This document provides an overview of the genre of indie pop music. It traces the origins of indie pop to post-punk bands in the UK in the 1980s, particularly The Smiths. Other seminal indie pop artists mentioned include Orange Juice and Belle and Sebastian. The document also discusses how indie pop influenced festivals like Reading and how bands like Arctic Monkeys and Vampire Weekend incorporated global sounds into indie pop.

1. GENRE
RESEARCH-INDIE
POP
BY WILLIAM SCHOLEY

2. INDIE POP, WHAT IS IT?
• Indie pop is a genre of alternative rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the
mid-1980s, with its roots in Scottish post-punk bands on the Postcard Records label in the
early '80s and the dominant UK independent band of the mid-'80s, The Smiths. Indie pop
was inspired by punk's DIY ethic and related ideologies, and it generated a thriving
fanzine, label, and club and gig circuit. Indie pop differs from indie rock to the extent that it
is pretty much angst free.
• The term "indie" had been used for some time to describes artists on independent
labels, such as Sun Records, King Records and Stax.

3. THE SMITHS
• This is where indie pop started
• The Smiths were an English band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song
writing partnership of vocalist Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr, the band also included
bassist Andy Rourke and drummer Mike Joyce. The Smiths are known as being the most
important band to of emerged form the British independent music scene of the 1980’s
• In February 1984, the group released their debut album The Smiths, which reached
number two on the UK Albums Chart.
• Morrissey was inspired to wright some of his songs due to his love for English literature
his lyrics were influenced by English poets such as Oscar Wilde and Johnny Marr.
• He also had a love for New York Dolls and 60’s girl bands, this suggests that this genre

4. ORANGE JUICE
• Orange Juice was a Scottish band founded in the middle class Glasgow suburb of
Bearsden as the Nu-Sonics in 1976. Edwyn Collins formed the Nu-Sonics (named after a
cheap brand of guitar) with his school-mate Alan Duncan and was subsequently joined by
James Kirk and Steven Daly, who left a band called The Machetes.[3] The band became
Orange Juice in 1979. They are best known for the hit "Rip It Up", which reached number 8
on the UK Singles Chart in February 1983.
• Orange Juice's influence over indie music is so vast that it's hard to imagine how shocking
they once seemed, not least to the audiences who reacted to singer Edwyn Collins's
camp, sardonic delivery with chants of "Poofs! Poofs!".

5. READING GOES INDIE
• 25-27 August 1989 Reading had its first indie festival, Reading festival
undertook a dramatic change of direction and shed its reputation as the home
of muddy rock. Kicking off with a Friday night featuring the
Sugarcubes, Spacemen 3 and headlined by New Order this brought a different
set of people to Reading as bands including My Bloody Valentine, Jesus Jones
and Loop showed the way forward. Stalwarts grumbled, but tickets sold out
and rock never had the same hold over Reading again.

6. BELLE AND SEBASTIAN
• Belle and Sebastian were nominated for the best British newcomer award at
the 1999 Brits, few expected them to beat the likes of Steps and 5ive to the
prize. But then few realised the power a diehard fan base could harness in the
internet age.
• Belle and Sebastian are an indie pop band formed in Glasgow in January 1996.
They are often compared with acts such as The Smiths, this again suggests
that the Smiths were the beginning of indie pop.

7. THE LIBERTINES
• 2003
• Few who saw it thought the open invitation on an internet forum to see Britain's
brightest indie hopes play a gig in the front room of their Bethnal Green flat was
real. But the handful of believers who made it down to 112a Teesdale Street
were treated to a night of Libertines magic. This event almost managed to bring
down the wall between bands and fans forever.

8. ARCTIC MONKEYS
• Arctic Monkeys were heralded as one of the first group of acts to come to the
public attention via the Internet (fan-based sites rather than from the
band), with commentators suggesting they represented the possibility of a
change in the way in which new bands are promoted and marketed.
• After forming in 2002 in the Sheffield suburb of High Green, then gigging
around the city's sticky-carpeted pubs, and endorsing the swapping of their
demos among friends and fans, something new took Arctic Monkeys' music
further than they ever imagined: peer-to-peer filesharing.

9. INDIE GOES WORLD MUSIC
CRAZY
• 2008
• Noughties blogs such as Dalston Oxfam Shop hinted at the possibilities
available to indie bands if they embraced global sounds, but it took the release
of Vampire Weekend's first album for a full-scale incorporation of "world" music
to occur. These preppy New Yorkers looked to Africa – more specifically the
sounds of Soweto – for inspiration.

10. VAMPIRE WEEKEND
• Formation and Rise
• Members of the band met while matriculating at Columbia University in New
York City, beginning with a rap collaboration between Koenig and Tomson.[1]
They bonded over a shared love of punk rock and African music, and Koenig
toured with The Dirty Projectors during a period of experimentation with African
music, inspiring the band to incorporate world sounds into their earliest work.