Shoegaze Explained

Shoegaze
Stylistic Origins:
Fusiongenres:Blackgaze
Other Topics:
Cultural Origins:Late 1980s, Ireland and United Kingdom
Derivatives:

Shoegaze (originally called shoegazing and sometimes conflated with "dream pop")[7] is a subgenre of indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion and effects, feedback, and overwhelming volume.[8] It emerged in Ireland and the United Kingdom in the late 1980s among neo-psychedelic groups[9] who usually stood motionless during live performances in a detached, non-confrontational state.[10] The name comes from the heavy use of effects pedals, as the performers were often looking down at their pedals during concerts.[11]

My Bloody Valentine's album Loveless (1991) is often seen as the genre's defining release; other prominent shoegaze groups include Slowdive, Ride, Lush, Pale Saints, Swirlies, Chapterhouse, and Swervedriver. A loose label given to the shoegaze bands and other affiliated bands in London in the early 1990s was "the scene that celebrates itself".[12] Most shoegaze artists drew from the template set by My Bloody Valentine on their late 1980s recordings, as well as bands such as The Jesus and Mary Chain and Cocteau Twins.

In the early 1990s, shoegaze was sidelined by American grunge and early Britpop acts, resulting in relatively unknown bands breaking up or reinventing their style altogether.[10] Since the late 2010s, a renewed interest in the genre has been noted, namely among nu gaze and blackgaze bands.

Characteristics

Shoegaze combines ethereal, swirling vocals with layers of distorted, bent, or flanged guitars,[13] creating a wash of sound where no instrument is distinguishable from another. The genre was typically "overwhelmingly loud, with long, droning riffs, waves of distortion, and cascades of feedback. Vocals and melodies disappeared into the walls of guitars."

Etymology

See also: Dream pop. In a 2016 article for HuffPost Andy Ross claimed he coined the term "shoegazing" at a show on 3 September 1991 which featured Chapterhouse, Slowdive and Moose, because the bands' members seemed to be in "a state of trance by the footwear lurking semi-motionless beneath their low-slung guitars".[14] Alternatively, The Guinness Who's Who of Indie and New Wave Music (1992) claimed that the first use of the name was in a concert review for Moose, published by Sounds, in which the author referenced how singer Russell Yates read lyrics taped to the floor throughout the gig.[15]

According to AllMusic: "The shatteringly loud, droning neo-psychedelia the band performed was dubbed shoegaze by the British press because the band members stared at the stage while they performed". The term was also used by the British music press to describe dream pop bands.[16] Slowdive's Simon Scott found the term relevant:

However, to some, the term was considered a pejorative, especially by a part of the English weekly music press who considered the movement as ineffectual, and it was disliked by many of the groups it purported to describe. Lush's singer Miki Berenyi explained: Ride's Mark Gardener had another take on his group's static presentation: "We didn't want to use the stage as a platform for ego... We presented ourselves as normal people, as a band who wanted their fans to think they could do that too."

History

Origins and precursors

"All I Wanna Do", a song from the Beach Boys' 1970 album Sunflower, was retrospectively viewed as a precursor to shoegaze, and was one of many influences on both the shoegaze and dream pop scenes of the early 1990s.[17] [18] [19]

Post-punk acts Siouxsie and the Banshees and The Cure were formative influences on shoegaze.[20] Slowdive named themselves after the Siouxsie and the Banshees song of the same name and took inspiration from the group at their beginnings, while their contemporaries Lush were originally called "The Baby Machines", a line from a Siouxsie Sioux lyric.[21] During early and mid 1980s, the English alternative rock and neo-psychedelia scenes produced several bands whose exploration of sounds and textures would impact shoegaze. Those bands included the House of Love, Spacemen 3, and Loop, the latter two of whom were notable influences on shoegazers Ride and Slowdive.[22] [23]

American underground bands Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., and Pixies were also cited by various shoegaze bands as touchstones for their respective sounds.[24] [25] Proto-punk band the Velvet Underground also proved very influential for many shoegaze acts.[26]

