By Delia Paunescu
Indie music used to be tres exclusive. Knowing about or even listening to an indie band involved spending late nights in the dodgiest parts of Brooklyn with even shadier individuals, endlessly scouring blogs and hunting down the minimal indie shows of college radio stations.
Not so anymore. As tonight’s broadcast of the mtvU Woodie Awards shows, indie music is as prevalent as the sugary pop-so much so that even Music Television has joined the bandwagon.
What was formerly College Television Network (CTN) was purchased in April 2006 by Viacom and turned into mtvU (the “U” is for university, if you hadn’t guessed already). Keeping its finger on the pulse of colleges across the country, the channel then created an awards show that recognizes music and artists voted upon by university students.
Tonight marks the fourth-annual Woodie Awards, which were filmed at Hammerstein Ballroom on Nov. 8.
Awards are presented in nine separate categories, including The Alumni Woodie, The Breaking Woodie and Best Video Woodie. There are also The Good Woodie, presented to a band with a commitment to social causes, and a Best Band on Campus award, which allows student viewers to submit their own work to be voted on by fellow mtvU fans throughout the country. According to the channel’s Web site, Gym Class Heroes won Woodie of the Year.
Fall Out Boy-whose lead singer Pete Wentz has his own indie label, Fueled By Ramen-Motion City Soundtrack, Lupe Fiasco, “Saturday Night Live’s” Keenan Thompson and even Annie Lennox were on hand to present awards.
Sprinkled between the short awards presentations, the Woodies brought performances from bands such as Tokyo Police Club, The Academy Is…, Spank Rock (with an entourage of Go-Go dancers in Day Glo bikinis) and L.A. favorite Rilo Kiley.
Overall, the show is a parade of the coolest in emerging music that is a blend between indie and mainstream. Yes, there are still snobs who wouldn’t be caught dead near some of these bands, and there are those who think that indie-pop is no better than say, the new Britney album.
But mtvU’s goal can’t be written off so easily. They are bringing music, like that of Duke University’s Stella by Starlight, winner of this year’s Best Music on Campus Woodie, to the ears of many and bringing the curtain around indie music up just a little bit.
The Woodie Awards air tonight at 8 p.m. on mtvU, channel 58, and mtvU.com. A “Best of the 2007 mtvU Woodie Awards” special will air Nov. 17 at 10 p.m. on MTV, channel 56.
Rilo Kiley (above) was just one of many performers at the Woodie Awards. Tokyo Police Club, The Academy Is…, and Spank Rock also took the stage at Hammerstein Ballroom during last week’s taping. The awards show presents what college students have voted “the best in music today.” (mtvU)