Chapter 1 Soundtrack: What Do We Mean When We Say "Indie"?

The playlist accompanying my first SUCH GREAT HEIGHTS chapter, "Slanted And Enchanted," surveys the basics of 20th century indie rock.

Each chapter of my book SUCH GREAT HEIGHTS: The Complete Cultural History of the Indie Rock Explosion—which is available for pre-order now—is accompanied by a soundtrack. The sequence of songs will be printed in the book, but I’ll also be posting them as playlists to this Substack in the run-up to publication. As of this post, the first one is live and available to stream below.

To ensure the titles all fit on one page, and to challenge myself to keep these playlists from spiraling out of control, I decided to make each of them exactly 20 songs long. That has resulted in some excruciating cuts—tracks I was certain I’d include, cast aside mercilessly in the name of concision. I don’t think any chapter was harder to pare down to 20 than Chapter 1, in which I attempt to sum up the history of indie rock leading up to Y2K, when my story properly gets going.

SUCH GREAT HEIGHTS traces the metamorphosis of “indie” in the 21st century. The idea of this first chapter, titled “Slanted And Enchanted,” is to establish parameters: What do we mean when we say “indie rock”? More specifically, what did “indie rock” mean when I first started digging into it circa 2001? As you’ll see when the book comes out, defining the genre has always been a complicated prospect. But on the page, I did my best to trace a path forward from the Velvet Underground and Stooges onward to the end of the millennium, with an emphasis on the accessible side of the genre—this is, after all, a book about how indie rock went pop.

For the purposes of this playlist, I hewed closely to the music I wrote about, zeroing in on the 1980s and 1990s and proceeding in roughly chronological order in hopes of telling a story. As I caution in the chapter, in sketching a rough outline, I’m leaving a lot of important artists out. The goal is not to create an exhaustive indie rock hall of fame here—just to paint in broad strokes so indie experts and novices alike can understand where I’m coming from (and maybe intuit where I’m heading). Hopefully it helps you catch a vibe.

R.E.M., “Radio Free Europe” (1983)

The Cure, “Boys Don’t Cry” (1979)

The Replacements, “Left of the Dial” (1985)

The Smiths, “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out” (1986)

Pixies, “Where Is My Mind?” (1987)

Sonic Youth, “Teen Age Riot” (1988)

Beat Happening, “Indian Summer” (1989)

Dinosaur Jr., “Freak Scene” (1989)

Superchunk, “Slack Motherfucker” (1990)

The Breeders, “Divine Hammer” (1993)

Liz Phair, “Fuck and Run” (1993)

Pavement, “Cut Your Hair” (1994)

Guided by Voices, “Game of Pricks” (1995)

Belle and Sebastian, “Get Me Away From Here, I’m Dying” (1996)

Elliott Smith, “Between The Bars” (1997)

Yo La Tengo, “Sugarcube” (1997)

Neutral Milk Hotel, “Holland, 1945” (1998)

Cat Power, “Metal Heart” (1998)

The Flaming Lips, “Race For The Prize” (1999)

Built To Spill, “Carry The Zero” (1999)

SUCH GREAT HEIGHTS: The Complete Cultural History of the Indie Rock Explosion is out Aug. 26 via St. Martin’s Press. Pre-order it here.