Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States and United Kingdom in the 1970s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produced and was initially used interchangeably with alternative rock or "guitar pop rock". In the 1980s, the use of the term "indie" started to shift from its reference to recording companies to describe the style of music produced on punk and post-punk labels. During the 1990s, grunge and punk revival bands in the US and Britpop bands in the UK broke into the mainstream, and the term "alternative" lost its original counter-cultural meaning. The term "indie rock" became associated with the bands and genres that remained dedicated to their independent status. By the end of the 1990s, indie rock developed several subgenres and related styles, including lo-fi, noise pop, emo, slowcore, post-rock, and math rock. In the 2000s, changes in the music industry and a growing importance of the internet enabled a new wave of indie rock bands to achieve mainstream success, leading to questions about its meaningfulness as a term.
Live '84 is an album released by Black Flag in 1984 on SST Records. It is a live recording of a show played in 1984 and features mostly tracks from My War and Slip It In. A video was shot simultaneously and was briefly available through SST; the now-out-of-print video has been widely bootlegged.
Galaxie 500 was an American alternative rock band that formed in 1987 and split up in 1991 after releasing three albums: Today, On Fire and This Is Our Music. The band was made up of guitarist/vocalist Dean Wareham, drummer Damon Krukowski and bassist Naomi Yang.
William Royce "Boz" Scaggs is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. An early bandmate of Steve Miller in The Ardells and the Steve Miller Band, he began his solo career in 1969, though he lacked a major hit until his 1976 album Silk Degrees peaked at number 2 on the Billboard 200, and produced the hit singles "Lido Shuffle" and "Lowdown". Scaggs produced two more platinum-certified albums in Down Two Then Left and Middle Man, the latter of which produced two top-40 singles "Breakdown Dead Ahead" and "Jojo". After a hiatus for most of the 1980s, he returned to recording and touring in 1988, joining The New York Rock and Soul Revue and opening the nightclub Slim's, a popular San Francisco music venue until it closed in 2020. He has continued to record and tour throughout the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s, with his most recent album being 2018's Out of the Blues.
Alternative Press is an American music magazine based in Cleveland, Ohio. It generally provides readers with band interviews, photos, news, information on upcoming releases, as well as lists on a variety of music subjects. It was founded in 1985 by Mike Shea, who is the president.
Modern rock is alternative music from the mid 1970s to present day. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves from classic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music.
The Viper Room is a nightclub and live music venue located on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California, United States. It was established as The Viper Room in 1993 and was partly owned by actor Johnny Depp. The other part owner was Sal Jenco who starred in 21 Jump Street with Depp. The club became known for being a hangout of the young Hollywood elite, and was the site where actor River Phoenix died of a drug overdose on the night before Halloween in 1993. In early 1995, Australian singer and actor Jason Donovan suffered a drug-induced seizure at the club and survived. In November 1997, Australian rock star Michael Hutchence played his last public performance in the Viper Room, a week before his suicide.
"Cherub Rock" is a song by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. It is the first single from their second album, Siamese Dream (1993) and is the opening track. It was written by lead vocalist and guitarist Billy Corgan. It was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance.
KITS is a commercial FM radio station in San Francisco. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it broadcasts an adult hits radio format. The studios and offices are co-located with formerly co-owned KPIX-TV on Battery Street in the North Beach district of San Francisco.
Kiwi FM was a New Zealand alternative music radio network. From 1996 to 2005, as Channel Z, it broadcast alternative and local music for a youth-oriented market. From 2005 to 2015, as Kiwi FM, it broadcast predominantly New Zealand independent music, to showcase local music across a wide range of genres and enable greater access to an international market for local contemporary artists. The station broadcast in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch on FM frequencies and globally through an internet stream. During its later years it operated as a non-profit subsidiary of MediaWorks New Zealand, and was affiliated with XFM and Triple J.
American Music Club was an American, San Francisco-based indie rock band, led by singer-songwriter Mark Eitzel. Formed in 1983, the band released seven albums before splitting up in 1995. They reformed in 2003 and released two further albums.
Michael Butler is an American musician and podcaster from San Francisco, California, United States.
Gaye Advert, also Gaye Black, is an English punk rock musician, who played bass guitar in the band The Adverts in the late 1970s. She was one of the first female rock stars of the punk rock movement, whom The Virgin Encyclopedia of 70s Music called the "first female punk star". She was "one of punk’s first female icons". Dave Thompson wrote that her "photogenic" looks, "panda-eye make-up and omnipresent leather jacket defined the face of female punkdom until well into the next decade".
Mercury is the sixth studio album by American indie rock band American Music Club. It was released in March 1993 on Reprise Records as their major-label debut. Virgin Records released the album in the United Kingdom.
Toiling Midgets is a rock band from San Francisco, California formed in 1979 by members of San Francisco punk bands Sleepers and Negative Trend. They have been active on-and-off since 1979, with their early 1990s lineup getting most attention due to the involvement of Mark Eitzel of American Music Club. They reunited in 2007.
Daniel Vickrey is an American musician. He has performed since 1994 as a lead guitarist in the alternative rock band, Counting Crows. Vickrey also provides backing vocals, and is a harmonist within the band.
Photo Finish Records is an American independent record label founded in 2006 in New York City by Matt Galle, listed as one of Billboard’s “40 Under 40” in 2013 and 2015 as well as named a 2020 Billboard Indie Power Player and cited twice on Billboard’s Power List. The label was first distributed by Atlantic Records, then Universal Music Group. Virgin Music Label & Artist Services is its current distributor.
The Mowgli's were an American alternative rock band from Calabasas, California.
Music of the Pacific Northwest encompasses many musical styles from prehistory to the modern Pacific Northwest.
