Such Great Heights: The Complete Cultural History of the Indie Rock Explosion

by Chris DeVille

The definitive history of 21st century indie rock—from Iron & Wine and Death Cab for Cutie to Phoebe Bridgers and St. Vincent—and how the genre shifted the musical landscape and shaped a generation

Maybe you caught a few exhilarating seconds of “Teen Age Riot” on a nearby college radio station while scanning the FM dial in your parents’ car. Maybe your friend invited you to a shabby local rock club and you ended up having a religious experience with Neutral Milk Hotel. Perhaps you were scandalized and tantalized upon sneaking Liz Phair’s Exile in Guyville from an older sibling’s CD collection, or you vowed to download every Radiohead song you could find on Limewire because they were the favorite band of the guy you had a major crush on.

However you found your way into indie rock, once you were a listener, it felt like being part of a secret club of people who had discovered something special, something secret, something superior. In Such Great Heights, music journalist Chris DeVille brilliantly captures this cultural moment, from the early aughts and the height of indie rock, until the 2010s as streaming rocks the industry and changes music forever. DeVille covers the gamut of bands—like Arcade Fire, TV on the Radio, LCD Soundsystem, Haim, Pavement, and Imogen Heap—and in the vein of Chuck Klosterman’s The Nineties, touches on staggering pop culture moments like sharing music recommendations via AOL Instant Messenger and the life-changing OC soundtrack.

Nerdy, fun, and a time machine for millennials, Such Great Heights is about how subculture becomes pop culture, how capitalism consumes what's “cool,” about who gets to define what's hip and how, and how an “underground” genre shaped our lives.

Genres: Nonfiction, Music, History, Audiobook, Pop Culture

368 pages, Hardcover

First published August 26, 2025

About the author

CHRIS DEVILLE is the author of SUCH GREAT HEIGHTS, a book about how indie rock changed the mainstream and the mainstream changed indie rock. He works as the managing editor at Stereogum, where he has written extensively about the full spectrum of indie music for over a decade. In 2014, he launched The Week In Pop, a column exploring mainstream music from an indie fan’s perspective, and he has profiled bands like Tame Impala and Run The Jewels. Chris has also been featured in outlets like The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone and The Ringer. He lives with his family in Columbus, Ohio.

Reviews

[Lottie from book club]

had me at "the life-changing OC soundtrack" lmao

[Stacey · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an indie rock fan, I devoured Such Great Heights. What is Indie Rock? That question is answered in a well rounded, entertaining way. Being a young adult in Seattle, the music scene was popping. The beginning of this subculture started with Nirvana as a jumping off point then touched on pop culture which tickled me at the mention of OC, Grey's, and actors during that time and the indie music they inspired.

The extensive history was interesting, detailed and how it defined a generation. The early 2000's undisputably has its spot in music. The best part were the playlists at the beginning of each chapter. Although, it took me longer to read because I had to check out those bands I was unfamiliar with, and it was so fun.

I write this review wearing my new Death Cab for Cutie concert T (Plans 20th anniversary). I highly recommend Such Great Heights for Indie music fans, music in general fans, or to those for the historical aspect.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an early copy.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was immediately impressed with Such Great Heights when I saw each chapter began with a playlist. As I started each chapter, I went to Spotify and saved each song. I loved listening to old favorites and discovering bands I wasn’t familiar with. Take your time reading and listening to enhance this experience!

Chris Deville documents how indie music changed and grew through 12 distinct chapters. He starts with the late 80s stretching to 2023, dissecting each evolution. Deville has a genuine love of indie music and so much of his experience discovering different bands was reminiscent of mine. He brought back so much nostalgia and a longing to get back to the days of waiting for a new CMJ magazine to come out. To discover new indie music would cause you to feel special and superior because it wasn’t what was being played on TRL. The joy of finding someone who enjoyed it as much as you is found within these pages. The late 90s/early 2000s was such a pocket in time and this book takes me right back to listening to Boston’s WFNX.

Such Great Heights unpacks how the genre found its way to popularity through The OC, details the beginning of Vampire Weekend, unpacks The Postal Service’s only album, reminds us of a time when file sharing opened doors to finding new music for free and documents the genre’s evolution through dance, hiphop, pop and even Taylor Swift. It’s a journey! But Deville makes it all make sense. He does such an incredible job with the details. It’s not just about the music, it’s about the scene, the blogs, MP3 sharing, and the culture. I wasn’t familiar with his music reviews but I’ll be searching for them going forward.

If you attended The Postal Service/Death Cab 20th anniversary tour, this book’s for you. What’s so great about Indie is it spans so many genres, there is something for everyone and no need to gatekeep. Such Great Heights will bring you back to a time when you heard Rilo Kiley for the first time and knew it was something special. I loved this book so much, my review just won’t do it justice.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for this ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks so much to NetGalley for the free Kindle book. My review is voluntarily given, and my opinions are my own.

I never got into Indie Rock, but wanted to read this purely based on the historical aspect. Always interested in learning about new things, and that definitely happened while reading this book. There were only a few song names and artists that I recognized, but I really enjoyed reading about them all the same.

