The Most Overrated Books Showing 3,901-3,950 of 5,680

[Michael]

Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker. The entire novel takes place as he ascends one floor on an escalator.

[Nathan]

Leslie wrote: "You may not have been paying attention in sex ed. I don't know how they teach it in the South, Renee...but you can't get pregnant from verbal drubbings... ;)"

Hey!! I happen to live in the south. What's this whole sex ed. thing about? My uncle just told me that the best part of waking up was breakfast after a nut. Then I saw a Folgers commercial and I was really messed up...

[C. J.]

Mochaspresso wrote: "Twilight does have a plot. In fact, all of the basic narrative elements are present in Twilight, in 50 ..."

Really? 50 Shades of Gray had a plot? I've heard so much negative feedback about it I figured it didn't have that either. I'm actually a little surprised.

[David]

I never said I didn't like the story line in MOBY DICK, but the encyclopedic stuff has no business in a novel. Some people read a review or see a movie based on the book and think they know more than someone who has actually read it. I don't think Herman Melville is an overrated author; I liked BILLY BUDD and "Bartleby the Scrivener"; I don't know what the fellow was talking about who claimed there is a difference between reading and thinking. Sounds like a pompous ass to me. There are two famous writers I simply can't stand: Dashiel Hammett and Louie L'Amour. Louie L'Amour has no concept of pacing, and Hammett, especially in his Continental Op stories, is writing pulp fiction. The screen writers who adapted his work did a much better job, and that's a rarity.

[Karen]

David wrote: "I never said I didn't like the story line in MOBY DICK, but the encyclopedic stuff has no business in a novel. Some people read a review or see a movie based on the book and think they know more th..."

I don't know what you mean by encyclopedic stuff.

[Leslie]

David wrote: "I never said I didn't like the story line in MOBY DICK, but the encyclopedic stuff has no business in a novel. Some people read a review or see a movie based on the book and think they know more th..."

David, have you done any investigation into the meaning of the "encyclopedic stuff" or is your dismissal of it based only on what you read in the book? I read the book. I haven't seen any of the movie adaptations of the story.

[Anne Hawn]

Michael wrote: "Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker. The entire novel takes place as he ascends one floor on an escalator."

I haven't read that, but a book can still have a plot when all the action takes place in the mind, although I think you would most likely be character driven rather than plot driven. I'm thinking of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty .

[Mochaspresso]

Karen wrote: "David wrote: "I never said I didn't like the story line in MOBY DICK, but the encyclopedic stuff has no business in a novel. Some people read a review or see a movie based on the book and think the..."

I know what he means. To be perfectly honest, I felt the same way about "The Lord of the Rings"...too many technical details on "hobbitry" and "shiredom" for my liking. I understand that feeling of enjoying the story and wishing that the book would stick to it rather than including extensive details regarding some aspect of the story that I don't care about. Some people have said similar things about all of the football details in "The Silver Linings Playbook". It's a great book imo and I enjoyed it, but I can also understand why some people who are not football fans don't care about the football details. There is a point to including those details....but if a reader happens to not care about football or whaling details and is more focused on the story, that type of tangent can be troublesome.

[Renee E]

That's a good illustration of the reality that you cannot please every reader.

[Mochaspresso]

CJ wrote: "Mochaspresso wrote: "Twilight does have a plot. In fact, all of the basic narrative elements are present in Twilight, in 50 ..."

Really? 50 Shades of Gray had a plot? I've heard so much negative ..."

Imo, 50 Shades' plot is reminiscent of the old fashioned daytime soaps. A soap opera w/ a little bit of kink thrown in.

[Daniel]

Michael wrote: "Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker. The entire novel takes place as he ascends one floor on an escalator."

Pretty good read, that one, and I agree, it's hard to make an argument for it having a plot in any traditional sense. It's not just that it's all inside the character's head as he rides the escalator —but rather that all those thoughts fail to form a narrative thread. It's just digression after digression on any subject you can think of; and though there is, I would say, a subyacent backstory/portrayal to the character, it doesn't really seem to move forward in any way, just circle around his compulsive-ass head for 100 pages. A book at times mindbending; at times infuriating.

