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The 7 Songs To Blame For Stomp Clap Hey

Trash Theory | September 21, 2025



For the briefest moment in the early 2010s, Stomp Clap ruled the airwaves. The Lumineers were vying for chart places with Rihanna and Bruno Mars. Mumford & Sons, Of Monsters and Men and Vance Joy too were getting rich off hoedowns, hootenannys and rave ups. And everyone was dressing like they were in There Will Be Blood. It was a millennial-tinged Americana, Obama-era folk-pop, a whole lot of stompin’, clappin’, hootin’ and hollerin’. It was nostalgia for the old times, infused with blinding sincerity, an absolute aversion to irony and an overabundance of percussion. But what were its influences, the vital steps along the way? How did we get to the point where “Ho Hey” was a pop hit? These are the 7 songs that made Stomp Clap Happen.

#mumfordandsons #indiefolk #musicdocumentary

Fact-checking by Chad Van Wagner.

00:00 Introduction
00:49 O Brother, Where Art Thou?
05:51 Wake Up
11:26 Skinny Love
17:50 Home
23:39 Little Lion Man
28:55 Little Talks
32:43 Ho Hey

Soundtrack
Luar – Citrine (https://soundcloud.com/luarbeats)
Jesse Gallagher – The Golden Present
Luar – Anchor (https://soundcloud.com/luarbeats)

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Such Great Heights: The Complete Cultural History of The Indie Rock Explosion by Chris Deville, 2025, St Martin’s Press
“American high” Michael Ellison, The Guardian, Jun 2001
“O Brother, why art thou so popular?” Staff, BBC News, Feb 2002
“Funeral – Review” David Moore, Pitchfork, Sep 2004
“Arcade Fire: Great Expectations” Keith Cameron, Mojo Magazine, Jun 2005
“Breakout Band Of The Year: Arcade Fire” Caryn Ganz, Spin Magazine, Jan 2006
“One Very, Very Indie Band” Darcy Frey, The New York Times, Mar 2007
“Keep the Faith: The Arcade Fire” Paul Morley, Observer Music Monthly, Mar 2007
“Arcade Fire: The Unforgettable Fire” Nick Hasted, Uncut Magazine, Jan 2008
“Isolation Songs: An Interview with Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon” Jennifer Kelly, PopMatters, Feb 2008
“UP CLOSE & PERSONAL WITH JUSTIN VERNON” John Mulvey, Uncut Magazine, May 2008
“Cabin fever” Laura Barton, The Guardian, May 2008
“Interview – Bon Iver” Tyler Grisham, Pitchfork, May 2008
“The Lamentalist Bon Iver” Steve Kandell, Spin Magazine, Feb 2009
“Up From Below – Review” Paul Thompson, Pitchfork, Jan 2010
“The Almighty Power of Mumford & Sons” Laura Barton, The Guardian, Feb 2010
“We’re An American-ish Band” Michael Odell, Spin Magazine, Jun 2011
“O Brother, Where Art Thou? – Interview” David Wild, Huffington Post, Aug 2011
“God, Beer & Banjos: Mumford & Sons Take America” Josh Eells, Rolling Stone, Aug 2011
“Discovery: Of Monsters and Men” Ilana Kaplan, Interview Magazine, Jan 2012
“Buzz Buzz Buzz” Emily Zelmer, Billboard, Jan 2012
“Meet Of Monsters and Men” Brian Mansfield, USA Today, Mar 2012
“Song Premiere: Of Monsters and Men, ‘Little Talks’ (Passion Pit Remix)” Steve Baltin, Rolling Stone, Jul 2012
“Of Monsters and Men: ‘We found we could bond better by telling each other fairytales’” Kate Mossman, The Guardian, Aug 2012
“Of Monsters And Men Look to ‘Expand’ on Next Album” Steve Baltin, Rolling Stone, Dec 2012
“Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros: The Authentic Alex Ebert” Shane Ryan, Paste, Jul 2013
“Arcade Fire’s Funeral and the Legacy of the “WHOA-OH”” Stuart Berman, Pitchfork, Sep 2014
“Mumford & Sons: ‘no one plans for world domination with a banjo’” Neil McCormick, Telegraph, Jul 2015
“The Lumineers: ‘You lose the art to a song when it gets chopped up…’” Rob LeDonne, The Guardian, Jun 2016
“How we wrote ‘Ho Hey’ by The Lumineers’ Wesley Schultz” Staff, Songwriting Magazine, Winter 2016
“For Emma, Forever Ago Turns 10” Chris DeVille, Stereogum, Jul 2017
“How Americana Went Mainstream in the 2010s” Jonathan Bernstein, Rolling Stone, Dec 2019
“‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’ at 20: How the Soundtrack Reinforced a Roots Music Myth” Jonathan Bernstein, Rolling Stone, Dec 2020
“‘There was blood on the piano’: Inside the chaos and grandeur that made Arcade Fire’s Funeral” Mark Beaumont, The Independent, Sep 2024
“Funeral Turns 20” Ian Cohen, Stereogum, Sep 2024
“How O Brother, Where Art Thou? got inspired – then upstaged – by its own soundtrack” Xan Brooks, The Independent, Mar 2025
“How the Lumineers outlived stomp-clap’s biggest hit” Mikael Wood, LA Times, Mar 2025
“Mumford & Sons and the Lumineers Are Done Stompin’” Jonathan Bernstein, Rolling Stone, Mar 2025
“‘It sounds terrible but I listen to it 30 times a day’: how the Lumineers made Ho Hey” Dave Simpson, The Guardian, Mar 2025
““It’s a sad song, but so many people tell us they had it played at their wedding”: How a dejected indie folk gem became a wedding song staple” Andy Price, Music Radar, Jul 2025
“The Revenge of Millennial Cringe” Kyle Chayka, The New Yorker, Aug 2025
“We Asked Alex Ebert About The Edward Sharpe Discourse And Much More” Chris DeVille, Stereogum, Aug 2025

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Written by Trash Theory

Comments

This post currently has 32 comments.

