Indie rock is a form of rock music typified as being made by independent bands or people not involved with the mainstream record industry. Though the genre was once a descriptor of a band's label status, it is now more commonly used as a genre describing a style of music that a band plays. It is usually defined by soft guitar rhythms and melodies with minimal drums and often reflective lyrics. However, some indie rock may include harsher, angrier themes and sounds, and large amounts of profanity.
Two particularly influential and popular indie bands are Modest Mouse and Death Cab for Cutie. These bands however, have gone from truely independent artists to being on major labels, helping promote the shift in meaning of the genre. Many indie bands, such as Bright Eyes and Rilo Kiley, write and perform songs that are strongly critical of the United States and George W. Bush. Bright Eyes' "When the President Talks to God" offers a misguided list of blames that range from drugs to inner city poverty and places the blame on George W. Bush and the Republican Party. Rilo Kiley's "It's a Hit" similarly uses the phrase "any chimp can play human for a day" which is usually interpreted as another insult to Bush. Indie music often has a liberal bias.