# I Pit INDIE MUSIC. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 3, 2003, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-indie-music/216622 "2003-12-03T01:57:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DeaganTheWolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DeaganTheWolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeaganTheWolf)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-indie-music/216622/1 "2003-12-03T01:57:21Z")
Indie this. Indie that. I have had my fill of Indie ANYTHING. This stuff isn’t ALL Bad, but for the vast majority …YOU SUCK. You suck fat floppy donkey cock; and personally i’ve had more musical bowel movements then what your lack of creativity has just subjected me to. So I shall explain WHY you suck in several parts. Emo: Wow, this is what we used to call “Soft Rock”; only you’ve added teenage angst to it! That is SO orginal my brain is melting out of my ears. Let me tell you, those repetitve backbeats, baselines and poorly executed lead guitar chords have got me impressed. Oh and the whiny, high-tenor, ambigously gendered voices, are passe. If i wanted to listen to prepubescant sounding male vocals I can listen to early motown. Screamo: WOW, it’s all the whopping mankyness of Emo but it’s HARDCORE man. So you aren’t just depressed that she left you, your going to scream out those tears! Been done Boyo. Your malnourished vegan stick-boy arms don’t exactly inspire fear of your emotional wrath in me. Experimental: Sometimes experiments FAIL. Just because you’ve managed to cobble together a block of noise that may pass as music doesn’t mean it’s going to be good, aesthetically, or technically. The attitude: Apparently noting that certain of these wonder bands par excellance suck is forbidden. I’ve got to “Support the scene.” Fuck the scene! I’m not going attach my endorsement to a piece of haphazard noise just because it’s “scene”. This is the most amusing trend i’ve noticed. You have managed to become pop-music-like drones to your own brand of shit. Of course since that particular shit is so cerebral and experimental; I just must be deficient in mental capacity since I don’t support it. So in closing I’d like to say, You Suck, You suck, You suck. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-indie-music/216622/2 "2003-12-03T02:29:28Z")
Whatever, dude. I’m curious as to which bands you despise so much. I’m not much into current emo, but proto-emo bands like Husker Du rock. The indie snob factor can be annoying, but most indie kids I know support both indie and good pop. You’ll always find the occassional hipster who tries to outcool every one else by being into the most obscure bands on the planet, but generally, our tastes are fairly diverse. On the indie message boards I frequent, a lot of people seem to dig Kylie Minogue and Justin Timberlake (but generally not Brittany and Aguilera) alongside The Locust, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Sleater-Kinney, The White Stripes, etc. I’m sorry it’s pissed you off so much, but I, at least, really do like the music and the roughness and variety much more than 90% of the crap that gets radio play. It’s not an issue of elitism or wanting to be different. I’ve been playing music since I’ve been 8, clasically & jazz trained, and I find this style of music to have far more emotion and musicianship than your average Top 40 hit. Sometimes it takes time to get into. When I first heard the Vaselines and Smashing Pumpkins (who aren’t really indie, but at the time of Gish they were) it was an assault on my eardrums. Years later, after being tired of the repetetiveness of Top 40 radio and after going to college and being exposed to bands like Sonic Youth and the Pixies and understanding the aesthetic, I came back to them. And for the life of me I couldn’t figure out what I found so objectionable this music in the first place. Good music is good music, and I find much more good music (for myself) by independent or small-label artists than I do in mass popular culture. ---
**Author:** ![hazel-rah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/73ab20/32.png) [@hazel-rah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hazel-rah)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-indie-music/216622/3 "2003-12-03T02:37:43Z")
So… you asked out an Indie Rock girl and she said no, huh? ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-indie-music/216622/4 "2003-12-03T02:56:19Z")
Remember, 90% of everything is crap. That goes for the indie scene, too. ---
**Author:** ![nashiitashii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7c8e57/32.png) [@nashiitashii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nashiitashii)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-indie-music/216622/5 "2003-12-03T03:43:56Z")
Well, there are some especially bad stuff even in the indie scene. In general, it’s more of a band not quite understanding how the music they want to make works before trying to compose it. How many times have you gone to see a newer band on the scene, only to leave because their musical ability is on the same level as those chicken fingers you ate last week? I have, and most of the time I’ll walk out after a few songs if they don’t improve in style or composition. (My biggest gripe is when they’ve got a keyboard that’s tuned to a completely different key than the rest of the instruments being played with it. It just strikes me as asinine.) I honestly can say I understand why a good chunk of music majors don’t go out and peruse the local scene after a year or so training. Most of the time it’s not worth it, unless you’ve been told by reputable friends that they’re a musical gem. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-indie-music/216622/6 "2003-12-03T03:55:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mirrored Indigo Shadows \* > \*\* I honestly can say I understand why a good chunk of music majors don’t go out and peruse the local scene after a year or so training. Most of the time it’s not worth it, unless you’ve been told by reputable friends that they’re a musical gem. \*\* Well, because majoring in music has little to do with whether you can create good music. Technical proficiency is not the most important trait in pop and rock music, and often people who are trained in one style of music (say, classical or jazz) have great difficulty crossing over convincingly to another style. I’m not saying it’s not possible, it’s just that very few music majors make good rockers. ---