This book is perfect for anyone who loves indie rock or even people who just are history buffs like me. Definitely would recommend!

[Adam M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to St. Martin Press for an ARC - This was a fascinating, surprising and fun read. Firstly, Chris DeVille clearly loves the music and his personal connection to it makes this book all the better. There is a layer of authenticity here that goes beyond just his years of experience writing about music in real time. From how the tv show "The OC" influenced the genre and public perception of it, the rise of social media and it's effect on how people share and interact with music through to the state of Indie today, this book covers so much ground. I love so many of the bands included in this book and I thought I knew a little something, but I kept learning more in each chapter. That kept me as glued to this as did the hope of hearing more about how bands I loved had over come the challenges of their eras.

This well researched and supported. It is a labor of love. It is critical and self aware. It is very much worth your time.

[Wesley Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was a senior in high school in 1997. At some point during that year, while randomly flipping channels, I first encountered MTV’s 120 Minutes. That was when I transitioned from listening to obnoxious pop country to indie rock. Pavement was my first indie obsession, but I’d find many others making that discovery. A few years later I’d join the staff of one of the first music blogs, Buzzgrinder. I say all that to let those reading this review know that I fit perfectly in the demographic for Chris Deville’s Such Great Heights: The Complete Culture History of the Indie Rock Explosion.

DeVille, the current managing editor of Stereogum, a blog that started one year after Buzzgrinder (sorry, had to brag), has crafted an extensive history on a subject that is much vaster that it might seem at first glance. He uses his own discovery of left-of-center tunes as a framing device (don’t worry, he doesn’t inject himself THAT much) for the greater story. You’ll learn about the beginnings of the genre, how shows like the O.C. helped the masses find new bands, how it evolved (or devolved, depending on who you ask) to include more radio friendly pop, and lots more. Each chapter begins with a playlist that perfectly sets the mood for the topic it will cover.

Reading this book was like taking a look back at my own life. Though DeVille was more successful than I in the field of music journalism, the two of us went through many of the same “scene” phases. My readthrough was surprisingly emotional. I adored this book and heartily recommend it to indie rock fans both young and old. The OGs will be nostalgic; the young heads will learn a thing or two about music and discover some new favorites.

[Ann Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Y’ALL.

I cannot resist dancing when I hear MGMT.
I’ll sing any of the 4-part harmonies in a Fleet Foxes song (but I’m always going to pick the high one).
I forget what year it actually is when listening to Postal Service.
I’ve wept to Sufjan Stevens singing about John Wayne Gacy.
I think the Garden State soundtrack might have actually changed my life, as promised.
I walked down the aisle on our wedding day to Iron and Wine.

So yeah, I think it’s safe to say indie rock/pop is my genre of choice. And let me tell you, if it’s your genre too, you must pick this book up!

Chris DeVille does an absolute bang up job of taking us through the background and history of indie rock. I’ve never seen this time period in music talked about so methodically and he’s got me over here like the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia meme just linking everything up with red string.

This book delves into fantastic bands like Arcade Fire, Haim, Postal Service, Neutral Milk Hotel, Death Cab for Cutie, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Bon Iver, Vampire Weekend, Jenny Lewis, The Strokes, boygenius, and soooo many more.

And y’all need to pray for my husband, Will. I can’t stop listening to all my favorite indie records and he is entirely too precious to listen to the songs and my ramblings. Gems such as: “Now see, THIS is the Grizzly Bear album that they toured on where Beyonce and Jay-Z famously came to the concert!” and “This is the album that Arcade Fire won the Grammy for and we all died!”

This book made me feel so seen and viscerally took me back to such a sweet time in my life. Finding this music meant so much to me, especially as a country bumpkin from a small town. It felt like finding a treasure trove, and honestly so did reading this book. DeVille loves this music and you can really see it in the work he put in on every page.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars rounded up

This is both a history of the evolution of indie music and a study of how the meaning of “indie” changed over time. As someone who hit their twenties just as indie rock was really popping off, this was a very nostalgic read for me, especially the chapters detailing the earlier years. It was also super informative, since when you’re busy living through a cultural movement, you don’t always see the bigger picture.

I was fascinated by the outsized influence Pitchfork had on music and what that meant for the artists they praised and/or criticized. I read Pitchfork back then, but didn’t realize the impact it had. I also had no idea how important The OC was to indie music, as I never watched it.

I will admit that I wasn’t as excited about the few chapters detailing genres I find less appealing, but really, that is a “me” problem, as they are still an important part of the overall history. I did learn from them and gained context I didn’t previously have.

I absolutely loved that each chapter began with its own suggested soundtrack! I noticed that the first four of them are on Spotify, and I hope they are all up by the time this book is published in August 2025. (Just in case, I saved the lists for myself, so my next roadtrip playlist is going to be pretty sweet!)

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC!

[Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

(500) Days of Summer, Joanna Newsom, Lady Soverign, Daft Punk, Junior Senior, Justice, The Antlers, Sharon Van Etten, Carly Rae Jepsen, HAIM, The 1975…

This book has so many good references and indie examples. I’m walking away from this with a deeper understanding of the genre and also a killer playlist. Highly recommend!

