Noise Pop is a subgenre of indie rock and alternative rock. It is pretty much what the name would imply. Noise pop is pop music at its heart, but with layers of feedback, white noise and dissonance creating a hypnotic, hazy, fuzzy sound, often with predominant guitar textures obscuring the vocals. It can be bright and uptempo, or murky and slow.
If one were to trace its roots, Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr. would be among the earliest influences (as would the ubiquitous Velvet Underground's noise experiments, if you want to go way back). The chief architects of the noise pop sound would have to be Jesus and Mary Chain and Yo La Tengo. There were bands that could be called noise pop on both sides of the Atlantic; even rootsier lo-fi American indie bands like Pavement and bizarro experimenters The Flaming Lips qualify. Other bands have much in common with dream pop, space rock, and shoegaze; many shoegaze bands in particular used Jesus and Mary Chain for a template, and some bands could qualify in more than one of these subgenres. Noise pop's heyday was roughly from the mid-80's through the mid 90's, although it survives, in a variety of forms and styles, to this day.
A playlist of influential and important noise pop tunes follows:
1. Jesus And Mary Chain: Just Like Honey
This essentially was the album that defined and launched the genre. "Just Like Honey" was the single, opening with an echoey big beat reminiscent of "Be My Baby" before launching into a muted, melancholic, fuzzed-up vocal, sorrounded by an almost stately wash of feedback. Jesus and Mary Chain was led by brothers Jim and William Reid. While they never sold that many records (Psychocandy peaked at #188 on the American charts) their influence is immense; their final album was released in 1998.
2. Velocity Girl: Crazy Town
Velocity Girl had its roots in the DC-area music scene in the late 80's. After several lineup changes and indie releases, they were signed by Sub Pop in 1992, which earned them the moniker "bubblegrunge". Led by that point by vocalist Sarah Shannon, their debut album Copacetic came out the following year. "Crazy Town" is the most well-known cut, although the entire album is an excellent listen; it alternates between slabs of echoey, fuzzed up, wall-of-noise jangle pop and straight-ahead power pop.
3. My Bloody Valentine: Only Shallow
Here is where noise pop branches off into shoegaze. Kevin Shields and Bilinda Butcher's soothing vocals are blended into one and ride atop a roil of overdubbed and processed hard strumming guitars, warped rhythms, and a dense narcotic haze. Debbie Googe plays a heavy metal bass underneath it all, while Colm O'Ciosoig batters the drums in constantly shape-shifting tempo. Loveless, the album is a masterpiece, indispensible to the development of 90's rock. The cover art captures perfectly the sounds inside. Strangely, although the band signed with Island after this release, they never released another album after this one.
Article comments
1 - Bryan McKay
The fact that the Mercury Rev share some similarities with the Flaming Lips is no accident, really. Johnathan Donahue, the groups singer and acoustic guitarist, once was the sound technician for the Flaming Lips and played guitar with them for a period of time. And Dave Fridmann, bassist and multi-instrumentalist in the Mercury Rev (and their producer), is the Flaming Lips' longtime collaborator/producer.
2 - SFC SKI
Well, all the bands do have the similar theme of being mostly unlistenable.
3 - sydney
Some great bands there. I know SFC Ski doesnt like them, but that only makes me like 'em more.
Jesus and mary chain in particular, and the lips.
I'll add Nick Drake, for sunday mornings.
oh and a real intersting one called Ariel Pink's haunted graffiti.
4 - Marty Thau
SUICIDE should be on that list, don't you think? After all they are one of the major influences of Jesus & Mary Chain, Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev.