Top 10 Alt/Indie Rock Gift Ideas

1. CD BOX SET: The Pretenders I & II Reissue

Those claiming indie rock credentials must already have cultivated a taste for this band: one from which the genre of indie rock sprang like Athena from Zeus's head. Therefore, treat them to this Rhino records re-release of the Pretenders' seminal, female-fronted work, and watch as a smile of holiday cheer spreads across their unwashed face.

2. MEMOIR/SCRAPBOOK: "Dirty Blonde" by Courtney Love

Let me be frank: I wouldn't call myself a Courtney Love "fan." I admit, I like many of the tunes she performed with her band Hole. And, true, I do enjoy the craziness of her antics in Hollowood (who doesn't?). So why buy a book written by her?

Well, this book -- "written by" Courtney Love only in the sense that yes, the marginalia and diary scraps that make up this coffee table tome are, indeed, in her handwriting -- is worth getting for its abnormality alone. This odd volume is a strange, uncomfortable, self-indulgent glimpse into alt rock's most contradictory and complex character. And it's got some pics of Kurt.

3. DVD REISSUE: Nirvana! Live! Tonight! Sold Out!

Another few holiday gift guides could be written just to catch you up on Nirvana, even years after their demise. Even still, ownership of this DVD (and the above book, for that matter) presupposes ownership of, at least, a handful of Nirvana's albums. But that caveat aside, this reissue of footage from Nirvana's 1994 concert tour is a evidence that this band so often called "great" for a million abstract reasons actually took the stage and rocked peoples socks off. I say socks because this list is for my mom -- I could say a lot more. Boots, maybe. Shirts, even.

Nirvana is great. Buy this -- it's proof on DVD.

4. SUBSCRIPTION: Paste Magazine

I don't really read print magazines. Too clunky. Plus, I gotta support the industry that pays my bills -- the online industry. And in the end, isn't free content much better than that you have to pay for? (Say yes.)

I make one exception, however, and that is PASTE magazine, a monthly indie rock and culture mag out of Athens, Georgia. Why? Because this periodical is not just trying to sell ad space, it's trying to sell the love of entertainment, of music, of good art. Give your loved one (or me) the gift of this magazine and you'll give the gift of access to solid rock journalism (not unlike what's on this site, eh?).

5. ROCK LIT: 33 1/3 Greatest Hits

For those not familiar with the 33 1/3 series, I'll tell you this much: it's the book series for rock snobs, indie enthusiasts and music geeks. Each of the 20 books in the series spends 150 pages or so discussing, analyzing and generally nerding out on one important album by one important band. The Smith's Meat is Murder. Radiohead's OK Computer. A book each. Get it? This collection is a "greatest hits" in the sense that it contains a chapter from each of the 20 volumes; a chapter on each seminal album. Your indie fan may own one or two -- get them this so they can feel like they own them all.

6. KIDS CD: Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of Alt/Indie Rock

So maybe your alt/indie rock fan still isn't eating solid foods. Or your alt/indie rock fan is still wearing diapers. Whatever. I'm not here to judge. This series of albums has taken songs by bands as diverse as Coldplay, Tool, Radiohead and The Cure, slowed them down, made them pretty, and prepared them for younger ears. Feel deprived of cool by your parents lame taste in music? Solve that problem for your own little ones, or the little ones of your friends, by buying them these palatable alt rock covers. Or, listen to them yourself and work toward regaining your alt/indie rock infancy.

7. CD BOX SET: Tori Amos "A Piano: The Collection"

With 5 CDs, 86 tracks and a 60-page booklet, this piano-shaped box of Tori Amos goodness is a perfect gift for those whom you know love the lady-crooner, and those who you insist must love her whether they want to or not. Seriously, though, Amos has been a renegade musical force ever since she appeared on the scene alongside the above gushed-over Cobain. This retrospective and snazzy-looking (it looks like a piano!) box set does justice to an artist that deserves a lot of justice. And it'll be a perfect classy balance to the totally unclassy Love book and an optimistic balance to the unintentionally sad Nirvana DVD.

8. BROADWAY ROCK: Tickets to See "High Fidelity" the Musical

Many indie rock fans consider High Fidelity -- the book by Nick Hornby and the movie staring John Cusak -- not only to be a realistic embodiment of indie rock fandom, but to be about their own lives. It's a little creepy, but more often then not, entirely true to life. (Just ask my roommate; he is Rob.) So, if your fan of alt/indie rock is in or near Boston, MA or New York City, look into buying them tickets to the new musical rendition of the same tale. Who knows if the show will be good. But if it is, maybe it'll have a similar effect on their life. Or not. But it's worth a shot -- gift giving is about hope.

9. CD RE-RELEASE: The Wren's Secaucus & Silver

Of all the bands that have risen to indie rock prominence in the past few years, no band has done so against odds as ridiculous as The Wrens. Years ago, this fearsome New Jersey group had modest success with their own brand of progressive rock. They put out two albums. Some people liked them. Their label didn't. Nearly a decade later, after years of legal entanglement, the album was released -- and it was one of the best of the year. Now, after their renewed success, their first two albums have been re-released. Buy them for fans of good indie rock as well as for fans of good indie rock behind-the-scenes drama.

10. ROCK LIT: "Empire of Dirt" -- An Indie Rock Ethnography

Ever thought that alt/indie shows were more like complex mating rituals than musical events? Well, so have a few anthropologists. A recent book analyses indie rock not as a musical movement, but as a social phenomenon. Wendy Fonarow's Empire of Dirt: Aesthetics & Rituals of British Indie Music isn't just a compendium of information on the music of indie rockers or the clothing they wear. Rather, it's a study of what it might mean to travel and interact as an indie rock fan. Parents: buy this for kids you hope will take more than just music seriously. Kids: buy this for parents who think you're wasting your time.