Waits and Indie Rockers
Now indie-rockers study him, emulating not only his rasp-and-growl vocals and spiky arrangements, but also his self-guided career path.
- Jon Pareles @NYTimes piece on Tom Waits
I find this a curious and self-validating turn of events. I distinctly remember an indie-rock bandmate in the 90’s berating me for liking “that cheeseball” Waits. I was like, what the hell are you talking about, Bone Machine is a bad-ass album! But I could gain no traction in that debate.
And it wasn’t just that one bandmate back then, and it’s not just Pareles saying it now. I have sensed this as a sea-change, among an indie nation lost in the desert (post-music industry boom) looking for guidance. In Waits they see a guy who has not only survived this long (40 years) in the biz, but keeps actually making new, interesting works of art. Indeed, that’s something we can all aspire to.
Not all of Waits’ wisdom is being taken to heart, however. The biggest rift between his approach and current indie-rock practice is the attitude towards licensing songs for commericals. Waits does not allow his songs to be used in advertising, and once famously asked, “If Michael Jackson wants to work for Pepsi, why doesn’t he just get himself a suit and an office in their headquarters and be done with it?” Up-and-coming indie bands, however - broke and with label funding largely dried up - toe the line of selling out to corporate sponsors, balancing their once unquestionable independence with an economic realpolitik. Perhaps they lose a bit of cred along the way, but if they’re going to make it even 10 years in the biz (nevermind 40), they feel they must take support where they can find it.
But Waits, of course, established himself in an earlier era of the music business, so it’s not fair to compare apples to oranges. And enough of the music biz talk, anyways! On simply the aesthetic level, it’s heartening to see Waits so well-received, his rough edges and muscular beats delivering an invigorating tonic [Never say that again - Ed.] after a diet of far too many quiet, whispery songwriter types.
[NOTE: on re-reading this, I freely admit that last paragraph sucks. I was trying to wrap up this piece, the scope of which was initially only to quote from that article. But I started rambling, then needed to bring it on home, so there you have it… awkwardly so.]
