Malkmosity is a word that describes a person's indieness. For example, if your favorite group is the Black Eyed Peas and you love
polo shirts, you have low Malkmosity. If you hate the Black Eyed Peas now and say they were better in the 90's when they were an anti-gangsta
rap group (but still didn't really like them, because they were not white and didn't play
guitar) and you wear Buddy Holly glasses, you have high Malkmosity.
Coined by Dr. David Thorpe of Something Awful, Malkmosity refers to Pavement singer Stephen Malkmus. The reason being is Malkmus is the epitome of indie. He was a security guard before he recorded one of indie's seminal albums, Slanted & Enchanted, with his friend Spiral Stairs (Scott Kannberg) in the garage of their
hippie drummer's
house. His
music is slightly off kilter
pop with cryptic lyrics. (Example, "She's got the radioactive and it makes me feel okay" WTF?!) He is skinny, white, and plays guitar. He is indie.
High Malkmosity
Guy: I snuck into a Dinosaur Jr./My Bloody Valentine show 21+ gig when I was fifteen in the early 90s.
Higher Malkmosity
Guy: That's cool. I gave Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, and Glenn Branca head in the early 80s.
No Malkmosity Guy: I kind of like
music that the majority of the population has heard of.