Nastanak Indie rocka

Indie scena poèela se razvijati u Americi poèetkom 80-ih godina 20 vijeka. Pojam indie dolazi od eng. independent - nezavisno. U poèetku je pojam nezavisnih etiketa bio vezan uglavnom uz punk rock bendove poput Black Flag i Minor Threat, no do kraja 80-ih na nezavisnoj se sceni razvio èitav niz novih muzickih pravaca, primjerice noise rock, twee pop, emo (koji ne valja poistovjeæivati s današnjim popularnim emo bendovima), noise pop (takoðer poznat kao shoegaze ili dream pop) itd. Još neki od važnijih predstavnika amerièke indie scene iz prve polovice 80-ih su Fugazi, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., Yo La Tengo, Beat Happening, Replacements, Minutemen, The Pixies, Husker Du, Butthole Surfers, Big Black... Neki od popularnijih predstavnika indie rocka (ako se u kontekstu nezavisne i underground scene može govoriti o "popularnosti") 90-ih i 00-ih bili bi Pavement, Neutral Milk Hotel, Built to Spill, Death Cab for Cutie, Modest Mouse, Of Montreal, Broken Social Scene, The Decemberists, Arcade Fire, Sufjan Stevens…

By the mid-1990s, the term "alternative music" had lost much of its original meaning as rock radio and record buyers embraced increasingly slick, commercialized, and highly marketed forms of the genre. At the end of the decade, hip hop music had pushed much of alternative rock out of the mainstream, and most of what was left played pop punk and highly polished versions of a grunge/rock mishmash. Many acts that, by choice or fate, remained outside the commercial mainstream became part of the indie rock movement. Indie rock acts placed a premium on maintaining complete control of their music and careers, often releasing albums on their own independent record labels and relying on touring, word-of-mouth, and airplay on independent or college radio stations for promotion. Linked by an ethos more than a musical approach, the indie rock movement encompasses a wide range of styles, from hard-edged, grunge influenced bands like The Cranberries, Muse, Superchunk to do-it-yourself experimental bands like Pavement to punk-folk singers such as Ani DiFranco. Currently, many countries have an extensive local indie scene, flourishing with bands with much less popularity than commercial bands, just enough of it to survive inside the respective country, but virtually unknown outside them.