Article: "Does the world need another indie band?"

I occasionally watch a decent HD show called "London Live" which showcases established and upcoming musical acts. The lineup is usually hit or miss, with musicians like Beck and Lupe Fiasco sharing a bill with -- ahem -- Razorlight. Although Justice, Phoenix, The Rapture, Guillemots, Feist, Manic Street Preachers, Kanye West, and Lightspeed Champion have all graced the London Live stage, there are simply too many appearances from seriously mediocre British bands. Case in point: chart-topping, platinum-selling "pop" band Scouting For Girls.

The Independent recently published an article addressing the state of "indie" music that allows a band like Scouting For Girls to thrive. Among the topics discussed in the article are: what qualifies as "indie", the history and evolution of "indie" music, and the incredibly effective hype machines that propel shite like Scouting For Girls into the minds of unassuming listeners.

Although the article is predicated on an overly narrow definition of "indie", it makes some great points. A timeline from the piece:

How indie ate itself

1977: The Buzzcocks release their Spiral Scratch EP on their DIY label, New Hormones. Pop historians will refer to it as the first indie record

1986: NME and Rough Trade compile and release C86, the cassette (featuring, among others, Primal Scream, The Soup Dragons and Half Man Half Biscuit) that defines the indie genre

1987: The Smiths leave independent label Rough Trade after four albums and sign a more lucrative deal with EMI, then split acrimoniously before they record a note

1990: The Stone Roses, led by singer Ian Brown stage a Woodstock for the baggys generation – a huge gig at Spike Island in Widnes. Among the 27,000 fans is a young Noel Gallagher

1992: Alan McGee sells half of Creation Records to Sony for £2.5m. Later, Nude is sold to Sony, Factory to London Records, Go!Discs to Phonogram and Food to EMI

1993: Indie fans Steve Lamacq and Jo Whiley take over Radio One's high-profile Evening Session slot and make it their own. Blur release their second album, Modern Life is Rubbish. According to John Harris, the author of The Last Party: Britpop, Blair and the Demise of British Rock, this is the first true Britpop album. Alan McGee goes to Glasgow venue King Tut's Wah Wah Hut to see his label's act 18 Wheeler play, and discovers a little band called Oasis

1995: Blur and Oasis release singles in the same week ("Country House" and "Roll With It") in what NME bills as a "British heavyweight championship". Blur win the immediate battle to reach number one, but Oasis win the war: their album, (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, sells 18m copies worldwide

1997: Oasis's third album, Be Here Now, is bloated and ugly. Blur by Blur sounds American. Britpop dies a belated death

2001: New York hipsters The Strokes release Is This It. Everyone forgets about Britain

2002: The Libertines release their debut, Up The Bracket. Shambling guitars become chic again

2004: Snow Patrol's Final Straw and Keane's Hopes and Fears top the album charts. Indie reaches a low point

2006: Arctic Monkeys' Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not becomes the fastest-selling debut album in chart history. The major labels snap up every 17-year-old guikookstar player in the land

2008: Scouting For Girls' debut album reaches Number One. Indie eats itself

All I can say is: thank the heavens for freedom of choice. I'll never understand the U.K. charts and the continual chart-topping trash that has no place in critical circles, let alone on the soundtrack to Notting Hill.