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Why are there so many fucking indie rock magazines?

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I was at Borders yesterday, and in the section for music magazines there was like 6 different indie rock magazines. Magnet, Blender, one that had the Yeah Yeah Yeahs on the cover, a whole bunch more. My friend, who doesn't really listen to modern music (he prefers classical), looked at them and said, "Why do they all have such shitty hair cuts?"

Toward the back of the store, I saw EVEN MORE indie rock magazines. One called, Bang, or something, that had the Flaming Lips on the cover.

For a genre of music that has such a small audience, it's amount of magazines it disproptionately large. Why? Who do these magazines sell to? Is it just because all indie rock fans think they are smart enough to be music journalists, but when they finally have the ability to make a magazine, all they focus on is indie rock because... well because their indie rock fans, and that's all their allowed to like.

One more question

Why are all of the magazines so amazingly shitty?

― David Allen, Sunday, 1 June 2003 13:42 (twenty-two years ago)

because they're about indie rock

― DG (D_To_The_G), Sunday, 1 June 2003 13:50 (twenty-two years ago)

For a genre of music that has such a small audience

arguably bigger than that of dance music, esp. in terms of commercial power (more records and related ephemera sold etc.)


at one point in the mid 90s my brother and I were buying Muzik, Mixmag, DJ, Jockey Slut, Wax, M8, Eternity, plus Future Music - most of those encompassing the entire spectrum of dance music...as most of the magazines you refer to cover the broad spectrum of rock

― stevem (blueski), Sunday, 1 June 2003 13:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Does your friend really like classical music, or does he just like the fashions that go with it?

I do think it may have something to do with indie's attracting a moderately more literate than average audience. If anyone thinks that's wrong though, I'm not interested enough to argue the point.

― Rockist Scientist, Sunday, 1 June 2003 13:54 (twenty-two years ago)

INDIE ROCK IS TAKING OVER AND NO AMOUNT OF YOUR POP-LOVIN' WHINING WILL STOP IT

RESISTANCE IS FUTILE

WE WILL BURY YOU

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Sunday, 1 June 2003 13:54 (twenty-two years ago)

with this on their side

http://www.gasolinealleyantiques.com/kits/images/Miscellaneous/ar-indie.jpg

I pH33l tH33 pH34r

― DG (D_To_The_G), Sunday, 1 June 2003 14:03 (twenty-two years ago)

I hate to state the obvious, but the abundance of those magazines may have something to do with the market for people willing to read or write about that topic being large enough to support a variety of publications. If you want to go along with cheap stereotypes (which you very obviously do...), you can note that scrawny white nerds LOVE to READ.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Sunday, 1 June 2003 14:07 (twenty-two years ago)

You know, I actually like a lot of the bands that they cover (although their images make me want to throw up), it's just the pretention with which it's all covered that bothers me. A genre like indie rock is influenced by lots of other types of music, country, jazz, funk, soul, but these magazines never talk about that--on the same note they'll give mega-blow jobs to any indie band that attempts that genre.

― David Allen, Sunday, 1 June 2003 14:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Also, having The Mountain Goats threaten world domination is the greatest thing ever.

― David Allen, Sunday, 1 June 2003 14:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Because there are so many fucking indie bands is why

― Dadaismus (Dada), Sunday, 1 June 2003 14:58 (twenty-two years ago)

I admit to liking the Big Takeover and Magnet. Both have been around for years and are written by passionate music fans who care about the subjects they write about. Especially Takeover. But Bang is terrible! Poorly written and some of the worse photographs I ever saw in a music mag. And their trashing of Sonic Youth might be one of the worse reviews I've ever read.

― Jeff K (jeff k), Sunday, 1 June 2003 16:47 (twenty-two years ago)

RESISTANCE IS FUTILE
I thought this would be the dance musicians line.
You'd think the 'Borg would dig techno/trance much more than any whiny, lo-fi post-emo slundge...

Though if the 'Borg were to assimilate Indie, it would really change what Elephant 6 Collective means.

― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Sunday, 1 June 2003 16:54 (twenty-two years ago)

>>mega-blow jobs>>

the mind boggles!

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 1 June 2003 16:57 (twenty-two years ago)

"And their trashing of Sonic Youth might be one of the worse reviews I've ever read. "

I read that and was angered. Especially when he claimed that because of Sonic Youth, bands like Black Flag and The Dead Kennedy's were overlooked. What the fuck was he talking about?!

