Being able to understand the context behind the genres we take inspiration from is hugely important. This allows you to find references for recordings or mixes or songs that may influence you lyrically or musically. Exploring different genres and subgenres lets you find the style you resonate with the most, so you can fit your music into that niche to help build an audience that will enjoy your music. Over time, expanding your music taste and exploring new genres will make you appreciate more and may influence you to look at different routes or techniques for writing or producing music. If you find a genre you don’t like, understanding why this is is also important as it will help you understand your own taste more.
Indie Pop
Indie pop is a subgenre of ‘indie’, an abbreviation of ‘independent’, representing artists that have released music through independent labels. Though this abbreviation still stands in some cases, a lot of signed bands and artists still come under the term ‘indie’, as it has become more than meaning ‘independent’ and cannot be defined by one single sound; it simply means to refrain from the mainstream music scenes and being authentic. Although dating back to the 70s, when the Buzzcocks released their Spiral Scratch EP LP totally independently, the first of its kind in the rock scene (Peacock, 2022), the modern indie movement started out in the early 2000s, and combined features from rock, Britpop, pop and more to make a totally unique sound. Bands that dominated this scene then were Arctic Monkeys, Franz Ferdinand, The Libertines and more. All of these featured angsty lyrics, hard-hitting drums and powerful guitar riffs. Once growing in popularity, subgenres of indie came about in the 2010s, such as indie-rock (still containing Arctic Monkeys, and new acts like Royal Blood and Catfish and The Bottlemen), indie-folk (Jake Bugg, Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes), and indie-pop.
Indie pop was a turning tide for the British scenes, especially in the late 2010s. Being much less angsty, easier to listen to, and using more gentle sounds, the genre was quickly coined by upcoming bands needing an original sound that wasn’t Britpop or synth-pop, they needed something unique that would grab people’s attention. The genre sits comfortably between punk and pop, taking the lo-fi quality of punk and pairing it with jangly guitars and catchy melodies, taking inspiration from bands like The Smiths and The Cure. After the turn of the century, bands like MGMT, Beach House, Vampire Weekend and more were the pioneers of this new ‘indie-pop’ scene and helped it grow in popularity into the 2010s. Songs such as ‘Electric Feel’, ‘A-Punk’ and ‘Master Of None’ had millions of listeners worldwide and paved the way for new artists to take inspiration from these songs, therefore eventually creating their own feel-good, indie tunes in the early 2010s. These artists included Two Door Cinema Club, The Wombats, Foals, The 1975 and many more; this is when the UK indie-pop scene really gained some traction and artists from the earlier indie scene began to release more albums, such as Arctic Monkeys’ ‘AM’ from 2013, their most popular album to date.
In the 2010s also a came a huge shift in music. Social media trends, streaming services, and access to professional recording equipment from the comfort of your own home changed the global music scene, and new artists came about with totally unexplored music because of this. 2018/19 was a huge period for the indie-pop scene. Artists like Clairo, Rex Orange County, Boy Pablo, Declan McKenna and many more became the influential faces of the sub-genre ‘bedroom pop’. This is seemingly similar to indie pop, but artists produce their music from their homes, hence the name. This became available to artists through the wide availability of production equipment and computer software. The term ‘bedroom pop’ was coined in the early 2010s as artists grew small followings online but it really started to take shape in 2019 after TikTok became a hugely popular and influential social media site, creating trends and whole new aesthetics, paving the way for bedroom pop artists to make create bigger, more dedicated fanbases. Typically, artists in this genre tend to stay independent, giving it another tie with indie (Roos, 2020).
“You can get to anyone now…You can reach out to the whole world just by making music in your bedroom.”
(Roos, 2020)
Grunge
Grunge has a huge and impactful history behind it, and it starts in the late 80s. The term ‘grunge’ means grimy and dirty, and it refers to the general sound of the genre; lo-fi, dirty, lazy recordings, and adopting a DIY ideal. The grunge scene is almost like an offspring of the extremely popular punk and metal scenes of the 70s and 80s, with bands like Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Alice Cooper, Queen, Ramones, The Clash and more paving the way for heavy guitar riffs, assertive drums and in-your-face vocals.
Grunge started out in Seattle in the mid-80s, which saw grunge bands playing small venues and releasing their own music to push out their style and ideology. The fans and artists quickly became anti-mainstream, anti-consumerist and promoted their strong views on drugs, women’s rights, big corporations, authority and more in both their music and in the media (Savage, n.d.). Because of their views on fash fashion and consumerism, grunge adopted its own style consisting of second-hand items, oversized and baggy t-shirts and sweaters, boots (especially Doc Martens), chains, ripped jeans and tights and organic, fair trade clothing. Women in grunge dressed how they wanted and were not defined by gendered clothing (grunge, n.d.). They didn’t dress for the media or because people told them what to wear, and this was fully supported in the grunge scene.
