Such Great Heights: The Complete Cultural History of the Indie Rock Explosion
by Chris DeVille
Big thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for sending
me Chris DeVille’s new, comprehensive history detailing indie rock’s influence
and evolution over the past 25 years, Such Great Heights: The Complete Cultural History of the Indie Rock Explosion. While I enjoyed reading this
book, I didn’t always agree with DeVille’s takes about indie rock, especially regarding
how and what to include in the indie rock bins. Nevertheless, DeVille makes
some good arguments about how indie rock was propelled forward by the evolving
nature of the internet and social media, among other events, which continued to
expand the types of music that was made, as well as how people listened to and
interacted with music. If anything, I found that this book continued in the
tradition of some other great books about musical genres that traced their evolution
and development by examining the historical context as well as the audience
growth and appeal. Such Great Heights reminded me of books like Michael
Azerrad’s Our Band Could Be Your Life, which examined the rise of
college music or what others might classify as “alternative” music, and Stephen
Blush’s American Hardcore, which traces the punk and specifically
hardcore music that resulted through the networking of van touring, DIY shows, zines
and tape trading. Similarly, Such Great Heights posits the role of
technology, and specifically the development of web 2.0 and its interactivity
with promoting more independent music, that is, music that wasn’t necessarily
reliant on major label production and promotion. In addition, DeVille notes how
mp3s, free and eventually those available for .99 cents, shifted the nature of
the music business, since record labels no longer had to put up money for
packaging and distribution. This enabled smaller, independent record labels
like Merge Records to save money on costs and develop better revenue sharing
with their bands. This also made independent labels more appealing to artists
looking to maintain their artistic vision and integrity. Thus, like other shifts
in musical genres, the indie movement benefited from this changes to the
industry and technology. I appreciated that DeVille works to define indie music
not necessarily by the style, but rather as “a vast network of bands, labels,
concert venues, record stores, radio stations, and homemade zines, which
largely existed apart from the major-label system…. It was less a genre than a
culture: a loose coalition of outsiders, idealists, elitists, critics,
creatives, college students, and so forth.” It’s sometimes hard to define a type
of music that encompasses so many different styles, and is really more reflective
of the other elements related to the music. As a result, DeVille’s book
chronicles many of the bands and artists, but also spends a lot of time examining
the blogs, magazines, journalists, and platforms that helped to propel indie
music to such great heights.
Such Great Heights was a fun read for me because, to
quote the frequently referenced James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem, I was there
when many of the bands in the early chapters started. It was completely fun to
remember about the hype that The Strokes received in that summer before September
11th. Especially as a recent college graduate who struggled to find
work and then struggled with working full-time, music from new bands like The
Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Rapture and established bands like Radiohead and The
Dismemberment Plan really brought a lot of joy to my life at a particularly joyless
time in America. I actually remember going to Spaceboy records in Philly right
before Labor Day 2001 and picking up an EP by The Rapture (Out of the Races
and Onto the Tracks) because I heard it on WPRB, and thought it was so fun
and different sounding that a lot of the music available. I don’t think I had
regular internet access at the time, so a lot of new music came from listening
to college stations. I also remember seeing The Yeah Yeah Yeahs at the Unitarian
Church in February of 2002, after they released debut EP, but before they
signed to a major label, and just being blown away by the sounds the three band
members could make. In particular, Karen O was just so much fun to watch
perform. Strangely enough, my son has gotten into the song “Maps”, and
sometimes we watch older performances from the band. Regardless, it was fun to
reminisce with DeVille in these sections of the book, since I remember how exciting
this time was in discovering these bands, even though some of them, like
Interpol and Radiohead, were signed to major labels, and weren’t necessarily “indie”.
However, for DeVille, the genre was more about the style and not necessarily
their status and affiliation. Also, I loved revisiting Dismemberment Plan and
reading more about them. I only discovered this band through friends and a
roommate in college, and they became a favorite of mine, especially for running.
I still love when any of the songs from The Dismemberment Plan is Scared
comes on during a run. As DeVille notes, the band has a kind of danceable,
kinetic quality that wasn’t always a part of rock music in the 90s. Plus, they
referenced Young MC and Rob Bass in their music, which was both funny and fun.
