New Sincerity - in Music

In Music

"New Sincerity" was used as a collective name for a loose group of alternative rock bands, centered in Austin, Texas in the years from about 1985 to 1990, who were perceived as reacting to the ironic outlook of then-prominent music movements like punk rock and New Wave. The use of "New Sincerity" in connection with these bands began with an off-handed comment by Austin punk rocker/author Jesse Sublett to his friend, local music writer Margaret Moser. According to author Barry Shank, Sublett said: "All those new sincerity bands, they're crap." Sublett (at his own website) states that he was misquoted, and actually told Moser, "It's all new sincerity to me. . . . It's not my cup of tea." In any event, Moser began using the term in print, and it ended up becoming the catch phrase for these bands.

Nationally, the most successful "New Sincerity" band was The Reivers (originally called Zeitgeist), who released four well-received albums between 1985 and 1991. True Believers, led by Alejandro Escovedo and Jon Dee Graham, also received extensive critical praise and local acclaim in Austin, but the band had difficulty capturing its live sound on recordings, among other problems. Other important "New Sincerity" bands included Doctors Mob, Wild Seeds, and Glass Eye. Another significant "New Sincerity" figure was the eccentric, critically acclaimed songwriter Daniel Johnston.

Despite extensive critical attention (including national coverage in Rolling Stone and a 1985 episode of the MTV program The Cutting Edge), none of the "New Sincerity" bands met with much commercial success, and the "scene" ended within a few years.

Other music writers have used "new sincerity" to describe later performers such as Conor Oberst, Will Oldham, Cat Power, Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom, and Idlewild, as well as Austin's Okkervil River and Leatherbag.