To meet Wikipedia's quality standards, this book-related article may require cleanup. This article contains very little context, or is unclear to readers who know little about the book. See this article's talk page before making any large and/or controversial edits. (April 2011)

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2011)

Empire of Dirt: The Aesthetics and Rituals of British Indie Music
Paperback cover
Author(s)	Wendy Fonarow
Country	USA
Language	English
Genre(s)	Non-fiction
Publisher	Wesleyan University Press
Publication date	2006
Media type	Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
Pages	336 pp
ISBN	ISBN 978-0-8195-6810-6 / ISBN 978-0-8195-6811-3

Empire of Dirt: The Aesthetics and Rituals of British Indie Music is a 2006 book by Wendy Fonarow.

Paperback: ISBN 978-0-8195-6811-3, Hardcover: ISBN 978-0-8195-6810-6.

Contents [edit]

• The title of the book comes from one verse from the cover version by Johnny Cash of the Nine Inch Nails's song "Hurt" ("and you could have it all, my empire of dirt"). Fonarow was given a vinyl edition of the Cash album American IV by Alan McGee, founder of Creation Records while writing the manuscript.
• The cover, designed by Matthew Cooper^{[disambiguation needed]}, depicts a typical indie band (2 guitarists, a bass player and a drummer all thin) in silhouette (see sleeperbloke).

• In chapter 1 the author discuss 'What Is "Indie"?'. There are some possible definitions:^[1]

1. Indie music is the one which is recorded by independent labels and distributed via independent distributors. Records distributed via independent distributors qualified for the UK Indie Chart.
2. a genre of music with a distinctive sound and style.
3. music that communicates a particular ethos.
4. a category of critical assessment.
5. music different from other genres like mainstream pop, dance, blues, country or classical.

A problem with defining indie is that any precise definition will exclude music and performers which indie fans and insiders feel should be included or include ones that should be excluded.^[2]

Reviews [edit]

• Tim Jonze (Saturday 26 April 2008). "School of rock". The Guardian. Retrieved February 18, 2011. 
• Emily Rose (9.06.2006). "Dirty indie: 'Professor of indie rock' Wendy Fonarow explains how 13 years of gig attendance spawned Empire of Dirt". Retrieved February 18, 2011. 
• Elsa Grassy (2007). "Review: Empire of Dirt: The Aesthetics and Rituals of British Indie Music". Cercles, Revue pluridisciplinaire du monde anglophone. Retrieved 21 April 2011. 
• Dave Itzkoff (October 1, 2006). "Music Chronicle". The New York Times, Sunday Book Review. Retrieved 21 April 2011. 

Influence [edit]

• Google Scholar finds 28 citations of the book (as of 22 April 2011).

References [edit]

External links [edit]

• Page at the editor's site