Rebuild the Indie Rock Cannon

Actually, shit there's Ween.

Have you heard of a band called The Darkness?

http://www.wrur.org/music.php

costumes and/or bombast:
- Parliament / Funkadelic
- Queen
- King Crimson

repetition:
- Neu!
- Can
- Kraftwerk
- Factrix
- Terry Riley
- Philip Glass (Einstein on the Beach)

fucked-up noise:
- Beefheart
- Throbbing Gristle

Pretty much how the canon has always looked, although noticeably no real punk or '60's pop influences.

That's it...

Gang of Four
The Beatles
The Stones
The VU
The Smiths
Joy Division

etc

Still kinda boring though. I like a lot of that stuff though, but its just all blah blah blah indie for the most part.

I think the first place I ever heard Sonic YOuth was on WRUR! Or maybe it was on RIT's station, I forget.. They both used to be pretty good stations though.

But you are correct, Death Cab are sickeningly bad.

The question is, are these the artists you wish 'indie' bands were influenced by, are these the artists you think they secretly are influenced by but are too ignorant of history to realize, or are these just artists you like that may have a lot or nothing to do with today's indie groups?

Because there are many artists coming out today in various genres and subgenres influenced by these artists. Kraut Rock for example has had a visible influence on a number of indie artists (as long as you aren't limiting indie to Pavement clones). Queen's legacy is more debatable. I don't really see Queen as a particularly strong influence on much of today's indie scene (Of course there are exceptions- there are always exceptions).

But for better or worse, the artists from the 60's/70's/80's (Along with others such as Bowie, Velvet Underground, the Smiths, etc) you mention tend to be very influential on a large portion of the indie scene.

you see jon, the problem with your list, is that it may be a decent enough list, but its a list that looks like the wishlist for any number of dire avant bands. its things like this that gave us future pilot aka.

a 'good record collection' often leads to bobby gillespie, rather than good music

Umm, yeah pretty much everyone does that, but it doesn't do anyone any good (I do playlists and do them acurately and we have gotten better CDs than ever). Its more dependent on how big yr stations is (ie what they are 'rated' as by CMJ) (and kissing ass, etc.) Thats why my station would never get something like the Homosexual's records or anything from Thrill Jockey or whatever sent to us and I have to beg for a lot of other stuff. Some of the shit they are charting is ridiculous though, Moon and Antartica? WTF?

Not to be indie, but my policy is to take ot major label stuff after 4 or 5 weeks in the hopes of sparing everyone from hearing Sounds and Von Bondies and shit more than we need.

And if kids actually knew anything about the 'indie canon' and made their playlists accordingly I'd be a lot happier. Cause I heard Cake like 4 times this week, I swear. No one even knew we had Gang of Four records until I dug them out of the dance section! And no one will fucking play any hip-hop except Atmosphere OVER AND OVER.

Ahh tangential rant sorry.

my ideal indie rock band would be influenced by them, johnny cash, whitehouse and my bloody valentine.

(I'm just now finishing listening to Einstein in its entirety for the first time. Disc 4 is more than I expected from Glass - and I really like much of his stuff).

Avant Prog = Flying Luttenbachers + Lightning Bolt + Ruins?

Funk Fusion = !!! + Out Hud?

Spacemen 3

Spacemen 3"

Or howzabout just reduce it to their first few records (plus that posthumous early recordings LP--forget the name--For All the Fucked up Children of the World or something--on Sympathy)?

The VU
The Ramones
The Cars
The Police
The Clash
The Sex Pistols

Too much of a good thing

It would be the worst thing evah.

I've been listening to Crooked Rain and getting into Bongripper and Jam City so I'll head to the garage and get to work.

I wish there was a power up that would slim me down and increase my Malkmosity. Not a lot of room for husky dudes in indie; ya gotta be a rake or a D

Boon

excuse me but: huh

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._Boon

Hi Ho Sliver

I'm perfectly aware of D. Boone, I was just trying to figure out the relevance of being a husky Malkmus-impersonator working in a garage had to do with the rest of the thread.