According to AllMusic, most bands drew from the music of My Bloody Valentine as a template for the genre, as well as groups such as Cocteau Twins and the Jesus and Mary Chain. British dream pop duo A.R. Kane have also been credited with producing a template for the genre in the late 1980s.[27] [28] My Bloody Valentine's Loveless is often referred to as the greatest album the genre has produced.[29]

After garnering some local popularity with their 1987 twee/noise pop single, "Sunny Sundae Smile", My Bloody Valentine started to move their sound more and more into experimentation with noise and complex series of effect pedals—as seen in their 1988 breakthrough: the You Made Me Realise EP and album Isn't Anything.[30] Michael Azerrad's book Our Band Could Be Your Life cited an early 1990s Dinosaur Jr. tour of the United Kingdom as a key influence.[31]

Whereas contemporary alternative rock movements of the time period were extremely male-dominated (Britpop, grunge), My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Lush, Cocteau Twins, Pale Saints, Curve and many other popular shoegaze acts had at least one prominent female musician who contributed key vocal elements and/or integral writing components to the music. In the 2014 film Beautiful Noise, Kevin Shields noted that there were as many women as men in the shoegaze community.[32]

The Scene That Celebrates Itself

The Scene That Celebrates Itself was the social and musical scene in the early 1990s within London and the Thames Valley area. The term was coined by Melody Maker's Steve Sutherland in 1990 in a near-contemptuous gesture, focusing on how bands involved in the scene, rather than engaging in traditional rivalries, were often seen at each other's gigs, sometimes playing in each other's bands, and drinking together.[33]

Bands lumped into the 'scene' by the press included several of the bands that were branded with the shoegazing label, such as Chapterhouse, Lush, Moose and other (mainly indie) bands such as Blur (prior to the release of their single "Popscene"), Thousand Yard Stare, See See Rider and Stereolab.[34] A prime example were Moose, who often swapped members with other bands on a given night. Moose's Russell Yates and Stereolab guitarist Tim Gane would often trade places, while "Moose" McKillop often played with See See Rider.[35] Gane and his Stereolab colleague Lætitia Sadier even played on the 1991 session by Moose for John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show.[36]

The bands, producers and journalists of the time would gather in London and their activities would be chronicled in the gossip pages of the music papers NME and Melody Maker. The most famous club and focal point was Syndrome, which was located on Oxford Street and ran weekly on Wednesday nights. The NME, in particular, embraced the scene, and the unity of the bands was probably advantageous to their careers, because when one band had a successful record, the other bands could share the publicity. The scene was extremely small and revolved around fewer than 20 individuals.

The first stirrings of recognition came when indie writer Steve Lamacq referred to Ride in an NME review as "the House of Love with chainsaws".

The shoegaze genre label was quite often misapplied. As key bands such as Slowdive, Chapterhouse and Ride emerged from the Thames Valley, Swervedriver found themselves labelled shoegazers on account of their own Thames Valley origins, despite their more pronounced Hüsker Dü-meets-Stooges stylings.[37]

Decline

The coining of the term "The Scene That Celebrates Itself" was in many ways the beginning of the end for the first wave of shoegazers. The bands became perceived by critics as over-privileged, self-indulgent, and middle-class. This perception was in sharp contrast with both the bands who formed the wave of newly commercialized grunge music which was making its way across the Atlantic, as well as those bands who formed the foundation of Britpop, such as Pulp, Oasis, Blur and Suede. Britpop also offered intelligible lyrics, often about the trials and tribulations of working-class life; this was a stark contrast to the "vocals as an instrument" approach of shoegaze, which often prized the melodic contribution of vocals over their lyrical depth.

Many shoegaze bands would either disband or change their sound during the mid-1990s. Ride disbanded before the release of their fourth album, Tarantula, which would shift to a more contemporary alternative rock sound. Slowdive's third album, Pygmalion, would shift to a more experimental sound that was stylistically closer to post-rock than shoegaze. Slowdive would be dropped from Creation Records just a week after Pygmalion's release,[38] and Tarantula would also be deleted from their catalogue a week after its release.[39]

Lush's final album, Lovelife, was an abrupt shift from shoegaze to Britpop, which alienated many fans; the 1996 suicide of their drummer Chris Acland signaled Lush's dissolution. Following a long gap from My Bloody Valentine since Loveless, aside from their 2008 reunion tour, the band released m b v in February 2013. Shields explained their silence by noting, "I never could be bothered to make another record unless I was really excited by it."[40]

Post-movement directions

See also: Nu gaze and Blackgaze. Several former members of shoegaze bands later moved towards dream pop, post-rock, and the more electronica-based trip hop. Neil Halstead, Rachel Goswell, and Ian McCutcheon of Slowdive would form Mojave 3, while guitarist Christian Savill would form Monster Movie. Adam Franklin of Swervedriver released lo-fi albums under the moniker Toshack Highway.[41] The use of electronic dance and ambient elements by bands such as Slowdive and Seefeel paved the way for later developments in post-rock and electronica.

While shoegaze briefly flared and then faded out in the UK, the bands of the initial wave had an immense impact on the development of regional underground and college rock scenes in the US.[42] In particular, a Lush and Ride tour of the US in 1991[43] directly inspired the spawning of American shoegaze groups including Drop Nineteens, Half String[44] and Ozean.[45] Columnist Emma Sailor of KRUI in Iowa City opines:

About DC-based Velocity Girl's 1991 single "My Forgotten Favorite", Sailor goes on to note, "Could anything be more different—and yet so similar—to [Slowdive]? The hazy [production] and dreamy, high pitched female vocals are there, but the outlook is entirely different." Other notable American shoegaze influenced bands of the early-to mid-1990s included Lilys, Swirlies, The Veldt, and Medicine.[46]

A resurgence of the genre began in the late 1990s (particularly in the United States) and the early 2000s, that helped usher in what is now referred to as the "nu gaze" era.[47] Also various heavy metal acts were inspired by shoegaze, which contributed to the emergence of "post-metal" and "metalgaze" styles.[48] [49] Particularly in the mid-2000s, French black metal acts Alcest and Amesoeurs began incorporating shoegaze elements into their sound, pioneering the blackgaze genre.[50]

In eastern Asia the genre has become increasingly popular with bands such as Cocteau Twins influencing the creation of new "art school" shoegaze.[51] Bands like Tokyo Shoegazer and For Tracy Hyde have increasingly adopted western elements, with some bands combining Indie music with shoegaze and psychedelic rock. Further, since the late 2010s, some artists began prominently incorporating emo themes into shoegaze, with albums like Weatherdays Come In (2019) and Parannouls To See the Next Part of the Dream (2021) being examples.[52] [53]

In the early 2020s, shoegaze became popular among Generation Z people and on TikTok. Multiple outlets described this as shoegaze's "revival" or "resurrection".[54] [55] [56] [57]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: My Bloody Valentine: Isn't Anything / Loveless / EPs 1988–1991. Pitchfork. 11 May 2012. 17 April 2015. Richardson. Mark. 17 April 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150417141303/http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/16605-isnt-anything-reissue-loveless-reissue-eps-1988-1991/. live.
  2. Web site: Noise Pop : Significant Albums, Artists and Songs, Most Viewed: AllMusic. https://web.archive.org/web/20120602055716/http://www.allmusic.com/style/noise-pop-ma0000012156. dead. 2 June 2012. . 2 June 2012.
  3. News: Where to start with the enigmatic music known as shoegaze. Heller, Jason. The A.V. Club. 9 August 2016. 30 October 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161030024131/http://www.avclub.com/article/where-to-start-with-the-enigmatic-music-known-as-s-84889. live.
  4. Olivier Bernard: Anthologie de l'ambient, Camion Blanc, 2013,
    "L'ethereal wave (et notamment les Cocteau Twins) a grandement influencé le shoegaze et la dream pop... L'ethereal wave s'est développée à partir du gothic rock, et tire ses origines principalement de la musique de Siouxsie and the Banshees (les Cocteau Twins s'en sont fortement inspirés, ce qui se ressent dans leur premier album Garlands, sorti en 1982). Le genre s'est développé surtout autour des années 1983-1984, avec l'émergence de trois formations majeures: Cocteau Twins, This Mortal Coil et Dead Can Dance... Les labels principaux promouvant le genre sont 4AD et Projekt Records".
  5. Web site: Space Rock : Allmusic. . 5 March 2019. 29 March 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190329215305/https://www.allmusic.com/style/space-rock-ma0000012255. live.
  6. Web site: Despres. Sean. Whatever you do, don't call it 'chillwave'. Japan Times. 18 June 2010 . 8 November 2016. 9 November 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161109074518/http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2010/06/18/music/whatever-you-do-dont-call-it-chillwave/#.WCIn36M-Iy4. live.
  7. Rothman . Joshua . T. S. Eliot Would Have Liked Beach House . . 28 August 2015 . 16 June 2021 . 5 March 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210305065517/https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/t-s-eliot-would-have-liked-beach-house . live .
  8. Pete Prown / Harvey P. Newquist: "One faction came to be known as dream-pop or "shoegazers" (for their habit of looking at the ground while playing the guitars on stage). They were musicians who played trancelike, ethereal music that was composed of numerous guitars playing heavy droning chords wrapped in echo effects and phase shifters.", Hal Leonard 1997,
  9. News: Reynolds . Simon . Simon Reynolds . 1 December 1991 . Pop View; 'Dream-Pop' Bands Define the Times in Britain . . live . 7 March 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200902043640/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/01/arts/pop-view-dream-pop-bands-define-the-times-in-britain.html?pagewanted=1 . 2 September 2020.
  10. Web site: Explore: Shoegaze | AllMusic . https://web.archive.org/web/20110217194914/http://www.allmusic.com/explore/style/d2680 . dead . 17 February 2011 . . 17 February 2011 . 9 August 2016.
  11. Web site: Shoegaze, the Sound of Protest Shrouded in Guitar Fuzz, Returns . 14 August 2017 . New York Times . 17 December 2019 . 18 December 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191218003247/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/14/arts/music/shoegaze-slowdive-ride.html/ . live .
  12. Book: The Guinness who's who of indie and new wave music . 1992 . Guinness . 978-0-85112-579-4 . Larkin . Colin . Guinness who's who of popular music series . Enfield, Middlesex.
  13. Patrick Sisson, "Vapour Trails: Revisiting Shoegaze ", XLR8R no. 123, December 2008
  14. Web site: Shoegazing – the Coining of a Genre . . 11 May 2016.
  15. Book: Larkin, Colin . The Guinness Who's Who of Indie and New Wave Music . 1992 . 188. Square One. 0-85112-579-4.
