Indie Rock Genre Research

Indie Rock:

Indie Rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United States and the United Kingdom in the 1980's . Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated  with the music they produced and was initially used interchangeably with "alternative rock". As grunge and punk revival bands US, and then Britpop bands in the UK, broke into mainstream in the 1990's, it came to be used to identify those acts that retained an outsider and underground perspective. In the 2000's, as a result of changes in the music industry and the growing importance of the Internet, some indie rock acts began to enjoy commercial success, leading to questions about its meaningfulness as a term. Some prominent indie rock record labels were founded during the 1980's. During the 1990's, Grunge bands broke into mainstream, and the term "alternative' lost its original counter-cultural meaning. By the end of the 1990's indie rock developed subgenera and related styles including lo-fi, noise pop, emotion, slow core, post-rock and math rock. In the 2000's, changes in the music industry and in music technology enabled a new wave of indie rock bands to achieve mainstream success. In the early 2000's, a new group of bands that played a stripped-down and back-to-basics version of guitar rock emerged into the mainstream. The commercial breakthrough from these scenes was led by four bands: The Strokes, The White Stripes, The Hives and The Vines. Emotional also broke into mainstream culture in the early 2000's. By the end of the 2000's the proliferation of indie bands was being referred to as "Indie landfill'.

Imagine Dragons:

Imagine Dragons are an American rock band from Las Vegas, Nevada, consisting of lead vocalist Dan Reynolds, lead guitarist Wayne Sermon, bassist Ben McKee, and drummer Daniel Platzman.  Imagine Dragons music style has been described as mainly being alternative rock, indie rock and pop rock. Some examples of their songs would be; "Believer", "Radioactive", "Demons", "Tip Toe", "Monster" etc. In addition they have won two American Music Awards for Favourite Alternative Artist, a Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance, five Billboard Music Awards, and a World Music Award. In May 2014, the band was nominated for a total of fourteen different Billboard Music Awards, including Top Artist of the Year and a Milestone Award, which recognises innovation and creativity of artists across different genres. A specific example of an award they won was a BMI Pop Award, which are awarded to honour songwriters, composers and music publishers of the year's most performed songs. In 2016 Imagine Dragons were awarded this for their song "I Bet My Life". They have also won this same award three times before, in 2014 and 2015 for their songs "Radioactive", "It's Time" and "Demons". As of January 2017, Imagine Dragons have sold 9 million albums, 27 million singles worldwide and continue with their global success.

Arctic Monkeys:

Arctic Monkeys are an English rock band formed in 2002 in High Green, a suburb of Sheffield. The band consists of Alex Turner (lead vocalist, rhythm/lead guitar), Matt Helders (drums, vocals), Jamie Cook (lead/rhythm guitar) and Nick O'Malley (bass, backing vocals). Former band member Andy Nicholson (bass guitar, backing vocals) left the band in 2006 shortly after their debut album was released. They have released five studio albums: Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (2006), Favourite Worst Nightmare (2007), Humbug (2009), Suck It and See (2011) and AM (2013), as well as one live album, At the Apollo (2008). Their debut album is the fastest-selling debut album by a band in British chart history, and in 2013, Rolling Stone ranked it the 39th-greatest debut album of all time. The band has won seven Brit Awards - winning both Best British Group and Best British Album three times, and have been nominated for three Grammy Awards. They also won the Mercury Prize in 2006 for their debut album, in addition to receiving nominations in 2007 and 2013. The band have headlined at the Glastonbury Festival twice, in 2007 and again in 2013. Arctic Monkeys were heralded as one of the first bands to come to public attention via the Internet, with commentators suggesting they represented the possibility of a change in the way in which new brands are promoted and marketed.

Bloc Party:

Bloc Party are an English Indie Rock band, currently composed of Kele Okereke (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards, sampler), Russell Lissack (lead guitar, keyboards), Justin Harris (bass guitar, keyboards, saxophones, backing vocals) and Louise Bartle (drums, percussion). Former members Matt Tong and Gordon Moakes left the band in 2013 and 2015 respectively. Their brand of music, whilst rooted in rock, retains elements of other genres such as electronica and house music. The band was formed at the 1999 Reading Festival by Okereke and Lissack. They went through a variety of names before settling on Bloc Party in 2003. Moakes joined the band after answering an advert in NME magazine, while Tong was picked via an audition. Bloc Party got their break by giving BBC Radio 1 DJ Steve Lamacq and Franz Ferdinand's lead singer, Alex Kapranos, a copy of their demo "She's Hearing Voices". In February 2005, the band released their debut album Silent Alarm. It was critically acclaimed and was named Indie Album of the Year at the 2006 PLUG Awards and NME Album of the year which both honour indie music. That year, the record was also certified platinum in Britain. The band built on this success in 2007 with the release of their second studio album, A Weekend in the City, which reached a peak of number two in the UK Albums Chart and number twelve in the Billboard 200. In August 2008, Bloc Party released their third studio record, Intimacy which entered the UK Albums Chart at number eight and number eighteen on the Billboard 200. The band fifth studio album, Hymns, the first to involve Harris and Bartle, was released on 29th January 2016. Bloc Party have sold over 3 million albums worldwide.