― David Allen, Sunday, 1 June 2003 17:11 (twenty-two years ago)

haha - ohmigod that's hilarious

― James Blount (James Blount), Sunday, 1 June 2003 17:27 (twenty-two years ago)

well you know they were "ahead of their time"

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Sunday, 1 June 2003 17:42 (twenty-two years ago)

wait, since when is Blender an indie-rock mag? Blender's whole schtick is that of Maxim's, only aimed at cretins who actually pay attention to commercial radio or MTV. "HAY DOODS CHECK THIS CHICKS T1TS N' SHIT!" is usually the point of any Blender feature.

shit, just look at the covers from the last half-year: Xtina, Mariah Carey, Eminem, White Stripes, LeAnn Rimes, Pink

as for the quality of mags, well, perhaps proficient writing is not on the minds of any fan who'd actually buy the mags. Dunno.

― Kingfish (Kingfish), Sunday, 1 June 2003 18:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Kingfish, Em is the only non-indie act you listed.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Sunday, 1 June 2003 18:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Are you sure? He did have that promo 12" out of Sympathy for the Record Industry last year--does that count?

― Kingfish (Kingfish), Sunday, 1 June 2003 18:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Blender is the ONLY magazine I write for except for Punk Planet and Careless Talk Costs Lives - ergo sum (or something, I was crap at Latin in school), it's an indie magazine

― Jerry (Jerry), Sunday, 1 June 2003 19:41 (twenty-two years ago)

well he used to be indie but when he released "Sing For The Moment" as a single he sold out.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Monday, 2 June 2003 00:06 (twenty-two years ago)

I think Bang is improving rapidly - I very much enjoyed the last issue and its refreshing to read an interview with Lee Scratch Perry that doesn't just revolve around "let's get him to say loads of stupid funny mad shit!"

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Monday, 2 June 2003 11:02 (twenty-two years ago)

that's true--nuthin' says "indie cred" like "basing an entire track around an old Aerosmith Song..."

― Kingfish (Kingfish), Monday, 2 June 2003 13:03 (twenty-two years ago)

the sonic youth article was written by steven wells. a man well known for rubbing up folks the wrong way. its what he has always done. i never take him seriously - but i always enjoy reading his rants-n-raves. and for me Bang is a fresh new start . i have lost faith completely in Q since the Courtney Love naked romp photos. surely someone at the magazine knew they were stepping into Hello/OK area.
hopefully Bang will not go down same route. as for Careless Talk .. i have enjoyed it a lot whenever i get to pick it up .. but it does have an air of
'it its available in HMV/Viring megabores then we dont wanna know' but apart from that tis a fine addition to the top shelf.
onwards and upwards.

― mark e (mark e), Monday, 2 June 2003 13:12 (twenty-two years ago)

the sonic youth article was written by steven wells. a man well known for rubbing up folks the wrong way. its what he has always done. i never take him seriously - but i always enjoy reading his rants-n-raves. and for me Bang is a fresh new start . i have lost faith completely in Q since the Courtney Love naked romp photos. surely someone at the magazine knew they were stepping into Hello/OK area.
hopefully Bang will not go down same route. as for Careless Talk .. i have enjoyed it a lot whenever i get to pick it up .. but it does have an air of
'it its available in HMV/Viring megabores then we dont wanna know' but apart from that tis a fine addition to the top shelf.
onwards and upwards.

― mark (mark e), Monday, 2 June 2003 13:14 (twenty-two years ago)

soz about double posting. text based web browsers make life hard sometimes.

― mark e (mark e), Monday, 2 June 2003 13:32 (twenty-two years ago)

Recently I was killing time in a B&N and stumbled across the magazine called BB Gun. I leafed through it and found all these stories about stuff I used to be really, really into about 10-15 years ago, including a big Sonic Youth interview, a Rowland S. Howard interview, a Michael Gira interview, even a quarter-page ad for Nick Zedd films (!). I thought to myself, "Who the hell is writing about all this stuff NOW?" and flipped to the masthead to discover it was the handiwork of one Bob Bert. As much of a glut of uninspiring rock mags as there is right now, it was nice to see that one in a chain bookstore in effin' White Marsh, Maryland.

― Lee G (Lee G), Monday, 2 June 2003 13:37 (twenty-two years ago)

I second Big Takeover. It does NOT ignore the non-indie stuff. In the past few years they've had interviews with Brian Wilson, Ray Davies, folks from The Creation and Paul Revere & The Raiders, etc, etc. Wilson opened up to these guys a bit 'cause he could they fucking KNEW THEIR SHIT. Davies, same thing, and you could tell he liked the people he was talking too. Fuck! What a revelation, you know? And those are big-ass interviews, too. The reviews section is as likely to feature Etta James as it is Longwave, too, so...

