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New Musical Express

New Musical Express

:See United States Department of Defense for the National Military Establishment. United States Department of DefenseThe New Musical Express (better known as the NME) is a weekly music magazine in the UK. Its focus is on guitar-based music and indie rock bands, and it is often credited as the starting point for many successful British bands. It was also responsible for the first UK Singles Chart.

History

The paper began in 1952 after the Musical Express was bought by London music promoter Maurice Kinn and relaunched as the NME. It was initially published in a non-glossy, tabloid format. Later the same year, taking its cue from the US Billboard Magazine, it created the UK Singles Chart. The first of these was, in contrast to more recent charts, a top twelve.Billboard Magazine It grew up alongside rock music and was for many years the rival to the far older Melody Maker. Upon the demise of Melody Maker in 2000, several of its writers and features moved to the NME. By the early 1970s the NME had lost ground to the Melody Maker as its coverage of music had failed to keep pace with the development of rock music, following the advent of prog and psychedelica, which were both wildly popular at the time. In early 1972, with the paper on the verge of closure by its owners IPC (who had bought the paper from Kinn in 1963), Alan Smith was made editor and the paper's coverage changed radically from an uncritical and rather showbiz-oriented paper to something that was smarter, hipper, cynical and funnier than any mainstream British music paper had ever been (an approach influenced mainly by writers such as Tom Wolfe and Lester Bangs). In order to achieve this, Smith raided the underground press for its best writers, such as Charles Shaar Murray and Nick Kent, and recruited other writers such as Tony Tyler and Ian MacDonald. By the time Smith handed the editor's chair to Nick Logan in mid-1973, the paper's circulation was well on the way to overtaking the Melody Makers. During the mid 1970s the NME famously advertised for a "hip young gunslinger" to join their editorial staff. This resulted in the recruitment of Tony Parsons, who along with Julie Burchill - recruited around the same time - went on to champion a new musical trend that became known as punk rock, giving coverage to rising bands such as the Sex Pistols and The Clash, and clubs such as The Roxy in London's Neal Street. In 1978 Logan moved on, and his deputy Neil Spencer was made editor. One of his earliest tasks was to oversee a redesign of the paper by Barney Bubbles, which included the logo still used on the paper's masthead today (this made its first appearance towards the end of 1978). Spencer's time as editor also coincided with the emergence of post-punk acts such as Joy Division and Gang of Four. This development was reflected in the writing of Ian Penman and Paul Morley, whose intense postmodernist prose perhaps baffled as much as it informed and educated its readers. With hindsight, the paper's direction started to get confused around this time, and probably reflected the fact that pop music at the start of the 1980s was diverging in different directions (e.g. the new pop of acts such as ABC and Haircut 100, and the New Romantic movement). Also, the line of criticism started to become more ideological - for instance, the term rockism is thought to have originated in the paper's pages. In 1981 the NME released the influential C81 cassette tape in conjunction with Rough Trade Records, available to readers by sending in a coupon from the magazine. The tape featured a number of then 'up and coming' bands, such as Aztec Camera, Orange Juice, Linx, Scritti Politti as well as a number of loosely 'post-punk' artists such as Robert Wyatt, Pere Ubu, Buzzcocks, etc. Buzzcocks Despite the championing of influential band The Smiths, at a time when both mainstream media and the charts were immune to their charms during the mid 1980s, NME hit a rough patch and was in danger of closing. During this period (now under the editorship of Ian Pye, who replaced Spencer in 1985), they were split between those who wanted to write about Hip hop, a genre that was relatively new to the UK, and those who wanted to stick to rock music. Sales were lower when photos of Hip hop artists appeared on the front. The paper wrote about topics other than music: one issue - apparently the lowest selling issue ever - had a cover article that tackled youth suicide. The NME responded to the Thatcher era by promoting socialism through the Red Wedge fronted by Billy Bragg. A week before the 1987 election the paper featured an interview with the leader of the Labour Party, Neil Kinnock and his photo on the cover. The NME was rudderless at this time with staff pulling simultaneously in a number of directions. It was haemoraging readers who, ironically, were deserting NME in favour of Nick Logan's two creations The Face and Smash Hits. This was brought to a head when the paper was about to publish a copy of the Dead Kennedys' Penis Landscape poster, then a subject of an obscenity lawsuit in the US. Three senior editorial staff were sacked, including Pye, and Media Editor, Stuart Cosgrove. Alan Lewis, something of a magazine genius in the Nick Logan mould, was brought in to rescue the paper mirroring Alan Smith's amazing revival a decade and a half before. In the nature of important new popular music, NME thrives in an atmosphere where ex-readers resent the new music it is covering, accusing the paper of 'selling out'. The paper was in high health in time for just such a movement: Madchester. This proved to be a hugely successful 'golden age' for the paper. Once again in the mid 1990s the paper soared to heights with the championing of the key Britpop bands Oasis, Blur and Pulp . It suffered during the late 1990s and early 2000s as the British indie music scene languished and tastes turned elsewhere. Following the closure of the Melody Maker in 2000, many speculated the NME would be next. However, under the editorship of Conor McNicholas the paper found a new niche, featuring bands such as Bloc Party, Kaiser Chiefs, Muse, The Libertines, Franz Ferdinand, Scissor Sisters and more recently Arctic Monkeys. In 2003 the magazine became the biggest selling music weekly in the UK, a position that it still holds. Since the 1970s, the NME has also provided 'coverdiscs', records, tapes and CDs, given away for free attached to the cover. See NME compilations for more information. It has also proved to be extremely successful in launching the careers of modern eminents such as Bob Geldof and Chrissie Hynde getting first jobs at the magazine.
Noteworthy NME journalists
Bob Geldof of the Boomtown Rats and Live Aid fame and Chrissie Hynde, who went on to form The Pretenders, began as journalists on NME as did film director Michael Winner. Paul Morley, founder of ZTT Records (the record label of Frankie Goes to Hollywood), and more recently something of a media pundit, also began his journalistic career writing for the NME during the late 1970s. Other notable individuals that wrote for the paper during this period included 'X Moore' (a socialist writer and also member of the band The Redskins), Steven Wells (who was formerly a ranting poet under the name Seething Wells), Adrian Thrills and Ian Penman. Stuart Cosgrove is a respected documentary maker. Located in Greenwich Village, Linda Solomon was NMEs American correspondent. Other former NME journalists include song and Sci-Fi writer Mick Farren (of the Deviants), plus DJs Steve Lamacq, Danny Baker, Stuart Maconie and Andrew Collins (also a film critic), sports television and radio presenter Danny Kelly and writers David Quantick and Charles Shaar Murray, as well as Nick Kent (of The Subterraneans band). James Brown launched Loaded magazine with Alan Lewis in 1994. Most recently, current journalists such as Tim Jonze, Mark Beaumont, Pete Cashmore, Julian Marshall, Anthony Thornton, Imran Ahmed, Peter Robinson and current editor Conor McNicholas have helped rejuvenate the paper's fortunes. Conor McNicholas

