’90s Indie Essentials

Over the course of the ‘90s, indie rock grew up fast. While the first half of the decade was dominated by scruffy, rock-faithful, fuzz-pedal-stomping slackers, by the midway point, a more sophisticated—yet equally subversive—sensibility was taking root among indie-minded artists who harbored no desire to join the mosh pit. Groups like Portishead and Stereolab repositioned vintage-record-collector sounds in strange beat-driven contexts; Belle and Sebastian made bookish folk-pop fashionable; and Blur and Radiohead abandoned their Britpop past for more experimental realms. By decade’s end, even old-guard noisemakers like The Flaming Lips had outgrown their raucous roots in pursuit of increasingly ambitious songcraft.