Indie pop

For the pop music scene of India alternately called "Indi-pop", see Indian pop.

Indie pop
Stylistic origins	Pop punk rock guitar pop post-punk
Cultural origins	Late 1970s, United Kingdom
Derivative forms	Alternative pop chillwave Shibuya-kei
Subgenres
Chamber pop twee pop
Fusion genres
Indietronica
Local scenes
Dunedin
Other topics
Indie rock alternative dance alternative R&B anorak C86 dream pop lo-fi music new wave noise pop pop punk northern soul

Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with a DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and subsequently generated a thriving fanzine, label, and club and gig circuit. Compared to its counterpart, indie rock, the genre is more melodic, less abrasive, and relatively angst-free. In later years, the definition of indie pop has bifurcated to also mean bands from unrelated DIY scenes/movements with pop leanings. Subgenres include chamber pop and twee pop.

Development and characteristics

Origins and etymology

See also: Post-punk, DIY music, Indie rock, Jangle pop, and C86

Indie pop is not just "indie" that is "pop." Not too many people realize this, or really care either way. But you can be sure indie pop's fans know it. They have their own names for themselves ... the music they listen to ... their own canon of legendary bands ... and legendary labels ... their own pop stars ... their own zines ... websites ... mailing lists ... aesthetics ... festivals ... iconography ... fashion accessories ... and in-jokes ... in short, their own culture.

—Nitsuh Abebe, Pitchfork

Within indie genres, issues of authenticity are especially prominent: indie was born in a Utopian attempt to stop the inevitable cycle of bands being co-opted - and, it is assumed, corrupted - by the mainstream.

—Emily I. Dolan, Popular Music

Both indie and indie pop had originally referred to the same thing during the late 1970s, originally abbreviations for independent and popular. Inspired more by punk rock's DIY ethos than its style, guitar bands were formed on the then-novel premise that one could record and release their own music instead of having to procure a record contract from a major label.

According to Emily Dolan, indie is predicated on the distorted music of the Velvet Underground, the "rebellious screaming" of early punk, and "some of rock's more quirky and eccentric figures", such as Jonathan Richman. Pitchfork's Nitsuh Abebe identifies the majority of indie as "all about that 60s-styled guitar jangle". London Post-punk band The Monochrome Set's early singles were so heavily influential to indie pop band the Smiths that Johnny Marr stated without them, the Smiths would not have existed. Most of the modern notion of indie music stems from NME's 1986 compilation C86, which collects many guitar bands who were inspired by the early psychedelic sounds of 1960s garage rock.

Indie pop was an unprecedented contrast from the gritty and serious tones of previous underground rock styles, as well as being a departure from the glamour of contemporary pop music. Distinguished from the angst and abrasiveness of its indie rock counterpart, the majority of indie pop borrows not only the stripped-down quality of punk, but also "the sweetness and catchiness of mainstream pop". Music critic Simon Reynolds says that indie pop defines itself against "charting pop". Abebe explains:

One of those things was the idea that rock music was supposed to be cool – "cool" meaning sexy, tough, arty, fiery, or fantastical... The charts had "cool" covered – these kids, in their basements and bedrooms, were trying to hand-craft a mirror-image of it, a pop world where they were the stars... and a little bit of a raspberry blown at the larger musical world, which (sensibly) went right on preferring something more interesting than average white kids playing simple pop songs.

Despite their relatively minor commercial success (their third album was sardonically titled They Could Have Been Bigger than the Beatles), the Television Personalities are highly regarded by critics and have been widely influential, especially on the C86 generation. Reynolds has said that "what we now know as indie music was invented in Scotland," with reference to the emergence of Postcard Records and its bands Orange Juice and Josef K in 1979. However, some have posited that the concept of indie music did not crystallise until the late 1980s and early 1990s. Brisbane band the Go-Betweens were an early influential indie pop band, releasing their first single "Lee Remick" in 1978. American indie pop band Beat Happening's 1985 eponymous debut album was also influential in the development of the indie pop sound, particularly in North America. Other early bands of influence include Talulah Gosh and Marine Girls.

Indie pop band Allo Darlin' performing at Indie Pop Days (2010)

Names that indie pop fans use for themselves are popkids and popgeeks, and for the music they listen to, p!o!p, twee, anorak and C86. Abebe says that the Scottish group the Pastels typified the "hip end of 'anorak': Their lazy melodies, lackadaisical strum, and naive attitude transformed the idea of the rock band into something casual, intimate, and free from the pretense of cool".

In the early 1990s, English indie pop influenced and branched off to a variety of styles. The US, which did not have as much of a scene in the 1980s, had many indie pop enthusiasts by the mid 1990s.

Indie pop and twee music scenes have often vocally rejected the sexist, homophobic, and racist attitudes of mainstream music. Although, while it has often been more inclusive than other forms of independent music in terms of gender and sexual orientation, its lack of racial diversity has been noted by critics.

Disputed significance of C86

Everett True, a writer for NME in the 1980s, believes that C86 was not the main factor behind indie pop, arguing that Sarah Records was more responsible for sticking to a particular sound, and that: "C86 didn't actually exist as a sound, or style. ... I find it weird, bordering on surreal, that people are starting to use it as a description again".

