Line #90 Main/Shoegazing


1	[[quoteright:300:[[Music/MyBloodyValentine https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shoegazing_mbv_8089.jpg]]]]
2	[[caption-width-right:300:[-''[[WebAnimation/HomestarRunner "It's like they don't really even care about me. Like when they played that song called 'We don't really even care about you'?"]]''-]]]
3
4	[floatboxright:
5	Primary Stylistic Influences:
6	+ AlternativeRock, DreamPop, NoisePop
7	]
8	[floatboxright:
9	Secondary Stylistic Influences:
10	+ PsychedelicRock, NoiseRock
11	]
12
13	->''"...it's just pure noise for the hell of it."''
14	-->-- '''[[Music/MyBloodyValentine Kevin Shields]]'''
15
16	Shoegazing is a subgenre of AlternativeRock that was pioneered and popularized by Music/MyBloodyValentine in the late 1980s-early 1990s. Its sound characterized by a huge wall of guitars playing drone-based riffs, breathy PerishingAltRockVoice singing that is usually rendered low in the mix and often incomprehensible, pounding drumming and a mix that builds up everything into a huge wall of sound where the individual instruments blend together. In addition, a danceable undercurrent can lie beneath this wall of sound (some bands emphasized this to the point of straddling the line between shoegaze and Madchester). In short, a perfect combination of aggressive and dreamy.
17
18	While shoegazing can be influenced by PsychedelicRock, it was influenced by DreamPop's emphasis on sound over actual song, and indie NoiseRock bands such as Music/SonicYouth, Music/DinosaurJr, Music/TheJesusAndMaryChain, Music/Spacemen3 and The Music/VelvetUnderground.
19
20	The name comes from a ''Sounds'' review of a Moose concert and was picked up by ''NME'' in reference to shoegazing bands' motionless live performances where they mostly stared at their effects pedals (to the right you can see [[Music/MyBloodyValentine Bilinda Butcher]] doing exactly that). Music/{{Ride}} singer Mark Gardener also attributed the motionlessness to an average presentation, in reaction to the "ego" of famous bands like Music/{{U2}}. ''Melody Maker'''s nickname for the movement was The Scene That Celebrates Itself, due to shoegazers' habit of moonlighting in each other's bands and attending each other's concerts instead of engaging in petty rivalries.
21
22	The genre's first release can be pointed to the song "When You're Sad" by experimental dream pop band Music/ARKane (who would later produce the song "Pump Up the Volume" under the name M/A/R/R/S, alongside electronic band Colourbox), released in 1986. Another early release is 1986's ''Ultramarine'' by A Primary Industry, another experimental dream pop album that, among [[GenreMashup a lot of other elements]], features the walls of atmospheric guitars that define the genre.
23
24	However, most people point to the EP ''You Made Me Realise'' by the Anglo-Irish band Music/MyBloodyValentine in 1988. They are also responsible for the most critically acclaimed and well-regarded shoegazing album, ''Music/{{Loveless}}'' (1991), which is seen as the ''essential'' shoegazing album for [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic damn good reason]]. Other great bands in the genre include: Music/{{Slowdive}}, Music/{{Ride}}, Music/{{Lush}}, Music/KitchensOfDistinction, Music/CatherineWheel, Music/PaleSaints, Chapterhouse, Moose and Music/TheVerve, the final being a fusion of shoegazing, space rock and psychedelic rock. The only problem with these bands is that they suffer from a pretty bad case of OvershadowedByAwesome thanks to the pervasive presence and legendary reputation of the aforementioned My Bloody Valentine.[[note]]You might say "But I know The Verve!", but they never completely fit in with the scene and had a bit of a GenreShift on the way to success.[[/note]]
25
26	The shoegazing genre itself was at the forefront of alternative rock in the UK, which in the late 1980s-early 1990s was split between a spacey, psychedelic alt-rock scene which included shoegazing (roughly corresponding to Southern England - the overwhelming majority of shoegazing bands came from the Thames Valley, which probably contributed to the camaraderie between members and the Scene That Celebrates Itself moniker), and a poppier alt-rock scene which included Madchester (roughly corresponding to Northern England, duh). The genre had a minor chart presence in the UK, with some bands reaching the pop charts with singles or [=EPs=]. Lush and Ride both had multiple UK Top 40 hits, and Ride's "Leave Them All Behind" made it to #9 on the UK chart in 1992, the highest chart position for a shoegazing song.
