# Are most indie rock fans white? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 9, 2012, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-most-indie-rock-fans-white/608892 "2012-01-09T04:47:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![corey3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bbe5ce/32.png) [@corey3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corey3)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-most-indie-rock-fans-white/608892/1 "2012-01-09T04:47:46Z")
I recently read that indie rock now implicitly means “white rock” ([A Paler Shade of White | The New Yorker](http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/musical/2007/10/22/071022crmu_music_frerejones)). Are most indie rock fans white? ---
**Author:** ![zombywoof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/9e8a1a/32.png) [@zombywoof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zombywoof)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-most-indie-rock-fans-white/608892/2 "2012-01-09T04:56:59Z")
> [@corey3](#): > > Are most indie rock fans white? I’d say yes - and that most rock fans more generally are as well - isn’t the article about how the Indie bands themselves are less influenced by black music than those such as The Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin etc? ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-most-indie-rock-fans-white/608892/3 "2012-01-09T04:58:19Z")
I don’t know why this discussion is confined to “indie” rock when it was always generally understood that most rock fans, period, are white. Why should this surprise anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-most-indie-rock-fans-white/608892/4 "2012-01-09T05:03:52Z")
Moving to Cafe Society. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-most-indie-rock-fans-white/608892/5 "2012-01-09T05:23:31Z")
> [@zombywoof](#): > > I’d say yes - and that most rock fans more generally are as well - isn’t the article about how the Indie bands themselves are less influenced by black music than those such as The Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin etc? I haven’t read the article but I don’t think that’s really true. Motown,soul, r’n’b, world etc. still have a big influence on the sound of many “indie rock” acts. Few of them nowadays, however, try to replicate the early rock and blues stuff in the way the Stones and LZ did. ---
**Author:** ![Enlightening\_Meditation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecc23a/32.png) [@Enlightening\_Meditation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enlightening_Meditation)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-most-indie-rock-fans-white/608892/6 "2012-01-09T05:25:14Z")
Once upon a time (80s, 90s), ‘indie rock’ was dubbed as such because the artists were releasing rock music on an independent label. In more recent years, the term has become so broad that it’s tough to pin it down to any meaning at all. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-most-indie-rock-fans-white/608892/7 "2012-01-09T05:33:41Z")
> [@corey3](#): > > I recently read that indie rock now implicitly means “white rock” ([A Paler Shade of White | The New Yorker](http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/musical/2007/10/22/071022crmu_music_frerejones)). Are most indie rock fans white? “Now”? Since when have most indie rock fans not been white? > [@Enlightening\_Meditation](#): > > Once upon a time (80s, 90s), ‘indie rock’ was dubbed as such because the artists were releasing rock music on an independent label. In more recent years, the term has become so broad that it’s tough to pin it down to any meaning at all. “Indie rock” was pretty meaningless right from the beginning. It was more or less a synonym for “college rock” and REM was (and still is, really) the poster child for the subgenre. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-most-indie-rock-fans-white/608892/8 "2012-01-09T05:36:00Z")
I would bet good money that fans of most music genres including hip hop and blues are white at least in the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-most-indie-rock-fans-white/608892/9 "2012-01-09T06:39:43Z")
Well the indie scene sure isn’t exclusively white, at least not in these parts. [Gnarles Barkley](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnarls_Barkley) (w/Ceelo Green) first hit on the indie circuit. [Little Tybee](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAxyaZ6XvR4&feature=related) is not monoracial. [The Knux](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_zflryd-I8) are an indie act from New Orleans with no shortage of melanin.