  16. Book: Wice . Nathaniel . Daly . Steven . Alt. Culture: An A-to-Z Guide to the '90s – Underground, Online, and Over-the-Counter . New York . . 1995 . 69 . 978-0-06-273383-2 . registration . The dream pop bands were lionized by the capricious British music press, which later took to dismissing them as 'shoegazers' for their affectless stage presence..
  17. Web site: Macauley . Hefner . 18 July 2000 . The Beach Boys: Sunflower/Surf's Up . 19 May 2023 . Pitchfork Media Inc . 8 September 2012 . https://archive.today/20120908012154/http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/reviews/albums/11665-sunflowersurfs-up/ . dead.
  18. Web site: Cameron . Katie . 8 August 2018 . The Eight Best Beach Boys' Albums . 19 May 2023 . Paste.
  19. Web site: Music . Future . 3 June 2021 . The beginner's guide to: chillwave . 19 May 2023 . Musicradar.
  20. Web site: Bonner . Michael . 3 November 2017 . Going Blank Again: a history of shoegaze . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20201226160209/https://www.uncut.co.uk/features/going-blank-history-shoegaze-102240/ . 26 December 2020 . 26 September 2020 . Uncut.
  21. Web site: Tyler . Kieron . 17 January 2016 . Reissue CDs Weekly: Still in a Dream - A Story of Shoegaze . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20170406130852/http://www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/reissue-cds-weekly-still-dream-story-shoegaze . 6 April 2017 . 17 December 2016 . theartsdesk.com.
  22. Web site: Trunick . Austin . November 18, 2013 . Ride on “Nowhere”: Mark Gardener and Andy Bell on 1990's Shoegaze Classic . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20231201055400/https://www.undertheradarmag.com/interviews/ride_on_nowhere_mark_gardener_and_andy_bell . December 1, 2023 . May 11, 2024 . Under the Radar.
  23. Web site: Trunick . Austin . August 12, 2014 . Slowdive - Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell on the Bands That Inspired Them . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20240218162051/https://www.undertheradarmag.com/interviews/slowdive_-_neil_halstead_and_rachel_goswell_on_the_bands_that_inspired_them . February 18, 2024 . May 11, 2024 . Under the Radar.
  24. Web site: Parkes . Taylor . May 10, 2012 . "Not Doing Things Is Soul Destroying" - Kevin Shields Of MBV Interviewed . May 11, 2024 . The Quietus.
  25. Web site: Ackell . Greg . 2022 . JERKSTM / DROP NINETEENS . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20240129144011/https://jerks-store.com/pages/drop-nineteens . January 29, 2024 . May 11, 2024 . jerks-store.com.
  26. http://www.exclaim.ca/articles/multiarticlesub.aspx?csid2=779&fid1=32739 Exclaim! Sound of Confusion article on Shoegaze
  27. Web site: AR Kane: how to invent shoegaze without really trying. Rob. Fitzpatrick. 19 September 2012. Theguardian.com. 31 July 2017. 31 July 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170731225613/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/sep/19/ar-kane-rudy-tambala. live.
  28. Simon & Schuster: The Trouser Press Guide to '90s Rock, p.49, Fireside, March 1997,
  29. Web site: Anderson . Stacy . The 50 Best Shoegaze Albums of All Time . Pitchfork . 2018 Conde Nast . 5 September 2019 . 22 November 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161122101203/http://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/9966-the-50-best-shoegaze-albums-of-all-time/?page=5 . live .
  30. Book: Strong, Martin C. . The Great Alternative & Indie Discography . registration . 1999 . 427. Canongate. 0-86241-913-1. "The full extent of their pioneering guitar manipulation – responsible for a whole scene of "shoegaze" musical admirers, stand up Ride, Moose, Lush etc., etc., ...".
  31. Azerrad, Michael (2001). Our Band Could Be Your Life. Back Bay. pp. 366. .
  32. Eric Green . Beautiful Noise. film. HypFilms. United States. 2014.
  33. Book: Larkin, Colin . The Guinness Who's Who of Indie and New Wave Music . 1992 . Guinness Publishing . 0-85112-579-4 .
  34. Web site: Review of Slowdive's Souvlaki by Jason Parkes . 19 September 2020 . 14 October 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181014032118/http://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/review/1763 . live .
  35. Web site: PopMatters Columns The Attic or The Underground Do You Remember? . 22 December 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090108205056/http://www.popmatters.com/music/columns/brown/030417.shtml . 8 January 2009 . dead .
  36. "Peel Sessions: 16 April 1991 - Moose ", Keeping It Peel, BBC
  37. Lester, Paul (12 September 1992). "Whatever Happened to Shoegaze?" Melody Maker, p.6. Retrieved 12 April 2007 from Proquest Research Library.
  38. Web site: 10 April 2017 . Slowdive on Their First Album in 22 Years and Why Shoegaze Came Back . 2 July 2022 . Pitchfork.
  39. Ride - Weather Diaries album review: The Skinny . 2 July 2022 . The Skinny.
  40. Web site: Kevin Shields: MBV Will "100%" Make Another Album. Pitchforkmedia.com. 16 January 2007. 6 March 2007. https://web.archive.org/web/20070306120405/http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/page/news/40473/Kevin_Shields_MBV_Will_100_Make_Another_Album#40473. live.
  41. Stevens, Andrew (11 July 2007). "Leave Them All Behind: The 3:AM Guide to 'Shoegaze' and British Indie Music in the 1990s" . Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  42. News: Gregg Araki's films are giving the US a crash course in Shoegaze . 5 August 2011 . . 4 April 2020 . London . Phelim . O'Neill . 19 March 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210319062857/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/aug/06/gregg-araki-kaboom-shoegazing . live.
  43. Web site: Lush Gigography . 4 April 2020 . Miki . Berenyi . 22 February 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200222132222/http://www.lightfromadeadstar.org/Gigography/Index.htm . live.
  44. Vendetta . Ben . Half String Interview . Vendetta Magazine . Spring 1997 . 8 . 4 April 2020 . 1 October 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201001022105/http://www.silbermedia.com/qrd/thieves/vhalfs.htm . live.
  45. Web site: Lamoreaux. Jason T.. 9 January 2017. An Interview with Ozean. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20170110075100/https://somewherecold.net/2017/01/09/an-interview-with-ozean/. 10 January 2017. 4 April 2020. Somewherecold.
  46. Web site: Shoegaze Music Artists . AllMusic . AllMusic, Netaktion LLC . 5 April 2020 . 8 March 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210308092910/https://www.allmusic.com/style/shoegaze-ma0000004454/artists . live.
  47. News: Diamond gazers . 27 July 2007 . . 13 May 2012 . London . Jude . Rogers . 7 March 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170307045900/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/jul/27/popandrock . live.
  48. Web site: Jacobs. Koen. Metal Gaze – From My Bloody Valentine To Nadja via SunnO))). The Quietus. 6 June 2012. 4 September 2008. ...the recent trend for combining metal's sense of threat with the immersive idyll of shoegazing is undeniable, and only one aspect of the ongoing cross-pollination taking place in extreme music. For his part, r views the 'metalgaze' movement as less entropic than cyclical.. 12 March 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160312103910/http://thequietus.com/articles/00376-in-extremis-metal-gaze. live.
  49. Web site: Burgin. Leah. Metalgaze gets confused with monotony on Pelican's latest disc. The Michigan Daily. University of Michigan. 17 April 2012. 5 December 2015. 28 March 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20100328131219/http://www.michigandaily.com/content/pelican-review. live.
  50. Web site: Zina . Natalie . The Translator Blackgaze . Exclaim.ca . 26 February 2014 . 9 August 2016 . 20 December 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161220123501/http://exclaim.ca/music/article/translator-blackgaze . live.
  51. News: Haman . Brian . 13 September 2017 . 'A language we use to say sentimental things': how shoegaze took over Asia . 30 May 2022 . The Guardian.
  52. Web site: Stream Weatherday's New EP As Five Pebbles, forgetmenot. Chris. Deville. 20 December 2021. 4 July 2022. Stereogum.
  53. Web site: Cohen. Ian. 25 March 2021. 파란노을 (Parannoul) - To See the Next Part of the Dream (album review). 4 July 2022. Pitchfork.
  54. Web site: Sherburne . Philip . 2023-12-14 . The Shoegaze Revival Hit Its Stride in 2023 . 2024-03-24 . . en-US.
  55. Web site: Enis . Eli . 2023-12-18 . TikTok Has Made Shoegaze Bigger Than Ever . 2024-03-24 . . en.
  56. Web site: Toner . Paul . 2021-04-27 . Gen Z Are Resurrecting Shoegaze for Their 'Bleak, Post-COVID World' . 2024-03-24 . . en.
  57. Web site: He . Kristen S. . 2024-03-21 . Only Tomorrow: The Resurrection And Rewriting Of Shoegaze History . 2024-03-24 . . en-US.

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