"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
editThe 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
editThe 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
editReferences
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.