As hard as it is to believe, it is apparently no longer 1990 and indie rock is no longer considered to be cutting edge. There was a time, not so long ago, when nothing was more hip than a power chord laid on top of a soft vocal, and listening to college radio was the musical equivalent of holding a Ph.D. in astrophysics. But it's been over a decade since classic indie bands like Dinosaur Jr., the Wipers, the Mekons and Galaxie 500 fought a long, bloody battle against mainstream crap and, for better or worse, times change. Now, the title of "alternative music king" has been passed on to such second rate music contenders as repulsively peppy ska, mopey trip-hop auteurs, shiny alterna-pop and manic depressive, wail-based emo. Sure, all of the above genres have their classics, but for the most part, the bands that pump out these more "modern" styles of music are simply playing off what indie rock has already done. They're rediscovering ground that's already been burned over and left behind by the mighty conquistadors.

The problem was unavoidable, I guess. Indie rock as a style was so all encompassing that almost anyone could get into it. It struck a chord with people, slowly gaining popularity, until it eventually commercialized itself with its second generation of stars-- bands like Pavement, who, despite their best self-destructive impulses, are guaranteed to sell albums by the metric ton. This means that the old school indie rock is now accepted as a style of music that has inspired a generation of artists. It is now "esteemed," which is a just another word for "steal from me freely, I'm too old to mind."

So, when any music genre becomes "esteemed," it's legally obligated to become the subject of a compilation album from those musical graverobbers at K-tel. Sometimes such genre compilation albums are nothing more than sad, painful displays or nostalgia, spotted by moments of slightly less sad, less painful nostalgia. But sometimes they are pure fucking gold-- a sharp as nails collection of tunes that shows not only the breadth but the depth of the music they're compiling. Unexpectedly, that's just what K-tel has pulled off with Gimme Indie Rock, a dopalicious collection of songs that takes you back to days when successful indie rock bands had to travel from show to show in the back of the a U-Haul truck, Bob Mould still played music instead of writing scripts for pro wrestling and everyone still listened to the radio.

Most of the reason for this album's success is how damn comprehensive it is. Spreading 30 tracks over two CDs, Gimme Indie Rock has plenty of room to showcase some of the best songs of indie's history-- the brash, electric fuzz of Husker Du ("Pink Turns to Blue"); the wispy, introspective songs of the Mekons ("Ghosts of American Astronauts"); the proto-grunge of Mudhoney ("Touch Me I'm Sick"); the dark hard rock of the Melvins ("Creepy Smell"); one of the most moving songs of all time (Galaxie 500's "Blue Thunder"); and 25 more you should know and love.

Like any compilation album, there's no real overall sound to describe here, but the album's stellar collection of songs-- including genuine classics by the Fall, Spaceman 3, Yo La Tengo, the Vaselines, Pussy Galore, Eleventh Dream Day, Half Japanese, the Feelies, Squirrel Bait, the Minutemen, the Pastels, etc.-- recalls the days when indie rock was taking its first, exciting baby steps into history, becoming a trendsetter without even trying.

The album's roster does features a few curious oversights (the Replacements, for one), and some songs are bound to work better on the album than others (the Black Flag selection, "Black Coffee," raises a few eyebrows). But nevertheless, the record benefits from its smart and eclectic track listing to become both a great introduction to indie rock history, or a warm, happy walk down memory lane for those of us old enough to remember when a guy called Reagan named a billion dollar military project after a George Lucas movie. Ah, the good old days. Christ, I'm old.

-Steven Byrd