What The Heck Is Shoegaze, And Why Should I Care?

Since this question has come up in a few posts, I thought I'd try to answer the question myself. I did use allmusic.com and wikipedia.com as references, but I decided to not just link to the articles; however, you may notice that I'm no writer. Now that the self-deprecation is out of the way, let us begin.Shoegaze is a term most often used for a group of British indie bands from the late 80’s to early 90’s, whose simple guitar melodies were drowned in layers of pretty guitar noise. These bands also featured vocals buried deep in the mix, initially due to lack of confidence on their vocalists’ part. The actual term “shoegaze” referred to their general stage presence, which consisted of staring at their guitars, or effects pedals, and not interacting with the audience. My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Lush, and Loop were leading lights of the shoegaze sound.GenesisThe shoegaze sound can be traced back as far as the viola feedback from “Heroin” by the Velvet Underground, but three groups laid out the basic blueprint of the sound: Cocteau Twins, Sonic Youth and The Jesus and Mary Chain. Cocteau Twins figured out how to make guitars shimmer as well as crunch, and treated Liz Fraser’s voice as another instrument in their mix, to stand beside the rest of the instruments and not lord over them. Sonic Youth found strange beauty in their weird tunings and male and female vocals. The Jesus and Mary Chain built simple guitar melodies, and then tried to choke them in feedback; their indifferent-to-hostile stage presence also came into play.SparkBefore 1987, My Bloody Valentine was a hard-working band that grew from a fixation on the Birthday Party to a band trying to emulate the Jesus and Mary Chain. They were also forced to start over, as their vocalist had just left the band. Somehow (I’m no musician, so I don’t know how these things work) they figured out a unique sound to call their own: light-as-air androgynous vocals buried under shimmering guitar. They first brought forth their new sound on the Ecstasy and Strawberry Wine EP’s which did not gain much notice. That changed in 1988, with the release of the singles “Feed Me with Your Kiss” and “You Made Me Realise,” and the full-length album Isn’t Anything. The British press went nuts trying to figure out their sound; it’s believed at this time a columnist from NME used the term ”shoegazers” to insult their stage presence. By the next year, bands like Ride, Lush, Moose, Boo Radleys, Pale Saints, et cetera, had been formed, who attempted to put their own spin on My Bloody Valentine’s sound.ApexIn late 1991, My Bloody Valentine released their second album, Loveless. By this time, shoegaze bands were the toast of the UK, and had started to make inroads on the US. Loveless was another thing altogether. The band took two years and half a million pounds to record the album, almost reducing their UK label, Creation, to bankruptcy in the process. The lead single, “Soon” (which was my first introduction to MBV) made its intent clear; the guitars alternated between beautiful and corrosive, the beat was danceable, and the vocals were so far into the mix that they are almost completely unintelligible. To this day, I have yet to see a definitive set of lyrics for any songs from Loveless.DiasporaBy 1994, shoegaze as a musical sub-genre was officially dead. Why? As with so many indie sounds that came out pre-1991, it was crushed by the tsunami of grunge. While grunge in and of itself was good, it became all the alternative/indie media could talk about.. Also, as happens so often, the British media that had built up shoegaze started in earnest to tear it down. IMHO, it also failed, as so many bands saw where My Bloody Valentine had gone, and realized that they did not have the means to follow in that direction. Anyway, by 1994, Ride had become a classic-rock band, Boo Radleys had gone pop, Chapterhouse had gone dancey, and Lush cleaned up their sound and pushed their vocals to the fore.ResurrectionLately, there has been more attention given to bands whose sound owes a debt to the shoegaze aesthetic. Serena Maneesh first gained the term “neo-shoegazers” after the release of their first EP, Fixations. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club initially was called neo-shoegazer as well, although their influences run more toward the bands that first inspired shoegaze, like the Jesus and Mary Chain and Spiritualized. Personally, more shoegaze in my life would be a good thing.Crucial Albums:My Bloody Valentine – Isn’t AnythingRide – NowhereCurve – DoppelgangerSlowdive – SouvlakiLush – GalaChapterhouse – WhirlpoolMy Bloody Valentine – LovelessLoop – Heaven’s EndBoo Radleys – Giant StepsPale Saints – In RibbonsNew Albums:The Radio Dept. – Lesser MattersThe Radio Dept. – Pet GriefSerena Maneesh – STStarflyer 59 – Old