Elliot Evins

Date of Award

2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Clark, Maribeth

Keywords

Math Rock, Rock History, Authenticity, Indie Music, Genre, Tera Melos, Math Rock

Area of Concentration

Music

Abstract

This document explores the current cultural status of rock music and addresses the contemporary state of the empowerment fans have gained from identifying with the genre. Looking at rock's historical narrative, I find that through the formation of a rock canon in the early 1990s, rock became conventionalized as a staple of mainstream American culture. I assert that "indie" music styles inherited rock's "authentic" aesthetic and succeeded rock as a means for fans to identify with a musical subculture parallel to the mainstream of mass culture. Indie music began in the 1980s due to advances in technology and greater access to modes of music distribution. At the same time, changes allowed for more free-form musical practices and the dissolving of previously rigid genre boundaries. In order to explore the nature of indie, I use the subgenre "math rock" and one of its most prolific bands, Tera Melos, as case studies. A rhythmically complex brand of indie rock, math rock draws influence from jazz, punk rock, and metal, as well as musical practices from avant-garde and modern classical music. Based on these case studies I conclude that indie styles of music represent a change in the way individuals form identities through popular music.

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