Creativity Quote by Stephen Malkmus

Malkmus is doing the most indie-rock thing imaginable here: refusing the badge even while quietly endorsing the scene’s ongoing vitality. The sentence is a shrug with teeth. By saying he “wouldn’t call” himself an indie-rock supporter, he’s dodging a role that the culture loves to assign to legacy artists: elder statesman, tastemaker, gatekeeper. It’s not that he dislikes indie rock; it’s that he dislikes what “supporter” implies - a club, a platform, a predictable politics of belonging.

The syntax matters. The repeated softeners (“then again,” “even if”) create a conversational backpedal, like he’s catching himself before he sounds too declarative. That hesitancy is the point. Indie rock, especially in the post-90s shadow Malkmus helped cast, is obsessed with authenticity but allergic to authority. You can praise the music, but you can’t look like you’re currying cool points or handing down blessings from the canon.

There’s also a pragmatic optimism tucked inside the evasiveness: “there will always be some real good new bands.” That line rejects the doom loop of genre nostalgia. Instead of framing the present as a lesser sequel to a golden era, he insists on replenishment - not as a heroic renaissance, just as a constant, almost boring fact. The subtext is anti-myth: scenes don’t need champions, and great bands don’t need permission. They just keep showing up, whether the old guard wants the job title or not.