The mid 2000s, from about 2004 onwards, saw the return of British guitar music to the mainstream but this time it wasn't called Britpop but a lot of it was termed 'landfill indie', apart from the really successful and distinctive acts like Arctic Monkeys and Franz Ferdinand. Do you think this was a fair description? I guess we saw a lot of samey guitar songs in the charts for about three years, until it died off again after 2007/8, but some of it did have some personality, particularly in the lyrics if not the sound. I do miss it actually, it was the last real hurrah for joyful indie being in the charts a lot and some of the songs were great.

 

What were your favourites of the period that fall under this category? I really liked these ones:

 

This was the theme tune to The Inbetweeners.

 

 

This and Naive have to be among the most enduring and successful landfill indie songs. Both are brilliant.

 

 

These are super catchy.

 

 

 

Not sure if Noah and the Whale count but I adored them - this actually came out as late as 2011 but they were still peddling the sound.

 

Edited August 23, 20231 yr by gooddelta

never heard the term, kinda derogatory

I guess it could be true for the ones like Kooks, Razorlight, The Feeling, Idlewild,

 

but there were also many bands that don't like

Keane, Snow Patrol, Athelete, Franz Ferdinand, Elbow

I actually agree, I felt this term lumped so many bands under the same brush, as if the music was devoid of any merit. But while I get that some of the acts lumped under this term were not as pioneering as other guitar-based acts were at the time, a lot of the tracks were still often creative lyrically or in other ways and rather unfairly dismissed. I suspect the term came from music snobs and journalists with the mindset of 'guitar music was better in my day when rockstars were wild and music had meaning' etc...

 

NME wrote quite an interesting piece about it a few years back: https://www.nme.com/features/landfill-indie-snobbery-2741199

Landfall indie was just the umbrella term for that period of guitar-based/alternative music. No different to the so-called "faceless DJ" era of the 2010s...

This period and genre’s actually a bit of a blind spot for me - I know much more about the “nu metal” period as they called it in the early 00s. But oh for the days when anything indie at all could make the Top 40. Ghost getting there last year was so refreshing but that was pretty short lived.

 

And yet there are obviously plenty of young people out there who do want to listen to rock music. Look how well the Arctics’ back catalogue and several of AC/DC ‘s songs stream for example.

Most of these songs are anything but Landfill!

 

Bit insulting to the music and the fans tbh.

Landfall indie was just the umbrella term for that period of guitar-based/alternative music. No different to the so-called "faceless DJ" era of the 2010s...

 

For the 'Faceless DJ' era are you talking about the 2013-15 deep house era when less well known DJs made the UK chart rather than the 2010-13 Guetta/SHM/Calvin/Avicii dance music domination era? I didn't know the 'Faceless DJ era' was a well used term outside Buzzjack.

Edited August 23, 20231 yr by TheSnake

I’ve never heard of this term before!

Oh I loved this type of music, some of it was generic and deserved the label, but there are some fond school time memories there.

 

Some favourites:

 

Pigeon Detectives - Take Her Back

Maximo Park - Our Velocity

Reverend & The Makers - Heavyweight Champion of the World

Cherry Ghost - People Help the People

Ghosts - Stay the Night

Most of these songs are anything but Landfill!

 

Bit insulting to the music and the fans tbh.

 

Yes, I agree with you but they were all agreed by a lot of the snobby music press at the time to come under this same umbrella - not Noah and the Whale maybe but certainly the others were.

 

Many derogatory statements at the time were made about Pigeon Detectives in particular being one of the biggest examples of this, but I do like a lot of their stuff.

 

I think people looking back 20 years on are maybe reappraising a lot of this music - especially as none of it makes the charts anymore - and saying how unfair the tag was.

I should add I look at this mid 00s indie music through a very nostalgic lens as I was at uni at the time so every club night these songs were rinsed <3 I always thought the ‘landfill’ tag was unfair, it’s interesting to look back now at why so many creative songs and artists were lumped into this misleading catch-all category.

I think I wouldn't have come across the landfill term had I not been on the site/net for many many years tbh lol. It's basically just what you referred to as a predominent indie/alternative phase just like the tropical house was for dance etc. It's definitely an insult of sorts to a lot of these bands/songs that comes under that umbrella as they feel a lot more than castoff indie music.

 

We could do with this back in the charts more often I think as it was one of the better times for the charts!

I guess the NME piece was written in response to this from Vice:

 

https://www.vice.com/en/article/bv8a8w/the-...ngs-of-all-time

 

Many solid bangers in there! I didn’t know a few and have made some good discoveries today checking them out. It’s weird to think of something like Monster described as ‘landfill’ when it injected huge personality into the chart.

 

Also never seen Arctic Monkeys described this way before!

Edited August 23, 20231 yr by gooddelta

I do love a bit of 00s Indie though:

 

The Feeling - Never Be Lonely

The Kooks - She Moves In Her Own Way

Razorlight - America

Snow Patrol - Set The Fire To The Third Bar

Reverend and the Makers - Heavyweight Champion of the World

Thirteen Senses - Into The Fire

The Twang - Either Way

Frank Ferdinand - The Dark of the Matinee

Athlete - Wires

Maximo Park - Our Velocity

 

So many!! I feel a Spotify playlist coming on…

Just For Tonight by One Night Only is a nostalgic song, one of the later ones from the 'landfill indie' era.

 

Also like and remember keenly from the time Kosheen -All In My Head from 2003 - one of the first landfill indie era hits.

I was very much into some of the indie music mentioned here in 2005 before dance music took over. The Kooks, Franz Ferdinand, Hard-Fi, The Zutons, Kaiser Chiefs etc were my brief obsession.

Echoing comments that it's definitely a rubbish term that may have seemed apt at the time but now a lot of the 00s indie music is iconic.

The Enemy had some decent tunes too, think they were among the last few remaining at that time along with the aforementioned 'Just For Tonight' by One Night Only the following year.

Just For Tonight by One Night Only is a nostalgic song, one of the later ones from the 'landfill indie' era.

 

Also like and remember keenly from the time Kosheen -All In My Head from 2003 - one of the first landfill indie era hits.

 

I read that the lead singer of One Night Only recently married a fan who used to have posters up of him when she was younger or something :lol: gives hope to fandoms everywhere. The unattainable is attainable!

 

I listen to All In My Head very regularly, thought it was an interesting change in sound after the drum and bass vibe of their earlier hits.

Edited August 23, 20231 yr by gooddelta

The mid to late 2000's was the last era that indie was the dominant sound before EDM and rap took over in the 2010's.

 

However, in the last year or so, I have noticed that indie/alternative music is starting to make a comeback with artists like Sam Fender, The Anxiety and Steve Lacy.

 

I think the music industry is so safe and bland these days that indie will never reach the same level of success it did in the 90's and 2000's again.

I feel so old saying all this. 😆

Edited April 11Apr 11 by montyj

This was the first song to come into my head that hasn't been mentioned yet: