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How the Decemberists ruined indie rock

Colin Meloy's crew have much to answer for
By LUKE O'NEIL  |  January 26, 2011

 December
WINTER’S BLOOM Bands started triangulating among the overearnest butt rock of grunge, the little-boy tantrum punk of emo, and the ironic indifference of indie. Somehow, they came up with the authenticity response. This was around the time of the Decemberists’ first release.

If you're a regular reader of the Phoenix's music section, you'll have noticed a decided uptick in the space devoted to electronic music here lately: electro, laptop lo-fi, chillwave, superstar DJs, and whatever other bullshit genre we're about to hype next week. There's a reason for that: all the writers here (myself especially) have horrible taste. But it also has something to do with the dearth of good indie rock being produced these days. Who's responsible for that? Hard to say for sure, but I'm going to go out on a limb and blame the Decemberists, who play two sold-out shows at the House of Blues tomorrow and Saturday.

The conventional wisdom says that indie rock was a movement in the '80s and '90s whereby bands defied the corporate music system and insisted on going down their own path. Or to put that another way: at some point, everyone in the world declared that he or she was too special to have to work a real job and decided to start a band. In England, of course, it helped that being on the dole was really easy. Allegiance to indie became a convenient way for depressed, even suicidal teenagers to share hairspray tips with each other through coded messages in fan magazines. Here in America, our lazy teenagers also wanted to be in a band, but they didn't want to try that hard, so you got outfits like REM, who couldn't be bothered to write lyrics, or Pavement, who were more about being a "band" than being a band. Indie rock, then, was never about defiance — it was about indifference, and this was a good thing. Because, to be honest, music is a pretty stupid thing to spend so much time thinking about. No offense to people like myself who've made a career out of it.

But these musical trends tend to go in self-contradicting cycles. Around the turn of the millennium, bands started to triangulate among the overearnest butt rock of grunge, the little-boy tantrum punk of emo, and the ironic indifference of indie. Somehow, they came up with the authenticity response. This was around the time of the Decemberists' first release, Castaways and Cutouts, an album notable for its elegiac approach to gently strummed indie folk and literary pretensions.

You know what they used to say about the Velvet Underground, how not many people heard them but everyone who did went on to start a band? Same thing with this record, except that it inspired everyone to apply to an MFA program, grow a beard, put on one of those old-timey hats, and pick up a mandolin. White people decided to keep it real, you might say. All of a sudden, indie became less about rocking out, fucking around, and having fun and more about caring about shit. There's nothing less rock and roll than caring about something — just look at the past 20 years of U2.

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17 Comments / Add Comment

Joshua Gray

This is terrible. Electronica? Really? I should have stopped reading right there.
Posted: January 27 2011 at 3:58 PM

Jonathan

The writer never really explains what is so awful about the band. He openly admits to enjoying their music, too (well, at least before they got big). Typical example of an indie music snob turning on a band solely because they had the nerve to get popular. Such cookie cutter Decemberists-bashing, too, right down to the obligatory Mac namedrop.
Posted: January 27 2011 at 4:05 PM

Michael Epstein

Love this!
Posted: January 27 2011 at 5:50 PM

Jeremy Shatan

Luke, you are a funny man. And The Decemberists suck so hard. But don't step on my Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes! They're the ones of this litter that my kids' kids will be listening to.
Posted: January 27 2011 at 5:54 PM

Anonymous

What an incoherent, self-indulgent (and fake self-deprecating) rant.
Posted: January 27 2011 at 6:49 PM

Anonymous

I hope you didn't get paid for this bullshit.
Posted: January 27 2011 at 7:13 PM

Matt Laskowski

Title's a bit misleading. Yeah, I don't listen to the decemberists anymore -- they were a high school band to me. Their first 3 albums were enjoyable, but they waned off my radar after that.

Title should read "HOW THE DECEMBERISTS INVENTED INDIE FOLK, OTHERS CONTINUE MAKING INDIE MUSIC AS USUAL."
But that won't grab the shock value hits, I know.
Posted: January 27 2011 at 9:39 PM

William214

This is one of the worst articles I've ever read. Really, you're going to come out against caring about something, or using Bono's work to fight the spread of AIDS in Africa as an example of what NOT to do? I'm assuming this is a joke. But even as a joke, it's a pretty negative thing to write, in the scheme of things. While you're trying to win points with a minority too immature to deal with the responsibilities of being human, we'll be over here, being moved by art and trying to make the world a better place. Enjoy your void.
Posted: January 28 2011 at 1:13 AM

Sparky

Wow, you folks sure are literal. Do you understand humor?
Posted: January 28 2011 at 9:07 AM

Greg Robillard

Hey Decemberists. Neutral Milk Hotel called - they want their Indie Darling Crown back!
Posted: January 28 2011 at 2:16 PM
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