[Brian Shevory · Rating 5 out of 5]

Big thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for sending me Chris DeVille’s new, comprehensive history detailing indie rock’s influence and evolution over the past 25 years, Such Great Heights: The Complete Cultural History of the Indie Rock Explosion. While I enjoyed reading this book, I didn’t always agree with DeVille’s takes about indie rock, especially regarding how and what to include in the indie rock bins. Nevertheless, DeVille makes some good arguments about how indie rock was propelled forward by the evolving nature of the internet and social media, among other events, which continued to expand the types of music that was made, as well as how people listened to and interacted with music. If anything, I found that this book continued in the tradition of some other great books about musical genres that traced their evolution and development by examining the historical context as well as the audience growth and appeal. Such Great Heights reminded me of books like Michael Azerrad’s Our Band Could Be Your Life, which examined the rise of college music or what others might classify as “alternative” music, and Stephen Blush’s American Hardcore, which traces the punk and specifically hardcore music that resulted through the networking of van touring, DIY shows, zines and tape trading. Similarly, Such Great Heights posits the role of technology, and specifically the development of web 2.0 and its interactivity with promoting more independent music, that is, music that wasn’t necessarily reliant on major label production and promotion. In addition, DeVille notes how mp3s, free and eventually those available for .99 cents, shifted the nature of the music business, since record labels no longer had to put up money for packaging and distribution. This enabled smaller, independent record labels like Merge Records to save money on costs and develop better revenue sharing with their bands. This also made independent labels more appealing to artists looking to maintain their artistic vision and integrity. Thus, like other shifts in musical genres, the indie movement benefited from this changes to the industry and technology. I appreciated that DeVille works to define indie music not necessarily by the style, but rather as “a vast network of bands, labels, concert venues, record stores, radio stations, and homemade zines, which largely existed apart from the major-label system…. It was less a genre than a culture: a loose coalition of outsiders, idealists, elitists, critics, creatives, college students, and so forth.” It’s sometimes hard to define a type of music that encompasses so many different styles, and is really more reflective of the other elements related to the music. As a result, DeVille’s book chronicles many of the bands and artists, but also spends a lot of time examining the blogs, magazines, journalists, and platforms that helped to propel indie music to such great heights.
Such Great Heights was a fun read for me because, to quote the frequently referenced James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem, I was there when many of the bands in the early chapters started. It was completely fun to remember about the hype that The Strokes received in that summer before September 11th. Especially as a recent college graduate who struggled to find work and then struggled with working full-time, music from new bands like The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Rapture and established bands like Radiohead and The Dismemberment Plan really brought a lot of joy to my life at a particularly joyless time in America. I actually remember going to Spaceboy records in Philly right before Labor Day 2001 and picking up an EP by The Rapture (Out of the Races and Onto the Tracks) because I heard it on WPRB, and thought it was so fun and different sounding that a lot of the music available. I don’t think I had regular internet access at the time, so a lot of new music came from listening to college stations. I also remember seeing The Yeah Yeah Yeahs at the Unitarian Church in February of 2002, after they released debut EP, but before they signed to a major label, and just being blown away by the sounds the three band members could make. In particular, Karen O was just so much fun to watch perform. Strangely enough, my son has gotten into the song “Maps”, and sometimes we watch older performances from the band. Regardless, it was fun to reminisce with DeVille in these sections of the book, since I remember how exciting this time was in discovering these bands, even though some of them, like Interpol and Radiohead, were signed to major labels, and weren’t necessarily “indie”. However, for DeVille, the genre was more about the style and not necessarily their status and affiliation. Also, I loved revisiting Dismemberment Plan and reading more about them. I only discovered this band through friends and a roommate in college, and they became a favorite of mine, especially for running. I still love when any of the songs from The Dismemberment Plan is Scared comes on during a run. As DeVille notes, the band has a kind of danceable, kinetic quality that wasn’t always a part of rock music in the 90s. Plus, they referenced Young MC and Rob Bass in their music, which was both funny and fun.
