Empire of Dirt - Wendy Fonarow Music Culture

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haircut, the “straggly-haired bob” reminiscent of a schoolboy (Melody Maker, October 9, 1993), worn unkempt and somewhat unwashed (although from an American perspective, unwashed could describe most British hairstyles).38 In the shoe-gazing style, performers often stood in the same location during shows. Journalists claimed that the shoe-gazer band Slowdive actually looked down at lyric sheets rather than their effect pedals because they were so raw and unseasoned that they had not even memorized the words to their own songs. The downward look of the shoe-gazers also suggested the introverted and inward-looking quality often attributed to indie music.39

      Indie’s styles of dress embody its themes of childhood and nostalgia. As Simon Reynolds noted in a central work recognizing the conventions of the indie scene:

      Mixed with these items are overtly childish things—dufflecoats, birthday-boy shirts with the top button done up, outsize pullovers; for girls—bows and ribbons and ponytails, plimsolls and dainty white ankle socks, floral or polka-dot frocks, hardly any make-up and no high heels; for boys—beardless and bare-eared and tousled fringes. One garment above all has come to represent the scene—the anorak…. Some hard-core activists on the scene will go all the way and sport a satchel or duffel-bag and then they’ll really look like a Start-Rite kid. (Reynolds 1989: 251)40

      As Stephen Pastel of the band the Pastels put it, “The anorak was a style statement. It was saying: everything else is fucked up and we’ve got to get back. Closer to the start of things. Being children” (Cavanagh 2000: 190). The change from oversized clothing (resembling hand-me-downs from older siblings) to undersized clothing in light colors (reminiscent of clothes one has grown out of) was a resurgence of the “cutie pie” style of the mid-1980s with its tatty babydoll dresses, a style that “concentrated on asexual, preadolescent garments and accessories in soft pastel shades” (Polhemus 1994: 122). The adoption of charity shop items continues this nostalgic principle of indie, in which different periods of resale clothing are renovated and reintroduced as stylish. Indie’s sartorial style owes much more to the mod tradition than to punk with androgynous males and females, a childlike sexuality, prevalence of anoraks, and the so-called ordinariness of their look (Laing 1969). In fact, at fairly regular intervals indie has mod revivals. Segments of the indie community dress up in finely tailored 1960s suits similar to those sported by the Beatles in their early days. In the early 2000s, there was another resurgence of 1960s fashion. Performers dressed uniformly, in suits (the Hives) or striking red and white colors (the White Stripes). Indie’s clothes typically do not fit—either the person or the time.

      The childlike conventions of indie extend not only to clothing style but to modes of physicality as well. Simon Reynolds observes: “Against the mainstream image of a desirable body—vigorous, healthy, suntanned, muscled for men, curvaceous for women—the indie ideal is slender, slight, pale of skin, childishly androgynous” (Reynolds 1989: 251). Producing this wan look requires a particular type of bodily discipline: a renunciation of food, exercise, and outdoor activities. The standard dress and physical style of the thin, clean-shaven, pouty-lipped schoolboy and the slender, androgynous, shorthaired female evoke a childlike appearance in the young adult. Indie bands may wear tailored suits that recall the 1960s or uniform clothes, but these are not representations of contemporary adulthood. Essentially, indie is a return to the past, either the past of one’s own childhood or the past of the early 1960s, which, as Simon Reynolds astutely notes, is seen by the indie community as “like pop’s childhood, when the idea of youth was still young” (Reynolds 1989: 254).

      The very name “indie” indicates a community aligning itself with childhood: the word itself is a diminutive, and diminutives suggest smallness, childhood, affection, and, at times, derision.41 Diminutive names are the appellations of childhood: Billy, not William; Robbie, not Robert; Nicky, not Nicholas. Indie is the diminutive community of independence. The rebellious clarion call of punk’s reformation is made diminutive and humbled in the name “indie.” Each of the associations of diminutiveness pervades indie ideology, even its tendency to ridicule itself. The American Alternative is spelled with a capital “A,” while indie is spelled in the small, modest lower case. Diminutive indie longs for a return to an imagined childhood.

