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\n\tThe Billboard<\/em> staff\u2019s list of the 100 best songs of 2005<\/a> highlights the macro-trends in modern rock from 20 years ago: veterans like Green Day and Foo Fighters were still scoring mega-hits, relative newcomers like The Killers and Coldplay were coming into their own, and bands like Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance were helping emo reach the masses. These bands headlined arenas, earned radio play and were constant fixtures on MTV. For a generation scouring a pre-smartphone Internet, however, there was an alternative to the rock bands that were already labeled \u201calternative.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIndie rock existed for decades before 2005, but the mid-point of the 2000s was the year that blogs started becoming more ubiquitous, their left-of-center recommendations started reaching wider audiences, and artists that previously wouldn\u2019t have believed that they could cater to large audiences suddenly started playing to them. Thanks to a \u201cBest New Music\u201d Pitchfork declaration or a prominent print-magazine writeup, the floodgates would suddenly open for artists signed to indie labels. This was still a few years before the mainstream fully began intermingling with the indie scene \u2013 by way of Jay-Z infamously showing up<\/a> to Grizzly Bear\u2019s Brooklyn show, but in the meantime, several artists saw their profiles balloon and their crowds swell, thanks to some of the most daring and thought-provoking indie albums released that decade.<\/p>\n \n\tTo celebrate Billboard<\/em>\u2019s 2005 Week, nine indie artists opened up in separate interviews about the year that their lives transformed thanks to a breakthrough album release.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThese artists discussed their memories of the indie scene in 2005, shared pinch-me moments about their unplanned success, reflected on how the music industry evolved in the following years and offered advice for independent artists hoping to break big today. Read through all of the conversations below.<\/p>\n \n\t(Ed. note: These interviews have been condensed and edited for clarity.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\t\tClap Your Hands Say Yeah<\/strong>\t<\/h2>\n