Most influential indie albums by year since 1993

When working on "Exile in Guyville," Phair claimed it was a song-for-song reply to the Rolling Stones' "Exile on Main St." That was never true, but it's also irrelevant. What the album is, in actuality, is an unabashed, open and honest reflection of Phair's life as a woman in her twenties dealing with a lot of stuff — including the male-dominated world of indie rock that she was a part of. Phair proved with "Exile in Guyville" that she could hold her own with the boys. In 2023, Phair toured the album in full in a worthy anniversary celebration.

Pavement's first album, "Slanted and Enchanted," is great, but it's also indebted to bands like The Fall and featured erratic old hippy Gary Young (R.I.P) on drums. With "Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain," Pavement established the lineup that would last for their final four albums and also made the quintessential slacker rock album. So many bands cite Pavement as an influence, and that influence can be heard in "Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain."

"A.M." is not the most acclaimed, or best remembered, Wilco album. It is their first, though. This album set the table for everything Jeff Tweedy and company did afterward, and the influence of Wilco is clear in the indie and alt-country world.

Stuart Murdoch's Scottish pop sensibilities are on full display in Belle and Sebastian's second album. "If You're Feeling Sinister" has received critical acclaim from a variety of outlets — some of which have declared it one of the best albums from the '90s. Pitchfork even made an hour-long documentary about the making of the album, which you don't get if you aren’t influential.

Elliott Smith was so influential in his brief life that any album of his could justifiably make this list. However, "Either/Or" is the one that Gus Van Sant heard, which led him to ask Smith to contribute to the soundtrack for "Good Will Hunting." That led to "Miss Misery," which led to Smith getting an Oscar nomination.

"In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" didn't just influence people. It basically started a cult around Jeff Mangum. There don't seem to be any casual Neutral Milk Hotel fans. This album is worshipped.

Every guitar-solo heavy, bombastic indie band of the new millennium owes a little something to Built to Spill, and particularly "Keep it Like a Secret." The album is a robust 47 minutes, and frontman Doug Martsch wields his guitar with aplomb. The band played this album in its entirety at a concert once, which says it all.

The Hives were at the front of the short-lived garage rock revival, which is close enough to indie to count. Their song "Hate to Say I Told You So" struck a chord with people and briefly got people paying attention to garage rock again. Hey, something can still be massively influential even if that influence burns out quickly.

The Strokes came out of nowhere and seemed to turn the music world on its head for a moment. In the wake of "Is This It," it felt like there were as many Strokes clones as there were Nirvana clones back in the day. It was a really good album, but its influence was certainly outsized.

The verbose lyricism and DIY ethos of John Darnielle, who was The Mountain Goats at the time of this album, has many admirers and imitators. "All Hail West Texas" was a clarion call for the power of lo-fi art. It was the last Mountain Goats album recorded by Darnielle alone, and the last one to be recorded into a boombox, leaving a tape recorder hiss prevalent throughout the album.

For a band that only released one album, The Postal Service has left a lasting legacy. "Give Up" is one of the seminal albums of its era, and it is filled with iconic songs that are unforgettable. There's a reason that The Postal Service was able to reunite to play "Give Up" to adoring crowds again to commemorate its 10th anniversary.

Prior to "Good News," Modest Mouse was a great — if unsung — indie rock band. The yelps of Isaac Brock echoed out over albums like "The Lonesome, Crowded West" and "The Moon and Antarctica." Then "Float On" came out, and nothing was the same. That song turned Modest Mouse into a major rock band. They put "Float On" on a "Kidz Bop" album! The landscape changed beneath Modest Mouse's feet, and it was all because of this album.

In the middle of the 2000s, suddenly dance punk and electronica-tinged rock became the hottest thing in indie music. Not coincidentally, LCD Soundsystem released their self-titled debut in 2005. With songs like "Losing My Edge," James Murphy and company turned the indie world on its head and helped shape what was buzzworthy for a couple years.

Music can be simple. Lyrics can be vague and meaningless. That all can not matter, either, and you can still make a good song with a dance-worthy beat. Craig Finn of The Hold Steady, though, loves words. Finn brought verbosity to the forefront in indie rock with his story songs. Few likely aspire to matching his vocals, with no disrespect meant to nasal talk-singing, but The Hold Steady tell a true tale on "Boys and Girls in America." That's partially why several outlets named it the best album of 2006.

Arcade Fire's debut album, "Funeral," made some noise. "Neon Bible" turned them into one of the biggest indie rock bands of all-time. The flattening of the rock world allowed a bunch of Canadian weirdos to be as popular as any rock band out there. A Village Voice article cited "Neon Bible" as being at the forefront of the popularization of indie rock, and it put Arcade Fire on the map for years to come.

For years, indie rock was the domain of slackers. The indie scene was full of dudes aping Stephen Malkmus. Then, around came Vampire Weekend, who seemed to be aping Paul Simon's "Graceland" with their debut album. Suddenly, erudite, clean-cut guys were rising in the indie scene — and the sound, and look, of indie expanded.