[Laura]

Emma wrote: "Honestly, it depends on your personal preferences. There are plenty of books that I think aren't worth the paper they are printed on, but other people think are the greatest books ever. There are a..."

Let's be glad we're all different and leave it at that.

[Michael]

Daniel wrote: "Pretty good read, that one, and I agree, it's hard to make an argument for it having a plot in any traditional sense. It's not just that it's all inside the character's head as he rides the escalator —but rather that all those thoughts fail to form a narrative thread. It's just digression after digression on any subject you can think of; and though there is, I would say, a subyacent backstory/portrayal to the character, it doesn't really seem to move forward in any way, just circle around his compulsive-ass head for 100 pages. A book at times mindbending; at times infuriating."

Exactly. The protagonist's stray thoughts in no way add up to a coherent plot. I had to read it intermittently, as the writing is great but the story WAS infuriating.

Even more extreme is Dancing Lessons for the Advanced in Age by the Czech author, Bohumil Hrabal. The novel consists of a single run-on sentence. From Booklist:

"Hrabal, one of the foremost contemporary Czech writers, has devised a provocative little novel for special readers. In a breathless monologue--in fact, in one unbroken sentence--an old shoemaker spouts off to a captive audience of young women about his life and ideas. From political history ("his son, the crown prince, was forced to marry Princess Stephanie of Belgium, but he was wild for Vetsera's body, she had these gigantic breasts and eyes" ) to morality ("Christ wanted us to love our neighbors, he wanted discipline, not love on the sofa the way some mealy-brained idiots would have it" ), the old man perambulates over a wide range of territory, spreading recollections and opinions far and wide. For readers who appreciate language for its own sake, this short book is fertile ground; for those who need a firm plot as anchorage, they had best turn elsewhere. For active foreign-literature collections."

[Anne Hawn]

My granddaughter and I are reading The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Dracula for holiday reading. I am having her listen to both in audio book form because I don't want her to just skim over the the long descriptions. I feel the settings in both of these book are like another character. They need to be savored. This made me think of all the books I read in school where I just skimmed or skipped the descriptions and then didn't like the books. I am beginning to realize that those descriptions may have been important in drawing me into the story and making it more real. I guess that means that I shouldn't be skipping all those battle scenes with Napoleon.

[Kallie]

Anne Hawn wrote: "My granddaughter and I are reading The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Dracula for holiday reading. I am having her listen to both in audio book form because I don't want her to just skim over the ..."

In War and Peace they are worth the effort, not just about action but about psychology.

Anne, you were asking about outstanding authors of multiple works who deserve to be read 100 years from now. I clean forgot about Marilynne Robinson, who writes not only gorgeous poetic fiction but excellent non-fiction. She's not super prolific but Housekeeping and Gilead are among the best novels I've ever read and I mean to read Home and Lila. I also read Mother Country (about England and oppression of the poor) and her book about Calvinism and they are superb as well.

[Anne Hawn]

Thanks Kallie, I marked them to read. They looked interesting.

[Janeylein]

I agree that a lot of these books are a matter of personal preferences (except for Twilight, that went into the woodburner posthaste).....what I'm wondering is how Dean Koontz didn't make this list? He is, in my opinion, the most over-hyped, overrated author of our day. The man can't write.

[Monty J]

Janeylein wrote: "I agree that a lot of these books are a matter of personal preferences (except for Twilight, that went into the woodburner posthaste).....what I'm wondering is how Dean Koontz didn't make this list.I'm wondering is how Dean Koontz didn't make this list? He is, in my opinion, the most over-hyped, overrated author of our day. The man can't write. "

It's called "mass market" for a reason. I've never been able to get past page one of Koontz. Danielle Steele has a huge following, but I can't make myself read even one page. I've met people who read her regularly, and it seems to be just something to grab when there' no TV handy, or the hubby's watching sports.

Even intelligent people need respite from the realities of life when they've lost appetite for what literature usually offers--deep doses of reality. The more serious literature challenges us to confront life, instead of running from it.

Even so, some enjoy variety and some genres are like literary training wheels.

[Karen]

Monty J wrote: "Even intelligent people often seek respite from the realities of life. They've no appetite for what literature usually offers--deep doses of reality. Literature challenges us to confront life, instead of running from it."

