treblekicker said:
I think one interesting strand is how in the 80s both in the UK and US, the path of rock progression was lost - bands stopped being rock and started being percieved as alternative or indie because they didn't become big - Husker Du, The Minutemen, REM didn't break through as they were expected to for example. We're still seeing the fall out from that now.
Well, yes and no. They were percieved as an alternative because they did not fit into the mould that were given air play by the big American radio stations, whose playlists were largely "run" (payola or whatever) by large recordcompanies. THe change in marketing during the 80's with the emergence of pop-videos led to an increasing focus on image and less focus on music (I'm not saying that image had not been an
important factor before the 80's). Second, indie because they released records on independent record labels. The terms are watered out these days, and are taken to mean "anything that resembles those bands".
Which leads me to:
hamarplazt said:
In what way was lo-fi innovative?
Post-rock was a bit more interesting, but was also a combination of different strategies from the past - kraut, postpunk, shoegazer, even some prog...
It'll probably allways be possible to find separate names that are so odd and intractable that you'll have to call them innovative... but then, that's not really an innovation for rock as such, because the very idiosyncrasy making them unique is also making it impossible for others to really build on it. Jazz and "classical" have been this way for years. And electronica is heading there too.
The whole idea of being innovative is over emphasized and a result of fan-criticism. Whether or not you are innovative is by and large a subjective stance. The 80's rock bands were perhaps not innovative as such, but they fused ideas of what they loved and tried to make something for themselves through that. Mixing CCR and punk, for example. Interresting takes on, or mixing of, earlier generes will do, as has always been the case and was the case of post-rock (though I think they did it to dullness). Wit and smarts over innovation any day, which is why one can still be able to find good jazz these days.