The next few chapters were also pretty fun and relevant, taking me back to a time when I had more disposable income and time to spare, when I could easily spend a few hours at the record store or splurge to go see a show on a weeknight. Although I had been a fan of Modest Mouse since my cousin made a mix with some songs in 2000, it was fun to recall how ubiquitous “Float On” was in the spring of 2004, remembering too how that song was a part of so many car trips in the early aughts; or how much the Franz Ferdinand debut was played on my walks to work or taking the subway home from night classes around that time; or how I somehow stumbled on the DFA sampler on iTunes after hearing LCD Soundsystem on WPRB. DeVille not only provides a detailed history of these bands and how they came about, but he also channels it through his own experience as a college student, musician, and music lover, sharing the joy and excitement in discovering “an alluring secret world”. Again, I loved this, since the music from this time has that kind of personal connection. There was so much in the early chapters that took me back to hanging out with friends, listening to music, and spending nights trying to find these songs on different file sharing sites or in later times, blogs.
I found the middle and later chapters enlightening, but also not as relatable since I was kind of losing my edge around the early 2010s, settling down and starting a family, my time for musical exploration was becoming contracting and in some ways fossilizing. It was actually funny to read about Odd Future and Tyler the Creator in Chapter 10 “Late Registration” since I was teaching an intro college course that year, and was seeing so many donut OF shirts. I was shocked, but also intrigued by this band and in particular by Tyler. I remember, too, getting into debates with a friend about the band. After reflecting a little more on my initial, visceral response to the band and wondering why so many white college students were interested in the band, it reminded me a lot of NWA, and how their kind of street knowledge scared so much of white, middle class America. Tyler’s Goblin album was both challenging and exciting, and I could tell that he was not only a creative force, but also seemed to be going through a lot of the kinds of struggles with identity that most adolescents experience. As DeVille notes, the themes and topics from OF were relevant to many kids, and was possibly one of the elements that made them so appealing to a larger demographic. This chapter also touched on how hip-hop and indie music formed a kind of creative bridge, expanding genres and opportunities to create new and unique sounds that wouldn’t have really happened in a pre-Judgement Night world. I also enjoyed Chapter 9’s focus on Chillwave and other kinds of psych-indie music that was evolving from the economic malaise of the early 2010s. I’m not sure if I completely agree that this music evolved from a desire to revert back to happier, analog nostalgia, but it was interesting to learn more about this style of music and see how it has led to the development of a kind of new ambient lo-fi genre. In fact, I was actually surprised to read about how much the worlds of hip-hop and indie rock cross pollinated around this time. Again, being on the outer edges of this book’s time period, I wasn’t as invested in some of these scenes and genres, so I learned a lot and was surprised about a lot.
DeVille’s writing is exciting and easy to follow; as he relates his own experiences to the music and shares his own accounts of shows and discovering the music for the first time, readers can also share in this joy and excitement. It’s one of the pleasures of this fun book. I didn’t realize how much music blogs and myspace helped to propel the popularity of indie music (along with films like Garden State and shows like The O.C.). Although the book focuses on music that was independent of major labels’ influence, DeVille explores how major labels, corporations, and tech companies all recognized the consumer potential for indie rock, and eventually sought to take advantage of its popularity, and how other artists that are on major labels were able to leverage indie artists to expand their popularity and audiences. That was the only disappointment in the book—that there was a lot of focus on major label artists, and how the attention from Pitchfork, Vice and other publications and platforms eventually moved the needle from indie to major labels. I guess that this kind of shift is also part of the story of indie music, and it was interesting to see how progressive major label artists were, sometimes, using their fame and influence to leverage more independent artists and possibly challenge their own audiences with new sounds and voices. Nevertheless, it does also seem like there’s another cynical and economic aspect to it. One thing that I also wondered about with this book was the continued explosion of different genres that have been subsumed by indie rock. In particular, the section on Chillwave was kind of funny to read about all the different variants. This also seems more like a way that algorithms and dedicated niche groups are involved, and that platforms can find a way to market to smaller, dedicated groups that allow them to feel a stronger connection to these genres. That is, I wonder whether some of the explosion of different genres is not necessarily the work of artistic vision, but rather savvy and targeted marketing by social media and streaming platforms. Maybe I’m getting too cynical as I’m losing my edge. Nevertheless, that’s what is so much fun about DeVille’s book—revisiting some of the most exciting and inventive times in recent music history. It’s a detailed trip down memory lane with some newer avenues to explore and learn about other bands and artists, at least for me. Highly recommended!
P.S. Glad to see Pavement and Sebadoh mentioned in the book, but sad that Archers of Loaf’s “Plumb Line” was not mentioned—one of the earlier and best mentions of Indie Rock.

