Alternative Indie

Naeemah and Oonagh

• The genre of indie is difficult to define, as it covers
a wide range of subgenres. 

• For example the subgenres include: indie rock,

post-punk, Brit pop, dance pop, indie pop,
baroque pop as well as “grindie”.

• The most accepted definition of the genre is that it

is music is that it is “independent” music; or music
that is outside the commercial music scene.
Traditionally this refers to both the artists and the
recording labels.
•Wimbledon •Born Ruffians •Foals
•Radiohead •Bombay Bicycle Club
Calling
•Ellie Goulding •Pheonix •Interpol
•Biffy Clyro •Arctic Monkeys •Broken Social Scene
•The Strokes •Arcade Fire •Kate Nash
•White Stripes •The Libertines •Passion Pit
•Franz •MGMT •Yeah Yeah Yeahs
•Two Door
Ferdinand
•Coldplay Cinema Club
•Oasis •The Killers
•Klaxon •Ida Maria
•The Drums •Kasabian
•The XX •Florence and
The Machine
•Vampire
Weekend
 The Libertines –
Don’t Look Back Into the Sun

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=_g207eTzVw0
 Don’t Look Back Into the Sun
• The video contains numerous features that
relate to the genre of Indie Rock
• The video is typical of the indie genre, as it
is a very low budget, low maintainence
video.
• Therefore it can be considered similiar to
the Arctic Monkeys video for Teddy Picker:
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=2A2XBoxtcUA
• There is evidence that star image has been used in the video as
though the video presents each member of the band, it is primarily
focused on the 2 leadmen: Pete Doherty and Carl Barat.
• Furthermore shots of the band goofing around are interspersed,
giving a rather laidback impression. The two leads also wear the
red jackets throughout the majority of the video.
• The editing of the video is rather sporadic and fast. The camera
shots are also unsteady, with poor lighting further reinforcing the
idea that the whole video has been done on a budget.
• Also, as there is an increase in the tempo and pace of the song
the visuals change to the band playing at a gig to match the faster
pace.
• Therefore, the video can be as simply a performance based one,
as there is no clear narrative shown in the video.
• It can be argued that there are some voyeuristic aspects in the
video. Most notable is where Carl is decsending the stairs at the
start of the video topless.
• Intertextuality is used widely in many of The Libertines
videos – for example, in “What Katie Did”, the woman
dancing at the start is Kate Moss, who famously went
out with Pete Doherty.
• In this particular video, the red jackets that the band
members wear can be identified as the beefeater
jackets, and is linked with the themes of “Britishness”
in The Libertines songs and album art. However, the
ill-fitting jackets could connote the literal imperfection
of the music.
 The Killers - Bones
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=4Ot4sQoCJDY
 Bones
• The song was released on The Killers album
“Sam’s Town” in 2006.
• The star image in this video is of a more
“traditional” sense. This is where the lead singer
of the band is very much the focus, though the
other members do make an appearance.
• Though the band are the stars of the
performance-based side of the video, there is
also a narrative running alongside the video
• Intertextuality plays a large role in this video. Firstly this was the
first music video for the iconic Tim Burton. The video follows the
themes of Burton’s previous works, particularly the skeletons.
The video won Best Video at the 2007 Shockwaves NME
Awards. The video stars Michael Steger and Devon Aoki.
• There is a definite link between the visuals and the song. For
example, the audience often sees a member of the band playing
the instrument being heard. Furthermore, the pace of the music
matches the pace of the video. This is seen at the end, where
the music slows down and the two characters are running
towards each other in slow motion; when the music picks up the
pace, the skeletons collide.
• The relationship between the song and the lyrics can appear at
first to be quite obvious – with lyrics such as: “We took the back
road in my car” and “Don’t you wanna swim with me” linked with
the corresponding images. However, the lyrics hold a deeper
meaning that is not explained in the video.