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The 80 Best Indie Albums of All Time
Around 1983 ,lots of young bands in the UK and USA influenced by Punk realised they could do everything themselves: write songs, play instruments and even release their own music. Winding the clock back to the mid-60s, before cliche's took hold of Rock, they gave birth to a proudly amateur tradition of catchy rock-pop. Band such as The Cure and the Smiths had chart success but this genre was firmly about not selling out to the mainstream - they had their own venues, magazines and record labels.
In the 1990s things changed. 'Madchester' bands in the UK first took on the influence of Ecstasy and dance music, then the mid-90s saw the Britpop explosion - guitar bands were making catchy music and dominating the charts again, in the UK at least, led by Oasis and Blur. This scene would have echoes but never burn as bright again. Indie though was firmly established as a well defined branch of the mainstream. In the USA it stayed underground longer, despite REMs global success of the early 1990s. Now, in the late 2010s, in the internet age, the genre thrives as an independent force, with its own radio stations, websites and a dedicated audience. Firmly led by creativity and acting as a counterpoint to more commercial genres it is perhaps where creativity and originality remains highest. Today's indie auteurs, often women, in the USA are around the world are delivering artist-led album masterpieces. Moving awat from traditional guitar and rock-based music they are often incorporating other sounds and genres.
In the 1990s things changed. 'Madchester' bands in the UK first took on the influence of Ecstasy and dance music, then the mid-90s saw the Britpop explosion - guitar bands were making catchy music and dominating the charts again, in the UK at least, led by Oasis and Blur. This scene would have echoes but never burn as bright again. Indie though was firmly established as a well defined branch of the mainstream. In the USA it stayed underground longer, despite REMs global success of the early 1990s. Now, in the late 2010s, in the internet age, the genre thrives as an independent force, with its own radio stations, websites and a dedicated audience. Firmly led by creativity and acting as a counterpoint to more commercial genres it is perhaps where creativity and originality remains highest. Today's indie auteurs, often women, in the USA are around the world are delivering artist-led album masterpieces. Moving awat from traditional guitar and rock-based music they are often incorporating other sounds and genres.
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The 80 Best Indie Albums of All Time
1. OK Computer - Radiohead, 1997 2. Kid A - Radiohead, 2000 3. The Queen Is Dead - The Smiths, 1986 4. Definitely Maybe - Oasis, 1994 5. (What's The Story) Morning Glory? - Oasis, 1995 6. Grace - Jeff Buckley, 1994 7. Automatic For The People - R.E.M., 1992 8. The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses, 1989 9. Loveless - My Bloody Valentine, 1991 10. The Bends - Radiohead, 1995 11. Different Class - Pulp, 1995 12. Disintegration - The Cure, 1989 13. Let It Be - The Replacements, 1984 14. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - Wilco, 2002 15. Slanted & Enchanted - Pavement, 1992 16. Murmur - R.E.M., 1983 17. Funeral - Arcade Fire, 2004 18. Exile in Guyville - Liz Phair, 1993 19. Odelay - Beck, 1996 20. Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea - PJ Harvey, 2000 21. Either/Or - Elliott Smith, 1997 22. Rid of Me - PJ Harvey, 1992 23. Screamadelica - Primal Scream, 1991 24. Parklife - Blur, 1994 25. In Rainbows - Radiohead, 2007 26. A Rush Of Blood To The Head - Coldplay, 2002 27. Modern Vampires of the City - Vampire Weekend, 2013 28. The B-52s - The B-52s , 1979 29. AM - Arctic Monkeys, 2013 30. The Smiths - The Smiths, 1984 31. Out Of Time - R.E.M., 1991 32. For Emma, Forever Ago - Bon Iver, 2007 33. Crooked Rain Crooked Rain - Pavement, 1994 34. Merriweather Post Pavilion - Animal Collective, 2009 35. Woodface - Crowded House, 1991 36. Everything Must Go - Manic Street Preachers, 1996 37. Urban Hymns - The Verve, 1997 38. Document - R.E.M., 1987 39. The Holy Bible - Manic Street Preachers, 1994 40. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea - Neutral Milk Hotel, 1998 
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41. If You're Feeling Sinister - Belle and Sebastian, 1996
42. 69 Love Songs - The Magnetic Fields, 1999 43. Wild Wood - Paul Weller, 1995 44. Lifes Rich Pageant - R.E.M., 1986 45. The Suburbs - Arcade Fire, 2010 46. Sea Change - Beck, 2002 47. Blur - Blur, 1999 48. Suede - Suede, 1993 49. Psychocandy - The Jesus and Mary Chain Psychocandy, 1986 50. Currents - Tame Impala, 2015 51. Carrie & Lowell - Sufjan Stevens, 2015 52. Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not - Arctic Monkeys, 2006 53. Parachutes - Coldplay, 2000 54. The Soft Bulletin - The Flaming Lips, 1999 55. Let England Shake - PJ Harvey, 2011 56. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend, 2008 57. Illinoise - Sufjan Stevens, 2005 58. The Boatman's Call - Nick Cave, 1997 59. Pornography - The Cure, 1982 60. Head on the Door - The Cure, 1986 61. I See a Darkness - Bonnie "Prince" Billy, 1999 62. Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space - Spiritualized , 1997 63. Zen Arcade - Hüsker Dü , 1984 64. Lost in the Dream - The War on Drugs, 2014 65. Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes, 1983 66. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes, 2008 67. Bandwagonesque - Teenage Fanclub, 1991 68. Boxer - The National, 2007 69. Sometimes I Sit and Think… - Courtney Barnett, 2015 70. Let Love In - Nick Cave , 1994 71. Tim - The Replacements, 1985 72. Demon Days - Gorillaz, 2005 73. Up The Bracket - The Libertines, 2002 74. The La's - The La's, 1990 75. Chutes Too Narrow - The Shins, 2003 76. Ghosteen - Nick Cave, 2019 77. Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots - The Flaming Lips, 2002 78. Elastica - Elastica, 1995 79. Turn on the Bright Lights - Interpol, 2002 80. Dear Science - TV on the Radio, 2008 |
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