For me, most of what I read IS a respite from the realities of life. I am reading great books for the beauty of the writing- challenges are good; I need to feel sadness, compassion, love, beauty, confusion, humor when I read. Some subject matter is a hard dose of reality though and upsetting to me, and I tend to avoid those books, which aren't many.

[Gary]

Janeylein wrote: "what I'm wondering is how Dean Koontz didn't make this list? He is, in my opinion, the most over-hyped, overrated author of our day. The man can't write."

He's definitely had a lot of popular success. I don't know that he can really compete with the hype of, say, Dan Brown or John Grisham. I think Koontz would compare pretty favorably against either of those two writers for talent/skill in most respects, but they probably get more kudos respectively.

[Mark]

I would like to add a perhaps contrarian view to the current mood in the room on this thread. I think one can have relative mass market success and still make a claim that their work hasn't sacrificed artistic merit in the a race to the bottom pursuit of lowest common denominator.

I think it happens less in literature than it does in cinema and music.

Musicians like Elvis Presley, the Beatles (and even before them Sinatra in his early appeal to the bobby soxers phase) had such mass market appeal that they transformed (or helped create) whole youth markets (which over time aged). Of course, we would argue all day about when and where those three examples of popular musicians were molding the times and when they merely lucky enough to be molding them. A little bit of both, probably.

While they may not be mega box office profit margin blockbusters on the scale of the recent spate of Marvel superhero or the Harry Potter movies (Monty, calm down!), I think the films written by Charlie Kauffman (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) are examples of art that really spoke to me. Joel and Ethan Coen are up there too. And they weren't really niche market projects.

I don't know what novels I'd include as examples of what I'm talking about. But it's not like something that sets out to appeal to as many people as possible is automatically not art. I think.

Let's kick that around for a bit, shall we?

[Karen]

Mark wrote;
"don't know what novels I'd include as examples of what I'm talking about. But it's not like something that sets out to appeal to as many people as possible is automatically not art. I think."

Well, maybe Steven King's "The Green Mile", "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon" could fit into your descripition. Those books are so well written, and by a mass marketed author. I love The Harry Potter series- great story telling, I think.

[Monty J]

Mark wrote: "I think one can have relative mass market success and still make a claim that their work hasn't sacrificed artistic merit in the a race to the bottom pursuit of lowest common denominator."

(Harry who? I've said my bit on Harry.)

Ever notice Koontz and Steele near the checkout counter, just before People Magazine and the candy? Impulse marketing. In a moment of weakness I might..., nah.

I think people lean toward what is accessible and grabs their imagination. It takes $$ to build brand awareness. Steele's brand is well-established and relatively easy to market.

I've been a music snob from the beginning. Hardly knew Elvis existed. Chuck Berry, The Platters, and Fats Domino were more popular among the guys in the orphanage who dominated what stations got heard. Always Top 40 stuff; so Elvis leaked through. Then I was in stage band and all that mattered was progressive and modern jazz--Stan Kenton, Gerry Mulligan, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Quincy Jones. My ears got warped until Dylan and the Beattles and The Kingsmen. I was a grind in college, never had time to listen to music.

During grade school, music comes at you while literature you have to pursue or gets fed to you by a teacher. In the nine years I was at the Home, only once did a guy mention novels. I buried myself in them whenever I could. There was one other guy, a Catholic who bused downtown to a parochial school and quoted Shakespeare. We had fun with it. "Hold off! Unhand me greaybeard loon!" he would yell as we wrestled.

But returning to novels, I'm open to the idea that someone can capture the imagination of the masses with high quality prose. I read a few Louis L'Amour novels in the '70s while traveling and enjoyed them. I've heard good things about Grisham. Bought one, but haven't opened it.

There's also a new genre of black authors writing out-of-the-ghetto stuff. I need to take a lit class and catch up on what's shaking. I read Finding Fish and enjoyed it but it was a memoir.

Maybe it will be one of us that cracks it wide open. I sure want to reach as many people as possible.

[Michael]

I would mention Robert Parker's detective novels that were turned into the "Spencer for Hire" TV series, and Alexander McCall Smith's "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" series. These may not be considered "great literature", but they are delightful to read and widely popular. In both cases one is drawn in by the marvelous storytelling, sparkling dialogue, and the lovable characters who reappear in each volume.

