Best Indie Rock Albums

ctsimcox · #1 | Posted: 04/28/2009 22:12 | Post subject: Best Indie Rock Albums

I love indie rock, it's probably what i listen to the most and i wanted to compile a list of my 50 favorite albums and since im posting it on here i really want to hear your thought on it(Note: i know im missing some indie favorites The Replacements, R.E.M., My Bloody Valentine, etc.). So here it is.
50. Mclusky, Mclusky Do Dallas
49. Smog, Knock Knock
48. Jesus Lizard, Goat
47. Destroyer, City of Daughters
46. Frank Black, Teenager of the Year
45. Devendra Banhart, Rejoicing in the Hands
44. Bedhead, WhatFunLifeWas
43. Interpol, Turn on the Bright Lights
42. Red House Painters, Red House Painters (Rollercoaster)
41. Olivia Tremor Control, Music from the Unrealized Film Script: Dusk at Cubist Castle
40. Meat Puppets, Meat Puppets II
39. Okkervil River, Black Sheep Boy
38. Grandaddy, Under the Western Freeway
37. Palace Music, Viva Last Blues
36. Young Marble Giants, Colossal Youth
35. Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
34. Red Red Meat, Bunny Gets Paid
33. Wolf Parade, Apologies to the Queen Mary
32. Guided By Voices, Bee Thousand
31. Rodan, Rusty
30. Magnetic Fields, 69 Love Songs
29. Arcade Fire, Funeral
28. Beat Happening, You Turn Me On
27. Fugazi, 13 Songs
26. Dismemberment Plan, Emergency & I
25. Yo La Tengo, Painful
24. Sufjan Stevens, Illinois
23. Wilco, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
22. Archers of Loaf, Icky Mettle
21. Belle and Sebastian, If You're Feeling Sinister
20. The Mountain Goats, All Hail West Texas
19. Pavement, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
18. Spoon, Kill the Moonlight
17. Big Black, Songs About Fucking
16. Low, I Could Live in Hope
15. Elliott Smith, Either/Or
14. The Modern Lovers, The Modern Lovers
13. The Microphones, The Glow Pt. 2
12. Dinosaur Jr., You're Living All Over Me
11. Ween, Pure Guava
10. They Might Be Giants, Lincoln
9. Sonic Youth, Daydream Nation
8. The Grifters, Crappin' You Negavtive
7. Bonnie "Prince" Billy, I See A Darkness
6. Sebadoh, Bubble & Scrape
5. Pixies, Doolittle
4. Built To Spill, There's Nothing Wrong With Love
3. Neutral Milk Hotel, In The Aeroplane Over the Sea
2. Slint, Spiderland
1. Modest Mouse, The Lonesome Crowded West

telefunker · #2 | Posted: 04/29/2009 20:15 | Post subject:

R.E.M - Murmur

First album I ever listened to from start to finish. Quite a good one to start with in hindsight! Never heard any other 'indie' album come remotely close..
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RFNAPLES · #3 | Posted: 04/29/2009 21:05 | Post subject:

Check out these Alternative/Indie-Rock albums:

Beck-Odelay-1996
Björk-Debut-1993
Blur-Parklife-1994
Dead Kennedys-Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables-1980
Depeche Mode-The Singles 86>98-1998
Echo & the Bunnymen-Songs to Learn and Sing-1985
Green Day-Dookie-1994
Happy Mondays-Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches-1990
Liz Phair-Exile in Guyville-1993
Massive Attack-Blue Lines-1991
New Order-Substance-1987
Nirvana-In Utero-1993
Nirvana-Nevermind-1991
Oasis-Definitely Maybe-1994
Pavement-Slanted & Enchanted-1992
Pearl Jam-Ten-1991
Primal Scream-Screamadelica-1991
Pulp-Different Class-1995
R.E.M.-Automatic for the People-1992
R.E.M.-Document-1987
Radiohead-OK Computer-1997
Sonic Youth-Daydream Nation-1988
Teenage Fanclub-Bandwagonesque-1991
The Cure-Staring at the Sea: The Singles-1986
The Replacements-Let It Be-1984
The Smiths-Singles-1995
The Smiths-The Queen Is Dead-1986
U2-Achtung Baby-1991
Violent Femmes-Violent Femmes-1983
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Elston · Joined: 31 Mar 2008 Posts: 895 My Charts

