"Scouting for Girls are like the sound of Satan's scrotum emptying. They're abysmal."

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Surprised no one posted this yet-

Does the world need another indie band?

The short version of that article is that no one really knows who buys Scouting For Girls records. It is quite marvellously vehement though if you, like me, spend a mystifyingly large amount of your time trying to think of a new way of saying 'this is a shit indie single.' Not sure it goes far enough for me on some aspects (the bit with some bloke talking about the wonder of some kids dancing to 80s/90s indie as though this makes them genii is particular obnoxious) but does contain the quote from this subject line.

Edit: I might add, this isn't a 'HAR LOOK ALL INDIE ARE CRAP' post. I think the article's interesting because we've been talking about how these instantly charting indie bands are the new throwaway boy/girlband for awhile, particularly this week and although this is a smug indie person talking about it from a smug indie perspective, it's surprisingly on-the-money in a lot of places. It might be worth asking, if it's not a totally overwrung question that ultimate ends up with 'THE MAN' as the answer, why you think these particular little trends of throwaway bands/groups start and what you personally think brought on this particular glut of awful?

Also, I really cannot emphasise enough that I have had to review The Enemy three times in the last year.

Comments

loosely connected pre-coffee ramble

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

There is non-conformist music, now, though, that this isn't part of. Just as 'pop' has now become a genre, 'indie' has become relevant to some specific sounds, most of which were never indie in the first place; people like the author of that article might try and pretend that there's an Honourable Indie scene somewhere, with crazy innovatives from Sup Pop's offices (actually there is a great article about Sup Pop in the new Rock Sound and they are all v. funny as far as I can tell but I'm talking more about what Sub Pop represents) striving to bring out records that the masses ignore.

I think what's interesting is that indie-as-a-genre has styled itself with the manifesto of really representing people with really real music and suddenly, the way that indie has marketed itself for years turns out to be as fragile and corruptible as the way in which the pop it sees itself as a reaction to (well, not the good bits of it which just see themselves as making music but you know what I mean) is/was.

I feel there are probably some tensions with a lot of poptimists somewhere at the bottom of all this. I know I tend towards an indie-based interpretation of the musical world, which isn't to say I listen to primarily indie, since I definitely do not but that there are maybe certain phrases I use or criteria I have that point that way.

As a Young Person thus unaware of what went on at the time, I'd personally find it interesting to dig at some of these old "indie"/non-conformist bands (ie: The Jam, etc.) and find out whether they ever were at the time, which I'm assuming they weren't. The retrofetishism-for-credibility around currently, though, is v. interesting in an extraordinary, panicked backpedalling way; it's ok to be pop so long as you're also 80s, thus Neon Neon have a Mercury nomination, etc.

I actually like the article far less this morning. I think I just got overexcited because it had some good insults in. Even so, it's relevant to our interests.

ANYWAY that made no sense because I am not awake yet. I'm not sure any of it was a reply to your post but, err, yes.

Re: loosely connected pre-coffee ramble

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

The Jam are REALLY AWFUL do not check them out! Like seriously soul-suckingly turgid crap. Someone tried to get me into them once and I am not sure if I have spoken to that person since.

Re: loosely connected pre-coffee ramble

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know that; I have been exposed to much Jam in my lifetime and have developed a hate complex for Paul Weller that sometimes threatens to consume me. I meant probing the pop culture that surrounds them, not themselves.

Re: loosely connected pre-coffee ramble

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I have exactly the same hate complex for P Weller.

Re: loosely connected pre-coffee ramble

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

The main thing about the Jam is that they had a big fanbase which was also INCREDIBLY loyal: their singles would nearly always go straight in at #1 at a time when this was very rare indeed. (The only other person to do it at the time was Adam Ant and this was a BIG DEAL) So you had Smiths or MCR level devotion to WELLER combined with an actually huge fandom, an unusual combination. For journalists into indie (or the idea of indie) they are pretty much a model of how to be very popular and also very committed, so it's not surprising they're held up as a touchstone.

They're also unusual in terms of Weller breaking up the band at its height and saying "fuck all this, soul music is what matters", which made them even more legendary among some fans, and pissed off others hugely.

I find Weller really annoying but like about a half dozen Jam songs and a handful of Style Council ones.