You know you’re successful when one of your band’s songs is featured on the hit prime time drama, The O.C.
As ridiculously beautiful California teens wallow in their hyperbolic angst, many obscure and brilliant artists have been providing the soundtrack.
Just a few weeks ago, the first few melancholy bars of Stars’ “Your Ex-Lover is Dead” swelled in the background as comic- book geek Seth Cohen and bad-boy-with-a-heart-of-gold Ryan Atwood contemplated their girl problems.
As a big fan of Canadian indie rock, I was more pleased with the music selection than I was concerned about their messy love lives.
Indie – or independent – rock is in a way antithetical to pop culture, which is why I found it so odd to hear it on The O.C., as well as in many other mainstream outlets.
Lacking an adequate definition of my own, I turned to an article in Popular Music and Society, where Ryan Hibbitt drew a parallel between indie rock and high art: “both of which depend upon a lack of popularity for their value, and require specialized knowledge to be fully appreciated.”
So it’s pretentious, inaccessible highbrow music light years away from the Top 40, right?
While some indie aficionados might grumble at obscure talent “selling out,” I happily welcome indie rock’s growing popularity. And The O.C isn’t the only place it’s catching on.
Music magazines have been paying particular attention to an intertwined hub of Toronto and Montreal artists, who at one time or another have played with the aptly named ensemble Broken Social Scene. Included in this convoluted family tree are Stars, Metric, Feist, the Dears and the Fembots.
Some critics have proclaimed Montreal to be the “new Seattle,” in reference to the litany of influential grunge bands who emerged from the northwest U.S. in the early ‘90s.
Stars, for instance, are one of several innovative Montreal-based indie bands earning international acclaim.
Rolling Stone, the definitive music magazine, gave Stars’ newest CD, Set Yourself on Fire, a four-star review, calling their music “witty, pretty indie rock for the sentimental geek inside all of us.”
Spin magazine recently published a five-page spread on Montreal’s music community, which includes other stellar acts such as the Dears and the Arcade Fire. The New York Times followed suit by publishing a piece called Cold Fusion: Montreal’s Explosive Music Scene.
Maybe it’s the refreshingly original sound of Montreal’s music family. Maybe it’s the creative bankruptcy of everything else that’s out there.
But it looks like music consumers are hungry for something authentic and different and are looking to Montreal indie rockers to get it.
The Junos, which are scheduled for April 3 in Winnipeg, have a number of indie nominees mixed in with usual suspects like Celine Dion and Sarah McLachlan.
For instance, Toronto songstress Feist is nominated for best new artist and best alternative album along with Stars and the Arcade Fire. Last year Broken Social Scene won the Juno for best alternative album as well.
We’re in the midst of a music renaissance, where ingenuity and authenticity matter, and where being popular and critically acclaimed aren’t mutually exclusive adjectives.
So next time you’re walking down Bank Street, check out telephone poles for posters announcing upcoming concerts and CD release parties. Duck in to Babylon or Barrymore’s to check out who’s playing next weekend.
Next time you see them, they may be rocking out on the fictional stage of The O.C.’s favourite music venue, The Bait Shop, while those stunning television stars bop their heads to the beat.