The term lo-fi became popular in the 1990s, associated with the work of alternative artists who achieved great prominence in the music scene, such as Pavement, Guided by Voices, Beck, and Sebadoh.
An abbreviation of low fidelity, lo-fi refers to home productions with distortions and background noise, mainly due to equipment limitations. This aspect intentionally contrasts with the large productions of pop music. The style fits perfectly into the "do it yourself" (DIY) culture, of artists who produced their own records and relied on fanzines for promotion.
Although the term refers to the 1990s, home recordings had already been established in the 1960s. The albums Smiley Smile (1967), Wild Honey (1967), and Friends (1968) by The The Beach Boys, for example, were mostly recorded in Brian Wilson's home studio.
In the 1980s, American DJ William Berger began popularizing the term by playing music from independent and obscure artists, recorded on cassette tapes, on his WFMU radio show. Also in that decade, names like Daniel Johnston and Beat Happening stand out as pillars of indie lo-fi.
It's worth noting that lo-fi isn't always a result of technological limitations. Often, it's an aesthetic choice by the artist in search of a raw, natural, and organic sound, avoiding the artificiality of modern pop production.