NME.COM

In 1996 under the stewardship of NME editor Steve Sutherland and NME publisher Robert Tame the NME stuck its toe into the near-virgin waters of the internet. Its first editor was Brendan Fitzgerald. His successor Anthony Thornton redesigned and redeveloped the site, focussing on music news. The website was awarded Online Magazine Of The Year in 1999 and 2001, Anthony Thornton was crowned Website Editor Of The Year, on three occasions. NME.COM was redeveloped and relaunched in September 2005 by the current editor, Ben Perreau.

NME Originals

In 2002 the NME started publishing a collection of articles from previous magazines about certain artists and genres called the NME Originals, with some featuring articles from the Melody Maker and Uncut magazines.

NME Awards

The NME Awards is an awards show held every year to celebrate the best new music over the past year. The nominations and eventual winners are voted for by the readers of the magazine. For the last awards show winners, see the NME Awards article.

NME Awards tour

NME sponsors a tour of the United Kingdom by various up-and-coming bands every year, soon before the NME Awards themselves. In recent years, many of the bands on the tour have become successful in the UK.
- 2006: Maximo Park, Arctic Monkeys, We Are Scientists, Mystery Jets
- 2005: The Killers, The Futureheads, Bloc Party, Kaiser Chiefs
- 2004: Funeral for a Friend, The Rapture, The Von Bondies, Franz Ferdinand
- 2003: The Datsuns, Polyphonic Spree, Interpol, The Thrills
- 2002: Andrew WK, Lostprophets, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, The Coral
- 2001: Amen, JJ72, Alfie, Starsailor
- 2000: Shack, Les Rythmes Digitales, Campag Velocet, Coldplay
- 1999: UNKLE, Idlewild, Delakota, Llama Farmers
- 1998: Stereophonics, Asian Dub Foundation, The Warm Jets, Theaudience
- 1997: Geneva, Symposium, Tiger, Three Colours Red
- 1996: The Bluetones, The Cardigans, Heavy Stereo and Fluffy
- 1995: Veruca Salt, Marion, Skunk Anansie, 60Ft Dolls

References

- Paul Gorman. In Their Own Write: Adventures in the Music Press (Sanctuary, 2001;ISBN 1-86074-341-2)

External links

- [http://nme.com/ NME.com] - Official website.
- [http://www.andrewkendall.com/ andrewkendall.com] - NME Photographer.
- [http://www.livejournal.com/community/sleepingwithnme/ 'Sleeping With NME'] - LiveJournal community from NME fans who show rather an obsession with its staff (May not be work-safe) Category:Music magazines Category:British magazines Category:British music media

United States/Department of Defense

:Note: DOD redirects here. For other uses, please see DOD (disambiguation) The United States Department of Defense, abbreviated as DoD or DOD and sometimes called the Defense Department is a civilian Cabinet organization of the United States government. The Department of Defense controls the U.S. military and is headquartered at The Pentagon. It is headed by the Secretary of Defense, who is currently Donald Rumsfeld.

History

Proposals to coordinate the activities of the military services were initially considered by U.S. Congress in 1944. Specific plans were put forth in 1945 by the Army, the Navy, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In a special message to U.S. Congress on December 19, 1945, President Harry Truman proposed creation of a unified Department of National Defense, which came under the Department of Transportation. A proposal reached Congress in April 1946, but was held up by the Naval Affairs Committee held hearings in July 1946 due to objections to the concentration of power in a single department. Truman eventually sent new legislation to Congress in February 1947, where it was debated and amended for several months. On July 26, 1947, Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947, which set up the National Military Establishment to begin operations on September 18, 1947, the day after the confirmation of James V. Forrestal as the first Secretary of Defense. The Establishment had the unfortunate abbreviation 'NME' (the obvious pronunciation being "enemy"), and was renamed the "Department of Defense" on August 10, 1949; in addition, the secretary was given greater authority over the military departments of the Army, Navy, and Air Force. The Department of Defense is based in The Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia outside Washington, DC, across the Potomac River. It was created by combining the War Department (founded in 1789) with the Navy Department (founded in 1798; formerly the Board of Admiralty, founded in 1780), and the newly created Department of the Air Force. The department was formed in order to reduce interservice rivalry which was believed to have reduced military effectiveness during World War II. It includes the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, as well as non-combat agencies such as the National Security Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency. In wartime, the Department of Defense also has authority over the Coast Guard; in peacetime, that agency is under the control of the Department of Homeland Security. Prior to the creation of DHS, the Coast Guard was under the control of the Department of Transportation. The Coast Guard has not been formally militarized since World War II, although it has participated in various military and law enforcement operations over the years. The DoD's annual budget is roughly $425 billion (~$1,600 per capita), which does not include tens of billions more in supplemental expenditures allotted by Congress throughout the year. The command structure of the Department of Defense is defined by the Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986. Under the act, the chain of command runs from the President of the United States, through the Secretary of Defense, to the regional commanders within one of several commands who command all military forces within their area of operation. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the several Chiefs of Staff are responsible for readiness of the U.S. military and serve as the President's military advisers, but are not in the chain of command. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is by law the highest ranking military officer in the United States. On February 22, 2002, the Department of Defense Office of the Inspector General has reported that DOD has not and will not account for $1.1 trillion of "undocumentable adjustments." In addition, there have been several high-profile Government Accountability Office investigations of the Department of Defense. As part of the September 11, 2001 attacks, terrorists crashed a plane into one of the sections of The Pentagon, causing part of it to collapse, killing 189 people.

Organization

- Office of the Secretary of Defense
- Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee
- Office of Net Assessment
- Office of Inspector General
- Defense Criminal Investigative Service
- Military Departments
- Department of the Army including the U.S. Army
- Department of the Navy including the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps
- Department of the Air Force including the U.S. Air Force
- Joint Chiefs of Staff
- United States Naval Observatory
- Unified Combatant Commands
- Central Command (CENTCOM)
- European Command (EUCOM)
- Joint Forces Command (JFCOM)
- Northern Command (NORTHCOM)
- Pacific Command (PACOM)
- Southern Command (SOUTHCOM)
- Special Operations Command (SOCOM)
- Strategic Command (STRATCOM)
- Transportation Command (TRANSCOM)
- Defense Agencies
- Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
- Defense Commissary Agency
- Defense Contract Audit Agency
- Defense Contract Management Agency
- Defense Finance and Accounting Service
- Defense Information Systems Agency
- Defense Intelligence Agency
- Defense Legal Services Agency
- Defense Logistics Agency
- Defense Security Cooperation Agency
- Defense Security Service
- Defense Threat Reduction Agency
- Missile Defense Agency
- National Security Agency
- National Reconnaissance Office
- National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
- Pentagon Force Protection Agency
- Department of Defense Field Activities
- American Forces Information Service
- Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office
- Department of Defense Education Activity
- Department of Defense Dependents Schools
- DoD Human Resources Activity
- Office of Economic Adjustment
- Tricare Management Activity
- Washington Headquarters Services In 2003, the National Communications System was moved to the United States Department of Homeland Security. United States Department of Homeland Security

Related legislation

- 1947 - National Security Act of 1947
- 1958 - Department of Defense Reorganization Act PL 85-899
- 1963 - Department of Defense Appropriations Act PL 88-149
- 1963 - Military Construction Authorization Act PL 88-174
- 1967 - Supplemental Defense Appropriations Act PL 90-8
- 1984 - Department of Defense Authorization Act PL 98-525
- 1986 - Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986 or Department of Defense Reorganization Act PL 99-433
- 1996 - Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act PL 104-132

External links

- [http://www.defenselink.mil/ United States Department of Defense website]
- Defense ko:미국 국방부 ja:アメリカ国防総省

Magazine

A magazine is a periodical publication containing a variety of articles, generally financed by advertising and/or purchase by readers. Magazines are typically published weekly, biweekly, monthly, bimonthly or quarterly, with a date on the cover that is in advance of the date it is actually published. They are often printed in color on coated paper, and are bound with a soft cover. Magazines fall into two broad categories: consumer magazines and business magazines. In practice, magazines are a subset of periodicals, distinct from those periodicals produced by scientific, artistic, academic or special interest publishers which are subscription-only, more expensive, narrowly limited in circulation, and often have little or no advertising. Consumer magazines are aimed at the public and are usually available through retail outlets. They range from general-interest titles such as Time, Esquire and Cosmopolitan, which appeal to a broad spectrum of readers, to highly specialist titles covering particular hobbies, leisure pursuits or other interests. Among the hundreds or thousands of topics covered by specialist magazines are, for example, computer games, fishing, particular marques of automobile, particular kinds of music, and particular political interests. While most of these magazines are available in the whole of the country in which they are published, some are specific to a local area, and a relatively small number are available internationally - often through localised editions so that, for example, the copy of Maxim bought in the USA does not contain the exact same articles as the edition on sale in the UK. Some, such as TV Guide are even tailored for local markets within a country. Most make the bulk of their money from advertising, and earn a smaller amount from the purchase price paid by readers; a few are free. A subset of the consumer magazine is the customer magazine, a publication similar in format and style to a consumer magazine but issued by an organisation such as a club, a retailer or an airline to communicate with its customers. Such magazines are usually free to the reader; the quantity of advertising that they carry varies greatly; and their circulations range from very small to very large - in some countries customer magazines are among the highest-circulation of all magazines. The other broad category of magazine is the business magazine, sometimes called a trade magazine or B2B (business-to-business) magazine. These publications carry news and other information relevant to a particular profession or industry. Some are sold through retail outlets, and indeed some of the most general such as Forbes and Business Week are in many respects similar to the current-affairs-oriented consumer magazines. However, many business magazines are available only, or predominantly, on subscription. In some cases these subscriptions are available to any person prepared to pay; in others, free subscriptions are available to readers who meet a set of criteria established by the publisher. This practice, known as controlled circulation, is intended to guarantee to advertisers that the readership is relevant to their needs. Very often the two models, of paid-for subscriptions and controlled circulation, are mixed. Advertising is also an important source of revenue for business magazines. Although similar to a magazine in some respects, an academic periodical featuring scholarly articles written in a more specialist register is usually called an "academic journal". Such publications typically carry little or no advertising. Periodical is the word usually used to describe magazines, journals, newspapers, newsletters, and anything else that is published in regular intervals for an indefinite period of time, but serial is sometimes used, especially in library and information science. Many weekend newspapers incorporate magazine supplements, such as Parade and LIFE in its most recent incarnation, both in the USA, and the Sunday Times Magazine in the UK. The Gentleman's Magazine, first published in 1731, is considered to be the first general-interest magazine. The oldest magazine still in print is The Scots Magazine, which was first published in 1739, though multiple changes in ownership and gaps in publication totaling over 90 years weaken that claim. The most widely distributed magazine in the world is The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah's Kingdom (founded in 1879). Its worldwide circulation including all editions comprises 26.5 million copies. 1879

United Kingdom

:For other meanings of the terms "United Kingdom" and "UK" , see United Kingdom (disambiguation) and UK (disambiguation). :For an explanation of terms like England, (Great) Britain and United Kingdom see British Isles (terminology). The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (usually shortened to the United Kingdom or the UK) is a country located off the north-western coast of continental Europe, surrounded by the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea, the Irish Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean. It is composed of four constituent parts: three constituent countries—England, Scotland, and Wales—on the island of Great Britain, and the province of Northern Ireland on the island of Ireland. The border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland forms the United Kingdom's principal international land border, although there is a nominal frontier with France in the middle of the Channel Tunnel. The UK has several overseas territories and the Crown dependencies of the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands come under the UK's sovereignty. The UK also has close relationships with the fifteen other Commonwealth Realms, as they all share the same head of state. The UK is also one of the largest member states of the European Union and a founding partner of both the UN and NATO.
Terminology

- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: The official name for the sovereign state
- United Kingdom: an abbreviation of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- Britain: an informal term that sometimes means United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and sometimes means Great Britain
- British: an informal term that sometimes means from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and sometimes means from Great Britain
- Great Britain (as a geographical term): the largest island of the British Isles
- Great Britain (as a political term): England + Wales + Scotland
- British Isles (as a geographical term): Great Britain + Ireland + many smaller surrounding islands. This term is disputed, please see below.
- Ireland (as a geographical term): the second largest island of the British Isles
- Ireland (as a political term): an abbreviation of the Republic of Ireland, a sovereign state on the island of Ireland
- Northern Ireland: a political region of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- Ulster (as a geographical term): Often used to refer to Northern Ireland. It is derived from the Irish Language term 'Ulad.' It was one of the ancient Irish provinces (the others were Connaught, Leinster and Munster.). Although it is normally used to refer to Northern Ireland, Ulster also (traditionally) includes Counties Cavan, Monaghan and Donegal, which lie in the Republic of Ireland. The term Ulster is often favoured by the Protestant community.
History
Protestant Today's state is the latest of several unions formed over the last 1000 years. Scotland and England have existed as separate unified entities since the 10th century. Wales, under English control since the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284, became part of the Kingdom of England by the Laws in Wales Act 1535. With the Act of Union 1707, the separate kingdoms of England and Scotland, having shared the same monarch since 1603, agreed to a permanent union as the Kingdom of Great Britain. The Act of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain with the Kingdom of Ireland, which had been gradually brought under English control between 1169 and 1691, to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was formed in 1922, after bitter fighting which echoes down to the current political strife, the Anglo-Irish Treaty partitioned Ireland into the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland, with the latter remaining part of the United Kingdom. As provided for in the treaty, Northern Ireland, which consists of six of the nine counties of the Irish province of Ulster, immediately opted out of the Free State and to remain in the UK. The nomenclature of the UK was changed in 1927 to recognise the departure of most of Ireland, with the current name being adopted. 1927 The United Kingdom, the dominant industrial and maritime power of the 19th century, played a leading role in developing Western world ideas of property, liberty, capitalism and parliamentary democracy - to say nothing of its part in advancing world literature and science. At its zenith, the British Empire stretched over one quarter of the Earth's surface and encompassed a third of its population. The first half of the 20th century saw the UK's strength seriously depleted from the effects of World War I and World War II. The second half witnessed the dismantling of the Empire and the UK rebuilding itself into a modern and prosperous nation. The UK has been a member of the European Union since 1973. Its attitude towards further integration is conservative, and there is significant Euroscepticism in UK politics. It has not chosen to adopt the Euro, owing to internal political considerations and the government's judgement of the prevailing economic conditions.
Government and politics
The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy, with executive power exercised on behalf of the Queen by the Prime Minister and other cabinet ministers who head departments. The cabinet, including the Prime Minister, and other ministers collectively make up Her Majesty's Government. These ministers are drawn from and are responsible to Parliament, the legislative body, which is traditionally considered to be "supreme" (that is, able to legislate on any matter and not bound by decisions of its predecessors). The UK is one of the few countries in the world today that does not have a codified constitution, relying instead on customs and separate pieces of constitutional law. While the monarch is Head of State and holds all executive power, it is the Prime Minister who is the head of government. The government is answerable chiefly to the House of Commons and the Prime Minister is drawn from this chamber of Parliament by constitutional convention. The majority of cabinet members will be from the House of Commons, the rest from the House of Lords. Ministers do not, however, legally have to come from Parliament, though that is the modern day custom. The British system of government has been emulated around the world - a legacy of the United Kingdom's colonial past - most notably in the other Commonwealth Realms. The Prime Minister is chosen as the MP who can command a majority in the House of Commons - usually the leader of the largest party or, if there is no majority party, the largest coalition. The current Prime Minister is Tony Blair of the Labour Party, who has been in office since 1997. In the United Kingdom the monarch has extensive theoretical powers, but his or her role is mainly, though not exclusively, ceremonial. The monarch is an integral part of Parliament (as the "Crown-in-Parliament") and theoretically gives Parliament the power to meet and create legislation. An Act of Parliament does not become law until it has been signed by the Queen (being given Royal Assent), although no monarch has refused to assent to a bill that has been approved by Parliament since Queen Anne in 1708. Although the abolition of the monarchy has been suggested several times, the popularity of the monarchy remains strong in spite of recent controversies. Support for a British republic usually fluctuates between 15% and 25% of the population, with roughly 10% undecided or indifferent [http://www.mori.com/mrr/2000/c000616.shtml]. The current monarch is Queen Elizabeth II who acceded to the throne in 1952 and was crowned in 1953. Parliament is the national legislature of the United Kingdom. It is the ultimate legislative authority in the United Kingdom, according to the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty. It is bicameral, composed of the elected House of Commons and the unelected House of Lords, whose members are mostly appointed. The House of Commons is the more powerful of the two houses. The House of Commons has 646 members who are directly elected from single-member constituencies based on population. The House of Lords has 724 members (though this number is not fixed): hereditary peers, life peers, and bishops of the Church of England. The Church of England is the established church of the state in England. established church]] The two largest political parties are the Labour Party and Conservative Party. The UK has long had a two-party system, but in the last 20 years the Liberal Democrats have re-emerged as a large third party. The electoral system used for general elections is first-past-the-post. The constitution of the United Kingdom is un-codified and partially unwritten, which means that no single document regulates how the government works, and unwritten constitutional conventions are used extensively. The constitution is based on the principle that Parliament is the ultimate sovereign body in the country. There has long been a widespread sense of national identity in the Celtic nations. Throughout the late 19th century the UK debated giving Ireland home rule. The Scottish National Party was founded in 1934, and Plaid Cymru (Party of Wales) in 1925. Referenda for devolution succeeded in 1997 for Scotland and Wales and in 1998 for Northern Ireland. In 1999, the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales were established, the former having primary legislative power. Proportional representation is used for the elections, which has resulted in a Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition government in Scotland. Due to internal disagreements, the Northern Ireland Assembly has been suspended since 2002.
Subdivisions
The United Kingdom is a country that is divided into four constituent parts:
- England
- Scotland
- Northern Ireland
- Wales The constituent parts of the United Kingdom have administrative subdivisions as follows:
- The regions and administrative counties of England
- The council areas of Scotland
- The counties and county boroughs of Wales
- The districts of Northern Ireland The Laws in Wales Act 1535 incorporated Wales and England into England and Wales for legal purposes. Although all four have historically been divided into counties, England's population is an order of magnitude larger than the others so in recent years it has for some purposes been divided into nine intermediate-level Government Office Regions. Each region is made up of counties and unitary authorities, apart from London, which consists of London boroughs. Although at one point it was intended that each or some of these regions would be given its own regional assembly, the plan's future is uncertain, as of 2004, after the North East region rejected its proposed assembly in a referendum. Scotland consists of 32 Council Areas. Wales consists of 22 Unitary Authorities, styled as 10 County Boroughs, 9 Counties, and 3 Cities. Northern Ireland is divided into 26 Districts. Also sometimes associated with the United Kingdom, though not constitutionally part of the United Kingdom itself, are the Crown dependencies (the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey, and the Isle of Man) as self-governing possessions of the Crown, and a number of overseas territories under the sovereignty of the United Kingdom.
Military
The armed forces of the United Kingdom are known as the British Armed Forces or Her Majesty's Armed Forces, officially the Armed Forces of the Crown. Their Commander-in-Chief is the Queen and they are managed by the Ministry of Defence. Ministry of Defence The British Armed Forces are charged with protecting the United Kingdom and its overseas territories, promoting the United Kingdom's wider security interests, and supporting international peacekeeping efforts. They are active and regular participants in NATO and other coalition operations. The United Kingdom fields one of the most powerful and comprehensive military forces in the World. Its global power projection capabilities are second only to those of the United States Armed Forces. The British Army had a reported strength of 112,700 in 2004, including 7,600 women, and the Royal Air Force a strength of 53,400. The 40,900-member Royal Navy is in charge of the United Kingdom's independent strategic nuclear arm, which consists of four Trident Ballistic Missile Submarines, while the Royal Marines provide infantry units for amphibious assault and for specialist reinforcement forces in and beyond the NATO area. This puts total active duty military troops in the 210,000 range, currently deployed in over 80 countries. The UK's special forces, principally the SAS, provides elite commandos trained for quick, mobile, military responses; often where secrecy or covert operations are required. The Royal Navy is the second largest navy in the World in terms of gross tonnage. Despite the United Kingdom's wide ranging capabilities, recent pragmatic defence policy has a stated assumption that any large operation would be undertaken as part of a coalition. Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq (Granby, No-Fly-Zones, Desert Fox and Telic) may all be taken as precedent - indeed the last true war in which the British military fought alone was the Falklands War of 1982, in which military action was initiated by Argentina and the UK was fighting a defensive, rather than offensive, campaign. The British army has been actively involved in the Troubles in Northern Ireland. However, a programme of demilitarisation is being gradually implemented.
Geography
Troubles World Factbook Map of the United Kingdom]] Most of England consists of rolling lowland terrain, divided east from west by more mountainous terrain in the Northwest (Cumbrian Mountains of the Lake District) and north (the upland moors of the Pennines) and limestone hills of the Peak District by the Tees-Exe line. The lower limestone hills of the Isle of Purbeck, Cotswolds, Lincolnshire and chalk downs of the Southern England Chalk Formation. The main rivers and estuaries are the Thames, Severn and the Humber Estuary. The largest urban area is Greater London. Near Dover, the Channel Tunnel links the United Kingdom with France. There is no peak in England that is 1000 metres (3,300 ft) or greater. Wales is mostly mountainous, the highest peak being Snowdon at 1085 metres (3,560 ft) above sea level. North of the mainland is the island of Anglesey. The largest and capital city is Cardiff, located in South Wales. Scotland's geography is varied, with lowlands in the south and east and highlands in the north and west, including Ben Nevis, the UK's highest mountain at 1343 metres (4,406 ft). There are many long and deep-sea arms, firths, and lochs. A multitude of islands west and north of Scotland are also included, notably the Hebrides, Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands. The largest city is Glasgow. Northern Ireland, making up the north-eastern part of Ireland, is mostly hilly. The main cities are Belfast ('Beal Feirste' in Irish) and Londonderry / Derry ('Doire' in Irish). The province is home to one of the UK’s World Heritage Sites, the Giant's Causeway, which consists of more than 40,000 six-sided basalt columns up to 40 feett (12 m) high. In total it is estimated that the UK includes around 1098 small islands, some being natural and some being crannogs, a type of artificial island which was built in past times using stone and wood, gradually enlarged by natural waste building up over time.
Economy
artificial island The United Kingdom, a leading trading power and financial centre, has an essentially capitalist economy, the fourth largest in the world in terms of market exchange rates and the sixth largest by purchasing power parity (PPP) exchange rates. Over the past three decades, the government has greatly reduced public ownership by means of privatisation programmes, and has contained the growth of the Welfare State. Agriculture is intensive, highly mechanised, and efficient by European standards, producing about 60% of food needs with only 1% of the labour force. The UK has large coal, natural gas, and oil reserves; primary energy production accounts for 10% of GDP, one of the highest shares of any industrial state. Services, particularly banking, insurance and business services, account for by far the largest proportion of GDP. Industry continues to decline in importance, although the UK is still Europe's largest manufacturer of armaments, petroleum products, personal computers, televisions, and mobile telephones. Tourism is also important: with over 24 million tourists a year, between China (33) and Austria (19.1), the United Kingdom is ranked as the sixth major tourist destination in the world. The Blair government has put off the question of participation in the Euro system, citing five economic tests that would need to be met before they recommend that the UK adopts the Euro, and hold a referendum.
Society

