Indie as an Ethos
Complete control, even over this song … The Clash
In the broad strokes I have used to paint indie as a specific sound with generic conventions, I have not yet discussed the very real elements of diversity that exist within the indie category. For each of the general principles there have been bands that defy the conventions and are still considered indie. There are indie bands that top the mainstream charts, indie bands on major labels, indie bands with major distribution, indie bands that utilize complex studio-produced sounds that cannot be played live, and indie bands that make eight-minute songs. There are even a few indie bands that do not use a guitar. If indie is a genre of music recognizable by a sound or mode of distribution, then how are bands that defy these conventions incorporated into the category? The Tindersticks are a fine example. They were signed to This Way Up, which was owned and distributed by a major company. Numerous members played a variety of instruments, including strings. The band did not have a typical indie sound but instead featured music that suggested a combination of soul and crooning, rarely written in 4/4 timing. The members wear subdued suits. Since a band like the Tindersticks can defy indie’s generic conventions yet still be considered part of the indie world, it is clear that there is more involved in the constitution of indie as a genre than a distinctive sound, fashion, mode of production, and performance style. Indie is an ethos, an attitude. Indie, much like hip-hop, is a way of life.
For many, indie is the spirit of independence, being free from control, dependence, or interference. Self-reliance, not depending on the authority of others, has been the guiding value of indie music, as has the autonomy of the artist. For indie, its paradigmatic models are the “independent” record shop, the “independent” distribution company, the “independent” record label arising from individual entrepreneurship, and the indie band appearing on the roster of an independent label, at least in its formative stage.48 Independence in music means actively eschewing a centralized corporate hierarchy where decisions are made by distant executive bodies. As Tony Wilson, one of the heads of Manchester’s Factory Records, put it, “The theory of independence was discovered in the act of putting out your own records, doing very well, being friends with your artists, and not ripping them off. And by 1981 we were all doing it” (Harris 2003: 8). Independence, the notion of self-expression and self-control, pervades all aspects of the indie community.
Artists’ control over their music has been a central element in the notion of independence: “The propelling idea, at least since 1976, can be summed up in the one simple phrase: ‘release your own records’ ” (NME, February 8, 1986).49 On one’s own independent label, musicians have total control over the recording, artwork, and whatever else went into the particular production, with no intervention by establishment professionals. Therefore, the record that appeared in stores would be the unmediated musical vision of the artist.
While it has become less common for indie bands to set up one-off labels to release their own records, the independent record label is considered to continue the fight for the performers’ artistic control. As one label boss remarked, “Indie is an attitude and dance labels are the indie ones now. Where someone will put out a record from their bedroom and it will sell something like 3,000 copies. This is what indie has been” (NME, July 18, 1992). This comment points to individual entrepreneurial spirit in a nonconventional setting and smallness as both being constitutional elements of indie. Indie is the commitment to individual artistic expression. The individual is able to envision an idea, produce it, and then distribute it to the public without intervention. The independent label is seen to have the same agenda as the artist, delivering unmediated music to the public. One of the reasons bands sign to independent labels is the expectation of artistic control and limited intervention by the independent record company.50
There are other general characteristics about indie’s ethos. Indie is generally a middle-class phenomenon, yet it idealizes the working class with its supposed “authentic” experience. Bands, in particular, are criticized if they are perceived as coming from a background of affluence. Those from the upper class or upper middle class often obscure their backgrounds. The indie fan is usually educated and paradigmatically is a university student. In Britain, most fans range in age from about fifteen to twenty-nine, with 80 percent under the age of twenty-five.51 In a general way, the discourse of indie is politically liberal, reflecting the middle-class value of empathy; there is little tolerance for racism, sexism, or homophobia. The letters pages of the indie press and magazines are constantly filled with diatribes against racism, the BNP (British Nationalism Party), and the rise of neo-Nazism, despite the fact that very few members of the indie audience are ethnic minorities. NME and Melody Maker were regularly characterized as having a middle-class, white male, liberal agenda. These positions are fairly characteristic of student populations in England, as well as other youth music communities, and are not particularly unique to indie. However, a unique component of the indie ethos is the representation of indie as miserable and pathetic.
Indie as Pathetic
Regarding, then, Beauty as my province, my next question referred to the tone of its highest manifestation—and all experience has shown that this tone is one of sadness. Beauty of whatever kind, in its supreme development, invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears. Melancholy is thus the most legitimate of all poetic tones…. Edgar Allan Poe
wishing for a time that never was…. Doves
Indie is strongly associated with the mien of pathos. Indie fans are often represented as being depressed, obsessive loners. Invoking the image of the anorak, as one indie fan did in his definition of indie, not only aligns indie with childhood but also associates it with trainspotting. In Britain, the trainspotter is an emblematic image of pathetic obsession. Trainspotters can be seen in anoraks at the end of rail platforms, waiting to glimpse trains and record their sightings in ledgers. While it is important to the trainspotters, the meaningfulness of this obsession eludes outsiders. For many, indie connotes a similar compulsive obsession with esoterica.
Many indie fans have comprehensive collections of their favorite artists and/or favorite label releases. Indie and dance both have audiences that purchase recordings by label without knowing the particular artist or song. For many indie fans, a comprehensive collection includes not merely a copy of every track, but every track on every format in which it was released. Record companies have been able to exploit the purchasing habits of obsessive British fans. The general recognition that some fans want to have complete collections resulted in rampant multi-formatting, in which recordings are released with different tracks and versions of songs for each format.52 Since the collector fan often purchases a copy of each format, releasing a single in several formats can bolster a single’s position on the charts. This process was later curtailed by limiting the number of formats that would be eligible for inclusion in the charts.53 The practice of comprehensive collecting of what appears to the outsider to be obscure and irrelevant materials generates the comparison with the trainspotter.
The indie community parodies its own proclivities and outsiders’ criticism of them, demonstrating a community enmeshed in self-referentiality. Indie fans will at times call themselves dull or boring because of their obsession with the small details of their records or record collections. The press as well as indie fans use the term “saddo” when referring to themselves; a saddo is a sad and lamentable person. The term “indie” itself is, at times, applied in general conversation to indicate a shortcoming or something small and not particularly well done. The image of indie as pathetic is so prevalent that an international conference held in Dublin in 1995 on the topic of “the pathetic” suggested indie music in its call for papers.
Indie ideology is indeed characterized by pathos. The word “pathos”