Such great heights The complete cultural history of the indie rock explosion

Review by Booklist Review

What is indie? DeVille, managing editor at Stereogum, explores that slippery question in this deft cultural history of early twenty-first century indie rock. DeVille traces indie's shapeshifting trajectory as the genre fused with dance, folk, psychedelia, hip hop, and pop. The result was a genre that grew more innovative and inclusive while forfeiting some of its coherence. DeVille chronicles how TV shows like The OC and Grey's Anatomy and films like Juno and Garden State propelled artists, including Death Cab for Cutie, The Walkmen, and The Shins, to fame. Tastemaking outlets like Pitchfork also wielded enormous cultural sway, essentially launching Spoon, The National, Arcade Fire, and countless others. As indie shifted from the margins, where it felt special and exclusive, to the mainstream, where everyone was in on the secret, it managed to maintain some elements of its power and appeal. For fans old and new, Such Great Heights offers not just nostalgia but insight into what indie rock once was--and what it might still be.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Stereogum managing editor DeVille debuts with a comprehensive and colorful account of the rise, fall, corporatization, and partial revival of indie rock. He traces the genre's roots to 1990s grunge, and charts a rise fueled by internet fan communities and music sites like Pitchfork that catapulted unknown bands to fame. Soon artists like the Killers were riding that wave to success, while such shows as The O.C. popularized artists including Death Cab for Cutie, incentivizing bands to adopt a "softer, friendlier" sound. As indie rock expanded, diversified, and crept further into the mainstream, it forfeited a "coherent sense of identity"; by the 2010s, DeVille writes, indie had come to signify "so many things" that it effectively meant nothing. He also highlights the internet's complex effects on the indie ecosystem--while the shift to Spotify and other streaming services crushed many bands' revenue streams, the late 2010s also saw such artists as boygenius use their own platforms to bypass industry gatekeepers. Though excessive references to Pitchfork can sometimes make this feel more like a history of indie music journalism, the breadth of DeVille's knowledge is impressive, and his analysis of what subcultures both lose and gain when they enter the mainstream is astute. Readers nostalgic for the days of the Postal Service and Passion Pit should take a look. (Aug.)

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Review by Library Journal Review

DeVille's love for indie rock makes this comprehensive genre account a playful read. The managing editor at Stereogum interweaves personal stories and connections to indie bands and the music industry with discussion of the complex relationships between artists who started outside the mainstream but quickly found their way into the pop canon. With their music soundtracking teen dramas such as The O.C. and films such as Garden State, bands like Death Cab for Cutie, the Shins, and Postal Service became the darlings of hipsters and voices of a generation. DeVille explores how Napster, MySpace, and music journalism sites such as Pitchfork contributed to the popularization of indie music--a term he readily agrees is difficult to define coherently. The changing music industry of the late 2010s saw the indie subculture waning, with streaming services such as iTunes and Spotify cutting into bands' revenue streams while also allowing underground artists to create their own spaces. DeVille's book relies heavily on his personal and professional knowledge and highlights the impact of indie music journalism. VERDICT Readers interested in music history and those wanting to read about their favorite 2000s-era indie bands will enjoy DeVille's work.--Rebekah J. Buchanan

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

A journalist asks: What happened to indie rock? There was a time, about 20 years ago, when "Such Great Heights," a song by indie-pop outfit The Postal Service, was inescapable. The song hit the Billboard Hot Singles chart, unusual for an indie song at the time, and was featured in the filmGarden State and in the seriesGrey's Anatomy. It makes sense that music journalist DeVille would use the song as the title of his book, which explores how, in the early 2000s, indie rock "reached an exponentially larger audience and was utterly transformed in the process." Indie rock was named after its original home in independent music labels, but at some point it changed to a label-agnostic genre that, DeVille writes, was marked by "a family tree of musical aesthetics" that started with late-1960s bands the Velvet Underground and the Stooges. DeVille traces 2000s indie rock to its "dance-party era," when fans bopped along to the Dismemberment Plan, and through its forays into subgenres garage rock, "blog-rock," "bloghouse" (associated with the "indie sleaze" era of fashion), indie folk, and more. He writes about the genre's watershed moments: its popularity with television producers, who included indie songs in series likeThe O.C. andGossip Girl, and the surprise Grammy wins of Arcade Fire and Bon Iver. Indie rock, DeVille writes, "meant so many things that it came to mean nothing." He doesn't bemoan this, noting that the changes "started pulling the genre away from traditional white male power structures and toward the historical have-nots." DeVille's book is beautifully argued and free of strong opinions about particular bands or subgenres; he is here as a historian with admitted skin in the game--he's a fan of the genre who observes, neutrally, how it has changed. This work is filled with smart arguments, gentle wit, and admirable acumen. A must not just for rock fans, but for anyone interested in the intersection of music and culture. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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