[Jeff Matlow · Rating 3 out of 5]

6.5 / 10

To understand my review you need to understand me.
I graduated college in 1989, drove out to Los Angeles to be in the music business and started my own record label in 1994.

The music I put out was indie rock, most of which can be categorized as emo in today’s day and age.

I not only know most of the bands mentioned in this book, I know a lot of them personally and have released records in my label by a handful of them.

Reading this book was like a time warp back to my 1990s life. It kept my attention. It was great to hear all the names again. More than a few times I had a “oh damn I completely forgot about them!” moment - and then went to Spotify to listen again to the music I used to live on.

If you grew up an indie or emo kid in the 80s and 90s, the first half of this book will be nostalgia.

The second half is basically how indie rock went mainstream. Without ruining the journey, its inevitable climax is former indie-ish hero Jack Antinoff becoming the mass market producer extraordinaire that he is now.

So, I’m sure you’re wondering why I gave it a 6.5.
Let me tell you.

This isn’t a story as much as it is written kinda like a nonstop, machine gun barrage of album review after album review - like a thousand of them - and a few sentences in between that tries to tie them together into an arc of a story.

It’s also like a Pitchfork advertisement. Nary a page goes by without some mention of Pitchfork, the online zine.

The book is long too. It’s like 360 pages long. So after awhile it just gets tiring to read. There are so many band names that get thrown out so rapidly, at some point your brain just gets numb to it.

Granted, this book was written by a guy who’s made his living writing album reviews, so I’m not sure if I should be surprised.

But if the book were half as long, my 6.5 rating may have been a 7.5.

Anyway, I did send info about the book to my indie rock friends and told them they need to read the first 125 pages if they want a trip back in time.

I appreciate the attempt. And I appreciate the memories. I just wish there was a compelling story to be had.

#netgalley #suchgreatheights

[Adam Parrilli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher St. Martin's Press for the advance read.

This is a tough one. I have often enjoyed Mr DeVille's byline in stories/news features on Stereogum and have admired his writing. This book is somewhat frustrating, but also extremely well thought out and researched, as well as written and organized creatively. The "problem" is I love the sections on microgenres that I like, but absolutely resent all the pop-skewing music that is covered in the back 1/3 of the book.

I honestly suspect that only voracious pop culture obsessives can possibly enjoy this entire book. By embracing and TELLING the stories of artists I couldn't care less about, DeVille alienated me and made me question his witty placement of Pavement references. Who is this book for? I wish the fringe "indie-qualifying" sections were lopped out and the book solely focused on the traditional Pitchfork aesthetic. I wanted to love this book more, but it's bringing me down.

[E.R. Burgess · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s not a perfect book, but it’s definitely a five-star read because it was fully engaging the entire time and I learned a lot. Deville is a fine writer who maintains an engaging tone and can laugh a bit at himself and some of the guilty pleasures that were to be had with music from the 2000s.

I’m an old Gen X person who kind of backed off of music in 1994 with the death of Kurt Cobain. This filled in a lot of gaps for me and helped me understand the music that my children were listening to on a deeper level. While I certainly don’t have the same fondness for a lot of these bands that the author does, it’s very useful to put them into context and see how Indie music morphed over time.

As an old school post punk fan, it is good to see that the stuff that killed all the lousy post grunge music brought us some truly amazing art. If only the playlists were easy to export to my Apple Music account, I’d give the book an extra star.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to both NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advance copy of this new look at the music of the early 2000s, the sounds, the scene, the rise of hipster culture, the Internet, blogs gatekeepers and the labels and bands that gave us all of this.

The early 2000's is sort of a black hole to me entertainment wise. I was working for a magazine, that had little hopes of going anywhere, the world was a mess, and things just weren't clicking. I had drifted away from movies, and except for a few soundtracks and a few bands, didn't really follow much in the way of music. Nothing was grabbing me, and nothing was interesting me. Then I discovered music blogs. Places with a few words about a new song, why they should be popular, and something to click on to download. Sort of like getting CMG with its music disc, but a few times a week. Slowly I began to hear songs that really drew me in. Small bands, on tiny labels, a few even with cassettes and vinyl. A lot of people, including people I worked with complained music wasn't as good as it had been. Yet I was hearing stuff that was fresh, retro, derivative, bland, great, body moving and more. Chris DeVille was there at the beginning, and got to see some amazing shows as he watched a genre grow, get accepted, get over, get awards and more. Such Great Heights: The Complete Cultural History of the Indie Rock Explosion is a book about not just the sounds but about the scene, the hipsters, the music fans, the television executives and the gatekeepers who all added to the Indie scene in many different ways.

The book begins with a look at music before the 2000s, the fading out of grunge, the glimmer of independent labels, how people segregated music in so many different ways. DeVille, was gong to school at the time, liked the kind of music he liked. Until one day a song hit him, and suddenly he was looking for more. DeVille grew up at a time when Napster was making it easier to find music, the Internet was full of people making blogs about their favorite bands, and the music industry was going through one of their weird times, where everything was changing by nobody knew it. DeVille covers the rise of independent bands, on small labels, but using word of mouth, and the Internet to widen their reach. The rise of Pitchfork with its constant stream of music reviews almost deciding by themselves what is cool and what is not. The choice of tv showrunners to feature bands on TV, shows that began to sell more albums than the stars of the day. Bands like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the Shins, the Strokes, The National, TV on Radio and much more are discussed, as well as many of the various controversies that seem to come up about the music, the bands, the people listening, even the reviewers and labels.

I love books that take me so long to read because I keep stopping to see if I have the CD or the album for bands mentioned. Yes I can probably Spotify it, but I like to know if I need to buy it, or where it is. And did I do a lot of looking and listening. I didn't know I needed this book, reminding me of difficult times and songs that got me through, even remembering forgotten concerts and shows. The book is more than music, but looks at the culture that sprung up around Indie music, the gatekeepers who decided on bands, the fake outrage of reviewers, the culturally borrowing of bands like Vampire Weekend. How the music industry changed. And the shock of Arcade Fire winning a Grammy, which I hadn't remembered. DeVille is a very good writer, bringing together a lot of themes, and making it all work well. I learned a lot and remembered even more, which I enjoyed.

I've read a few books about bands in this period, this is one of the first that looks at everything that was going on, and what followed. A perfect book for fans, people who like to read about music, and people like me who missed a lot at the time, and still have some catching up to do.

