This criticism could be seen simply as a call for smaller indie bands to be more experimental and branch out further with their sound - is it just a bit of internet tough love to rising bands from the self-appointed higher-ups of the indie listener community? However, the encouragement in comment sections to name the worst indie poo bands” aims hate and abusive language directly towards these bands, who often haven’t yet seen much success, are not yet signed, and some are yet to publicly release any music. Regardless of how true one sees these claims to be, it has built an overwhelmingly negative stance on the independent music scene, striving to make younger artists and bands the butt of a seemingly high-brow and artistically nuanced joke.
There is a certain classism in the humiliation that comes with the idea that these bands do not have the capacity to write intelligent lyrics or innovative melodies. Music and arts education continues to have an ever-growing privilege gap, with children of working-class background being four times less likely to go on to work in creative industries. 43% of the top-selling musicians, whom critics often use as a comparison point to these younger bands, have been educated at private schools, whilst only 7% had a state-funded education. It is hard to ignore the fact that criticism towards the lack of apparent skill often crosses the line into classic music snobbery. Bands in their earlier creative stages are now far more visible to the world through the accessible-to-all social media platforms, making it seem as though their numbers have suddenly skyrocketed. In fact, small bands have always been around (see ‘Indie Landfill’ of the 2010’s) and small, local gigging culture has consistently been the silent cogs of the legendary rock and pop engines that we remember today.
One of the most prominent figures in the ‘Indie Poo’ discussion has a characteristically negative account, selling ironic merchandise reading “Angus Hates My Band”. It is part of their account branding to have negative views on certain music, creating videos that appeal to the algorithm’s shock value, and this context gives the viewer the ability to take their opinions with a grain of salt. However, for newer viewers brought by their new wave of ‘Indie Poo’ focused content, this context is not known, and the creator seems to simply be a well-knowledgeable third party whose negative reaction is true and unaffected by the need to stimulate a social media algorithm. More recently, this same creator has noted in a video that, “Obviously this joke has got way out of hand… All of the musicians mentioned thus far are hard working, honest people, a lot of them very young kids.”
Music content creators who have a platform to either curate support or negativity should be expected to understand that this may not have been the best way to give feedback, and exaggeration for the sake of clicks and creating short-lived bandwagons can create extremely stressful experiences for younger and more vulnerable musicians. The music community will (and should) always have critical opinions on all music, but the far-reaching echo chamber of social media and short-form content is still a new territory, and one that even smaller content creators must still understand comes with great responsibility.
There are two non-negotiables in the world of sound: all music is inspired by music that came before; and all music is subjective. Both points are not only central to the definition of ‘Indie Poo’, but create the dilemma that invalidates the whole term. It is laughable for anyone to ask young artists today to create music that had absolutely no influences and no roots, since this has never before been done and never will be. On top of this, measuring exactly how much influence one artist has taken from another is another pointless exercise, as each person will have a different takeaway from any single composition. Each era of popular music will have smaller bands taking inspiration for years thereafter, and this constant amalgamation is the cycle that the music scene thrives on. A very small percentage of any music goes down in history as the ‘new sound’ of a generation, but without young artists taking inspiration and trying to create their own songs, the progression of the cycle slows to a halt. To expect new musicians and writers to produce wholly unique and brilliant work is completely unrealistic, and online criticism does little to encourage the future of our music scene.
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