Can I get a timpani roll to start this article?

“And then he starts humming this little tune, it kind of goes like this: 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4,” Conner Oberst.

“And despite what all your studies had shown. What was mistaken for closeness was just a case for mitosis,” Andrew Bird.

“I am not so serious. This passion is a plagiarism,” Amanda Palmer.

“No outstanding warrants for my arrest. Whoa, the pirate’s life for me,” John Darnielle.

“She’s got one magic trick, just one and that’s it, Ooh . . . She disappears,” Matt Ward.

As you quickly glanced at these five quotes you might be wondering what they have in common. It’s probably a waste of ink (not to mention time and space) to state that each of these five quotes are part of a song: they are from the bands Bright Eyes, Andrew Bird, The Dresden Dolls, The Mountain Goats, and M. Ward respectively. The real question is what do these five bands have in common? First off, each one of those songs are currently on my iPod (along with another 2182 songs). There might be some commonality in style of music, and according to iTunes, the genre of music for these songs are Indie, Alternative & Punk, Rock, Folk-Rock, and Indie. Beyond the fact they are not the same genre, what do those genre labels mean? Technically, the term “Indie” just means the band isn’t on a major record label ergo each of these bands can be considered “Indie”. What does “Rock” mean in 2007, and it should be mentioned that The Dresden Dolls are considered Brechtian punk cabaret, not just “Rock.”

For instance, my current favorite band is Bright Eyes who are on Saddle Creek Records out of Omaha, Nebraska. I have probably listened to three of their albums more than 20 times (“Fevers and Mirrors,” “Lifted or The Story is in the Soil Keep Your Ears to the Ground,” and “I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning” {which I am currently listening to while writing this article}). To prove my point further, if you look at my Facebook profile you will see that I am friends with Arienette, my current status is mostly comprised of a Bright Eyes lyric, and the quote section of my profile is compromised of three-fifths Connor Oberst’s quotes. I have actually purchased (not commandeered) the last two Bright Eyes albums, I have on my iPod everything they have ever distributed (over 11 hours of music if you were wondering), and I will be seeing them in concert on Sunday at University of Illinois. After stating all of this, I can’t help but wonder why this is the case?

I didn’t even know this band existed nine months ago, and if a certain Texan wouldn’t have put his Bright Eyes albums on a certain server, I still wouldn’t know of their existence. I think back to just nine short months ago when I quickly perused gigabytes and gigabytes of music on said server and how I determined if I “liked” a band by listing to under 30 seconds of their material. If I wouldn’t have “liked” the 30 seconds of Bright Eyes I listened to, I wouldn’t have ever heard of any of the other bands mentioned in the article (Last.FM claims they are all “similar” artists). Then, through the same process using a different server, I came to possess of all of the other music. Though I still had to “like” the 30 second snippet of their work, before I would let their music be a part of the stereotypical college electronic device. If prompted to answer why I like the music I do, I will answer I relate to it. Though isn’t that just a way to answer the question in a way that is purposely ambiguous?

At the same time, my enjoyment of about 15 artists also comes with hatred of many more bands. I wish at times I was deaf when country, rap, pop, and death metal invade my ear drum. For instance, all of the screaming associated with death metal just makes wish the singer would destroy his vocal cords in three years, and the lyrics in a pop song are so simple I could have written them before the existence of Napster (i.e. she got it from her mama . . .).

Although, there is a lot of music that is similar to the stuff I listen too. Bright Eyes can almost be considered an Indie pop band. For instance, there really isn’t that much of a difference between Bright Eyes and The Rocket Summer. Bright Eyes is probably a little more complicated musically and The Rocket Summer is much more “polished and packed”. Though if I listen to even 15 seconds of the aforementioned band I just think they are totally awful and wonder why they even have a record contract. Then suddenly, I realize that a group of people “like” that band. It would be hypocritical for me to argue against their reasoning.