  6. @fayesouthall6604

    September 21, 2025 at 9:44 am

    I must confess I never liked these bands especially Mumford and Sons used to call them the Trustfund Wurzels. I like folk music but I’d rather listen to Laura Marling or American bluegrass music.

  9. @greggalemusic

    September 21, 2025 at 9:44 am

    Music industry was going to hell in a handbasket. Then came a few of these "Stomp Clap" hits, and I thought: "wow, maybe genuinely good music can still be heard on the radio in the 21st century? with real people playing real instruments?" and then it was gone, and we're back to the overproduced, ear shattering autotune fests with a few plagiarized riffs from the old times. Zero character, message, nothing… Stomp Clap was a glimmer of hope before it all went dark.

  11. @hyperbaroque

    September 21, 2025 at 9:44 am

    I was thinking more like Paul Simon "Cecelia", Baltimora "Tarzan Boy", Phillip Phillips "Home". Everything that sounds like those 3 songs makes me hate the radio. And it's more and more and more and more music these days.

  13. @premiumfruits3528

    September 21, 2025 at 9:44 am

    Connecting O Brother Where Art Thou to this genre of music is a pretty big stretch. The movie has nothing to do with it and the music from it was just early 1900s bluegrass. Bluegrass has always been popular, the movie didn't make it mainstream, and regardless it doesn't even sound remotely the same. There was also a huge gap in time between that movie and when this genre got really popular, almost a full decade.

  15. @jeh3372

    September 21, 2025 at 9:44 am

    What the nay sayers dont remember is that this music fit the time. The economy was losing a million jobs a month. Wall Street had fucked us again, right as I was graduating college. Right around the same time we elected the first African American president and for many people this cheery yet melancholy music blended perfectly with Obama's message of Hope during an uncertain time. Were we naive? Absolutely. Was it a fun and exciting time, absolutely.

  17. @simonr5171

    September 21, 2025 at 9:44 am

    I tried really hard but I could never get into Arcade Fire. This is interesting. As with a lot of summaries written about musical genres I do wonder if any of this happened as described or, as I suspect, it is a little contrived after the event. (Edit: you do make this point in the summary!!)

  19. @TheNaFun

    September 21, 2025 at 9:44 am

    "Cynicism is a terrible, disfiguring character trait if used by the individual who is forced to carry a bitter chip. He will use his cynicism to cope with the weight of life and all its trials. But cynicism harnessed to your advantage can help debunk fraudulent

    mysteries that prevent us from sharing in what is possible and what is ours. At all times cynicism must be balanced with a belief and faith

    in the intrinsic goodness of our fellow man. Nobody really wants to be bad, even when they are pulling the trigger or handing out the towels for the non existent showers."

  20. @midnightswim34

    September 21, 2025 at 9:44 am

    Dude this is such a good documentary of music. Having lived thru all this I can’t help but feel nostalgic. But it was so annoying and ubiquitous back then. I’m curious what the thoughts on this music will be in another few decades. Or if it will all be forgotten.

  22. @Chrissepisje

    September 21, 2025 at 9:44 am

    Alex Ebert's comments on Rock 'n' Roll's conformity echo the song Rock 'n' Roll Lifestyle by Cake from 1993. And certain aspects of what you discussed already started with the Violent Femmes, while Gerry Rafferty had been bemoaning the music industry and London scene since the mid 1970s. All this while Monsters and Men give off a Neutral Milk Hotel vibe.

    It truly is cyclic.

  25. @sophianickoloff483

    September 21, 2025 at 9:44 am

    I was in middle/high school during this music moment. Now that 2010 teens are adults, it makes sense that this would come back. This was essentially the 2010s emo; a rejection of the “mainstream” culture that was, in fact, the mainstream culture. Even if it’s cringe, this music impacted my general taste in music. It was a gateway to listening to the genres that inspired it and contemporary bands that actually weren’t quite as commercialized. These songs are the soundtrack to my youth.

  29. @lovelife1867

    September 21, 2025 at 9:44 am

    This is the proof that Europe always sees music better than America.
    While this regressive trend was going on, Europe was expanding on electronica that pushes the borders of real. America was drowning in a pool of high school emo, pop punk , this and club hiphop. Once they get their hands on electronica , bam! brostep. shitstep.
    Somehow it seems that music is only valuable to the less intelligent.
    Heavy control of the music industry. So disappointing yet so funny …

  32. @Viraus2

    September 21, 2025 at 9:44 am

    Funny how all the music in this video gets progressively lamer as it approaches peak Stomp Clap fatigue. It's like a descent into nostalgic cringe hell

Comments are closed.

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