[Book Club of One · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chris DeVille's Such Great Heights: The Complete Cultural History of the Indie Rock Explosion arrives in the tradition of Meet Me in the Bathroom: Rebirth and Rock and Roll in New York City 2001-2011 and Where Are Your Boys Tonight?: The Oral History of Emo's Mainstream Explosion 1999-2008, but instead of focusing on a key location or specific sub genre, DeVille takes on the much more amorphous 'indie rock' from the 1990s through to the (almost) present day.

Across 12 chapters, each taking their name from a key song, album or phrase, DeVille writes extended essays framed around a chapter playlist of key songs. As DeVille has worked for years at the online music magazine website Stereogum, this format should not come as a surprise. This model matches the book title itself, drawn from the Death Cab for Cutie side project, the Postal Service's, hit single. Much like in other musical histories, it is a repeated tale of initial underground torchbearers establishing a sound only for newer bands to take the key elements of the sound, add more pop tendencies, and find wider (often) commercial success.

Key moments are captured or form the central focus of some chapters such as the origins and dominance of Pitchfork, the impact of the tv series The O.C., the role of technologies in broadening both artist and audience reach and access or the rise (and sometimes fall) of key bands over 20 of which are featured in the cover.

DeVille goes beyond just the music however, looking at the cultures around the different sub genres, and expands the discussion beyond the initially mostly white male performers and audiences, especially in the 2010s as LGBTQIA+ artists gained more visibility and success.

Its a well created summation that helps me better see where the genre went after I'd moved away from it in the 2010s with a post college diminished available of time and resources. Like in more general history, most of the names and eras are only easily delineated and named after the fact (ex indie sleaze).

Music is still gate kept, but the gatekeepers have changed, like much in our contemporary world it is more financial, streaming is how must people now access music. As Deville argues, music is so much more readily available now, but it is harder for the majority of musicians to find anything approaching financial success. Indie still exists, and nostalgia fuels some of the trends, but much like rock, indie isn't dead, just different.

Recommended to readers of popular music, recent history, or the intersections of music and technology.

I received a free digital version of this book via NetGalley thanks to the publisher.

[Luke · Rating 5 out of 5]

This probably sits atop the holy trinity of my musical 20s with Lizzy Goodman's Meet Me in the Bathroom: Rebirth and Rock and Roll in New York City 2001-2011 and Chris Payne's Where Are Your Boys Tonight?: The Oral History of Emo's Mainstream Explosion 1999-2008. Where those books both cover small genre microcosms. Chris DeVille manages to throw everything at the wall in a thoughtful way where I was able to trace a good portion of my life through this history.

While, as the name implies it, begins with the "classic rock for Millennials" roots of late 90s and early 2ks indie but then to book begins to open up and explore branches and microgenres of indie music that mattered to me. Dance punk, freak folk, bloghaus, indie sleaze, backpack/indie rap, all the way to indie-now-mainstream poptimism. It was nice to see so many parts of those years represented for me. Probably not as nice to only now realize that I was less of the left-field listening pioneer I believed I was and more of a product of the music blogs I lived inside of.

Anyway I loved this. It's a love letter to a window of constant discovery that doesn't exist for me in the same way anymore. I can't put my finger on if it's today's world at large or just the affect it's had on my aging brain but "indie" doesn't feel like the same social commodity anymore.
Just... commodity.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got into indie rock when I was 14 and struggling with all of the normal things that many 14 year old boys struggle with: feeling weird and awkward and out of place, hormones, parents divorce, etc. I discovered a safe haven in the internet and while there found a style of music that made me feel cool and smart and unique and interesting. Unfortunately no one in my real life seemed to notice these traits I was so sure I had recently acquired, but that's another story. Like Chris DeVille, my gateway into the world of indie music started with an obsession with Radiohead. It then lead to me treating all of Pitchfork's judgements as gospel, and a voracious appetite for any kind of music that presented itself as indie or indie-adjacent. Reader, I was a 'hipster'. Of course, I never would've admitted to it back then, but I embodied all the hipster clichès, and deep down that's what I wanted to be. And whether or not they admit it, so did everyone else who was into this kind of music. So please excuse my sincere use of the term 'hipster' from this point onwards.

Chris's book is a fantastic exploration of the ebbs and flows of Millennial hipster taste over the course of the 21st century. How did hipsters go from loving Pavement and sneering at pop music to admitting that yes, Taylor Swift made a couple of indie albums, and actually they were really good? DeVille makes it all make sense here. There's a lot of incredible music discussed, and Chris charts hipster-aligned 'movements' like blog rock and chillwave from with an accuracy and understanding that can only have been achieved by being there and loving the music at the time. It's a great book that sits alongside Lizzy Goodman's Meet Me In the Bathroom as an essential document of 21st century indie rock cultural history. You should read it.

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 - “Popular music was a way to figure out who we were, but also how we wanted to present ourselves to the world.”

Big thanks to St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review! This is a fantastic read for indie music fans!

