My Genre

The magazine I create will be of the indie genre. Indie originated in the UK in the 1980s within the small, low-budget labels that did not register with the mainstream. The bands and artists involved were categorised as free when it came to exploring sounds, subjects and emotions which gave them the space to create the music they wanted without their labels influence.

The Smiths from the UK rejected the dominant synthpop (where the synthesizer is the dominant instrument) of the early 1980s and helped inspire guitar-based jangle pop (alternative rock that marked the return of chiming or jangly guitars)

Nirvana performing in 1993

In the 1990s many alternative bands followed Nirvana into the mainstream and indie began to describe those bands that worked in a variety of styles and did not pursue commercial success. In the 2000s a new wave of indie developed due to changes in the music industry and music technology.  A new group of bands that played a stripped-down and back-to-basics version of guitar rock emerged into the mainstream including; The Strokes and The Vines.

The Strokes performing in 2006

Many countries have developed an indie scene, flourishing with bands with enough popularity to survive inside their respective country, but virtually unknown elsewhere.