The next few chapters were also pretty fun and relevant, taking
me back to a time when I had more disposable income and time to spare, when I
could easily spend a few hours at the record store or splurge to go see a show
on a weeknight. Although I had been a fan of Modest Mouse since my cousin made
a mix with some songs in 2000, it was fun to recall how ubiquitous “Float On”
was in the spring of 2004, remembering too how that song was a part of so many
car trips in the early aughts; or how much the Franz Ferdinand debut was played
on my walks to work or taking the subway home from night classes around that
time; or how I somehow stumbled on the DFA sampler on iTunes after hearing LCD Soundsystem
on WPRB. DeVille not only provides a detailed history of these bands and how
they came about, but he also channels it through his own experience as a
college student, musician, and music lover, sharing the joy and excitement in
discovering “an alluring secret world”. Again, I loved this, since the music
from this time has that kind of personal connection. There was so much in the early
chapters that took me back to hanging out with friends, listening to music, and
spending nights trying to find these songs on different file sharing sites or
in later times, blogs.
I found the middle and later chapters enlightening, but also
not as relatable since I was kind of losing my edge around the early 2010s,
settling down and starting a family, my time for musical exploration was
becoming contracting and in some ways fossilizing. It was actually funny to
read about Odd Future and Tyler the Creator in Chapter 10 “Late Registration”
since I was teaching an intro college course that year, and was seeing so many
donut OF shirts. I was shocked, but also intrigued by this band and in
particular by Tyler. I remember, too, getting into debates with a friend about
the band. After reflecting a little more on my initial, visceral response to
the band and wondering why so many white college students were interested in
the band, it reminded me a lot of NWA, and how their kind of street knowledge
scared so much of white, middle class America. Tyler’s Goblin album was
both challenging and exciting, and I could tell that he was not only a creative
force, but also seemed to be going through a lot of the kinds of struggles with
identity that most adolescents experience. As DeVille notes, the themes and
topics from OF were relevant to many kids, and was possibly one of the elements
that made them so appealing to a larger demographic. This chapter also touched
on how hip-hop and indie music formed a kind of creative bridge, expanding
genres and opportunities to create new and unique sounds that wouldn’t have
really happened in a pre-Judgement Night world. I also enjoyed Chapter 9’s
focus on Chillwave and other kinds of psych-indie music that was evolving from
the economic malaise of the early 2010s. I’m not sure if I completely agree
that this music evolved from a desire to revert back to happier, analog nostalgia,
but it was interesting to learn more about this style of music and see how it
has led to the development of a kind of new ambient lo-fi genre. In fact, I was
actually surprised to read about how much the worlds of hip-hop and indie rock
cross pollinated around this time. Again, being on the outer edges of this book’s
time period, I wasn’t as invested in some of these scenes and genres, so I learned
a lot and was surprised about a lot.
DeVille’s writing is exciting and easy to follow; as he relates
his own experiences to the music and shares his own accounts of shows and
discovering the music for the first time, readers can also share in this joy
and excitement. It’s one of the pleasures of this fun book. I didn’t realize
how much music blogs and myspace helped to propel the popularity of indie music
(along with films like Garden State and shows like The O.C.). Although
the book focuses on music that was independent of major labels’ influence,
DeVille explores how major labels, corporations, and tech companies all
recognized the consumer potential for indie rock, and eventually sought to take
advantage of its popularity, and how other artists that are on major labels
were able to leverage indie artists to expand their popularity and audiences. That
was the only disappointment in the book—that there was a lot of focus on major
label artists, and how the attention from Pitchfork, Vice and other publications
and platforms eventually moved the needle from indie to major labels. I guess
that this kind of shift is also part of the story of indie music, and it was
interesting to see how progressive major label artists were, sometimes, using
their fame and influence to leverage more independent artists and possibly challenge
their own audiences with new sounds and voices. Nevertheless, it does also seem
like there’s another cynical and economic aspect to it. One thing that I also
wondered about with this book was the continued explosion of different genres
that have been subsumed by indie rock. In particular, the section on Chillwave
was kind of funny to read about all the different variants. This also seems
more like a way that algorithms and dedicated niche groups are involved, and
that platforms can find a way to market to smaller, dedicated groups that allow
them to feel a stronger connection to these genres. That is, I wonder whether some
of the explosion of different genres is not necessarily the work of artistic
vision, but rather savvy and targeted marketing by social media and streaming
platforms. Maybe I’m getting too cynical as I’m losing my edge. Nevertheless, that’s
what is so much fun about DeVille’s book—revisiting some of the most exciting
and inventive times in recent music history. It’s a detailed trip down memory lane with
some newer avenues to explore and learn about other bands and artists, at least
for me. Highly recommended!
P.S. Glad to see Pavement and Sebadoh mentioned in the book,
but sad that Archers of Loaf’s “Plumb Line” was not mentioned—one of the earlier
and best mentions of Indie Rock.
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