Most Influential Indie Albums of the ’80s & ’90sBy
Elliot Adler Share:
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“Indie” is likely one of rock music’s most overused, and perhaps, least descriptive words. In today’s record industry landscape even some of the best selling artists have gone “indie,” i.e., abandoned the bosom of a corporate record label, cut out the middle man, and started their own imprint. However, there was once a simpler time when indie was truly independent. In honor of those storied days, we present JamsBio’s list of the most infuential indie albums of all time.
 There should be little debate about the influence of the Athens quartet’s debut LP, a jangly rock matserpiece that spawned what became known as “college rock.”
 An early hardcore punk statement, and easily one of the best.
 A sprawling double album that redefined hardcore punk by incorporating elements of jazz, pop, tape experiments, acoustic songs, pianos, and psychedelia.
 The kings of repackaging, The Smiths released this compilation of rarities and singles just months after their debut, self-titled album. “Hatful of Hollow” contains many of the best Smiths’ songs, including the classics “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now,” “Girl Afraid,” and “How Soon Is Now?”
 The Little Band that Couldn’t, the Replacements were loveable ragtag misfits led by the genius of Paul Westerberg. “Let it Be” was a watersehd album that perfectly captured all that was brilliant about the Minneapolis quartet.
 44 songs infused with hardcore punk spirit, funked up greatness, and political furor. Simply sublime.
The godfather’s of shoegaze, The Jesus and Mary Chain’s debut album was electric with guitar fuzz overloaded and blasted at ear splitting levels. Add to that some killer hooks and you have a masterpiece.
 Kick ass songs + guitar pyrotechnics = pre-grunge greatness.
 Sounds unlike anything else at the time…and since. Cited by Kurt Cobain as a major influence, and for good reason.
 The first shot from Seattle, this signalled the grunge revolution soon to follow.
 Post-punk, art rock brilliance with the ultimate indie anti-anthem, “Teenage Riot.”
 Miles ahead of their Madchester peers, “The Stone Roses” is a shockingly great debut album that features ace guitar work, funky rhythms, soaring melodies, candy hooks, and British swagger.
 It spawned a whole movement, known as Alt-Country, and brilliantly merged punk rock with country instrumentation and harmony of the Carter Family and Hank Williams.
 Independent to the core, Ian McKaye and Fugazi gave the middle finger to capitalism and the almighty dollar through its post-hardcore sloganeering.
 Forbearers to post-rock and math-rock, “Spiderland” is the yardstick by which all others in the genre are measured.
 They took the torch from the Jesus and Mary Chain and ran with it, creating the “Sgt. Pepper’s” of shoegazing.
 Lo-fi, quirky, and imbued with a wonderful sense of humor, “Slanted & Enchanted” set the stage for the lo-fi indie revolution soon to follow.
 Indie rock for beer drinking classic rock fans. From the brilliant mind of Robert Pollard.
 They saved indie rock from the aggressive, guitar-fueled tunes that were saturating the genre. Highly literate, sensitive, witty, and gentle, “If You’re Feeling Sinister” is the “Catcher in the Rye” of indie music.
 One writer likened this record to a “marching band on an acid trip.” Apt description, but it’s so much more. The songs, the singing saws, the horns, the shambling rhythms, and the brilliant, stream-of-conciousness surreal lyrics all add up to an album of unmatched individuality. One of the best records of the ’90s.
