Indie rock bands are classified as a sub genre of the larger alternative rock category. Indie rock originally came to be during the 1980s in the United States and United Kingdom. There are two schools of thought on the definition of an indie rock band. One group believes that the term refers to any rock music created by artists who belong to independent record labels or who work with underground music venues. Others believe that an indie rock band must possess specific qualities to truly belong to the genre, such as an artistic focus and less concern for the context in which the music is produced. There are those who believe in the combined elements of both definitions as well.
Before indie rock bands appeared, there were new wave, post-punk and alternative rock groups. Indie rock also has its own collection of sub genres to further differentiate its bands. These include twee pop, riot grrrl, emo, garage punk, post-punk revival, noise pop, baroque pop, garage rock, lo-fi, sadcore, math rock, C86, grindie and revival music. Indie rock bands can also belong to the indie pop, indie dance and indie folk fusion genres.
Throughout the 1980s, alternative rock and indie rock was generally considered the same thing. The United States version of the genre usually included distorted sounds, similar to the indie rock bands Sonic Youth, Meat Puppets, the Replacements, Dinosaur Jr., Minutemen and the Pixies. A different collection of indie rock bands defined the United Kingdom version, including Josef K, Orange Juice and Aztec Camera. The British band the Smiths are often credited as the defining band of the indie rock movement.
Although originally interchangeable, the terms alternative rock and indie rock became more diversified in the 1990s. This decade saw the rapidly growing popularity of alternative music. As the genre officially entered the mainstream with acts like Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam, it was no longer associated with underground music. This left indie rock bands to continue as the underground branch of alterative.
The 1990s also saw the birth of the lo-fi genre, which was brought about by Beck, Pavement, Elliott Smith, Sebadoh, Neutral Milk Hotel and Guided by Voices. Lo-fi indie rock bands are defined as having an ironic detachment, no interest in selling out to the mainstream and a focus on simple recording techniques. Additional indie rock bands appeared, introducing further sub genres such as emo music.
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