**Author:** ![Jervoise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jervoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jervoise)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-indie-music/216622/7 "2003-12-03T04:00:22Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by pulykamell_ > \*\*On the indie message boards I frequent, a lot of people seem to dig Kylie Minogue and Justin Timberlake (but generally not Brittany and Aguilera) alongside The Locust, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Sleater-Kinney, The White Stripes, etc. pulykamell\*\*, would you mind sharing the name of your music board? Please email me, if needed. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![eli\_the\_fanatic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ccd318/32.png) [@eli\_the\_fanatic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eli_the_fanatic)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-indie-music/216622/8 "2003-12-03T04:04:36Z")
I would like to find the person who started the completely unfounded rumor that The White Stripes are worth listening to. Probably a practical joke by some nerd. ---
**Author:** ![DeaganTheWolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DeaganTheWolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeaganTheWolf)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-indie-music/216622/9 "2003-12-03T04:18:42Z")
I’m afraid i’m going to have a hard time listing specific bands. I’m terrible with names and never bother memorizing something unless it made a profound impression on me, good or bad. I gave the genre what i consider a fair shake; I aquired 6 sampler discs, each with 10-15 artists on them. Out of around the 60-75 artists I listened to, I liked tree of them. Three. The ones that come to mind that I enjoyed were Songs: Ohia, The yeah yeah yeahs \, And Nick Cave and Bad seeds. These were the standouts, there were a few others that had a mildly interesting melody, construction, etc… Among the Terrible!!! Modest Mouse: What the hell is this?! A man singing \ in a weird falsetto to off beat banging tinny drums. Bands like the White stripes and the Uhms, etc are nothing more than re-hashed simplistic deconstructionist punk, and aren’t worth mentioning. If you like 'em that’s fine, but musically it’s crap and not my thing. On a related side note I listen to an incredibly wide variety of music and i don’t care for anything in the top 40 either. Most of my musical selections come from small label companies. I’m just terribly tired of an elitist attude that’s attributed to a simplistic musical style. It’s not hard to play, \sing, or compose. ---
**Author:** ![DeaganTheWolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DeaganTheWolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeaganTheWolf)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-indie-music/216622/10 "2003-12-03T04:21:46Z")
I’m afraid I’m going to have a hard time listing specific bands. I’m terrible with names and never bother memorizing something unless it made a profound impression on me, good or bad. I gave the genre what I consider a fair shake; I aquired 6 sampler discs, each with 10-15 artists on them. Out of around the 60-75 artists I listened to, I liked three of them. Three. The ones that come to mind that I enjoyed were Songs: Ohia, The yeah yeah yeahs \, And Nick Cave and Bad seeds. These were the standouts, there were a few others that had a mildly interesting melody, construction, etc… Among the Terrible!!! Modest Mouse: What the hell is this?! A man singing \ in a weird falsetto to off beat banging tinny drums. Bands like the White stripes and the Uhms, etc are nothing more than re-hashed simplistic deconstructionist punk, and aren’t worth mentioning. If you like 'em that’s fine, but musically it’s crap and not my thing. On a related side note I listen to an incredibly wide variety of music and I don’t care for anything in the top 40 either. Most of my musical selections come from small label companies. I’m also approaching this from the side of a self taught rocker who appreciates classical. I’m just terribly tired of an elitist attude that’s attributed to a simplistic musical style. It’s not hard to play, \sing, or compose. ---
**Author:** ![DeaganTheWolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DeaganTheWolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeaganTheWolf)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-indie-music/216622/11 "2003-12-03T04:36:31Z")
crap sorry for double posts, net’s acting up. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-indie-music/216622/12 "2003-12-03T04:40:50Z")
I don’t care much for the “Indie scene”. I wouldn’t say I hate it… I’ve just never come across that much that grabs me. Although, then again, maybe I just don’t think of any of the music I listen to as “Indie”… ---
**Author:** ![CaptBushido](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@CaptBushido](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptBushido)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-indie-music/216622/13 "2003-12-03T05:17:35Z")
> [@](#): > > I’m afraid I’m going to have a hard time listing specific bands. I’m terrible with names and never bother memorizing something unless it made a profound impression on me, good or bad. I gave the genre what I consider a fair shake; I aquired 6 sampler discs, each with 10-15 artists on them. Out of around the 60-75 artists I listened to, I liked three of them. Three. > > The ones that come to mind that I enjoyed were Songs: Ohia, The yeah yeah yeahs \, And Nick Cave and Bad seeds. These were the standouts, there were a few others that had a mildly interesting melody, construction, etc… > > Among the Terrible!!! > > Modest Mouse: What the hell is this?! A man singing \ in a weird falsetto to off beat banging tinny drums. > > Bands like the White stripes and the Uhms, etc are nothing more than re-hashed simplistic deconstructionist punk, and aren’t worth mentioning. If you like 'em that’s fine, but musically it’s crap and