the_dp

here is what I wrote on a similar thread a few months back:

i think "being indie" often becomes the most un-indie thing possible. its like, hey I am indie, so let me go copy the styles of other people who call themselves indie!!! be it fashion or music I think anyone can become victim to that. I think with music, you have to make music that you genuinely like and take the influences from everywhere. sadly, indie has become more of a genre when it should be an exception to genre. I think calling something indie is much the same as calling something modern, post-modern, avant-garde, new wave, pop, country, deco, dada, etc. etc. the list goes on forever. see, I listen to some indie music, but I also can listen to Linkin Park, Kanye West, and U2 and not for the sake of irony, but that I won't let an indie standard influence my taste. it just so happens that with post-modern music, I tend to like the variety that ends up being labelled indie, whether it be true indie (independently produced stuff) or lesser known non-indie (Wilco would be a good example since they are produced by major studios but mostly have a cult following as well as a following of hipsters who like Wilco because indie rules stipulate they should and would probably cut themselves if they knew that Wilco was once country).

to put it simply, I am not going to change the way I walk, talks, dress, eat, exercise of vote just because I happen to like and generally purchase indie music. you won't see me walking down Wisconsin Avenue with a clove hanging out of my mouth wearing a Chairman Mao t-shirt and jean jacket with Obama button on it, trying to keep my circulation going through my skinny pants and my 300 dollar sunglasses hanging from my t-shirt while I try to kick as much mud as I can with my old school Chuck Taylors. You also aren't going to see my hair down to my neck covering up half of my face and wearing sweatbands on my wrists. but at the same time, a lot of the music I listen to will have people that look like this. the line between indie and major or popular is a pretty subjective one man. and probably the most indie people performing out there and actually being indie you wouldn't know unless you heard them or saw them. A recent thread about Of Montreal has gone up and they are one of the most indie looking bands I have ever seen and have turned one of their songs into an Outback commercial. Are they indie? Who cares? they are good, and that is way more important than being Indie.