Demographics
At the April 2001 census, the United Kingdom's population was 58,789,194, the third-largest in the European Union (behind Germany and metropolitan France) and the twenty-first largest in the world. Its overall population density is one of the highest in the world. Almost one-third of the population lives in England's prosperous south-east and is predominantly urban and suburban--with about 7.2 million in the capital of London. The United Kingdom's high literacy rate (99%) is attributable to universal public education introduced for the primary level in 1870 and secondary level in 1900 (except in Scotland where it was introduced in 1696). Education is mandatory from ages five through sixteen. referendum The Church of England and the Church of Scotland function as the official national religions in their respective countries, but most religions found in the world are represented in the United Kingdom. Anglicanism is the state religion that has been established in England since 1534 during the reign of King Henry VIII. During his reign, England broke ties with the Roman Catholic church and established the Church of England as the offical religion of England. Reforms to the nature of the church's relationship to the state have been ongoing, especially concerning the nature of the House of Lords and the appointment of a fixed amount of the lordships going to Lords Temporal, bishops of the Church of England. A group of islands close to continental Europe, the British Isles have been subject to many invasions and migrations, especially from Scandinavia and the continent, including Roman occupation for several centuries. Contemporary Britons are descended mainly from the varied ethnic stocks that settled there before the eleventh century. The pre-Celtic, Celtic, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, and Norse influences were blended on Great Britain under the Normans, Scandinavian Vikings who had lived in Northern France. Although Celtic languages persist in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, the predominant language is English, which is a West Germanic language descended from Old English, featuring a large amount of borrowings from Norman French.The other indigenous languages include the Celtic languages; Welsh, the closely related Irish and Scots Gaelic, and the Cornish language; as well as Lowland Scots, which is closely related to English; Romany; and British Sign Language (Northern Ireland Sign Language is also used in Northern Ireland). Celtic dialectal influences from Cumbric persisted in Northern England for many centuries, most famously in a unique set of numbers used for counting sheep. Recent immigrants, especially from the Commonwealth, speak many other languages, including Bengali, Cantonese, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu. The United Kingdom has the largest number of Hindi speaking peoples outside of the Indian sub continent.
Culture
Urdu The United Kingdom contains many of the world's leading universities, including the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford and the University of London (which incorporates, amongst others, Imperial College and University College London), and has produced many great scientists and engineers including Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Isambard Kingdom Brunel; the nation is credited with many inventions including the locomotive, vaccination, television, vacuum, and both the internal combustion and the jet engine. The English language has spread to all corners of the world (primarily because of the country’s empire) and is referred to as a ‘global language’. It is now taught as a second language more than any other around the world. Over the next few decades, it is estimated that approximately half the world’s population will be proficient in the language. Playwright William Shakespeare is arguably the most famous writer in the history of the English language; other well-known writers from the United Kingdom include the Brontë sisters (Charlotte, Emily, and Anne), Jane Austen, William Thackeray, J. R. R. Tolkien, John Milton, H. G. Wells and Charles Dickens. Important poets include Lord Byron, Robert Burns, Lord Tennyson and William Blake. Notable composers from the United Kingdom have included William Byrd, John Taverner, William Lawes, John Dowland, Thomas Tallis, and Henry Purcell from the 16th and early 17th centuries, and, more recently, Sir Edward Elgar, Sir Arthur Sullivan (most famous for working with librettist Sir W. S. Gilbert), Ralph Vaughan Williams and Benjamin Britten in the 19th and 20th. George Frideric Handel spent most of his composing life in England. The BBC is the oldest and perhaps the most respected broadcasting network on the globe, with the BBC World Service radio channel and its news output held in particularly high regard. The other main television networks are ITV, Channel 4, five (TV) and Sky Television. Popular programmes in the UK include the three soaps Eastenders, Coronation Street and Emmerdale, as well as the comedy news quiz Have I Got News For You and Reality TV shows Big Brother and The X Factor. Various British TV formats have been exported to other nations, notably Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, The Weakest Link and The Office. The UK was, with the US, one of the two main contributors in the development of rock and roll, and the UK has provided some of the most famous rock stars, including the Beatles, Queen, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, the Rolling Stones, The Who and many others. The UK was at the forefront of punk rock music in the 1970s with bands such as the Sex Pistols and The Clash, and the subsequent rebirth of heavy metal with bands such as Motörhead and Iron Maiden. In mid to late '90s, the Britpop phenomenon has seen bands such as Oasis, Blur, Radiohead and Coldplay gain international fame. The UK is also at the forefront of electronica, with British artists such as Aphex Twin, Talvin Singh, Nitin Sawhney and Lamb at the cutting edge. The United Kingdom was also associated with music from the Caribbean, with a large number of Jamaicans and other Caribbean nationals being present in the UK.
Sport
A great number of major sports originated in the United Kingdom, including football, golf, cricket, rugby, tennis and boxing. The national sport of the UK is association football, but the UK does not compete as a nation in any major football tournament. Instead, the home nations compete individually as England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It is because of this unique four-team arrangement that the UK currently does not compete in football events at the Olympic Games. However, a united team will probably take part in the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, as these are hosted in London. The English and Northern Irish football associations have confirmed participation in this team while the Scottish FA and the Welsh FA have declined to participate. The UK also hosts many world-renowned football clubs, such as Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal in England and Rangers and Celtic in Scotland. Clubs compete in national leagues and competitions and some go on to compete in European competitions. Both forms of rugby are national sports. Rugby League originates from and is generally played in the North of England, whilst Rugby Union is played all over Britain. In Rugby League the UK plays as one nation - Great Britain - whilst in union it is represented by the four nations. England are the current holders of the Rugby Union World Cup. Every four years the British and Irish Lions (comprising the best players from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland) tour other countries. Cricket is also played in the UK, although it is focussed in England. The Wimbledon Championships are an international tennis event held in Wimbledon in south London every summer and are seen as the most prestigious of the tennis calendar. Golf is one of the most popular participation sports played in the UK and St Andrews in Scotland is the sport's home course.
Miscellaneous topics