In the late 80s, grunge really started its relevancy in the mainstream when record label ‘Sub Pop’ scouted out these artists from Seattle that were growing quickly. The label signed bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden and Mudhoney, (grunge, n.d.) which became some of the most relevant grunge bands. Other bands include Pearl Jam, The Smashing Pumpkins, Hole and Stone Temple Pilots. All bands had things in common; angsty and monotone lyrics, distorted and lo-fi guitars, droning basslines, and loud, powerful drum sounds. Their live performances were often full of energy, extremely loud and enthusiastic, with the band members acting unhinged on stage. Nirvana released their first album ‘Bleach’ and went on tour with Sonic Youth in 1990.
After a breakthrough from Nirvana, the early 90s saw them sign to a major record label, which lost fans, claiming they lost their DIY and anti-corporation roots. However, this signing was huge for Nirvana; they were the most popular grunge band in the scene and their 1991 album ‘Nevermind’ sold over 30 million copies worldwide. This album is still one of the most influential albums of the 90s and is an influence on many bands in alternative rock scenes. After a now worldwide fame, and performances at MTV and Reading festival in 1992, they released their next album ‘In Utero’, which performed very well and received critical acclaim from the media. After speculations about Kurt Cobain’s drug use and physical and mental health, he was admitted to hospital and a drug rehabilitation centre. Less than a week after, he committed suicide after returning to his home in Seattle (Savage, n.d.). The public reacted by almost selling out Nirvana stock and merchandise and holding a vigil in Seattle for the musician. Since his death, the grunge scene rapidly declined, showing how much of an influence he was on both fans and artists. This, combined with poor sales numbers from other grunge bands at the time made the scene fade even further (grunge, n.d.). Even though it is no longer popular, it still plays a huge role in alternative rock genres and even mainstream music, fashion and political views, and its legend will continue to live on.
Slowcore
Slowcore is a fairly niche genre that started out in the 1990s, following on from the post-punk scenes including bands like Joy Division, The Pixies, Talking Heads and more. It is often associated with dream-pop and shoegaze. The genre is almost like a rebellion against the grunge and rock scenes that were extremely popular worldwide. Instead of loud vocals and insane drum fills, slowcore was stripped back volume-wise, minimalistic, slow, melancholy and often use open tunings to capture that dream-like sound. However, both scenes still used that lo-fi sound and angsty lyrics. A token of the genre and one of the instigators of the style and sound was Low, with their 1994 album ‘I Could Live in Hope’ (Slowcore, n.d.). Also in 1994, Slowdive released their album ‘Souvlaki’, featuring their biggest songs to date; ‘Alison’ and ‘When The Sun Hits’. This album has features of shoegaze, as do many other slowcore albums as they both use similar musical techniques and production elements.
Duster released their album ‘Stratosphere’ in 1998, a hugely influential album which helped bring popularity to the niche genre. The album features standard lo-fi elements such as glitchy vocals and poor drum sounds and tape hiss. The guitar tracks are simple and feature minimal effects, the vocals are low in the mix and the basslines are spartan root notes. The album performed very well as it was new and had a dedicated fanbase backing them. After releasing their album ‘Contemporary Movement’ in 2000, they seemingly disappeared for almost two decades before releasing a single in 2019 after a resurgence and interest in their songs by young people discovering their music and wanting more. This was through fans expressing themselves online, the band noticing their records being re-sold for huge profits and most importantly, word of mouth (Lorusso, 2019). After this single, they went on to release two new albums to their fan’s shock, and their older songs such as Constellations, Stars Will Fall and Inside Out were used on over 120,000 videos on TikTok.
Although the genre has never had a major breakthrough and is quite niche, the scene carried into the 2000s. Bands like Have A Nice Life and LSD And The Search For God were popular. Have A Nice Life’s first album ‘Deathconsciousness’ is still their most popular album to date, and Bloodhail was their most popular song off the album, currently sitting at 18 million streams (Spotify, 2022). The song is a stereotypical slowcore song, with a slow tempo, low-quality recordings, quiet vocals, simple guitar instrumental parts and a shoegaze sound. This song is also popular on TikTok, being used on over 3000 videos (TikTok, 2022). This shows that young people are still interested in this type of music, which is surprising because of how small the genre is.
After a slow decade, the scene picked up in the 2010s with new bands and artists emerging, such as Alex G with his 2012 album,’Trick’. His album is a staple of dream-pop; raspy vocals, experimental noises, and a minimalist texture. This was his breakthrough album, with some of his most streamed songs coming from this album such as Advice, Sarah and Change. Alex G is one of the most popular artists in this scene and has over 2 million monthly listeners on Spotify (Spotify, 2022). Although he has been making music for over 10 years, his most recent releases are still performing very well and he has a dedicated fan base and social media presence, especially with his single ‘Treehouse’, which was released in 2011, however, became a trend to use the song on TikTok with over 4000 videos (TikTok, 2022), therefore showing that slowcore and dream-pop are still relevant, but fairly underground scenes.