3 Bands and Musicians That Took DIY Ethics to the Mainstream

What exactly is DIY music? It’s as simple as it seems: DIY is all about making music yourself, marketing it yourself, and creating art and media for it yourself or through a small, independent label. DIY musicians rarely make it to mainstream popularity, sadly, as most underground musicians simply lack the resources of a major label. However, some DIY bands and musicians through the years have managed to bring DIY ethics to the mainstream, or at least, fairly close. Let’s take a look at three examples!

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1. Pinegrove

If you’ve spent any time on music TikTok over the last couple of years, you probably know all about the “Pinegrove shuffle.” Pinegrove is an alternative country and Midwest emo outfit that came to be way back in 2010. 

In 2023, they gained quite a bit of attention on TikTok when another user on the platform posted a video of himself doing a very particular dance to the song “Need 2”, which blew up across the platform. Pinegrove, for the most part, started as a DIY band and gained fairly moderate mainstream success following the viral video, though the band itself is not without its controversies.

2. Elliott Smith

Elliott Smith could be seen as the late king of DIY music. It’s not exactly shocking, considering that legendary indie folk music came from the hub of DIY, Portland. In fact, the 90s was the era for DIY musicians in the PNW, and Smith came from it. 

Smith released music under the independent label Kill Rock Stars, under which he released his most acclaimed album Either/Or. By the late 1990s, he had managed to bring his DIY ethos to the mainstream after being signed by DreamWorks and releasing his major label debut, XO. If it weren’t for his untimely death, Smith would have made it even bigger. I’m sure of it.

3. Pavement

When one listens to Pavement, one can’t help but think of the famed cult post-punk band The Fall. Pavement was one of many bands to be heavily influenced by The Fall, and their DIY ethics made it (close) to the mainstream from deep in the underground California indie-rock scene of the late 1980s. Their recordings were lo-fi, their vibe was very garage rock, and they took plenty of inspiration from other DIY musicians. And they never signed with a major label.

Photo by Theo Wargo/WireImage

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