Bob Stanley, a Melody Maker journalist in the late 1980s and founding member of pop band Saint Etienne, acknowledges that participants at the time reacted against lazy labelling, but insists they shared an approach: "Of course the 'scene', like any scene, barely existed. Like squabbling Marxist factions, groups who had much in common built up petty rivalries. The June Brides and the Jasmine Minks were the biggest names at Alan McGee's Living Room Club and couldn't stand the sight of each other. Only when the Jesus and Mary Chain exploded and stole their two-headed crown did they realise they were basically soulmates". Manic Street Preachers bassist Nicky Wire remembers that it was the bands' very independence that gave the scene coherence: "People were doing everything themselves - making their own records, doing the artwork, gluing the sleeves together, releasing them and sending them out, writing fanzines because the music press lost interest really quickly."

Many of the actual C86 bands distanced themselves from the scene cultivated around them by the UK music press - in its time, C86 became a pejorative term for its associations with so-called "shambling" (a John Peel-coined description celebrating the self-conscious primitive approach of some of the music) and underachievement.

Late 1980s – 1990s

Following on from the aforementioned Postcard Records, in the UK, Bristol-based Sarah Records became the archetypal indie pop record label. They began releasing 7" singles in 1987 by bands with overt feminist and left wing principles that made "sweet pop". They released bands such as Heavenly, St. Christopher, The Field Mice, and Even As We Speak.

Scotland's Belle and Sebastian began releasing albums in the mid-90s, with their fandom initially spreading by word-of-mouth. They used a more lush instrumentation than the typical rock band format, with their songs including trumpets and violins, closer to what is called chamber pop.

In the US, Beat Happening's Calvin Johnson founded K Records in Olympia, Washington, releasing bands such as Lois, Tiger Trap, The Softies, All Girl Summer Fun Band, and Gaze. Them and later labels like Slumberland (Velocity Girl, Rocketship, Henry's Dress, Black Tambourine) and Harriet (Tullycraft, The Magnetic Fields) encouraged the genre's spread across the country.

In Canada, in the mid-90s, the band Cub was at the forefront of a subgenre of indie pop dubbed cuddlecore. Other Vancouver indie pop bands of the time include the aforementioned Gaze, and former Cub member Neko Case's later band Maow.

In Australia, Melbourne label Candle Records put out music by bands and musicians with wistful and humourous lyrics, like The Lucksmiths.

2000s

Slumberland Records, still a going concern having celebrated their 35th year in early 2025, continued to release bands into the 2000s. By the end of the decade a scene of bands in New York emerged who explicitly claimed the label's releases as an influence. Slumberland went on to work with several of these including The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Cause Co-Motion!, and Crystal Stilts. Fellow New Yorkers, Vivian Girls, were also often compared to C86, the Olympia scene surrounding K Records, and Slumberland.

2010s

In the UK the record label Fortuna Pop! in London, though active since 1995, rose to prominence in the 2010s with indie pop bands like Allo Darlin', Evans the Death, The Spook School, and more indie-punk crossover bands like Joanna Gruesome, and Martha.

In 2010, London based band Veronica Falls released two singles on the American label Captured Tracks. They went on to release two albums, Veronica Falls (2011) and Waiting For Something to Happen (2013), on Bella Union in the UK / EU and Slumberland in the US.

Related genres

Twee pop

Main article: Twee pop

Acid House Kings, a twee pop band.

Twee pop is a subgenre of indie pop that originates from C86. Characterised by its simplicity and perceived innocence, some of its defining features are boy-girl harmonies, catchy melodies, and lyrics about love. For many years, most bands were distributed by Sarah Records (in the UK) and K Records (in the US).

Shibuya-kei

Main article: Shibuya-kei

Shibuya-kei is a Japanese style from the 1990s that was embraced by indie pop enthusiasts, partly because many of its bands were distributed in the United States through major indie labels like Matador and Grand Royal. Out of all the Japanese groups from the scene, Pizzicato Five was the closest to achieving mainstream success in the US.

Chamber pop

Main article: Chamber pop

Chamber pop is a subgenre of indie pop that features lush orchestrations. Heavily influenced by Brian Wilson and Burt Bacharach, the majority of Louis Phillipe's productions for él Records embodied the sophisticated use of orchestras and voices that typified the style, whilst the Divine Comedy were the most popular chamber pop act of the Britpop era.

See also

• List of indie pop artists

References

Works cited

• Frith, Simon; Horne, Howard (2016) [First published 1988]. Art into Pop. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-22803-5.
• Reynolds, Simon (2011). Retromania: Pop Culture's Addiction to Its Own Past. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 978-1-4299-6858-4.

Further reading

• Fonarow, Wendy, "Empire of Dirt, The Aesthetics and Rituals of British Indie Music" 2006
• Hann, Michael, Fey city rollers (The Guardian, 2004)
• Pearce, Kevin, A Different Story: The Ballad of the June Brides (Tangents, 2001)
• Rogers, Jude, Smells like indie spirit (The Observer, 2007)
• Stanley, Bob, Where were you in C86? (The Times, 2006)

External links

• TweeNet - indiepop reference web site
• INDIE POP BR - Brazilian indie pop music reference web site