External links

- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/state/nations/ BBC Nations] History of the nations within the UK.
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)]
- [http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/uk.html CIA World Factbook: UK.]
- [http://www.direct.gov.uk Gateway to UK governmental services and websites.]
- [http://www.number-10.gov.uk Number 10 Downing Street]
- [http://www.statistics.gov.uk Office of National Statistics]
- [http://www.opsi.gov.uk Office of Public Sector Information] Source for all UK legislation 1987-present (successor to Her Majesty's Stationery Office).
- [http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/britishisles/ The British Isles] Independent view of the UK.
- [http://www.royal.gov.uk The British Monarchy]
- [http://www.parliament.uk/ The United Kingdom Parliament]
- [http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=5703&Pos=&ColRank=1&Rank=272 Official Yearbook of the UK] factbook produced by the Office for National Statistics (years 2000 to 2005 available online).
- [http://www.ukcities.co.uk UK Cities] lists a variety of useful resources for every city in the UK.
- [http://www.justuk.org UK travel guide] United Kingdom for travellers.
- [http://www.world66.com/europe/unitedkingdom World66 Guide to United Kingdom] A travel guide written by its users.
- [http://www.multimap.co.uk www.multimap.co.uk] provides online maps and aerial photographs of the UK.
- [http://www.streetmap.co.uk www.streetmap.co.uk] an alternative to multimap.
- [http://www.freeworldmaps.net/europe/united-kingdom/map.html Physical map of United Kingdom.]
- [http://www.upmystreet.com www.upmystreet.com] detailed localised information about places in the United Kingdom.
- [http://www.parks.it/world/UK/Eindex.html UK Parks] National parks, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and other protected areas. ----
Category:British Isles Category:European countries Category:European Union member states Category:Members of the Commonwealth of Nations Category:Monarchies A als:Grossbritannien und Nordirland zh-min-nan:Liân-ha̍p Ông-kok ko:영국 ms:United Kingdom ja:イギリス simple:United Kingdom th:สหราชอาณาจักร

