The Complete Cultural History of the Indie Rock Explosion

However you found your way to indie rock-- maybe you caught a few seconds of "Teenage Riot” while scanning the FM dial, snuck Liz Phair's "Exile in Guyville" from an older sibling's CD collection or downloaded every Radiohead song you could find because they were your crush's favorite band-- once you were a real listener, it felt like being part of a secret club of people who had discovered something special, something superior.

At Stereogum, music journalist Chris DeVille has written extensively about indie music for the last 12 years. In 2014, he launched "The Week In Pop," a column exploring mainstream music from an indie fan's perspective. His new book, Such Great Heights: The Complete Cultural History of the Indie Rock Explosion, captures indie rock's height in the early aughts through the 2010s when streaming upends the industry. The book covers the gamut of bands like Arcade Fire, TV On The Radio, LCD Soundsystem, Haim, Pavement and Bon Iver and touches on defining pop culture moments.

Nerdy and fun, Such Great Heights is about how subculture becomes pop culture, how capitalism consumes what’s "cool" and who gets to define what's hip and why. Purchase a copy at the event, which is presented in partnership with the McConnell Arts Center and Gramercy Books.

The event is free, but seat reservations are required.