[Karen]

Michael wrote: "I would mention Robert Parker's detective novels that were turned into the "Spencer for Hire" TV series, and Alexander McCall Smith's "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" series. These may not be consi..."

Yes! I used to read the Robert Parker novels, they were great.

[Gary]

Karen wrote: "Well, maybe Steven King's "The Green Mile", "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon" could fit into your descripition. Those books are so well written, and by a mass marketed author. I love The Harry Potter series- great story telling, I think."

I don't think King is over-rated, or to that extent that he is, it's a marginal thing. Rawling... it's hard to say. I'm not a fan, personally, but she did launch something that is both derivative and unique at the same time. It's a weird mash-up of pop cultural myth-making that then drove pop culture. Surely that's an accomplishment of note. I don't know if it's worth a few billion dollars, but it's got to be worth something as commentary on the culture at the very least.

But there are a lot of folks whose success is bizarre. The only thing that explains Dan Brown's career is an Illuminati level conspiracy worthy of one of his own novels. Grisham I get to some extent (I think his work has more to do with connections than quality) and Koontz--kinda. He seems very much willing to pander to his audience, and that's got to get some reciprocation.

[Kallie]

How does an author pander, I wonder. I'm not questioning that they do, it just doesn't sound like much fun. I've always thought that Grisham et al write what they like and it happens to be what a lot of people want to read. They like reading the genres they write in and those genres sell to mass markets. Best sellers are different I think; some of the books that make that list are literary.

People don't have to work as hard to view a film. O Brother! and Adaptation are art, layered and subtle and worth watching multiple times, but people can miss a lot and still enjoy the spectacle. (I miss a lot; that's one reason why I enjoy watching films like that more than once.)

I was thinking about 'pop' music the other day. I tend to conflate 'popular' and 'sugary' or 'sappy' thinking of that term, but I'm not sure that's accurate. I heard Jimi Hendrix referred to as 'pop' and that didn't sound right, but maybe because of my private connotations, which mainly include people like Neil Diamond and The Carpenters. Anyway, music seems to be more about timing -- what people are ready (or almost ready) to hear and intensely respond to.

[Anne Hawn]

Michael wrote: "I would mention Robert Parker's detective novels that were turned into the "Spencer for Hire" TV series, and Alexander McCall Smith's "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" series. These may not be consi..."

I read both authors and agree with you completely. There is a lot of sound philosophy in them, especially the Isabel Dalhousie series. Robert Parker novels are also good. I also like Michael Crichton's books. Too bad he died so young. He was brilliant. I read one of his books during the 11 hours I spent in traffic when we were evacuated during Hurricane Floyd. Literally! 50 miles in 11 hours. I was the only one who wasn't bothered by the slow pace.

[Michael]

I think comic novelists are often underrated and not taken seriously. Currently, I think two of the best are Carl Hiaasen and Christopher Moore.

[Janeylein]

Michael, I agree - Carl Hiaasen has been one of my favorites since Tourist Season, and I just finished Christopher Moore's A Dirty Job. Dave Barry is one of my all-times too, but I much prefer his commentary over his novels. I met Dave Barry at the Tattered Cover in Denver and he was very gracious (and funny).

[E.D.]

Michael wrote: "I think comic novelists are often underrated and not taken seriously. Currently, I think two of the best are Carl Hiaasen and Christopher Moore."

I've always had a soft spot--in the head and heart-- for Brautigan. I think humor is nearly always denigrated as *fluffy* by the literary-minded. Strange that a major part of what makes humanity capable of dealing with how *inhumane* and dysfunctional our species can be, is seen as pedestrian by those who consider their love of "reality-based deep vivisection of the human condition" high art.

Snobbery needs to laugh at itself occasionally, otherwise, it misses the point of literature. Shared Humanity.

[Gary]

Kallie wrote: "How does an author pander, I wonder. I'm not questioning that they do, it just doesn't sound like much fun."

I'd say an author panders the same way any other business, politician or religion panders: briefly, by following trends rather than innovating them. In particular, that means that rather than come up with an idea and develop it, the panderer looks first for what the audience is doing and then duplicates it, probably dumbing it down and/or mashing it up with a few cross-genre elements a bit here and there to lower and extend the demographic appeal, and then release that derivative product during a period of self-congratulations/marketing about the creative process, the struggles of the artist, etc. to forestall any of the obvious criticism regarding the mediocrity of the artistic or creative value of the result.