Indie music (and emo and post-hardcore, let’s be real here) sort of took over my life. They’re still some of my all-time favorite artists who’ve created some of my all-time favorite records. But this book so expertly track the rise of indie music and how it’s evolved over the years.

I’m fascinated by the way music changes and reinvents itself within genres, and Chris DeVille explores the indie music scene so expertly. He inserts his own experiences growing up during this time, recalling bands that were slightly before my time. It’s when he hits staples like Death Cab for Cutie, Iron & Wine, and the Shins does this book hit me in my nostalgia. This music permeated my entire personality. Reading about how they eventually blew up and entered the mainstream through The O.C. and Garden State is truly fascinating.

One of my favorite parts was the recounting of Arcade Fire’s improbable Album of the Year win in 2011. It’s like a core memory for me. Even though they were nominated and won, there was still tons of people on the internet who had no idea who they were. I also felt like this was DeVille’s love letter to this genre of music, including its offshoots. While there are people who still probably don’t know some of these artists, their contributions are important to the overall musical landscape.

[Sarah Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

✨ The Vibes ✨
A nostalgic history of the indie music explosion

📖 Read if…
✨You had a hipster phase
✨You have a playlist for every situation
✨You like discussing the intersection of music and culture

Such Great Heights is a great pick for any and all music lovers. While it’s largely focused on how indie artists became mainstream acts, it does offer some perspective on the music industry as a whole, and how the business has evolved in the last 20 years or so. The book is organized by both chronology and theme, charting the evolution of different trends, and how one gave way to the next. It’s a great nonfiction pick that reads like a collection of well-reported articles, and you’ll want to have Spotify nearby to pull up all of the songs and artists mentioned.

My favorite part of this book was how Chris DeVille explored the role of TV shows like The OC and stores like Urban Outfitters, in bringing indie songs and artists into the mainstream. Music is something that is often linked with other pieces of art, culture, and consumerism, and getting to see exactly how that interconnectedness can have a tangible impact on music was fascinating.

As an added bonus, while I knew the book would be informative, I wasn’t expecting it to be so nostalgic. A great deal of the artists and music discussed in this book became popular in the late 2000s and early 2010s, and I have such distinct memories of listening to these songs in middle and high school. It was a nice walk down memory lane, and I ended up learning a lot about the business side of things (which I definitely wasn’t clued into in my teen years).

Such Great Heights is out now. Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Martin Maenza · Rating 3 out of 5]

St. Martin's Press provided an early galley for review.

This is not a period of music (late 90's/early 2000's) that I was as familiar nor a genre that was in my radius. So, I looked forward to learning from the author. I did appreciate that each chapter of DeVille's book starts with a soundtrack/playlist of tunes to supplement the readings. That is a very nice touch that goes a long way for this big music fan.

DeVille does a good job covering the evolution of the indie scene over a two decade period, showing how it went from underground to mainstream and how it influenced other genres of music as well.

The chapter on of the intersection of indie music and Hollywood (via TV shows and films) was certainly something I could relate to. Over the decades, I myself have found a lot of songs and bands I like through those mediums. It was interesting to read the response of some of the bands to this newfound fame from those avenues. I also enjoyed the chapter on the influence of technology in this sphere, being at times an ally and at times an enemy to the artists.

Recommended for music fans both familiar with this era and those wanting to expand their knowledge of it.

[Mattschratz · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I were sixty years old, or twenty, I would probably give this a three. But I am not: I am the exact right demographic to love this book and its many, many astute observations about a bunch of bands that I care deeply about. This is book is a sterling exercise in Remembering Some Indie Rock Guys and Gals, and I thus found it a delightful way to spend 335 pages. I hope that my loved ones have recovered from a week full of me texting them things like "Do you remember the Travis Morrison solo album" and "Which MGMT song did you think was the best one."

One other thing to note: I was flipping through the book after I got it and a name from the index jumped out to me: Vaughn Meader. Vaughn Meader! Vaughn Meader is the subject of what I understand to be the only funny Lenny Bruce joke (apologies to Bob Dylan, REM, and other Lenny Bruce fans), and I had no idea what a reference to him would be doing in a history of the Indie Rock Explosion. When I got to page 194, though, I was not disappointed to learn what he's doing here.

[Ciara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you SMP for the advanced copy via Netgalley! This publishes 8/26.

I took my time with this, as I do with non-fiction. I didn't love it enough to devour it, but I did end up enjoying the majority of this - maybe because I'm an angsty emo kid at heart. I was in junior high 2000-2004 and I graduated high school in 2007, so I feel like I essentially grew up during this era. I may not have understood it fully because I was young, but indie rock was all I listened to. It was really interesting reading the history of it all and how former genres influenced the music of the aughts.

The playlists at the beginning of each chapter are the perfect touch - book playlists are amongst my favorite things. If you were a teenager in the aughts (2000-2009), I highly recommend picking this up.. that is, if you care about the history of music. If not, skip it and go listen to the OC soundtrack. :)

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the proverbial kitchen sink (complimentary) book covering the evolution of indie rock.