Indie rock

Indie rock is rock music that falls within the indie music description. The term is sometimes used interchangeably with indie music as a whole, though more specifically implies that the music meets the criteria of being rock, as opposed to indie pop or other possible matchups. These criteria vary from an emphasis on rock instrumentation (electric guitars, bass guitar and live drums) to more abstract (and debatable) rockist constructions of authenticity. The music commonly regarded as indie rock is descended from what was known as alternative rock during the 1980s; this name refers to the fact that it was an alternative to mainstream rock. Alternative bands of the time, in turn, were influenced by the punk rock, post-punk, and New Wave movements of the 1970s and early 1980s. During the first half of the 1990s alternative music, led by grunge bands such as Nirvana and Pearl Jam, broke into the mainstream and achieved commercial chart success. Shortly thereafter, the alternative genre became commercialised, as mainstream success attracted major-label investment and commercially-oriented or manufactured acts with a formulaic, conservative approach. With this, the meaning of the label "alternative" changed away from its original, more countercultural meaning, and the term "indie rock" fell into greater use. "Indie rock" is shorthand for "independent rock," which stems from the general rule that most of its artists are signed to independent record labels, rather than major record labels. It is not strictly a genre of music (given that musical style and independence are not always correlated), but is often used as an umbrella term covering a wide range of artists and styles, connected by some degree of allegiance to the values of underground culture, and (usually) describable as rock and roll. Genres or subgenres often associated with indie rock include lo-fi, post-rock, shoegazer, garage punk, emo, slowcore, c86, twee pop, and math rock, to list but a few; other related (and sometimes overlapping) categories include alternative rock and indie pop. Typically, indie artists place a premium on maintaining complete control of their music and careers, often releasing albums on their own independent record labels and relying on touring, word-of-mouth, and airplay on independent or college radio stations for promotion. Some of its more popular artists, however, may end up signing to major labels, though often on favourable terms won by their prior independent success.

Indie: status or genre?

In the UK, indie music charts have been compiled since at least the 1980s. These charts initially featured independent bands that emerged from punk and post-punk, as well as indie pop artists such as Aztec Camera and Orange Juice, the C86 jangle-pop movement and the twee pop of Sarah Records artists. The bands were distinguished by having their records released by small labels, independently of the major record companies. The 1980s indie scene directly influenced 1990s Britpop artists such as Blur and Suede (though many of these were technically not wholly "indepedent" artists, being signed to major labels). More recently, the term "indie rock" has become so incredibly broad that almost anything from post-punk to alt-country to synth-pop to afrobeat to ambient to noise pop to IDM to psychedelic folk to hundreds of other genres can fall under its umbrella. In fact, there are likely to be several popular, and wildly varying, strains of indie rock going at any given time. For example, some of the more popular recent strains include:
- New folk, an updated take on the folk music of the 1960s, typically designated by quiet vocals and more ornate, orchestral instrumentation and arrangements. (See: Sufjan Stevens, Iron and Wine)
- Freak-folk, a more experimental take on New Folk that generally revolves around quirky, psych-inflected folk songs and ballads. (See: Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom, Animal Collective, Six Organs of Admittance)
- New Weird America, the most heavily psych-damaged strain of New Folk, frequently consisting of avant-garde noise, drones, or dissonance, and often employing natural field recordings for added atmosphere. (See: No-Neck Blues Band, Tower Recordings, Wooden Wand and the Vanishing Voice)
- Dance-punk, a hybridization of electronic dance music and punk rock aesthetics. (See: LCD Soundsystem, The Rapture, !!!, Out Hud, Radio 4)
- Garage rock revival, a throwback to a more primitive 60s rock and roll sound which was heavily influenced by Delta blues. (See: The White Stripes, The Strokes, The Hives, The Von Bondies)
- Nu-gaze, an updated version of shoegazer that tends to lean more heavily on synths than its more guitar-focused predecessor. (See: Sigur Ros, Ulrich Schnauss, M83, Serena Maneesh)
- Indietronic, a descendent of electropop that finds a more conventional approach to indie rock or indie pop backed almost exclusively by highly digitized electronic instrumentation. (See: The Postal Service, The Notwist, Manitoba, Dntel, Lali Puna) Also among the most popular strains of indie rock at present is Neo-Wave. Popularized by bands such as Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party and Futureheads, it is influenced primarily by the New Wave and post-punk movements of the 1980s. The core of this movement has mostly been the resurgence of spiky 80's post punk rhythms and riffs akin to those played by Gang of Four, Television and Wire. Often this style has been blended with other alternative genres such as garage rock (Death From Above 1979), synth rock (The Killers) and post-punk (Interpol). Some would also classify the Scissor Sisters and many others within this genre, which is very popular in the UK, forming the backbone of the Zane Lowe show, a popular evening radio show on Radio 1. Whether this particular movement embodies the indie ethos is debatable. Many of these bands are signed to independent labels, and express a disdain of the major-label marketing apparatus. (In the 8th January 2005 issue of NME, Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand authored an article championing the genre, saying independent labels 'have character', how they are 'run by people who are passionate about music' and stressing 'why independent record labels are so important' as the saviour of good music.) Critics point out that, while many of the bands are signed to labels technically independent of the Big Four, the movement is highly commercial, image-oriented and market-driven, with millions of dollars spent on marketing and the investment of corporate promoters such as MTV, Clear Channel and Carling; a far cry from the traditional indie world of labels run out of bedrooms by friends of the bands and unconcerned with commercial success. Furthermore, much of this movement has been said to be rigidly formulaic, with a set of aesthetic stances (i.e., the severe black suits and thin ties of bands such as Interpol and Kaiser Chiefs) and sounds imitating a small number of 1970s/1980s post-punk and New Wave bands, and thus not particularly independent in spirit. While some artists in this movement may embody the DIY aesthetic and unconcerned attitude of indie more than others, it cannot be said to infuse the entire movement. Further muddying the waters of the technical definition of "indie" is the fact that independence from major labels and independence from market-driven commercialism are not always correlated. For a time in the late 1990s, three of the most successful artists in the UK indie charts were
- NSYNC, the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears. All three were signed to Zomba, which was technically an independent label at the time. (Zomba has since become part of major label Sony BMG). In contrast, there have been a small number of notable artists (such as Radiohead, Pulp and The Flaming Lips) who have maintained considerable creative independence and won critical acclaim whilst signed to major labels.

