The bold, simple layout caught my eye and it's question stimulated my mind. What is "indie" and was it dead?
Before reading Rachael Maddux's feature in the latest issue of Paste, I jotted down what I thought indie might mean.
- original, artistic, not mainstream
- without the help of a major label
- something that's viewed as "cool"
I figured Maddux would tell me what "indie" was right away because we need to know what it is before we can figure out if it's dead right? Well turns out Maddux didn't really know either and when she asked various folks what they thought, everyone seemed to have different opinions.
OK then the answer to is indie dead has to be NO since we can't agree on what it is, right? Well not according to Maddux. Confused?
Over the course of nine pages Maddux tries to support her view. At first she tries to categorize "indie" as a movement, much like punk, underground, or alternative. Each had their moment in the sun, but ended up dying when they became popular. But it's not that simple.
The rest of the article contains great music history and information, but it's a bit all over the place. She starts to paint this image of what a punk adaptor would see today if he or she had fast forwarded 30 years- cool concept, but she never sees it through. Rather we venture into music placement and marketing, talk about artists ranging from Spoon and Mozart to Lyle Lovett and Frank Sinatra.
Random I know, but you can read the whole article for yourself at
That's right it's all online, including the cool graphics. Wish I had known, could have saved $5.95!
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