I tend to prefer a more inclusive definition rather than more specific parameters when it comes to musical genres, so I loved how many different interpretations of what constitutes indie rock are used here.

We get all the standard stuff, especially from the early 2000s, but also some content that is less standard when discussing this very subjectively defined genre. I loved that the author included things like Backpack Rap, Robyn’s comeback effort, Lorde, and Lana Del Rey.

Did I need another walk-through of the Jay-Z and Beyoncé at the Grizzly Bear show? No. But I’m a completist at heart so I get why things like this keep showing up. And in this book we also get loads of anecdotal content that does NOT show up in every discussion of indie rock, and that was another thing that made this an exceptionally good read.

*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

[Lovely Loveday]

Reading Such Great Heights by Chris DeVille felt like hanging out with someone who really gets what made the indie rock era so special. It’s packed with stories, band histories, and moments that totally took me back. You can tell DeVille has a real love for the music, but he also steps back and looks at the bigger picture, which I really appreciated.

What I liked most was how the book isn’t just a list of bands or albums. It’s more about the culture, the shifts in the music scene, and why that whole indie moment hit so hard for so many people. It made me remember why I fell in love with certain songs and how much they still stick with me.

If you’re into indie rock or just love music history that actually feels personal, this book is definitely worth picking up. It’s thoughtful, nostalgic, and honestly made me want to dig out some old playlists.

[Zoe Stallings · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chris DeVille has written the mixtape of a book that every indie fan did not know they needed. This is not just a nostalgia trip. It is a thoughtful and sharp dive into the rise of a movement that shaped taste, fashion, and feelings for a whole generation.

The book hits the sweet spot between music journalism and cultural commentary. DeVille connects the dots from blog buzz to festival headliners with ease and a real love for the scene. You can feel the energy of crowded basement shows and the magic of discovering a track before it went viral.

It can lean a bit encyclopedic in parts, but that is part of the charm. Like digging through crates in a record store, there is joy in the depth. A must read for fans of Pitchfork era cool, skinny jeans sincerity, and bands that made you feel like you were in on something secret.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the eARC.

[Mike Heenan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for this complementary ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Such Great Heights, named after The Postal Service song, takes the reader though the indie rock explosion from the early 2000s to current times. I absolutely loved the early chapters which mentioned so many bands from my youth and inspired me to re-listen to a lot of music that I hadn't listened to in awhile. This book really needs an accompanying Spotify playlist to go along with it.

I actually wasn't super familiar with Pitchfork (maybe it wasn't as popular in Canada?) so I found the chapters about how their reviews influenced popularity super interesting. I also loved how TV shows drove songs to the forefront of pop culture - would be hard for kids now to believe that The OC made bands huge.

Strong recommend to anyone interested in this time period of music!

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the ARC. I’ve requested and received a lot of non-fiction ARCs about music over the years. Reading and music are easily tied in my top interests, and I eagerly anticipated all the books I received. However, the vast majority went unfinished. They just didn’t live up to my expectations and were often boring and not how they were described by the publisher. All that said, this book was an exception. Fantastic history of “indie” music (read the book to better understand why that’s in quotes) from its inception to the current day. If you are or were a fan of what was termed indie in the 90s and early 2000s, this book is for you. To top it off, every chapter has a great playlist to go along with it.

And yes, I did attend the Death Cab/Postal Service 20th anniversary tour, as mentioned by another reviewer!

[Jared Hamby · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's almost not fair for me to rate this one because it pretty much felt like a summation of my twenties. I began college August 2021 just as the Strokes were gaining buzz. 9/11 happened, the world changed but I was lucky enough to catch the Strokes first headlining tour and if there was any doubt I was all in on the indie/ hipster-scene, after that show it was over. I was all in. I consumed music blogs and magazines like it was my lifeblood all while hitting up obscure local shows or any shows with any bit of buzz. Reading this book brought back so many fond memories of friends and events from those times and of course the music that shaped so much of my life. It also made me think about just how much effort myself and those in the same crowd as me put into being so cool. Silly kids. 5 stars from me obviously, but how could I rate this anything else?

[Bruce Raterink · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not just an overview of Indie Rock but also the mechanisms behind the scenes that determine the success or failure of individual bands and releases. I love how the author weaves his own experiences writing and exploring Indie Rock bands throughout the narrative. It is an accessibly comfortable writing style that belies all the well researched details included throughout the book. it was fascinating to read about the impact of various forms of media including file sharing and online streaming from My Space to Facebook to YouTube and Tik-Tok, and especially the transition from CDs to MP3s via iPods and iTunes. Highly worthwhile read

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced reader copy.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of this title.

I've been a big fan of Chris' work for Stereogum for years and was delighted to see this title get announced. It's weird to read a history of a music scene you were aware of after it's happened, but this gets into exactly the level of how and why a lot of music from the mid-aughts to mid-10s became as big as it did, and covers a certain level of overall Pitchfork/Stereogum/blog culture as well in a way that's interesting. I love the playlists for each chapter and the way the book isn't strictly chronological, showing how all of these things were overlapping across genre and scenes.