I was just wondering how long "indie" has been used to define a genre of music. I know it's short for independent, but I first came across it as a 14 or 15 year old when it meant the same thing as Britpop(TM) - but although britpop has long been dead, "indie" is still used to describe different types of music that often have no similarity to each other.

Does "indie" mean anything and is it too vague and broad to define a style of music?