When browsing the interweb, as I do too much, you’re bound to come across bands. Band and bands and bands and bands. For the tireless critic it becomes an endless task cutting the credible from the in-crowd cool, extricating the extraordinary from the everyday expanses. Some bands you won’t look twice at, and I would argue that the Internet has bred this dismissive streak in me.
Of course, I can hardly remember a time without the Internet. My musical coming-of-age has coincided so uniformly with the arrival of the digital era, that for as long as I can remember I have been tempted to find a way of successfully incorporating the stuttering sound of a dial-up modem into the perfect three-minute pop song.
Indie-media, forums, blogs, it is all second nature really. I have favourite bands in Sweden, Germany, Japan and Iceland, which is a great advertisement for globalisation yet still I sometimes pine for the simpler times - like the ones much-loved by Today Tonight viewers. Reading Michael Azerrad’s ‘Our Band Could Be Your Life’, however, it becomes clear that while theoretically simpler these times were in no way easier for aspiring bands.
Azerrad’s book chronicles the careers of a number of American indie underground acts between the years of 1981 and 1991, including such luminaries as Sonic Youth, Fugazi, Dinosaur Jnr. and Hüsker Dü. Most of these artists had little mainstream success at the time, but were later credited as having had an enormous influence on what is now deemed alternative or indie rock. Any recognition was attained through largely DIY means; that is, constant touring and independently released records.
Now, the Internet has opened up a whole new avenue for promotion. Everyone knows the stories behind web-sensations like Arctic Monkeys and Lily Allen. With new technologies it seems, just like anyone can be an author, anyone can be a musical artist.
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