EDWARD'S LECTURE NOTES:
More notes at http://tanguay.info/learntracker
C O U R S E
History of Rock, 1970-Present
John Covach, University of Rochester
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C O U R S E L E C T U R E Late 80s Indie Rock Underground Notes taken on March 22, 2017 by Edward Tanguay |
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among the commercial enterprises in the late 1980s
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the was developing an alternative, off-the-radar music community
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brought music to people in other ways
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hard core punk did this as well
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college radio and college rock
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in the 1970s, AM radio dominated the music scene
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FM radio had
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classical music
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university correspondence courses
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Jazz
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religious programming
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many radios didn't even have an FM band to tune these stations in
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Tom Donahue (1928-1975) launched FM Rock and FM Free Form
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in 1980s, colleges often had their own radio stations
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most of them are only interested in broadcasting to the campus itself and surrounding apartments
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students are given pretty free reign
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isn't driven to sell commercial minutes
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they tend to play and say anything they want
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became part of a movement to bring music that was unsuitable to a crowd looking for something different
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very changeable, since students come and go
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Indie Music becomes popular on college radio stations
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provides venues for groups to come and do shows at universities
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Indie bands
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R.E.M.
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Athens, Georgia
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Michael Stipe
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Peter Buck
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formed in 1980
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I.R.S. Records
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1987 Document
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big commercial success for an Indie label
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"The One I Love"
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left I.R.S. Records
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went with a major label
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sold out in a way
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Warner Bros.
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told them they could do what they wanted
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1988 Green
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"Stand"
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1991 Out of Time
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"Losing My Religion"
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"Shiny Happy People"
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make them into international rock stars
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Dinosaur Jr.
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Amherst, Massachusetts
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J. Mascis
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Lou Barlow
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1987 Your Living All Over Me
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1988 Bug
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signed to the Sire label
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had signed punk bands, e.g. Blondie in the 70s
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Pixies
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from Boston
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Frank Black
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Kim Deal
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1988 Surfer Rosa
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1989 Doolittle
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signed with 4AD
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Sonic Youth
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Thurston Moor
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"No Wave" reacting again New Wave
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from New York
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one of the most critically acclaimed bands out of the Indie scenes
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Noise Rock
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avant garde
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1988 Daydream Nation
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praised by Indie magazines
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released by Enigma
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signed with Geffen
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The Smiths
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from the UK
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got played a lot on the U.S. college radio
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success in UK
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led by Morrisey
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Johnny Marr
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1984 The Smiths
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"What Difference Does it Make?"
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1985 Meat is Murder
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1986 The Queen is Dead