Mainstream, Underground or Indie?

Mainstream, Underground or Indie?

  • Total voters
    16

Big Japan

    • 23
    Posts
    15
    Years
    Which do you prefer? Do you blend in with the crowd and listen to whatever your friends are listening to, or are you unique with your music and actually take the time to discover music you like?

    I'm more of an indie/underground guy, myself. It's not that I hate mainstream, it's just that I prefer the un-hyped, 'new band' sound. Bands like Big Japan and The Films for example. Big Japan's been around for a while, but they've never really been that big, which makes them even more appealing to me.

    Anyway, what's your preference?

    P.S.
    Indie isn't really a genre of music. It's short for independent. Not signed, yet not exactly unsigned either; it's having an independent label, which is why it was one of the choices.
     
    My friends have never heard of my Favourite bands..I hate alot of what my friends listen too..Apart from the obvious "Rock" bands which are really good e.g. Kasabian, The Strokes.

    My Favourite bands are Sonic Youth and Hot Chip..Which by music law..Shouldn't really be said in the same sentence XD...But I have many other favourites e.g Datarock, The Strokes [I said them but..yeah], Yeah Yeah Yeahs etc.

    Most people who have followed the genre for a long time will know of Sonic Youth, but most newcomers..Haven't, Which is a massive shame, as they are one of the most influential bands of all time.

    Hot Chip are just awesome.

    I look into new music all the time and try and find new things...So yeah. Indie/Underground.
     
    Indie/Underground. Some of the best bands aren't well known by people, which is good. If they gave into the publicity, they wouldn't be good anymore. So many people don't know what music really is anymore. It's all about feeling.
     
    I suppose I would be underground for the most part. Much of my music is foreign pop music (that also includes foreign-language pop too) from major labels, so it's definately not indie. But at the same time, I listen to a smattering of mainstream, as well as the rare indie artist. In fact, the most listened-to song on my current iPod is a ten-year old indie pop-rock song from a Canadian chick by the name of Blaise Pascal.
     
    Purple. said:
    My friends have never heard of my Favourite bands..I hate alot of what my friends listen too..
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    We're in the same boat. Not only do my friends not know about my favorite bands, but most of them absolutely hate the kind of music I listen to. In fact, I've only got one friend who listens to the same thing as I do. It's sad, but it's good in a way too. Being original with your music is important in my opinion, but having someone to discuss it with is also just as great.

    dotKarma said:
    Indie/Underground. Some of the best bands aren't well known by people, which is good. If they gave into the publicity, they wouldn't be good anymore. So many people don't know what music really is anymore. It's all about feeling.
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    I agree with you, but also disagree at the same time. While I don't prefer a lot of 'publicized' bands, I wouldn't go as far as to say what they produce shouldn't be called music. People just have different tastes. Some people are legit when they say they actually like a certain 'publicized' band for their music and not just because everyone else listens to them.

    encas said:
    I suppose I would be underground for the most part. Much of my music is foreign pop music (that also includes foreign-language pop too) from major labels, so it's definately not indie. But at the same time, I listen to a smattering of mainstream, as well as the rare indie artist. In fact, the most listened-to song on my current iPod is a ten-year old indie pop-rock song from a Canadian chick by the name of Blaise Pascal.
    Click to expand...
    Same here. As I said in my first post, I only prefer underground/indie music; I don't listen to it exclusively. There're a lot of great hit songs that I listen to on a regular basis.
     
    Big Japan said:
    I agree with you, but also disagree at the same time. While I don't prefer a lot of 'publicized' bands, I wouldn't go as far as to say what they produce shouldn't be called music. People just have different tastes. Some people are legit when they say they actually like a certain 'publicized' band for their music and not just because everyone else listens to them.
    Click to expand...

    I probably worded what I was trying to say wrong...

    I meant how most mainstream music follows the same pattern and it's all cookie cutter stuff. Some of it isn't bad, I just prefer individuality and creativity over hype.
     
    dotKarma said:
    I probably worded what I was trying to say wrong...

    I meant how most mainstream music follows the same pattern and it's all cookie cutter stuff. Some of it isn't bad, I just prefer individuality and creativity over hype.
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    Definitely agreed.

    And no, the way you worded your last post was fine. I was just being argumentative for the sake of the thread. ;)
     
    What about all of the above?

    I simply don't like being constrained by mere labels like "mainstream" or "indie" or whatever. Granted, much of my listening does tend to skew towards (North American) mainstream, but still. I'm willing to give anything a chance.
     
    Jack O'Neill said:
    What about all of the above?

    I simply don't like being constrained by mere labels like "mainstream" or "indie" or whatever. Granted, much of my listening does tend to skew towards (North American) mainstream, but still. I'm willing to give anything a chance.
    Click to expand...

    Good point. Like I said before, I don't listen exclusively to underground/indie music; I just prefer that sound. There's plenty of amazing mainstream music out there, too.
     
    I can't really tell the difference because I don't keep up on what's popular. Sometimes I find that music I listen to is super popular for months, but I've been completely unaware of this. So I guess you'd say my preferences are all over the place.

    Sure, a lot of what gets called 'mainstream' is polished and much of it sounds the same, but I'd bet that if tomorrow MTV and every other major music outlet played the same random, half-decent indie band (from any genre) it could become the next big thing and might inspire the next 'mainstream' sound. Some people like to listen to what's popular, some are open to most of what they're exposed to, some don't really care to search for the 'perfect' music and just listen to what's on hand. But what gets to be mainstream is as much happenstance as it is corporate media. Today's mainstream is tomorrow's underground is yesterday's indie, or something like that.
     
    I listen to everything. Then form an opinion after I'm done listening to it. But I have to say some of the recent music I have enjoyed, most of it is Indie.

    2 of my favorite bands, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Arctic Monkeys are Indie.

    Indie ftw. It's probably one of my favorite genres right now. But Underground is awesome, when your hearing a band NOBODY knows about yet you enjoy it, it makes you feel unique because your listening to something good and other people don't know what their missing.

    As for mainstream.....meh. I have some "hits" from "famous" bands, but I don't listen to them much.

    :P
     
    My favorite genre of music is hard rock/heavy metal, which isn't exactly the most mainstream type of music so I would have to say I'm more of an underground/indie kind of guy. I don't really like any mainstream music because it just isn't the type of music I'm down for if you know what I mean.
     
    As another user said above,I prefer indie/underground music,but I don't listen to it exclusively.There are a few hit songs/artists I like (Katie Perry,N.E.RD) but I actually enjoy the music.I'm not listening to them to be "cool" or "in".
    Lately I've been enjoying stuff like Nine Inch Nails,Crystal Castles,Arctic Monkeys,NeverShoutNever!,Jason Mraz,and Innerpartysystem.
    I know not that many people like these artists,but I adore them.
    It's not about the popularity of the music,it's about the quality.
     
    I listen to mainly Underground or Indie (as in stuff that isn't aired on MTV, which I hate as much). but it doesn't matter how popular the song is, as long as the song is good


    :t354:TG
     
    There's only really one way to describe what I like to listen to.. it's basically, everything. I'll listen to what I like, and if I don't like it; I won't listen to it. Simple enough, really. I do however, go through phases where I prefer to listen to a particular genre. But all in all, I like everything and listen to almost everything, too. There is quite a bit that I don't like, though.
     
    dotKarma said:
    Indie/Underground. Some of the best bands aren't well known by people, which is good. If they gave into the publicity, they wouldn't be good anymore. So many people don't know what music really is anymore. It's all about feeling.
    Click to expand...
    dotKarma stole the exactly what I had ever hoped to post in this thread, brilliantly put.
     
    While I do like mainstream (Bon Jovi, D12, Rascal Flatts, Black Sabbath, & Porno Graffiti), I prefer Indie/Underground...

    One of my favorite bands, you've probably never heard of... they are called K Sydney. They have great music and they play almost any style... although with the hairstyles they have you might think they belong in the 70's... I went to school with some of them... I was even one of the original members of K. Sydney. I played the drums, did backup vocals, and sang lead on two songs I wrote... but my dream wasn't to be a musician. So I helped them find another drummer, and they left to go and hit it big... which they still haven't done...

    In my opinion... it's the hair that keeps them lowstanding...
     
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