not my thing. > > On a related side note I listen to an incredibly wide variety of music and I don’t care for anything in the top 40 either. Most of my musical selections come from small label companies. I’m also approaching this from the side of a self taught rocker who appreciates classical. I’m just terribly tired of an elitist attude that’s attributed to a simplistic musical style. It’s not hard to play, \sing, or compose. Good lord, everything you said in this post makes me bewildered and angry. You are like my evil alter ego who hates everything I like and likes everything I hate. One question: How many and what Modest Mouse songs have you heard? WAG, I’d bet that all you heard was _Trailer Trash_. I went around for about a year really hating that song and being baffled why people doted on that crap so much. I have just recently heard some of their other stuff and, sweet jesus, they quickly became one of my favorite bands. (Pavement remains number one, though judging by what you say here, I would NOT recommend them). ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-indie-music/216622/14 "2003-12-03T05:43:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jervoise \* > **pulykamell** , would you mind sharing the name of your music board? Please email me, if needed. 🙂 \*\* [http://www.soundopinions.net/forum/](http://www.soundopinions.net/forum/) It’s a message board for a local (Chicago) radio show called “Sound Opinions.” Most of the member are listeners to the show, but there are quite a few stragglers around who happened upon the message board by accident or referral. Come on down! ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-indie-music/216622/15 "2003-12-03T06:12:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DeaganTheWolf \* > Among the Terrible!!! > > Modest Mouse: What the hell is this?! A man singing \ in a weird falsetto to off beat banging tinny drums. Dude, Modest Mouse _kicks ass_. Though admittedly it took me a while to decide that I liked 'em. They also do a good live show. What radio do you listen to? Have you tried listening to any stations that feature indie music? If not, you might want to try giving a listen to, say, [KEXP](http://www.kexp.org) to see if there’s anything else you might like. ---
**Author:** ![CaptBushido](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@CaptBushido](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptBushido)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-indie-music/216622/16 "2003-12-03T06:20:38Z")
> [@](#): > > Dude, Modest Mouse kicks ass. Hunter Hawk: One word: Uhh… **WORD**. Anyone who doesn’t know this should listen to both the songs _Doin’ the Cockroach_ and _Cowboy Dan_ (which, coincidentally are in the same album… consecutively… in that order). If you still won’t concede that SOME ass, at least, is being kicked by these individuals then I’m afraid I must classify you into a species different than my own. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-indie-music/216622/17 "2003-12-03T06:30:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\*\*Originally posted by DeaganTheWolf \* > It’s not hard to play, \sing, or compose. \*\* Big friggin deal. And I’ll challenge you on the composition part. Blues isn’t difficult to sing, play, or compose, either, for the most part. I mean, it’s the same damn 3 chords over and over and over again, right? Right?? But you know what? Some artists transcend the limitations of their genre and truly create something inspiring and new. And have that unidentifiable quality called “soul.” I mean, sure I can bang out the chords from any White Stripes song but goddamn if I can make it sound like _that_. I wouldn’t consider them the saviors of rock and roll, but that boy Jack White has some incredible feel and style to his music. God dammit, a good song is not about how many chords it has, how difficult it is to play, or even compose. It’s the nuance and expression the artists put into their music that gives the music its immediacy, its charm, its soul. I mean, let’s take Liz Phair’s debut, Exile on Guyville. She has a rather awkward guitar playing style, a bit of an odd voice, and the production is fairly plain, but well done (by Brad Wood, of course.) But that was the essence of the record. It sounded honest, it sounded great, and it sounded like _Liz Phair_. Her voice and guitar planning had character, a distinct identity. I mean, if you think it’s so easy, I’ll give you two chords. Take two chords and make a song that rocks, a song that has character, a song that people like. Then tell me it’s easy. ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-indie-music/216622/18 "2003-12-03T06:37:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by eli\_the\_fanatic \* > \*\*I would like to find the person who started the completely unfounded rumor that The White Stripes are worth listening to. Probably a practical joke by some nerd. \*\* Oh, come on… “The Hardest Buh-in To Buh-in” is worth listening to, at least for the few seconds before he starts singing. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-indie-music/216622/19 "2003-12-03T06:41:02Z")
Hmm… is that right, or is it spelled _buh’in_? _Bu’inn_? It’s always hard to tell with those foreign words. ---
**Author:** ![RexDart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b77776/32.png) [@RexDart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RexDart)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-indie-music/216622/20 "2003-12-03T08:47:38Z")
I’m gonna send Robert Pollard over to your house to kick the crap outta you. I don’t know where he is right now, but I’m sure he’s drunk and willing to fight. Though, to be fair, Guided by Voices is the _only_ indie band I ever really got into, probably out of limited exposure to other similiar bands. Well, unless all the alt-country stuff (Uncle Tupelo, Wilco, etc) counts as “indie.” Anyway, there is alot of crap. And albums consisting of 45 second acoustic guitar pieces recorded on 4-track aren’t for _everybody_, admitedly. (But very cool once you start playing guitar yourself.) You’re right on the ball bashing emo, and I’ve never understood the attraction to the White Stripes. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-indie-music/216622.md?page=2)