, they had actually sold themselves out three or four times over!

It was a major hookup for us in the hills of WVA back in the day when they were 102.3. As was 88.5 WAMU. They ruled the first real alternative airwaves I ever heard. Those WVA mountaintops came in mighty handy for a variety of reason,that one was major for some great reception.

Let's not forget WMUC… U-Maryland's station… although I'm pretty sure there's no way you could get that out in West Va…

You can barely get it outside the CP city limits.

Originally posted by They call me Doctor Doom.:
But now douchebags have equal access.

Back then, as now, the only real answer is to forget about pre-packaged culture

Do you blame the OC? ;)

A quote in an article that discussed bands who move into mainstream (in Filter) has stuck with me: "The jocks already stole U2, who else do they want?" ;P

Growing up near the PA line the radio station all us kiddies got our new music from was 98YCR out of York. I spent most of my middle school years waiting for the top 5 at 8 to come around, my finger waiting patiently on the record button of my boombox, waiting for a song I liked so I could get it on my mix tape.

Originally posted by They call me Doctor Doom.:
In those days [old man voice], anything non-mainstream required actual work to find, and the people willing to make the effort were few.

Man, so true. I had to drive an hour out to Tampa near USF to the two record stores that were 'alternative' focused. And I had to stay up until midnight on Sunday to listen to the one hour 'alternative' show on public radio.

Spin Magazine wasn't even around to 'kinda help' until near the end of high school! ;)

It kind of made it all the more thrilling. And possibly the subcultures all the tighter?

Originally posted by Bags:
It kind of made it all the more thrilling. And possibly the subcultures all the tighter?

Absolutely… if you have to work for something, you value it more…

Originally posted by They call me Doctor Doom.:
Let's not forget WMUC… U-Maryland's station… although I'm pretty sure there's no way you could get that out in West Va…

Actually, you can get us on the internet in West Virginia. I know you actually meant on the FM. But hey, we still exist!

Originally posted by Greer Zoller:

Do you blame the OC? ;)

A quote in an article that discussed bands who move into mainstream (in Filter) has stuck with me: "The jocks already stole U2, who else do they want?" ;P

I believe there's a similar quote that extent in the great novel "How Soon Is Never?"

Oh and I can attest to something…I grew up in Western Maryland. I know I'm 23 and I can now find all sorts of music thanks to the internet, but growing up, I didn't have much computer access and I discovered most of my favorite music through listening to local college radio (back when WFWM was something amazing), reading Spin and Alternative Press magazines, and watching 120 Minutes. To find good music, I really had to dig and go out of town or do mail order through my local independent record store (which has been gone now for the last 4 years now unfortunately). I can at least say that I remember how impossible it was to find a Smiths cd at the mall, and when most of my peers had no fucking clue who sonic youth, the clash or even the strokes and the moldy peaches were. There's something amazing and rewarding to digging around for new music or music that isn't played on the real radio.

Even now one has to do some amount of digging to find new music that one is really excited about. With the internet it's now more of a problem that there's too much music to sift through. I typically rely on a plethora of sources to guide me towards stuff I might like. NME.com, pitchfork, drownedinsound, the top friends of bands I already know I like on myspace (music is all i'm ever on myspace for anymore), and of course lurking in the 9:30 club messageboard.

Originally posted by saintangelsin:
Actually, you can get us on the internet in West Virginia. I know you actually meant on the FM. But hey, we still exist!

West Virginia got the internet?? before Canada?? damnit.