Indie indie-han

Main Entry: in·die Pronunciation: \ˈin-dē\ Function: noun Etymology: by shortening alteration from independent Date: 1928

1: one that is independent; especially : an unaffiliated record or motion-picture production company

2: something (as a record or film) produced by an indie— indie adjective

-Merriam Webster's Online Dictionary

Indie.

That word is supposed to send chills down the spine of an average person with an average college education as some sort of paragon for artistic excellence and boldness to do everything outside the box and pursuing your own vision. or "eccentric art", if some of the pseudo-art expert professors I had way back in college would say. Therefore it's more artistic and "deep" because the artist's vision was rejected by the ignorant businessmen who dictate popular tastes to the ignorant masses, be it via the assembly-line products of MTV or Hollywood. Yet the artist went on and adapted the DIY punk aesthetic championed most by indie-music lovers and musicians to reach a core audience and give the finger to the big establishments and their roster of popular acts, now equated to a McDonald's value meal in terms of nutritional value and shelf life. Admirable and brilliant. Or is it?

I was first introduced to the term way back in school. I probably came across it from a music publication I was reading and heard about it later from a few hip kids who listened to obscure bands i can't even remember. I believe it's a relatively new term considering Rolling Stone magazine even called the genre "college music" several years ago and "underground" and/or "independents" before the indie chic happened. But what is indie anyway?

The Pin-up Girls, a Pinoy band led by Ang TV alumnus Mondo Castro had been a good example of an independent band who followed the DIY principle from its inception up to the recording of their debut alum Hello Pain. With no record label to carry them, they held a series of garage shows and loaned the amount for the recording expenses. In an interview from PULP magazine bassist Jeng Tan griped about the snobbery of some die hard members (fans and musicians) of the Pinoy indie scene regarding the band and its accomplishments. Perhaps it's because of Castro's exposure via Ang TV or the band's influences of British musicians like Echo And The Bunnymen and The Stone Roses who are hardly worthy of being called indie due to their popularity in the 80s. Or maybe the indie scene just plain hates them. Perhaps they don't dress, act and like what's supposed to be acceptable in the circle.

Boston-based The Pixies

And here lies the biggest hypocrisy in this genre or movement or whatever: the people like you when you are still in the starving artist stage and condemn you as a sellout the moment you sold three albums and two new people show up for your gigs. Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins, himself a target of the uber-cool indie gang had this to say in an early interview: "The criticisms often come from people who hide behind the veneer of persona or coolness or an aesthetic of indieness."

The thing I've noticed about indie music is that it brings some of the most pathetic dweebs and snide assholes of the world together. Like a clan of hyenas you'd often see these (often) bespectacled and lanky dorks rave about some band playing half-assed imitations of Monkees songs in some ratty basement and giggle like little girls about how cool they are for discovering something not known by the braindead masses. Quark Henares---son of NU107 head Atom Henares and celebrity doctor Vicky Belo--- though hardly qualifying as lanky and bespectacled, proudly wears his indie-cred up his sleeve as if it gives instant kiss-ass points due to him for his crap movies and equally abominable indie bands. This David Lynch groupie also takes pride in his liking for new indie bands in the US whose names you can't even remember 5 seconds after he said it. If i can recall correctly, he had a radio show in NU that featured some of the indie musicians he loves. The more weird-sounding, the better. The more off-putting to the general audience, the better. That means he (and some of his sycophantic acolytes) got something the general audience didn't. Ladies and gents, music is now relegated as a tool for MENSA membership.

You'd also often hear these people mouthing off words of adoration for Boston-based The Pixies and Stephen Malkmus's Pavement and Sleater-Kinney every now and then. You stumble into a place with this crowd and say you like listening to, for example, Green Day and chances are you'd get a dismissive wave or a mocking laugh that clearly says you're stupid for liking what you like. And you'd probably get a diatribe on why Green Day doesn't deserve its success because these 3 no-talent "punks" just stole the style of some obscure, struggling new york garage band who are supposedly much better. But then you'd wonder why this obscure band didn't have the sense to bring their music out of the "garage" to get noticed in the first place? I don't know. maybe they're just afraid of being persecuted as sell-outs.

This group takes pride in appreciating anything not popular just to prove that they're not victims of the herd mentality. You'd hear someone raving about something called "Thee Michelle Gun Elephant" or listening to atonal singing and assorted pitches created by a chainsaw in a recording but hey, it's indie. So it has got to be good right? If you don't get it in all its indie glory, then you're a moron. It's as simple as that. You don't like it and it's indie? You are a pathetic philistine. How dare you pick Guns 'N Roses over this avant-garde piece of work?!

Hasn't it crossed these people's minds that the reason why the majority of the things they listen to are "indie" and are still stuck in obscurity is because these artists are actually, well, bad? Just because a major record label rejects you doesn't automatically mean they can't see the Mozart in you. On the contrary, it's more likely that they spotted your potential to be a Salieri more than anything else. This genre has now become the refuge for sub-par musicians to feel good about themselves because now they have the backing of neurotic, snobby music geeks who automatically gobble anything just because the term "indie"is attached to it. In a way, their behavior is not dissimilar to those mainstream "MTV" audience they enjoy mocking.

This gives a bad name to real, independent artists with real talent to boot.

"Indie" is similar to porno, only designed for a worse kind of jerk-off practice: pseudo-intellectual arrogance.