OK FINE: 20. Tim, The Replacements 19. Heavy Metal, Cameron Winter 18. Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend 17. Doolittle, Pixies 16. 69 Love Songs, The Magnetic Fields 15. Norman Fucking Rockwell!, Lana Del Rey 14. Welcome Interstate Managers, Fountains of Wayne 13. Terror Twilight, Pavement 12. Ivy Tripp, Waxahatchee 11. Alien Lanes, Guided by Voices 10. Turn On the Bright Lights, Interpol 9. American Water, Silver Jews 8. The Magnolia Electric Co., Songs: Ohia 7. Skinty Fia, Fontaines D.C. 6. Celebrity Skin, Hole 5. Room On Fire, The Strokes 4. Favourite Worst Nightmare, Arctic Monkeys 3. The Greatest, Cat Power 2. Fever to Tell, Yeah Yeah Yeahs 1. Separation Sunday, The Hold Steady
Pitchfork (@pitchfork) profile picturePitchfork
@pitchforkNov 9
What is indie rock? Our answer is these 100 albums pitchfork.com/story/the-100-…
The 100 Best Indie Rock Albums of All Time

The 100 Best Indie Rock Albums of All Time

We rank the genre’s greatest records in an attempt to define its sound and spirit.

pitchfork.com

Nov 10, 2026 · 11:00 PM UTC

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I love a list :)
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This is pretty good stuff Calder 👍
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List pending anticipated first album from my wonderful boyfriend
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do you like heavy metal better than getting killed? Separation Sunday is a wild take. Saw them live once and they were so fucking good. To each them own. Love 7,8!!!!, 9,17, and 19. Like let it be more than Tim. Love pavement, not that album. music rocks!
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I do slightly prefer heavy metal to getting killed.. definitely having THS at 1 also heavily influenced by seeing them live (and what fun is a list without a slightly surprising #1)… terror twilight kind of a sentimental pick bc I loved major leagues as a kid. Music does rock!!
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Somehow a worse list than Pitchfork. Impressive!
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Cameron winter is an immediate disqualification unfortunately
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I see a lot people listing Seperation Sunday but I like Boys and Girls in America
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Separation Sunday! Wow! What a pull!
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Not bad
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Ah yes, the famously indie Norman Fucking Rockwell! by obscure artist Lana del Rey. And how could we forget the followup to sleeper hit Is This It? By the no-name Strokes. A lot of this is good though
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Instant follow from me for putting THS at No. 1
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This indie rock labeling is getting very expansive here
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Norman Fucking Rockwell is one of my favorite albums of the past decade, but Lana Del Rey isn't really an indie artist. 🥴😂
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Very solid, even if I disagree with some 👍
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Father, can I tell the congregation how an indie rock list really feels?
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Where's the like, REO Speedwagon?
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An “indie rock” list full of major-label records: Tim (Sire/Warner), Celebrity Skin (Geffen), Room on Fire (RCA), Fever to Tell (Interscope) and Norman Fucking Rockwell! (Polydor/Interscope). That’s not indie rock, that’s marketing. Check the labels before publishing.
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Thank you for trying sir
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Welcome Interstate Managers is perhaps the most underrated album of all time, good inclusion
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There seems to be an American confusion about what exactly indie is..
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I did not expect to find Separation Sunday at the top of the list. It's the best Hold Steady album too.
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The Hold steady are awful Some decent picks here though
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Lana Del Ray? Isn’t that just top 40 pop?
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Yeah really wonder what the justification was for not including Magnetic Fields on their list.
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Dreadful in parts but its a fun list
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The Amps - Pacer. Souvlaki - Slowdive. Gravity - Translator.
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Pretty bold choices. Only 2 or 3 are elegible for nominations, but only one is worthy of being on this kind of list. And that is 69 Love Songs
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Terror twilight ? Come on man . Pavement is my favorite band . Don’t do that
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but modern vampires or ogwau are way better than the vw self titled
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In what universe are the Lana Del Ray, Strokes and Hole albums ‘indie’? They were released on major record labels, if they’re indie then ‘indie’ in a music context is meaningless.
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1) Kaput - Destroyer
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You’re clearly too young to be making these lists.
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parsley sound erasure
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