Journalism Skills Development

Charmingly inoffensive, "Toothpaste Kisses" by The Maccabees safely establishes itself into indie romance history. With amusing, although slightly predictable, harmoniously-sung lyrics the song becomes more endearing second time round. Soft yet strong acoustic chords are politely greeted with a soothing and simple bass line after the first verse to join smooth, delicate drums. Clean, effortless guitar solos conclude the last chorus and are met with a captivating whistling outro. A mild yet bewitching track from the Brighton indie group.

Arctic Monkeys are the enigmatic local lads from Sheffield. With a charming likeability about them, there was no doubt as to why their debut album "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I Am Not" became the fastest selling debut album in British music history. With influences such as The Clash, The Jam and Oasis, Arctic Monkeys have been dubbed as the nation's favourite indie band on several occasions. The band have now released their third album, which has received some stick from fans; apparently it's not the Arctics they know and love. But to a true fan, the magic is still there, with the poetry in Turner's lyrics being more alive than ever, Helders' pounding drums and Cook's unmistakable strumming. The band have now changed style, too, with singer Alex Turner showing clear influence from Dylan with those iconic Wayfarers gracing every stage with him.

Indie rock is a music genre with roots as early as The Velvet Underground's self-titled album, which was released in 1967. The 1980's is when indie rock started to evolve, and bands such as The Smiths, The Stone Roses, Jesus and Mary Chain, Siouxsie and The Banshees and The Cure came out of the woodwork; Indie had found it's time, and with punk influences like The Clash and The Jam, the genre rocketed. Indie is traditionally based around clean guitars. Unlike some other genres, indie doesn't seem to have a definitive political message, except that of ordinary feelings such as alienation and difference from others that can be experienced as a young person, which is probably why the main audience consistently contains initially young people, but can capture different generations as well. Bands like The Smiths are considered icons for creating songs containing this message, with a humorous edge, which can be seen in indie-rock today as songs always seem to contain elements of light-heartedness and fun. Current indie bands such as The Maccabees, Arctic Monkeys, The Rakes and The Rascals have adopted this in the form of amusing lyrics and have continued the guitar sound that is the indie trademark.

From writing these short paragraphs about indie songs, bands and it's history, I think I have developed some skills of how to write in a journalistic fashion, especially when writing the song review. I quite enjoyed it, but found writing about the history quite heard to compress into a short space. I would like to use the style of writing and language used in my own magazine when writing the feature article, and I think this practise will help me.