Influences On Music GenreIndie Rock

OF MONSTERS AND MEN

ARCADE FIRE

FASHION

SOCIAL ISSUES

TECHNOLOGY

• Social issues impact indie/rock bands and artists heavily. Arcade fire's 'The Suburbs' is a great example of this, as they were trying to expose important social issues to their fans. ‘The Suburbs’ delves in to the issues of war and crime, as well as violence in America.

• Social issues seem to be very important to this genre, and they tend to show direct social issues which are affecting people today, in order to make their fans more aware.

Social Issues

• Technology can be a big influence on bands in the indie rock genre. For example, Florence and the Machine enjoy using various new technology and effects in their music videos because it enhances the 'artistic' aspect that they try to convey in their videos.

• Technology can impact videos in many different ways. Today, bands and artists can choose to edit their music video in completely different ways, such as increasing speed or reversing it, to add to or enhance their music video. Radiohead used slow motion throughout their video ‘Street Spirit (Fade Out)’ to enhance their music video and create an ambiguous and dramatic tone.

Technology

• Fashion does tend to impact the indie/rock genre, but not quite as much as a genre like pop. Indie/rock artists have quite quirky but casual style, opting to wear statement pieces (i.e. hats with cat ears) to emphasise their unusual music style in their videos. Pop artists however, are influenced by fashion heavily. They tend to make sure they are wearing something popular and ‘on trend’ in their music videos, which often involves bright colours. Pop artists often feel they must reinvent themselves with their fashion (for example Madonna does this frequently), whereas indie/rock artists do not do this.

• The band I chose to use for my song Of Monsters and Men (shown below) tend to wear casual and comfortable clothing, with the female band member wearing lots of hats during performances. Some of the band members can be seen wearing leather jackets, which is a key convention of indie rock style.

Fashion