While Vampire Weekend were taking indie in one direction, Japandroids went down a completely different path. The duo was loud, sloppy and infectious. They yelped out lengthy songs about being young and partying. "Post-Nothing" was a critical darling and brought some of the lo-fi, DIY fire back to indie.

"Teen Dream" isn't all that different than the previous two Beach House albums, but this was a massive breakout for the duo. Dozens of publications called it one of the best albums of the year. NME called it the 203rd best album of all-time. Beach House's particular brand of dream pop lit the world on fire, and the sound of indie certainly got a little dreamier to start the new decade.

"Strange Mercy" isn't the best St. Vincent album. That would probably be her self-titled record that came after this one. However, "Strange Mercy" is the release that put Annie Clark — in all her weirdness — on the map. St. Vincent has become a force to be reckoned with in the intervening years, and she has shown no signs of letting up. Her footprint on the indie music world began with "Strange Mercy."

Lana Del Rey was certainly influential when her major-label debut dropped in 2012. If nothing else, she influenced a bunch of people to write think pieces and clutch their pearls about the idea of authenticity. There are those who will be mad to see this record on an indie album list. For some strange reason, Del Rey became a lightning rod in 2012, and that wave of controversy followed her for years.

Vile and Courtney Barnett have been at the forefront of a new slacker revolution exemplified by meandering, guitar-first songs with simple, matter-of-fact lyrics. They are a fitting duo to pair together as well, given they collaborated on an album in 2017. However, Barnett didn't really begin making her mark until 2015, when she made her full-length debut. Vile has a few years on her, and that includes the release of "Wakin on a Pretty Daze," which is probably the quintessential Vile album.

Parquet Courts are still going strong with their gritty flavor of post-punk, but "Sunbathing Animal" remains their high point. The influence of a band — let alone an album — over the course of only a few years can be harder to track. That said, knowing that Parquet Courts are still extant, and still releasing new music to fanfare, speaks to some degree of influence. Bands like Protomartyr certainly call to mind the sounds of "Sunbathing Animal."

Josh Tillman was just the guy who drummed for Fleet Foxes, and Father John Misty, in truth, was just a moniker that Tillman recorded under for his first album with this persona "Fear Fun." Then, he released "I Love You, Honeybear," and Father John Misty became a "thing." Yes, Tillman, as Misty, can be tedious, but you cannot deny the impact he's had on indie music in recent years. He bolstered a particular brand of ironic detachment that was prominent in the early '90s, but he's added a swagger and flair to it.

"Next Thing" is the best album from 2016, which may be enough alone to get it on this list given that 2016 as not all that long ago. However, beyond being fantastic and influencing people as a byproduct of making great music, there is a case to be made beyond that for Frankie Cosmos. The project began as a bedroom project of Greta Kline, and with "Next Thing" she finally made the project manifest as a full-length, proper release. The bedroom pop artist is certainly a niche well-known in this modern, internet-heavy era, but albums like "Next Thing" bring that into the limelight.

Bridgers, along with her former tourmate Julien Baker, are cut from the same cloth. They are both women in their early twenties wielding guitars, powerful voices and emotional honesty in their lyrics. Bridgers is a confessional indie folk artist that seems to be a part of a wave of similar artists. You could easily go with Baker's "Turn Out the Lights" here, but this is another matter of personal preference.

The British punk band IDLES pulls no punches, and that's clear from top to bottom on "Joy as an Act of Resistance." It's all summed up in this lyric from "I'm Scum:" "This snowflake is an avalanche." The album is unabashedly political, but also clever and incredibly energetic.

The "bubblegrunge" quarter of Charly Bliss fleshed out its sound with "Young Enough." With additional instrumentation and headier lyrics, the album built upon "Guppy" in ways that took the band to new heights. Sure, "Young Enough" is still flush with catchy tunes, there is added substance to the generous style.

The Waxahatchee arc basically goes like this. First, it was "I suck, you're better off without me, I'm sad about it." Then, it was "You suck, I'm better off without you, I'm sad about it." Finally, with "St. Cloud," Katie Crutchfield landed at, "You're great...I guess this is as happy as I get?" A country and folk tinged album, "St. Cloud" sees Waxahatchee touching on sobriety and a committed relationship. However, in classic Waxahatchee style, her assessment of the later is "I love you that much anyhow/Can't do much about it now."

We mentioned Baker earlier, and this time she emerges victorious. Although, "victorious" is an odd word to use in relation to "Little Oblivions." Baker is a confessional singer-songwriter who manages to plumb the depths of addiction and despair without coming across as oversharing or wallowing. Her music is beautiful and heartbreaking, and sometimes weirdly hopeful.

These clever Kiwis don't necessarily look like they would rip live, but The Beths absolutely do. The lyrical acumen of the New Zealand band has been on display since "Future Me Hates Me," their first album, but "Expert in a Dying Field" got them some more attention. Then, Barack Obama shouted out their 2023 single "Watching the Credits" (because somebody told him to for the indie cred, we assume), taking The Beths to the next level.