Indie

Diversification
By the end of the 1990s indie rock developed a number of sub-genres and related styles. Following indie pop these included lo-fi, noise pop, emo, sadcore, post-rock, space rock and math rock. Lo-fi eschewed polished recording techniques for a D.I.Y. ethos and was spearheaded by Beck, Sebadoh and Pavement, who were joined by eclectic folk and rock acts of the Elephant 6collective, including Neutral Milk Hotel, Elf Power and of Montreal. The work of Talk Talk and Slint helped inspire post-rock (an experimental style influenced by jazz and electronic music, pioneered by Bark Psychosis and taken up by acts such as Tortoise, Stereolab, and Laika), as well as leading to more dense and complex, guitar-based math rock, developed by acts like Polvo and Chavez. Space rock lookedback to progressive roots, with drone-heavy and minimalist acts like Spaceman 3 in the 1980s, Spectrum and Spiritualized, and later groups including Flying Saucer Attack, Godspeed You Black Emperor! and Quickspace. In contrast, sadcore emphasized pain and suffering through melodic use of acoustic and electronic instrumentation in the music of bands like American Music Club and Red House Painters,while the revival of Baroque pop reacted against lo-fi and experimental music by placing an emphasis on melody and classical instrumentation, with artists like Arcade Fire, Belle and Sebastian and Rufus Wainright. The emo movement, which had grown out of the hardcore punk scene in the 1980s with bands like Fugazi and Rites of Spring, gained popularity as the 1990s progressed. Elliott, Sunny DayReal Estate, The Promise Ring, The Get Up Kids and others brought a more melodic sound to the genre. Weezer's Pinkerton (1996) introduced the genre to a wider and more mainstream audience.

Mainstream success: 2000s–Present
In the 2000s, the changing music industry, the decline in record sales, the growth of new digital technology and increased use of the Internet as a tool for music promotionallowed a new wave of indie rock bands to achieve mainstream success.[33] This new commercial breakthrough and the widespread use of the term "indie" to other forms of popular culture, led a number of commentators to suggest that indie rock had ceased to be a meaningful term.[34][35][36]
During the decade the term which previously in the United States had very limited usage "became the label ofchoice for Americans – and an even greater worldwide audience – to talk about modern rock and pop music". Wendy Fonarow, an anthropology professor and author of the book Empire of Dirt: The Aesthetics and Rituals of British Indie Culture, asserts that this change occurred because at the turn of the century American bands began to be influenced by British indie music and the Internet, which madeBritish music publications and online music websites such as Pitchfork Media immediately available to readers.
In the early 2000s, a new group of bands that played a stripped-down and back-to-basics version of guitar rock emerged into the mainstream. They were variously characterised as part of a garage rock, New Wave or post-punk revival. Because the bands came from across the globe, cited diverseinfluences (from traditional blues, through New Wave to grunge), and adopted differing styles of dress, their unity as a genre has been disputed. There had been attempts to revive garage rock and elements of punk in the 1980s and 1990s and by 2000 scenes had grown up in several countries. The Detroit rock scene included The Von Bondies, Electric Six, The Dirtbombs and The Detroit Cobras and thatof New York Radio 4, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Rapture. Elsewhere, the Oblivians from Memphis, Billy Childish and The Buff Medways from Britain, The (International) Noise Conspiracy from Sweden, and The 5.6.7.8's from Japan, enjoyed underground, regional or national success.

The commercial breakthrough from these scenes was led by four bands: The Strokes, who emerged from the New York club...