英倫獨立搖滾世紀

Indie實際上是“independent(獨立的)”一詞的簡稱，指的是獨立藝術家在沒有得到唱片公司、電影公司或是其他大宗款項支持的情況下，進行的非商業化主流的藝術創造。Indie不僅包括獨立音樂，還包括獨立電影、獨立廣播等。

眾多獨立音樂人帶著一種對主流不妥協的態度，執著地追求著心中獨樹一幟的理想音樂。Britpop(英式流行搖滾，英式搖滾)這種音樂形式起源于英國獨立音樂時期。上世紀90年代中期，Blur(模糊)與Oasis(綠洲)兩支樂隊在英國獨立音樂的大舞臺上短兵相接，并均取得巨大成功，標志著Britpop進入其鼎盛時期。

Alex Kapranos(Lead Vocalist of Franz Ferdinand): Creating something， whether it’s music or art or writing…whatever you’re doing， you are going to be affected by what’s gone before you. And to try and pretend that that’s not the case is 1)insincere and 2)artificial. (Song) I think， for me， it’s much healthier to be able to acknowledge what’s gone before and then try and do something different with it.

Narrator: For years， the indie scene was British music’s best-kept secret， home to a generation of rock 3)misfits.

Alex: Indie， independent music， represented almost like a membership card of the outsider gang for a lot of people， too. You know， taking on the 4)pricks， kicking against the pricks， like， kicking against that sort of， like， 5)blandness.

Narrator: But as indie 6)morphed into Britpop， Oasis and 7)arch rivals Blur stormed the barricades of daytime radio， and the British tabloids. So complete was their triumph that， for a moment， Noel Gallagher owned British rock.

(Song)Damon Albarn had found a lyrical focus， Britishness， and how it was under attack from American consumer culture.

John Harris(Rock Author and Journalist): To be a Briton was actually about these areas of England， like Essex， where he was from， sort of caught in this cultural 8)twilight zone， really， that all this American stuff was flooding over so everyone was building shopping malls， you know， 9)Bluewater and all these places， and obviously McDonald’s， KFC， and all that.

Narrator: Indie music was no longer about being outside the mainstream， it was the mainstream.

Stephen Street(Producer of Blur): They were appealing right across the board. You know， they were appealing to all the students， they were appealing to all the guys that were working on building sites and in vans around the country. And their records were going multi-platinum， no one had heard of this before…that was the 10)domain of Celine Dion and 11)Tina Turner and Phil Collins， it was， like， unheard of. And it was suddenly upon realizing， actually， no， this kind of 12)alternative music， the stuff that we’ve always been working on and always thought was a kind of secondary if not third market， has now become the premier market， it’s what people want to listen and buy.

Narrator: It was Blur who won the race to number one， but the Oasis camp weren’t at all shaken. The band’s second album had been completed， and those that heard it knew that the game wasn’t over.

Tim Abbot(Managing Director， Creation Records): I was quite proud of it though in one way I suppose as well， you know， even though we came second， ’cause I knew we were just going to do ’em on the album， just 13)belt ’em to bits on the album， so it was like 14)far out， we’re going to sell more.

Narrator: The songs of (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? saw the group move away from the raw sound of their 15)debut.

Steve Sutherland(Editor of NME): Well what happened with the second Oasis album was that they， that Noel began to take seriously being the voice of a generation， or the lyricist of a generation， started to write 16)anthems， 17)self-consciously write anthems…he wanted the music to be bigger.

Narrator: Of all the anthems on the album， one song would come to define the new Oasis.

“Wonderwall” brought Oasis an entirely new fan-base， most of whom had never bought an indie record before in their life.

Noel Gallagher: The 18)squares got involved， and once the squares get involved with your music， you f**king become massive， seriously. But “Wonderwall，” it’s not， you know， it’s not an edgy tune， is it? I can’t believe how many records it sold， it was incredible. I became a millionaire four times in one week， one week.

亞歷克斯·卡普蘭諾斯(弗朗茨·費迪南樂隊主音):創作，無論是音樂創作、藝術創作或者寫作……無論你在做什么，你都會被前人的創作所影響。試圖假裝沒有這回事是虛偽不實的。(歌曲)我認為，對于我自己來說，承認前人的創作并嘗試做出不同的風格才是大有裨益的。

旁白:多年以來，獨立音樂曾經是英國音樂最諱莫如深的秘密，也是特立于搖滾以外的一代人的搖籃。

亞歷克斯:獨立音樂，也就仿佛是眾多局外人的一張名片。你也知道，他們無畏傷痛、披荊斬棘，就是要拒絕溫和馴順。

旁白:然而，隨著獨立音樂逐漸演變成英式流行搖滾，綠洲樂隊及其對手模糊樂隊以排山倒海之勢襲來，連日間電臺和英國小報都有他們的報道。他們的出道如此成功，使得諾埃爾·加拉格爾(綠洲樂隊的詞曲作者和主音吉他手)曾一度掌控了英式搖滾。

(歌曲)達蒙·奧爾本(模糊樂隊的詞曲作者和主音)早已找到了歌詞的核心——英國特色，以及當時英國受美國消費文化入侵的狀況。