Examining the indie sleaze resurgence of the early 2020s
In the mid-2000s, indie culture was hit by a debaucherous wave of hedonism, smudged eyeliner, and filthy guitar music. The Great Recession was wreaking financial havoc, so the youth turned to the affordable pleasures provided by indie subcultures and online platforms. This era has since been dubbed indie sleaze.
Indie kids donned American Apparel tennis skirts and chokers as they blasted the Rapture and LCD Soundsystem through their wired earphones. The phenomenon marked one of the first online indie subcultures as photos of indie icon Sky Ferreira were plastered all over Tumblr. Alexa Chung and Alex Turner’s relationship was considered the pinnacle of romance, and teens were all trying to emulate the quietly cool style of Skins’ Effy Stonem.
The hedonistic fusing of indie and dance music characterised the sound of the indie sleaze era. The UK saw a post-punk revival spearheaded by the likes of Razorlight, Arctic Monkeys, and The Rapture. Telling ‘Kitchen Sink’ style stories of nights they took it too far and the mornings after, the British wave of indie endeared itself to many through its brazen relatability and growing presence online. Rapper M.I.A. provided sleaze for rap fans, singing of sticks and stones and weed and bongs.
Overseas, The Strokes may have pioneered the garage rock revival that became more colloquially known as indie — pairing grating guitars with tales of “last nite”, but Sky Ferreira fused indie rock with synths on Night Time, My Time, and Peaches pioneered electroclash while encouraging people to “fuck the pain away”. Lyricism refused to shy away from the explicit, instead leaning into the wildness of late night debauchery.
As all good things do, indie sleaze came to an end with the dawn of the 2010s. However, just a decade later, reinterest in the era was piqued amidst circles online. But why are contemporary online audiences abandoning the clean lo-fi of rising internet stars like Cocteau Twins-influenced dreampop star Clairo and the soft indie of Arlo Parks in favour of the sleaziness of 2000s alternative scenes?
As similar financial desolation reigns and the post-pandemic pressure to party looms over the youth, a return to the morals (or lack thereof) and the sound of indie sleaze seems fitting. Those coming of age during the pandemic found peace in bedroom pop but missed out on the indulgence and excess of previous indie subcultures. As partying returned to the masses, the cost of living crisis limited it to the few. So what better culture to look back to than the affordable, carefree and optimistic indie sleaze of the 2000s?
The fascination, admittedly, also seems to be steeped in the internet’s love of referentiality and the retroactive “coolness” of genres and subcultures gone by. Some ‘TikTokkers’ never experienced the first wave of danceable indie, debauchery and skinny jeans. To many, the genre is, therefore, a novel phenomenon, allowing a young generation to rediscover digital cameras and electropop.
Interestingly, the resurgence of indie sleaze culture sonically has been primarily limited to audience reinterest in the initial wave. Few artists in alternative scenes are trying to emulate the dance-infused guitar sound and indulgent lyricism of the early 2000s. Perhaps the most prevalent contemporary artist to do so is electroclash act The Dare, whose self-titled EP featured the hit single ‘Girls’.
Over squelchy electronica and accompanied by a chorus of girls declaring, “That’s what’s up!”, he boldly proclaims his love for women who hate cops, do drugs, and the ones with cigarettes in the back of the club. On another track, he says, “I’m in the club while you’re online”. The Dare modernises indie sleaze and takes the debauchery and sleaziness of the original genre up a notch, with a hint of misogyny thrown in. But the sound and themes stand out starkly from the current wave of indie.
Perhaps this anticipates the short life expectancy of reinterest in the genre. After all, indie sleaze never really existed in the first place. The term was only coined on the back of the revived interest in the era. Perhaps contemporary audiences are more interested in referentiality, definition, and reminiscing than in full-blown renaissances. Nonetheless, the revived interest in the mess that was indie sleaze has provided a fun look back at what was, potentially, the first subculture to be boosted by its presence online. In addition, injecting a little more danciness back into indie wouldn’t be the worst thing.
