The Kate Nash podcast, The Rise and Fall of Indie Sleaze, has been a great listen as she deep-dives into the tribal music scene that dominated Britain in the early to mid-2000s. It was a time defined by bands like Franz Ferdinand, Razorlight and The Libertines, all mixed with the fashion of skinny jeans, questionable hygiene, pigeon-toed poses and alcopops.
For me, that period is inextricably linked with video games such as Burnout, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and SSX Tricky, as well as the rise of rhythm games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero. These games weren't just entertainment but they served as a crucial discovery engine for new music. Many of the game soundtracks at the time were curated with a specific, high-energy vibe and introduced millions of players to bands they might never have heard on mainstream radio. A song featured in Burnout or a Tony Hawk game could become an overnight anthem, catapulting an indie band into the global consciousness. This made videogames a significant tastemaker and a powerful platform for a band to make its name. While the era gave us some truly great bands, it was also full of landfill indie acts - knockoff acts that jumped on the bandwagon without the talent or charisma to back it up but with the backing of moneymen who were jumping on to the gravy train. So, for every The Killers we had The Long Blondes .
The era's defining platforms were the nascent internet and MySpace and it's been fascinating to see a new generation reappraising much of the music from the early 00s. While today's music landscape is more democratized, it's also arguably more gate kept due to the prohibitive cost of gigs and the closure of many smaller venues. However, the availability of streaming of concerts and festivals means indie bands sleaze bands are having a revival with huge coverage and crowds at Glastonbury and large venues like the O2 Arena in London.
Looking back, there's a strong sense of nostalgia, but it's important to be clear-eyed about the past. I recall the febrile celebrity coverage in mainstream newspapers, where unremarkable daily activities were often trumpeted as monumental news. While we shouldn't impose today's norms on that time, revisiting the movies, music, and magazines of the era reveals a pervasive mood of casual misogyny, toxic lad culture and unjust cruelty, something looked at in detail in Toxic: Women, Fame and the Noughties by Sarah Ditum. It's an embarrassing legacy and, while I hope we've changed, I'm not convinced we've come as far as we'd like to think.
That aside, the podcast is well worth a listen and so are some of the key albums from the time.