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COMMENTS (80)
Daniel Dyer said:
Too true about Neutral Milk Hotel – my favorite record of all time, in fact. Excellent list, I’ll have to check out the two on here I haven’t heard yet. Danny Dyer said:
I would also like to suggest one of Tortoise’s releases. They pioneered and shaped post-rock while setting the tone for the prog-rock of the nineties. Perhaps it was just a phase of sorts, but I really appreciate all of their releases. They mesh together bits and pieces of differing left-field genres (e.g., Krautrock, dub, avant-garde jazz, classical and jazz minimalism, etc.) in a way that is crisp, clean, and groovy. They haven’t made a huge impact in terms of popularity, but they sure as hell set the bar and inspired others. I would suggest ‘Millions Now Living Will Never Die’ as the most influential and popular of their albums – I highly recommend it. Their 20-minute epic ‘Djed’ is incredible. Ostrich Heaven said:
My Bloody Valentine – Loveless John Voorhees said:
XTC – Drums & Wires! There’s like half a dozen bands that came out two years ago (Kaiser Chiefs, Futureheads, Dogs Die in Hot Cars, etc) that pretty much cloned this band. Jordan said:
Good job with Fugazi you could easily but any of their albums from that time on the list and still be a winner. Also surprised to see Uncle Tupelo harolddong said:
None of these lists ever mention Bedhead they were just as influential in the 90’s as any of these bands. They just weren’t talked about as much. They seem to be one of those bands that other musicians idolized. Even mainstream rock bands like Pearl Jam started showing an obvious and abrupt Bedhead influence in the late 90’s and early 00’s. “Wishlist” is basically a Bedhead song. Douglas said:
XTC’s “Drums and Wires” is incredible, but was released on Virgin Records, a major label. Darren Daz Cox said:
A big thumbs up for “Zen Arcade” by Husker Du being on the list. It’s funny that while I love Black Flag, Damaged is there least important album I’d say. Even though it contains some of their best songs those songs were done better before Rollins joined, and Rollins agrees. Greg said:
Social Distortion’s Mommy’s Little Monster should have a spot on this list. Janiru said:
Superfuzz Bigmuff. One of the greatest albums ever. Mudhoney is the shit. drunkie said:
pretty good list, though you’re missing some staples such as joy division’s closer, nirvana’s bleach, modest mouse’s lonesome crowded west, virtually any 90’s-era built to spill, new order’s substance i’d also consider adding killing joke, yo la tengo, spiritualized, elliott smith, violent femmes, and primal scream, among others John said:
Modest Mouse anyone? How about The Lonesome Crowded West in 1997 off of Up Records. This was my favorite band out of those Seattle based indie bands during the 90s (Built to spill is up there too) and I thought this was an incredible album. Jon said:
You forgot about Heatmiser ! Dillon said:
Amazing list, Most of these bands I hadnt heard before and its awesome discovering new stuff to listen to. Solid all the way through! baxterclaws said:
Great list. Murmur and loveless are my faves. Some others: feelies: crazy rhythms, Chameleons UK: strange times, dream syndicate: days of wine and roses, flaming lips: soft bulletin, magnetic fields: holiday, Meat puppets: II, modern lovers: self titled, olivia tremor control: dusk at cubist castle, Pale saints: comforts of madness, silver jews: american water, soft boys: underwater moonlight, talk talk: laughing stock, Television personalities: and don’t the kids just love it Mike said:
“This A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About” Modest Mouse (1996 Up Records) DARYL FUCKING HALL said:
I’m not sure how indie is defined but if we’re going primarily by record label, why no Big Black, or Jesus Lizard, or even Pixies? Brian said:
You’re talking 90’s influential indie and no Elliott Smith’s Either/Or? Geez. Hoss said:
This kinda of scared me until 1992 Slanted & Enchanted cannot forget Pavement. Pico said:
I don’t quite grasp the indie concept. SaintAndre said:
Not a lot of women on this list. No love for Sleater-Kinney’s “Call the Doctor” or Bikini Kill’s self-titled EP? Team Dresch’s “Personal Best” not good enough? noseguy said:
Boards of Canada – Music Has The Right To Children settlesdown said:
you forgot: Reverend Copernicus said:
So I have to ask: Why does Kyuss not make the list? Major label support? They pretty much single handedly brought an entire indie music scene, desert rock to the forefront. As far as albums, I would nominate Blues for a Red Sun and …Welcome to Sky Valley. Rozz said:
Christian Death – Only Theatre of Pain mo said:
seems sort of odd to not have the meat puppets on here…. Ezekial said:
Two more for the list: Beat Happening, and The Magnetic Fields. Markus said:
Great list! I would add: Bad Religion (Against the Grain / No Control) Richard Simmons said:
No Steve Albini? Indie Haiku Master said:
This is a great list…loads of these are reviewed in 3 lines on http://www.haikureviewer.com by the way – but sadly no Minutemen haiku yet! Brett said:
This list is poorly thought out and at least in terms of relevance and accuracy, ill-informed. With the exception of a few records, this list is much to broad to be titled best indie records of the 80’s and 90’s. Anyone putting the Pixies 9th on a list like this clearly has no idea what the hell they are talking about. I’m surprised you didn’t list Sublime or the Killers. jim said:
Nice job! All that’s missing is: Yo La Tengo’s “New Wave Hotdog”- perhaps the best post-punk rock album ever and a huge influence on what would be defined as alternative… MustardMan said:
EXCELLENT list, no arguments whatsoever. POSSIBLE additions: Superchunk: Here’s Where the Strings Come In – One could make an argument for ‘Foolish’ as well; either way, sumpin’ by Superchunk would fit in this list well. Sebadoh: Bakesale – Eric Gaffney fans will scream, but they were a little bit better after he left, more focused / less meandering maybe. A GREAT album. Other than those two, can’t think of any others I’d add off the top of my head… Regarding XTC & Virgin – both the Smiths and Jesus and Mary Chain were distributed in the US under Sire(WB), who signed The Replacements shortly after ‘Let It Be’. I’m not sure Enigma was quite an ‘indie’ label either, by the true definition of the word. Anyway, I’d disqualify XTC from this list for simply lacking the indie ’spirit’, given that they stopped touring in favor of few-and-far-between studio projects. Which are all masterpieces. Thanks for pimping XTC in this thread – the world’s most underrated band of all time deserves every mention it gets – but they’re not ‘indie-rock’. Anyway, great list! Ca1v1n said:
Wow… I’ve got 18 of 20, and most on vinyl. Neutral Milk Hotel and Belle & Sebastian are the two I am missing. I think I would have picked New Day Rising by Husker Du instead of Zen Arcade but hey… [...] em que ser “Indie” não era ser “mainstream”, o site JamsBio’s fez uma lista com os álbuns independentes mais influentes de todos os tempos. Todos são das décadas de 80 e 90 [...] Eric said:
The Batman Soundtrack by Prince… apex of musical expression and delight. Jim Jones said:
Indie albums? Eeewww thats nasty. JM said:
Eric: The Batman Soundtrack would not qualify on this list, regardless of how much you enjoy it. This list is the most influential “Indie” albums of the 80’s and 90’s, indie meaning records from independent record labels. Warner Brothers is not an indie label. Pauly said:
Pulp’s “His and Hers”, Jack’s “Pioneer Soundtracks”, Suede’s “Suede”. I’m getting shivers just thinking about how good these albums are. I guess you have more of a UK presence than I might have expected already. I hope they meet proper indie requirements. jared said:
you’ve put together a really accurate list here. i, too, consider all those albums to seminal and “huge” (especially zen arcade, that album is the glacier national park of that era). Music Lover said:
When did all these other genres like grunge, shoegaze, alternative, twee, punk and new wave become indie music? Doofus said:
Royal Trux “Cats & Dogs”?? Dave said:
Prince? The list concerns “Indie” albums. I don’t believe that the Batman soundtrack qualifies as an indie album. As for what one commenter had to say about “Damaged” by Black Flag. He is 100% correct. Rollins was the least of Black Flag’s many vocalists. Unfortunately, Rollins is the most recognizable singer and ill-informed people believe him to be Black Flag. Sorry, Henry Garfield era Black Flag pales in comparison to the previous incarnations of the band. Silent Trio said:
It’s impossible to include everbody, but I’d add Built To Spill (Keep It Like a Secret or Perfect From Now On or There’s Nothing Wrong With Love, I’m not a big enough fan/I’m too young to know which is most influential) and Modest Mouse’s The Lonesome Crowded West. Great list, though. I’m going to check these out. My link is to my band’s myspace. Hurrah. Eric said:
Um…. Sarcasm is lost Kevin Fitzroy said:
Hello? Why no Phil McCracken with Country Gravy? Dick Chicksadore is easily one of the greatest frontmen of the late 80s, early 90s! I’m really shocked and just a little bit angry. Richard Swelling said:
Bad Brains. Ryan said:
They Might Be Giants?! Tai Kahn said:
Sebadoh – Bakesale EJI said:
People griping about no Albini ought to go back to their liner notes. Albini produced the Pixies’ Surfer Rosa. As for the guy griping about no Pixies, see the previous sentence (and re-read the list). And as for Brett, the miserable little troll griping that Surfer Rosa comes ninth on the list… well, you had to count it out yourself, because it’s not a numerically arranged list, it’s chronological. Now who’s ill-informed and irrelevant? Yeah, there are some names missing. Joy Division, for one, which others have mentioned, though the band *just* makes the cut with Closer (1980). But I’m with Elliot for not putting Modest Mouse on there. Indie (as in Up! and pre-Epic) MM was so indebted to the Pixies — just go back and listen to “Breakthrough” — that you couldn’t exactly call them influential so much as still under the influence. So, no, I don’t think the list is exhaustive, either, folks, but c’mon. He’s not supposed to post the aggregate of all our record collections. It’s got some indisputable inclusions and offers a solid basis for discussion. Tai Kahn said:
oh, shit, and Big Black, Song about Fucking – Albini at his best and most influential, liner notes were an obvious influence on Nirvanas nevermind “stream of lyrics” inside the cover. Saul said:
Loveless was a bloated letdown. Isn’t Anything is the album by My Bloody Valentine that put them on the map, “You Made Me Realize” was the single, and it came years before. Loveless is a masterpiece, but Isn’t Anything gave birth to Lush, Slowdive, Ride, Chapterhouse and a wide variety of utter crap bands. The Tremolo and Glider E.P.s came years before and ultimately Loveless was too much, too late. It’s a classic for sure, but it wasn’t nearly as influencial as Isn’t Anything. DHBennett said:
I’m familar with a lot of these albums. But i have to say that i find most of them unintersting. There seems to be this thread that runs through the “indie” community that uni-dimensionalism is a good thing. And, elitism is a good thing. I think all of the records on this list that i recognize, save black flag, share the same qualities. The music is very reflective usually. The instrumentation is all one or two guitars bass and drums. The sound quality is usually quite poor compared to other music of the time. Which, to some degree can be equated to low levels of financial backing. But i also think part of the goal is to “sound bad”. I just wonder when “indie” fans might start looking outside of bad sounding guitars and synths, lilting emotions, and poor production to other ideas. Yes. Some of us were young in the 80’s. This music was what some of us liked in “those days”. But, perhaps its time to clean the windows, put away the all black clothes, and find something new. bart said:
Sonic youth, so fucking great, nice list thanks have to check out some. Leila said:
Very well thought out list. I am glad to see MM didnt make the list, they are so far off. They make a genre on their own, which is not entirely a good thing. tired & emotional said:
black flag was already an old and cliched idea by 1981. reckoning caused more of a stir than murmur. i see a darkness BPB. fadeoutagain said:
Awesome list! If you hadn’t already included Surfer Rosa, I’d argue that Doolittle was an even more influential Pixies album, but they’re both amazing. I’d consider adding NIN – Pretty Hate Machine (was originally released on TVT Records, an indie label). You can’t deny the influence Reznor made on the industry with that album. Also, Depeche Mode’s Black Celebration or Music for the Masses are both worth mentioning. I believe those were released under Mute Records which was an indie label at that time I believe (correct me if I’m wrong). machina said:
Richard Swelling is entirely correct. Bad Brains indeed. mitchell said:
there isn’t an album for ‘97. might i suggest Either/Or by Elliott Smith or Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space by Spiritualized? Joe | A New Band A Day said:
I’m with the above poster on “Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space” – it was the very high point of an otherwise sloppy ending to the 90’s. A unique sound and a unique record. I LOVE Hatful of Hollow too, and it’s so great that the bets songs on their aren’t the original versions, but BBC John Peel sessions that really capture the band at their best! Viagra said:
Murmor by REM is one of the greatest albums of all time. If you haven’t listened to it then its time to go buy a copy now! Benny The Ball said:
The Stone Roses is rightly placed high on the list. Musical majesty and, for me, the greatest British album since Dark Side of the Moon. Pages tagged "mudhoney" said:
[...] bookmarks tagged mudhoney Emma (friend of Thomas Hawk): Most Influential Ind… saved by 2 others monahsa bookmarked on 08/05/08 | [...] jh said:
great list. walterhisownself said:
I would add Camper Van Beethoven’s debut LP “Telephone Free Landslide Victory” to this list and “Up On The Sun” by The Meat Puppets. Dave said:
A mighty list. But one thing – Talk Talk’s “Spirit of Eden” was the influence on all post-rock, three years before “Spiderland” came out. This criminally under-rated band have been such an influence on Radiohead, Sigur Ros, Mogwai and so many other great bands of the moment. Give them their respect! Also, I always thought “Crooked Rain Crooked Rain” was Pavement’s best, if only for ‘Silent Kid’. christian said:
I would like to say that i really like your site biolog.jamsbio.com a lot reborn said:
Michael Jackson… anyone? Good list, anyway. Some new stuff to discover. tiger said:
i’ll echo built to spill and state the first two albums by sunny day real estate. and, one of the greatest albums ever: the hurting by tears for fears. levi said:
no joy division? i’d argue that closer was bigger than slint for sure, if not others. i’d also like to say that pornography by the cure counts. lksajdfn said:
listing slint diminishes any need to list other albini projects – big black and jesus lizard included. spiderland was the best and STILL the most influential of that particular era coming out of electrical audio. Crystal said:
This is really an excellent list. I have listened to all of these albums and I would recommend every one – especially the ones by Neutral Milk Hotel, Belle & Sebastian, Minutemen, and Sonic Youth. It’s like you read my mind when you made this list. There are more albums I would add, like Joy Division – Closer, but overall great job. jay said:
how about operation ivy? jamie123465 said:
if someone already hasn’t said it Sunny Day Real Estate Om Nom Nom said:
Of Montreal Om Nom Nom said:
echo and the bunnymen phil johnson said:
the greatest album of the 80’s and ever Jaime said:
What happened with THE CURE???????????????????????? mmm said:
no bands from manchester’s factory label? i.e joy division/new order, happy mondays, etc helped kickstart the rave culture in britain/worldwide… the hacienda anyone? |
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