27
28	While the genre itself was a mostly British thing, there were a few shoegazey bands to emerge out of the USA, like Music/Starflyer59, Medicine, The Veldt, Swirlies, and Drop Nineteens. It was also regarded as a significant influence on Music/TheSmashingPumpkins and Music/{{Deftones}}, among other successful '90s and '00s bands. That's not to say shoegazing wasn't popular in the United States; My Bloody Valentine, Lush, Catherine Wheel, Ride, and Kitchens of Distinction all had hits on ''Billboard'''s Modern Rock chart in the early 1990s. However, the genre's popularity wouldn't last long there, due to the rise of grunge and its offshoot genres.
29
30	Shoegazing collapsed in the midst of a mid-1990s HypeBacklash, its bands increasingly seen as privileged, self-indulgent middle-class kids with "nothing to say" and being replaced by working-class {{Britpop}} bands ([[MeetTheNewBoss who then immediately became filthy rich, privileged, self-indulgent and had nothing to say]]). MBV went into a hiatus, resurfacing with a reunion tour in 2008 and ''finally'' releasing a new album in 2013 after twenty-one years of DevelopmentHell. Music/{{Lush}} pulled an abrupt GenreShift into Britpop to some success and broke up after their drummer killed himself. Music/{{Slowdive}} stuck to their guns, releasing the uncommercial NewSoundAlbum ''Pygmalion'' before evolving into the folk-rock/DreamPop band Mojave 3. Music/CatherineWheel went into slowly changing their own style and broke up in 2000. Ride broke up in 1996 after failing to adapt to {{Britpop}}.
31
32	In the 2000s the genre saw something of a resurgence with the indie crowd. In 2001 a band called Music/MyVitriol released an album called ''Finelines'' which is given credit with starting the shoegaze movement of the 2000s called '''Nu Gaze''' (Coined by Som Wardner himself from My Vitriol). Bands such as Music/SilversunPickups, Asobi Seksu, Music/{{Deerhunter\|Band}}, Blonde Redhead, and The Big Pink were bands that followed this new movement. There were also DarkerAndEdgier bands that used the shoegazing sound to oppress or disquiet rather than uplift, like Music/SingaporeSling (the first band to make a career out of this "darker" sound), Music/APlaceToBuryStrangers, Music/TheHorrors, Music/{{Jesu}}, Music/HaveANiceLife, and The Angelic Process. There are also a few metal bands that have adopted some elements of shoegaze as well (such as Alcest, Deafheaven, Music/{{Jesu}} again, arguably Nachtmystium), most of them usually being placed as metalgaze or just post-metal. Then there are bands such as Music/{{M83}}, Bowery Electric, A Sunny Day in Glasgow, and Music/SweetTrip who have aimed towards more electronic experimentation with shoegaze. Yeah...it's been incorporated into almost everything.
33
34	By the 2010s, several of the original shoegazing acts had reunited and released new music, kicking off in 2013 when Music/MyBloodyValentine finally released their long-awaited third album ''m b v''. Music/{{Slowdive}}, Music/{{Ride}}, Music/{{Lush}} and Music/{{Swervedriver}} all also got back together, with Slowdive becoming the most successful of the reunion lot critically and commercially.
35
36	Has nothing to do with MaleGaze or FemaleGaze. Not to be confused with Ethereal Wave, a LighterAndSofter subgenre of GothRock (though it ''is'' a major influence for several shoegazing acts).
37	----
38
39	!! The following are some artists that were part of the first wave shoegazers:
40	[[index]]
41	* Music/{{Adorable}}
42	* Music/{{Blur}} on their first album represent one of the aforementioned bands that straddled the line between Shoegazing and Madchester, but dropped the whole thing with their next album to jump on the {{Britpop}} bandwagon. Once they reinvented themselves as a noisy art-rock band, some of their shoegazing influence re-emerged on ''Blur'' and ''13''.
