ABSTRACT
Indie, by virtue of its very name, had a strong investment in difference, concerned with 'what not to do', and was central to ideological conflicts within the nascent genre between indie 'pop' and 'rock', and with the maintenance of generic purity. This chapter shows that there are broad similarities in production, text and reception across the board in 1980s indie music. It also shows how indie's oppositionality was part of its identity – how it was in some ways negatively defined, by avoiding certain styles and connotations. 'Recurrent in narratives of indie pop/rock is the conscious geographical and ideological positioning of the "peripheral" local sites and practices of indie music production and consumption in opposition to the "centers" of mainstream music production'. Indie 'pop' as a term and musical style generally enjoyed more currency in the UK than in the USA. The rise of independent labels, connected to local scenes, became a central feature of the post-punk 'alternative' musical landscape.
