Indie rock

Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom in the 1980s. Indie rock was extremely diverse, with subgenres that include indie pop, jangle pop, and lo-fi, among others. Originally used to describe record labels, the term became associated with the music they produced and was initially used interchangeably with alternative rock. As grunge and punk revival bands in the US, and then Britpop bands in the UK, broke into the mainstream in the 1990s, it came to be used to identify those acts that retained an outsider and underground perspective. In the 2000s, as a result of changes in the music industry and the growing importance of the Internet, a number of indie rock acts began to enjoy commercial success, leading to questions about its meaningfulness as a term.

In the mid-1980s, the term "indie" began to be used to describe the music produced on punk and post-punk labels. A number of prominent indie rock record labels were founded during the 1980s. During the 1990s, Grunge bands broke into the mainstream, and the term "alternative" lost its original counter-cultural meaning. The term "indie rock" became associated with the bands and genres that remained dedicated to their independent status. By the end of the 1990s indie rock developed a number of subgenres and related styles. Following indie pop these included lo-fi, noise pop, emo, sadcore, post-rock, space rock and math rock. In the 2000s, changes in the music industry and in music technology enabled a new wave of indie rock bands to achieve mainstream success.

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that originated as "rock and roll" in the United States in the 1950s, and developed into a range of different styles in the 1960s and later, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s' and 1950s' rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by blues, rhythm and blues and country music. Rock music also drew strongly on a number of other genres such as electric blues and folk, and incorporated influences from jazz, classical and other musical sources.

Musically, rock has centered on the electric guitar, usually as part of a rock group with electric bass guitar and drums. Typically, rock is song-based music usually with a 4/4 time signature using a verse-chorus form, but the genre has become extremely diverse. Like pop music, lyrics often stress romantic love but also address a wide variety of other themes that are frequently social or political in emphasis. The dominance of rock by white, male musicians has been seen as one of the key factors shaping the themes explored in rock music. Rock places a higher degree of emphasis on musicianship, live performance, and an ideology of authenticity than pop music.

Rock music (disambiguation)

Rock music is a form of popular music that normally includes the electric guitar, bass guitar and drums.

Rock music may also refer to:

See also

Bossanova

Bossanova is the third studio album by the American rock band Pixies. It was released in August 13, 1990 on the English independent record label 4AD in the United Kingdom and by Elektra Records in the United States. All of Bossanova's original material was written by the band's frontman Black Francis; this was a first for a Pixies album, but he has written all of their songs since. The album's sound, inspired by surf rock and space rock, complements its lyrical focus on outer space, which references subjects such as aliens and unidentified flying objects.

Because of 4AD's independent status, major label Elektra Records handled distribution in the United States; Bossanova reached number 70 on the Billboard 200. The album peaked at number three in the UK Albums Chart. Two singles were released from Bossanova, "Velouria" and "Dig for Fire"; both charted on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart, at #4 and #11, respectively.

Background and recording

After Pixies finished touring obligations for their second album Doolittle (1989) in January 1990, band members Black Francis, Joey Santiago, and David Lovering moved from Boston to Los Angeles. Bassist Kim Deal meanwhile stayed in the UK to record the first Breeders album during January with producer Steve Albini. Deal ultimately decided to travel out to Los Angeles with the rest of the group. Lovering stated that he, Santiago, and Black Francis moved to Los Angeles because that's where they intended to record. The three band members lived in the Oakwood apartments, along with comic Garrett Morris and members of the band White Lion. Producer Gil Norton also moved into the apartment complex.