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Underground music becomes mainstream

February 29, 2008

By: Mary Queisser <mqueisser@hilite.org>

Instead of popular artists such as Coldplay, junior William “Doogie” Dragon has bands like the Teddy Bears, Fiery Furnaces and other indie artists filling his iPod.
Dragon, who listens to indie, said he likes the music because it is a purer form of art in comparison to mainstream music. “I like creative music made by creative people,” he said.

According to indie listener junior Jaimie Walker, indie artists are technically unsigned or signed to independent labels, but because indie music has become more mainstream lately, some bands people still consider indie are signed to major labels.

“I like indie because it’s the most artistic of all genres of music. The lyrics are usually more poetic than those of pop music,” she said.

Dragon said that he finds mainstream music dull and unoriginal. “Mainstream music is like a salteen cracker minus the salt,” he said. “It’s not bad, I suppose. There just is so much more that beyond the realm of ‘popular culture.’”

Walker, on the other hand, said popular music isn’t bad, just over-played. “I’m not one of the prudes who considers themselves above mainstream music. I just tend to gravitate (to) indie,” she said.

At the same time, Walker said that there are some mainstream bands that she thinks are absolutely horrible. “Not to insult any fans, but Nickelback is pretty awful,” she said.

“The vocals have no variation and sound like the lead singer has been deprived of water for his entire life. The second band I really can’t stand is Simple Plan. I don’t understand why anyone wants to listen to perpetual whining about ‘not making daddy proud.’ Teen angst is not an art form.”

Dragon said lack of popularity actually gives an artist a certain intrigue, though it does not necessarily define the artist. “I’d like to think (I’m not affected by popularity). I make an effort to find music I enjoy; other people don’t factor in,” he said. “But still, a great song that nobody else knows about is like a private party.”

When a band gains fans, sometimes it risks altering its artistic viewpoints and selling out. Recently, Apple aired a commercial featuring a song by CSS, an indie artist both Dragon and Walker enjoy.

At first, Dragon said he was enraged by the ad and stopped watching channels it played on. “As I said before, to me, CSS was a private party. I heard it on the iTouch commercial and it was like, ‘Whoa, who invited you?’” he said. “I can’t blame people who like the song; it’s good. Apple obviously thinks so.”

However, Walker said she didn’t mind so much. “I’ve liked CSS for a while now, and not a lot of people know about them because they’re Brazilian. But when I heard it, I was glad they’re getting out there,” she said.

“It’s just nice to like different things than other people and develop your own personality through it.”

Updated by ychoi · Filed Under Feature 

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