43	* Music/TheBooRadleys
44	* Music/CatherineWheel
45	* Music/{{Cranes}}
46	* Music/{{Curve}}
47	* Music/FlyingSaucerAttack
48	* Music/HalfString
49	* Music/KillHannah (initially)
50	* Music/{{Hum}} (Mixed with PostHardcore and SpaceRock)
51	* Music/KitchensOfDistinction
52	* Music/{{Lilys}}
53	* Music/{{Lovesliescrushing}} (With a substantial {{Ambient}} influence as well)
54	* Music/{{Lush}}
55	* Music/{{Medicine}}
56	* Music/{{Moose}}
57	* Music/MyBloodyValentine
58	** 1991 - ''Music/{{Loveless}}''
59	* Music/TheNightblooms
60	* Music/PaleSaints
61	* Music/{{Plexi}}
62	* Music/{{Ride}}
63	* Music/{{Slowdive}}
64	* Music/{{Stereolab}} (their earlier work up to ''Mars Audinac Quintet'', at least)
65	* Music/{{Swervedriver}} (more rock oriented than other bands in the scene)
66	* Music/{{Spiritualized}}
67	* Music/Starflyer59 (mainly their first few albums, though it's still an underlying influence on some of their later ones)
68	* Music/TheVerve (one of the few shoegazing bands to not be from the Thames Valley/Southern UK; they were from Wigan, Greater Manchester)
69	* Music/YoLaTengo
70
71	!!Second wave or "Nu Gaze" bands:
72	* Music/{{Archive}}
73	* Music/AsobiSeksu
74	* Music/{{Astrobrite}}
75	* Music/{{Astronoid}}
76	* Music/AmusementParksOnFire
77	* Music/{{Belong}}
78	* Music/TheBigPink (before taking it more in a NoiseRock direction)
79	* Music/BlondeRedhead
80	* Music/CoaltarOfTheDeepers
81	* Music/DarkerMyLove
82	* Music/{{Deepform}} (with influences from {{Krautrock}} and experimental rock in general)
83	* Music/{{Deerhunter\|Band}}
84	* Music/{{DIIV}}
85	* Music/EchoLake
86	* Music/{{Faunts}} (blends with DreamPop and PostRock)
87	* Music/{{Glasvegas}}
88	* Music/TheJoyFormidable
89	* Music/{{Kent}}
90	* Music/LowerDens (with {{Krautrock}} influences as well)
91	* Music/LSDAndTheSearchForGod
92	* Music/{{M83}} (only their 2000s output)
93	* Music/{{Mahogany}}
94	* Music/MyVitriol
95	* Music/{{Nothing\|Band}}
96	* Music/ThePainsOfBeingPureAtHeart
97	* Music/ParadeOfLights
98	* Music/RingoDeathstarr
99	* Music/SilversunPickups (most commercially successful act of this scene)
100	* Music/{{Southpacific}}
101	* Music/SweetTrip
102	* Music/{{Tamaryn}}
103	* Music/TitleFight (Their second album was a PostHardcore album with Shoegaze influences, while their third album was straight-up Shoegaze)
104	* Music/{{Toy}}
105	* Music/TrueWidow
106	* Music/TheWarOnDrugs
107	* Music/UlrichSchnauss (Combined with Music/TangerineDream-esque {{Ambient}}. Unsurprisingly, he later became a member of Tangerine Dream)
108	* Music/VaadatCharigim
109	* Music/{{Whirr}}
110	* Music/{{Yuck}}
111
112	!!DarkerAndEdgier shoegaze bands:
113
114	* Music/AlcianBlue
115	* Music/SingaporeSling
116	* Music/APlaceToBuryStrangers
117	* Music/TheHorrors (''Primary Colours'' era only, ''Skying'' fits more with the traditional shoegaze)
118	* Music/HaveANiceLife (self-described "depressive post-industrial doomgaze")
119	** 2008 - ''Music/{{Deathconsciousness}}''
120	* Music/{{Airs}} (some overlap with "metalgaze," especially early on)
121
122	!!"Metalgaze" bands:
123	* Music/{{Alcest}} (BlackMetal, shoegaze and folk) - curiously, lead songwriter Neige claims that he'd never heard of the genre until he read reviews of his own albums comparing them to shoegaze.
124	* Music/{{Amesoeurs}} (arguably, mixed in with PostPunk)
125	* Music/TheAngelicProcess (Mixed with [[DoomMetal drone metal]])
126	* Music/{{Deafheaven}}
127	** 2013 - ''Music/{{Sunbather}}''
128	* Music/{{Deftones}} (very sporadically from ''Saturday Night Wrist'' onward)
129	* Music/{{Fallujah}} (mixed with TechnicalDeathMetal, also has elements of trip-hop, dream pop, and synthwave)
130	* Music/{{Jesu}} (A mixture of shoegaze, DoomMetal, and IndustrialMetal)
131	* Music/{{Katatonia}} (second album only, mixed with [[DeathMetal Death/Doom]])
132	* Music/{{Nadja}} (Mixed with drone doom)
133	* Music/PlanningForBurial (Mixed with PostRock and {{Slowcore}})
134	* Kardashev (also deathcore)
135	* Lantlos (started out as post-black, but gradually downplayed the black metal elements and the metal elements in general; ''Wildhund'' is a completely straight example of shoegaze/post-hardcore)
136	* Music/{{Loathe}} (mixed with {{metalcore}}, [[DoomMetal post-metal]] and ProgressiveMetal in ''I Let It In And It Took Everything'')
137	[[/index]]

Context Main / Shoegazing