Indie-Schmindie
"Indie-schmindie" is a term that entered common usage in the British and Irish press in the late 1990s and 2000s which referred to an interchangeable group of indifferent Indie rock bands.
Origin[edit]
The term was coined by an Edinburgh University student using the byline ‘Pjem’ in an article published in the Student newspaper on 4 May 1995.
In a column titled ‘Sounding Off’ about a summer job in a plastic bottle factory, Pjem wrote: “When I got home at night, the last thing I wanted to listen to was the then-usual mean diet of indie-schmindie, paltry guitar whining, Evening Session mediocrity or the latest mincing hype. I wanted to listen to Black Sabbath.”
Although the column did not name any ‘indie-schmindie’ bands, other articles of the time by Pjem regularly criticised Sleeper, Menswear and above all Ned’s Atomic Dustbin.
History[edit]
The term ‘Indie-schmindie’ became widely and frequently used in the British music press, including Melody Maker, Music Week and NME.,[1] but also crossed into mass circulation newspapers, including The Times, Irish Times,[2] Irish Independent,[3] The Guardian,[4][5] Scotsman, Independent and Observer.
It was often applied to the Glasgow bands Travis and Belle & Sebastian.
Although first used in a dismissive sense, the term was latterly applied more loosely to Indie rock bands, often to denote whimsicality, losing some of its original venom.
It was also adopted by some musicians[6][7]
It was used as the name of more than 100 shows on the Phoenix FM community radio station between December 2019 and September 2022.
See Also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Wells, Steven (29 December 1997). "Belle and Sebastian review, Manchester Town Hall, December 1997". NME reproduced on Jeepster Records, refers to audience as "indie schmindie sheep". Retrieved 4 October 2023.
- ^ Boyd, Bryan (18 April 1997). "Indie Schmindie". The Irish Times. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
- ^ Power, Ed (17 April 2009). "The stage that rocked". The Irish Independent. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
- ^ Patterson, Syliva (20 August 2005). "Sibling revelry". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
- ^ Stride, Roy (12 December 2009). "The people who ruined the decade: Landfill indie's most shameless serial-dumper". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
- ^ Beaumont, Mark (4 June 2021). "James: 'We were so hopelessly indie-schmindie it made Belle and Sebastian look like Whitesnake". The Independent. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
- ^ Campbell, Isobel (15 February 2008). "Isobel Campbell reflects on the musical tradition of her home country - Scotland". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 October 2023.