― John 2, Monday, 2 June 2003 13:49 (twenty-two years ago)

seven months pass...
Who do these magazines sell to?

Apparently not enough people - just read on another board that X-Ray's pulling the plug after the next issue. At this rate (with Bang gone an' all) there'll soon only be NME left, and that can't be right, surely?

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Wednesday, 7 January 2004 16:26 (twenty-one years ago)

and Q shut down their message board due to cutbacks etc. i blame new media websites .. the b*stards. mark e. http://www.ireallylovemusic.co.uk

― mark e (mark e), Wednesday, 7 January 2004 16:30 (twenty-one years ago)

charlie, which board? re: x-ray

i think because x-ray is a joint project between xfm and swinstead - there would be inevitable problems re: funding and editorial decisions.

Also, there is new management team at xfm - they seem to be increasing the specialist - non programmed shows. Which is positive.

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Wednesday, 7 January 2004 16:37 (twenty-one years ago)

I think the biggest problem I see with indie rock mags is that CD reviews are too consistently @#$@#%@# positive across the board...there's NO WAY that 12 people reviewing 100+ CDs only think 8 of them suck, unless they're afraid of biting the hands that feed them.

― Raymond Cummings (Raymond Cummings), Wednesday, 7 January 2004 16:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, false positive reviews are a problem, but a smaller one I think. If enough detail is given, you'll probably still be able to tell whether or not you'll like the cd. If the reviewer goes on and on with comparisons to Dashboard Confessional like that's a good thing, I'll likely skip it.

I think there are so many "indie" magazines because of the diy ethic dating back to whenever 30 years ago. >>Serious stereotyping ahead<< A lot of indie scenesters are motivated geeks. They scrape together the cash to launch a magazine because no one else thinks exactly like them, and their opinions need to be heard. Now, we all know that opinions in indie magazines differ only slightly from one rag to another (i.e. if "X" says Beta Band is brilliant, "Y: says they're phenomenal). That doesn't seem to deter anyone looking to start a new one, though.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Wednesday, 7 January 2004 17:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Why are there so many indie rock magazines? Because Rolling Stone and Spin are so bloody awful.

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Wednesday, 7 January 2004 17:17 (twenty-one years ago)

charlie, which board? re: x-ray

It got a mention on here, albeit a cryptic and anonymous one. Note subtle plug of Bullit by, uh, someone *cough*...

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Wednesday, 7 January 2004 17:24 (twenty-one years ago)

X-Ray had a 12-month deal to give away Xfm session CDs; from the start most people knew that it would only last 12 months. It was a turkey from the word go.
Because of the mag's corporate radio link, it couldn't slag bands off, hence all reviews were positive. The lame section where a writer could slag off a recent really bad show was a poor apologia to the across-the-board positivism, as the bile's recipient was not an 'Xfm' band.
Slag a band and the mag was afraid it wouldn't get advertising from that band's record company, and also the radio station would have a problem pretending to be excited by whatever shit they playlisted when it would (but wasn't...) have been rightfully slated in the mag.

― Canada Briggs (Canada Briggs), Wednesday, 7 January 2004 19:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Try this on for size:

1. Indie rock (in the UK at least) is very much determined by NME. People always say when they start mags that its somehow different from 'normal' mags (ie NME). NME is pretty dire at the minute. People think they can do better. Most do the same. See Mr Snrub's point.

2. Indie rock has risen again. Apparently. People cash in. People get excited and want part of it. They buy and write for and start mags.

3. 'Indie rock' is a surprisingly broad genre. Compare eg the dance press as to the breadth of music covered. Even if the centre ground is big indie bands (like the centre ground for a lot of the dance press is big name DJs etc), a lot of people on this board will have found out about eg pop, house, country, blues, soul etc etc via the people writing about these bands/the bands themselves. No matter how flawed this is, its true to a certain extent. Or was for me. Indie rock as a launchpad anyone?

4. Indie rock is very much dependent on critical reaction, as opposed to DJs, radio (by and large) or whatever. Therefore indie rock mags are central to its commercial and artistic success.

5. Much indie rock (self-conciously) fosters a sense of 'us against the world', small groups/individuals frustrated with 'normal people'. Being brought up in small town suburbia (or anywhere really), mags provide a sense of not being alone, but sufficiently distant to feel like it's only you who likes Band X.

6. And anyway, are we really ones to talk?

― Jim Robinson (Original Miscreant), Wednesday, 7 January 2004 23:57 (twenty-one years ago)


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