Since music is the analogy that folks are using lately, I'd say Britney Spears is a pretty good example of a music industry figure (dare I say artist?) who pandered pretty successfully. Any number of the "boy bands" that were so popular about that time were very much a pandering process. Most of what gets called "pop music" these days is really what I call Corporate Committee Music. That is, it's put together by a large group of people, sometimes dozens, sometimes even hundreds of writers, musicians, technicians, producers and marketing personnel, and then released under the name of a particular frontperson or group as, effectively, a brand name. Usually, they'll perform some part of the final recording, but there are more than likely studio musicians and a few mixers and technological techniques being used to put it all together. Nowadays, a lot of "live performances" contain pre-recorded music, and what we see as "the band" or "performer" is as much of a stage performance as a recital.

It's not a 21st century process, of course. The Monkees were largely a pandering/corporate product. It wasn't as sophisticated a process then as it is now, of course, and some of the members of that group apparently chafed at the process, but it's the same basic scheme.

So, when a guy like Koontz, for instance, writes five novels called Dean Koontz's Frankenstein that was "co-authored" with another writer (Kevin J. Anderson) we can be pretty confident that there were a good number of editors, publishers, researchers, quite likely a ghost writer or two at various levels of involvement in that process.

Something produced that way is certainly going to get an advertising budget and book sellers will be incentivized to give it a window, put it prominently on the shelves, etc. Movie/TV rights may already be sold, merchandizing products might be produced, reviewers might be invited by a PR staff to get a look and maybe some carefully crafted "inside information" about it. And at any number of points in the process those folks might have notes and input into the development of the final product.

Maybe all that committee effort will turn out an entertaining book. Plenty of corporate products are perfectly serviceable. But it's very unlikely that the end result will be something new, innovative or of a significant artistic merit.

[Kallie]

Gary wrote: "Kallie wrote: "How does an author pander, I wonder. I'm not questioning that they do, it just doesn't sound like much fun."

I'd say an author panders the same way any other business, politician o..."

Good illustration. Ugh.

[Kallie]

Cemre wrote: "The one book series whose success fascinates me is The Hunger Games. It's a very weird experience, kinda like Nathalie Cardone singing Hasta Siempre while doing weird sexy dances and then it being ..."

Hahahahaha.

[Renee E]

There was a hair band, Poison, that exemplified that.

When the corporate guys first put them together most of them couldn't even play their instruments. The album stuff was studio musicians and the tours caused all kinds of problems early on. THAT was in one of the trade rags (I worked in a music store).

And anyone remember Milli Vanilli?

Some of the big authors use the plug-in-plot-points, novel writing software. Some DO write by committee. They have a rough outline, hand it to an under-writer, or sometimes split it up and hand it off to several, maybe one guy writes the action scenes, another the love scenes, another the dialogue, an editor puts it together and the BIg Guy (or Gal) polishes it up.

Koontz gets points for acknowledging his co-writer. That rarely happens.

[Kallie]

Renee wrote: "There was a hair band, Poison, that exemplified that.

When the corporate guys first put them together most of them couldn't even play their instruments. The album stuff was studio musicians and t..."

And people buy it, like they buy packaged politicos.

[Renee E]

Exactly, Kallie.

As H. L. Mencken noted:" Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people."

However, I tend to wonder if it's as much a lack of intelligence as it is being too lazy or cowardly (or both, the two are often linked) to think for one's self.

[Kallie]

Renee wrote: "Exactly, Kallie.

As H. L. Mencken noted:" Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people."

However, I tend to wonder if it's as much a lack of intelligence as it ..."

The people I know who fall for fear-mongering are not lazy (maybe intellectually) or stupid; they are usually racists and I am beginning to wonder if that is in their DNA.

[Gary]

image:

[H Anthony]

And what does that prove, exactly? Some of the greatest pop music of all time has been the result of separate writing/producing/performing teams - think of Phil Spector and Motown and Brill Building and countless others. Just because you prefer Queen to Beyonce doesn't mean that one method of producing music is intrinsically better than another.

