Five songs from the indie boom that will still fill dancefloors in 100 years
There might not be any words dirtier than ‘indie‘ in music.
The mere utterance of that once innocent two-syllable word is now a pilot light for a whole host of cringeworthy images, such as skinny jeans, trilbies and a generally contrived attempt to be rebelliously cool; it’s a word that typifies some of the worst cultural clichés.
However, once upon a time, it simply meant independent and was used to encapsulate the liberated spirit of unsigned artists. Indie music was all about tapping into the zeitgeist, not mocking it, and while the rearview mirror of history might try to satirise some of its music, the fact is, what came from that heady period was nothing short of iconic.
At the turn of the millennium, when all culture critics believed the analogue approach to creativity would be left in modernity’s dust, a generation of bands bit back at such a thought. The Strokes spearheaded the garage-rock resistance with their seminal record Is This It and paved the way for a booming era of indie sleaze, while the Arctic Monkeys, LCD Soundsystem and The Libertines continued to spread the word on either side of the pond, ensuring rock and roll will never, in fact, die: thank you, Alex Turner, for that.
Modernity finally made its mark in the 2010s, and while the chart space was largely awash with bleak, electronic-infused indie music, a string of musicians cracked the code of innovation and proved how rock and roll could diversify in the new, technologically driven era. Tame Impala and The 1975 spearheaded this new brand of dancefloor indie that gave us one last opportunity to let loose, before submitting to whatever came next in the 2020s. It will forever be remembered as the indie boom of music, and for those of us deemed a certain vintage in years to come, these will be the songs that will get us up on the dancefloor, embarrassing our children.
Five long-lasting indie boom songs to fill dancefloors:
‘Space & Time’ – Wolf Alice
While Wolf Alice are largely responsible for providing the end-of-the-night indie ballads, they have more than a few fast-paced gems up their sleeves, readymade to fill a dancefloor. ‘Space & Time’ lives in relative lyrical obscurity, especially when compared to the rest of Ellie Rowsell’s work, yet still feels inherently emotional and rousing, given her delivery.
The instruments create an atmospheric haze that encourages anybody within its remit to bang their head and shake their hips loose, giving themselves to the fuzz oblivion that makes a good old indie dance along so liberating.
‘Wide Awake’ – Parquet Courts
It’s unsurprising that New York knows how to do dancefloor indie music. While it falls as their duty, as inhabitants of the city that supposedly never sleeps, it’s more that the influence of Talking Heads never seems too far away. Mastering the art of angular chords and groovy rhythm sections, bands like Parquet Courts have taken Byrne’s blueprint and turned it into something more fitting of modern indie.
Unlike other tracks from the indie era, this might not fill dancefloors for its immediate recognisability, nor will it for its instantly catchy chorus line, but ‘Wide Awake’ is a bulletproof dancefloor filler for how it’s arranged and more crucially, how it makes you feel.
‘All My Friends’ – LCD Soundsystem
Despite what criticism might tell you, indie is a whole lot more than four chords shoddily played on guitars. It is more of a feeling of artistic liberation that sits outside the confines of commercial expectation, which is exactly what LCD Soundsystem achieved with their blended sound of punk rock and electronic music.
On their 2007 record Sound of Silver, they perfected the art of dancefloor obscurity. While ‘Time To Get Away’ will get the more confident of the group on the dancefloor, it’s the collective euphoria of ‘All My Friends’ that will have everybody lost in a haze of indie technicolour, praying for the arpeggiated riff to never end.
‘Someday’ – The Strokes
We can’t talk indie without including The Strokes, and more specifically, this record. It’s an all-killer-no-filler album and so could have had any of the 11 tracks included in the list, with ‘Last Nite’ and its roaring chorus being the most obvious candidate.
But, there is something about ‘Someday’ that seems lighter and more conducive to the romantic oblivion of dancing. The rhythm section swings back and forth, at a perfect pace for a slightly inebriated two-step that will inevitably turn into an arm-in-arm singalong come the chorus line. It’s sweet and nostalgic, delivering pangs of that blissful ignorance that laced the attitude of indie music fandom.
‘The Less I Know The Better’ – Tame Impala
As iconic as any song from the indie boom, Tame Impala’s heartbreak hit will have the dancefloor singing in unison upon the striking of the very first note. The bass lick that introduces the song, followed by the layers of synthesisers and guitars, is a masterful example of how electronic music and indie could actually merge in the limbo of the 2010s.
Moreover, that feeling of societal limbo was spoken to in the song, which juxtaposed a relatively chirpy melody with deeply melancholic lyrics that allowed for the dancefloor, mosh pit or bedroom to become a space of musical liberation.
