History of the genre: Indie Rock

Research the history of music videos for your chosen genre. Look at at least five music videos from 10 years ago to the present and comment on how the videos (and product) have developed.

MTV or 'music television' was launched in 1981 was the first real station to produce music videos or live performances (beside Top of the Pops). In 1984, MTV launched the first music video awards show - later named the VMAs.

Indie rock or alternative rock originated in the 1980s in the UK and USA and has many sub-genres such as punk rock, pop rock and punk rock. The term indie-rock comes from 'independent', describing the small and relatively low budget labels with a do-it-yourself attitude of the bands and artists- with a very 'filmed in your parents garage' feel and lyrically, a defiant, nonchalant attitude.  The genre indie-rock only hit mainstream in the 1990s with one of the most well known bands - Nirvana.


1980s INDIE-ROCK



NIRVANA - although a more punk rock band, in the 1980s, they were set under the genre of indie rock, due to the genre being so new. Comparing to Kate Nash however, they seem world apart. The lyrics although, have a very similar, meaningful and poetic base to them.
Comparing 'Smells like Teen Spirit' son the right, to Kate Nash's 'Mouthwash', this music video has a much more grunge feel, showing that the genre is diverse. The quality of the music video filmed over 20 years ago has a dirty sheen over it due to it's age. Although we don't want to use a basement as our main location, we want to have the same layout the band has- with several band members in a triangular format.

GREEN DAY's 1990 album 'Dookie' was said to have change music forever by defining indie-rock in the 90s.  The music video to 'Basket Case' would be classed as a that of a punk rock band, but again, the genre has changed and developed over the years, becoming more 'soft'. A common occurrence is also that the genre centres around a band more than an individual artist.
Green Day's music video has an electric vibe and uses numerous, interesting angles on close ups on the lead singer as well as other band members. This is typical of indie-rock music videos and is something we intend on using throughout our video.



1990s INDIE-ROCK

OASIS' released their single 'Wonderwall' has a very aged theme. Although released in 1995, has a very 70s theme; especially with the cutting of the frame to look like an old TV set. The use of turning the shot on a pivot gives the sense of confusion which fits in quite well with the lyrics of our song and would be affective.








2000s INDIE-ROCK

THE FRATELLIS' 2006 single 'Chelsea Dagger' is what I would call a classic indie-rock music video. With the alternative theme of vintage burlesque and shots of the band playing, however, it doesn't have that low budget feel which shows the genres progression into the 21st century. Having only three scenes: the burlesque stage, changing room and spotlight does throw the video back because it produces a narrative which is common feature of indie rock videos that has stayed throughout the genre's development.






MGMT's 'Kids' was released in 2009 and is a
clear opposite to what the genre would have been described as 10, 20 years ago. The music video, dramatic makeup and costume (costing a lot) is used to create the monsters. This contrasts with the typical indie-rock music video of being very instrumental and band based, however, there are shots of the band but they are dressed in very 'silver' outfits - not typical of the 'baggy t-shirt and jeans' genre.