      Indie’s valuation of the past over the present and future is evidenced by its technophobia. The anti-technological stance that permeates many aspects of indie results in indie fans being called Luddites by outsiders as well as insiders.42 For much of its history, computer-generated sounds were not welcome in the genre. Using a drum machine is still considered somewhat heretical, although there have been a few notable exceptions to this rule. As electronic music has persisted, it has presented less of a threat as the new, and more indie bands have begun to incorporate electronica in a lo-fi style.43 The indie sound emerged after a period of great innovation in the use of new electronic instrumentation. At the time of their debut in 1983, the Smiths’ musical approach and use of a traditionalist four-piece beat combo was considered a deliberate return to earlier, simpler forms, a “back to basics” (Melody Maker, July 20, 1983). They were cited as being in stark contrast to the other popular electropop bands of the new wave era, who used cutting-edge electronic technology to produce their sound (NME, May 14, 1983). Indie’s aversion to synthetic sound is revealed in its criticism of dance music’s use of samples and programmed drum beats, which I will address later.

      However, indie does not shun all technology. The electric guitar is the most highly fetishized element of indie music, and effects pedals (which digitally modify the standard tone of the guitar) are used extensively. Within indie, the use of the electric guitar is not considered a use of technology. In fact, the electric guitar is the traditional instrument within the genre. One therefore needs to consider indie’s technophobia in terms of a dialectic between the future and the perceived past, between new and old. Past technology is taken for granted as traditional. It is new technology, new synthetic forms, that indie eschews, and because the new eventually becomes the old, the bar regarding what is acceptable continually moves along.

      Several of the most popular indie bands of the mid-1990s, such as Pulp, began to resuscitate synthetic sounds and synthetic clothing fabrics for the indie music community. However, contemporary indie artists use synthetic sounds in a nostalgic manner. When artificial sounds are employed, indie bands prefer the earliest versions, such as the early Casio machines, Hammond organs, or 1970s synthesizers—the sonic equivalent of polyester. Pulp’s use of synthetic sounds revitalized an earlier sound form. Interestingly, a number of the early prototypical independent artists and labels were not technophobic but were innovators in the use of electronic synthesizers and electronic sound. Factory, with their maverick upstart New Order, employed digital technology to dazzling effect. Goth, a music rage after the demise of punk that was often featured on independent labels, was not adverse to using synthesizers. Depeche Mode, Erasure, and Yazoo were trailblazers in the use of new digital and synthetic technologies on the powerful independent label Mute. That so many technologically advanced bands are considered forerunners of a genre that, at its core, opposes digital simulation sound technology is a provocative contradiction.

      The anti-technological stance of indie is pronounced in the community’s reluctance to fully embrace CD technology. Indie fans’ preference for vinyl records over CDs is a principal reason they are so often considered Luddites. Many indie fans are self-styled vinyl junkies. Vinyl—specifically the seven-inch vinyl single format—formed part of the identity for the indie community in much the same way that the twelve-inch single was associated with dance music and deejaying. However, it must be noted that while indie fans are most likely to buy the seven-inch format, most indie fans have huge CD collections as well. Nevertheless, the indie community both nurtures and supports the continuance of vinyl; as I noted earlier, indie labels often put out limited-edition vinyl recordings. There were even singles clubs like Sub Pop or Creation that released singles exclusively in the seven-inch format. Whereas most majors release singles in three formats—CD1, CD2, and MC (cassette)—labels that cater to the indie audience release a vinyl format in lieu of one of the others.44 For example, Domino Records in South London releases recordings primarily in two formats: CD and vinyl, as do City Slang, Big Cat, and Duophonic. Record labels that consider themselves part of the indie music community make a point to release on vinyl whenever possible.

      For

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