[Renee E]

Kallie wrote: "The people I know who fall for fear-mongering are not lazy (maybe intellectually) or stupid; they are usually racists and I am beginning to wonder if that is in their DNA.
"

Oh, it's the intellectual laziness I was referring to.

I have a sister who's never had an original thought in her head, whose only real criteria for *taste* is "what will the rich folks who can do things for me expect me to like." Or "what will get me the most attention."

[Kallie]

H Anthony wrote: "And what does that prove, exactly? Some of the greatest pop music of all time has been the result of separate writing/producing/performing teams - think of Phil Spector and Motown and Brill Buildin..."

Given the above example, one is better than the other if you care about lyrics. Maybe the defining factor is real emotional investment from the artists. Motown voices had soul; I don't hear much of that in much contemporary pop.

[Renee E]

Excellent points, Kallie. You got right to the heart of it.

I think there may be hope. I got hooked on watching The Voice, intrigued by how the judges unerringly go for the artists who really put their whole selves into the songs, who wring the emotion out of them.

[Gary]

Renee wrote: "Koontz gets points for acknowledging his co-writer. That rarely happens."

I always suspect that when something like that happens then its really a matter of Koontz being more of an adviser/editor than an actual writer on the project. His name is just put on it for the branding effect.

I remember reading many years ago that books written and published as Louis L'Amour (who died 30 years ago--but has had dozens of books released since) were basically ghosted and released under his name. I just did a little poking around and found this site:

http://julieannamos.hubpages.com/hub/...

[Kallie]

Renee wrote: "Excellent points, Kallie. You got right to the heart of it.

I think there may be hope. I got hooked on watching The Voice, intrigued by how the judges unerringly go for the artists who really put ..."

'Twenty Feet from Stardom' is really good too.

[H Anthony]

Kallie wrote: "H Anthony wrote: "And what does that prove, exactly? Some of the greatest pop music of all time has been the result of separate writing/producing/performing teams - think of Phil Spector and Motown..."

Again, though, that could be any random example on either side. It doesn't prove anything. If you find yourself thinking 'modern pop music is terrible, ,it was better when I was younger', it both means you're getting old, and that there's good and bad music (and lyrics) on both sides of the 'manufactured/authentic' divide. (And that's a false divide, anyway - it comes from the listener's perspective and is as much a 'reading' of a piece of music (and its marketing) as it is any kind of definitive truth.)

[Karen]

H Anthony wrote: "Kallie wrote: "H Anthony wrote: "And what does that prove, exactly? Some of the greatest pop music of all time has been the result of separate writing/producing/performing teams - think of Phil Spe..."

A lot of "modern" pop music is good. Much of it is trash. I'm not sure how one defines pop music anyways, do indie rock bands qualify? Motiwn is making somewhat of a comeback, and you're right about Phil Spector. I hope it doesn't have to do with age, I'm 57 and am always looking for quality music.

[Gary]

I don't think that graphic "proves" anything, but I don't think that's the standard either.

I think it does indicate a few things. It indicates that despite the growing numbers of people involved in a producing things like music, there's very little improvement in quality. It indicates that there's a general trend towards "dumbing down" those same things for popular appeal. It indicates that there's an awful lot of hype that supports those products and--as this is a topic about things being over-rated--that's a pretty good sign that something is getting more attention than it deserves.

When it comes to your examples (Phil Specter, Motown and Brill Building) wouldn't those be on the right side of the graphic? Those are relatively small producer/production teams comparatively. I think that period of music and those contributors support the contention presented by that graphic more than argue against what it indicates.

[H Anthony]

It was ever thus, though, right? In terms of good and trash. Pop's a pretty broad spectrum, definitely - another reason why comparing Queen to Beyonce isn't really helpful.

I'm sure it has nothing to do with age (and didn't mean to imply that!) - more an 'old' mindset, 'things were better in my day', etc. I think if we constantly seek out new and good art, it helps to keep us young.

[Gary]

Karen wrote: "I'm not sure how one defines pop music anyways, do indie rock bands qualify?"

I wouldn't say so. However, I think a lot of pop bands claim indie rock band status as a kind of marketing tactic. Apparently, the band "fun" styles itself an "indie pop" band, whatever that means.