I love some of these though haven't heard them all. There's actually a few artists here where I like a different album by them more, namely:

Built to Spill, Perfect From Now On
Red House Painters, Down Colourful Hill
Fugazi, Repeater
Yo La Tengo, I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your
Destroyer, Destroyer's Rubies

Great list ctsimcox

Charicature · #5 | Posted: 04/30/2009 18:35 | Post subject:

RFNAPLES · #6 | Posted: 04/30/2009 20:30 | Post subject:

I used the nomenclature of Allmusic.com which classifies all those listed albums as Alternative/Indie-Rock style in the Pop/Rock genre. I own and like them all and call them Alternative/Indie-Rock.

Record labels may be small, localized, and independent (indie), or part of a large international media group, or somewhere in between. The largest 4 record labels are called major labels and all are media conglomerates that operate a number of specific label imprints. The 4 major labels account for 70% of music sales worldwide and 85% of music sales in the USA:

Record companies and music publishers that are not under the control of the big four are generally considered to be independent (indie), even if they are large corporations with complex structures. Some prefer to use the term indie label to refer to only those independent labels that adhere to arbitrary, ill-defined criteria of corporate structure and size, and some consider an indie label to be almost any label that releases non-mainstream music, regardless of its corporate structure.
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joannajewsom · #7 | Posted: 04/30/2009 22:47 | Post subject:

Well, I would take issue with calling albums like The Modern Lovers and Colossal Youth (OP) and Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables 'Indie Rock', when Indie Rock as a "genre" didn't really exist until the early/mid 80s, years after these albums were made. It would be more appropriate if the aforementioned albums were labeled as proto-punk, post-punk, and punk/hardcore, respectively. Calling them Indie/Alternative is a misnomer. The same thing with calling stuff like Blue Lines and Debut 'Indie Rock'. Call it trip-hop, electronica, club, but calling these albums Indie Rock isn't appropriate. If allmusic put any of these albums in the Indie Rock category, then I think that a) they are reaching, b) that shows the problem with the term "Indie Rock." Like Alternative Rock, it's a blanket term (a really large blanket) that really doesn't tell you much about the music. Slint and Massive Attack, if you want to call them Indie Rock, have about as much in common as the Ramones and Run-DMC.

JohnnyRocketFingers · Joined: 13 Jun 2008 Posts: 562 Location: PA My Charts

1 Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
2 Fugazi - Repeater
3 The National - Boxer
4 Slint - Spiderland
5 Guided By Voices - Bee Thousands
6 Belle and Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister
7 Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out This Country
8 No Age - Nouns
9 Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
10 Built to Split - Perfect From Now On
11 Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
12 Liars - Liars
13 Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs
14 Beck - Mellow Gold
15 The Arcade Fire - Funeral
16 Sufjan Stevens - Illnois
17 The Vaselines - The Vaselines
18 Wolf Parade - Apoligies to the Queen Mary
19 The Avalanches - Since I Left You
20 Fugazi - Red Medicine
21 Beat Happening - Beat Happening
22 Iron & Wine - The Creek Drank the Cradle
23 Elliot Smith - Either/Or
24 Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
25 Earth - Earth 2
26 Explosions In The Sky - Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place
27 Nirvana - Bleach
28 The Beta Band - Three EPs
29 Dr. Dog - Fate
30 The Decemberists - Castaways and Cutouts
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The Tourist · Joined: 02 Jun 2008 Posts: 104 My Charts

You should try On Fire by Galaxie 500, its a record I just recently acquired and Im enjoying it quite a bit

JohnnyRocketFingers · Joined: 13 Jun 2008 Posts: 562 Location: PA My Charts

Good pick! I love that album but i'd consider it more Shoegaze.
_________________
"The future is unwritten."
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