Indie Rock in North America

"Scenes" are localized music-oriented communities that exist in many cities, especially in the U.S. and Canada. These have existed for decades now, in one way or another, but it is now commonplace for a city or town to have a punk scene, a metal scene, or many other scenes based on other forms of art. Indie music scenes became important in the early 1980s, when the rest of the country caught up with punk rock music from New York and London. Scenes are important in keeping indie and punk rock fresh and inventive, because it allows people from a wide audience to hear new independent music and contribute their own talents to it. Obviously, depending on what town one is in, the feel of the scene (and therefore the music that comes out of it) may change significantly. Arguably, the 1980s indie scene in Washington D.C. was pivotal in changing the outcome of punk and indie rock for decades to come. Bands like Minor Threat, the Bad Brains, Fugazi, and Rites of Spring helped to shape the sound of underground music for years to come. Los Angeles was important around this this time as well, producing bands like the Descendents, Bad Religion, and Black Flag. Around the mid-1980s, as punk and New-Wave's mainstream influence died down considerably, there rose a couple of other important movements. Minneapolis was very important around this time. Bands like Hüsker Dü, the Minutemen, and the Replacements would influence many punk bands after them. People involved in these bands, such as Bob Mould and Paul Westerberg still contribute to the music scene today. During the late 1980s in the Bay Area of California, bands like Operation Ivy, Green Day, and later, Rancid would take form to give a new sound to punk rock. On the opposite end of the country, Frank Black, Kim Deal, and Kristin Hersh were forming bands like the Pixies, Throwing Muses, and eventually The Breeders. These bands would influence the next wave of indie rock, which came from Seattle. The Seattle scene became popular in the early 1990s, when bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, and the Screaming Trees had immense success with their music. This was unique since it signaled the first time in a long time that punk rock or indie rock had become once again in vogue with the masses. Bands such as the Pixies and Sonic Youth, who were not given much mainstream credibility up to this point, found themselves adored by new fans. As of the new millenium, there are many new scenes appearing on the radar in North America, all with unique sounds. One is the Omaha-based Saddle Creek Records, which is home to several highly regarded indie rock acts, most notably Bright Eyes and Cursive. Bright Eyes singer/songwriter and Omaha native Conor Oberst, who started the label, has been called the "King of Indie Rock" by Rolling Stone magazine, although his "indie cred" is often less than high. Some publications such as Pitchfork Media are now claiming Montreal as North America's indie rock capital, due to bands such as The Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade, Frog Eyes and The Unicorns. Other Canadian indie-rock notables include The Organ. Portland, Oregon has also become a hot spot for indie bands, being the home of such acts as The Decemberists, The Dandy Warhols, Quasi, and the late Elliott Smith. San Diego has bred its fair share of influential bands such as The Locust, Black Heart Procession, Three Mile Pilot, and The Album Leaf. New York City (notably the neighborhood of Williamsburg, Brooklyn) has also been cited as a major scene for recent indie rock music with such bands as The Walkmen, TV on the Radio, Interpol, the Strokes, the French Kicks and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Los Angeles' indie scene is mostly centered in the gritty Koreatown and the bohemian Silverlake areas of the city, which have given rise to such bands as Moving Units, Autolux, the Midnight Movies, the Movies, Giant Drag, Icebird, and the Blood Arm. The Washington, DC area has also re-emerged as a hotbed of indie music. The area gained notoriety in the 1980s when it became one of the flagship cities of the American hardcore punk movement, with bands such as Minor Threat, Government Issue and Rites of Spring. All of these bands were on Minor Threat frontman Ian MacKaye's own record label, Dischord Records. Now the city is re-emerging as a hotbed of indie rock acts, namely MacKaye's own Fugazi, as well as Q and Not U, Black Eyes, Dead Meadow, Decahedron, and The Evens: Who have inspired many local DC bands such as pg. 99, Make Up Crestfallen, Haram, Reactor No. 7, Majority Rule and many others who are all just as equal and talented because they're all helping make the Washington, DC area a major factor in the indie rock movement thats been growning since the 1960's throughout all of Northern America and largly the world over.

External links

- [http://www.extremeindieradio.com eXtreme Indie Radio - Unsigned Music Without Limits!]
- [http://www.indiebandradio.com Indie Band Radio - All Unsigned... All the Time!]
- [http://www.pitchforkmedia.com Pitchfork Media: The definitive online resource for independent music news and reviews]
- [http://www.nme.com/ NME: Britain's original indie-friendly publication]
- [http://www.trouserpress.com/ Trouserpress: Massively influential 1980s indie publication, now an online record guide]
- [http://www.last.fm/tag/indie Last.fm's indie radio]
- [http://www.xfm.co.uk/ XFM: main UK indie radio station]
- [http://www.quoster.com/ Quoster: Quote database targeted at indie kids]

References

- Mathieson, Craig (2000), The Sell-In: How the Music Business Seduced Alternative Rock, Sydney, Allen and Unwin Category:Alternative music

1952

1952 (MCMLII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar).

Events

January

- January 8 - West Germany has 8 million refugees inside its borders.
- January 24 - Sudden heavy snowfall in Algeria.
- January 24 - Vincent Massey sworn in as first Canada-born Governor-General of Canada.

February

Governor-General of Canada and her mother, Queen Elizabeth at the funeral of King George VI.]]
- February 2 - A tropical storm forms just north of Cuba moving northeast. The storm makes landfall in southern Florida the next day. It is the earliest reported landfall from a tropical storm, and the earliest formation of a tropical storm on record in the Atlantic basin.
- February 6 - Elizabeth II becomes Queen upon the death of her father George VI.
- February 6 - In the United States, a mechanical heart is used for the first time in a human patient.
- February 14 to February 25 - Winter Olympics in Oslo
- February 15 - Funeral of King George VI takes place at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.
- February 16 - Roman Catholic Diocese of Baker formed in Eastern Oregon.
- February 20 - Emmett L. Ashford becomes the first African-American umpire in organized baseball by being authorized to be a substitute umpire in the Southwestern International League.
- February 21 - Winston Churchill scraps UK compulsory na

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Indie rock

Indie: status or genre?

Indie Rock in North America

See also

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References

1952

Events

January

February