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(Redirected from Shoegaze)
'Shoegazing' (also known as 'shoegaze' or 'shoegazer'; practitioners referred to as 'shoegazers') is a genre of alternative rock that emerged from the United Kingdom in the late 1980s. It lasted until the mid 1990s, peaking circa 1990 to 1991.
The British music press (notably ''NME'' and ''Melody Maker'') called this genre "shoegazing" because the musicians in these bands often maintained a motionless performing style—standing on stage and staring at the floor while playing their instruments, hence the idea that they were gazing at their shoes.[1] The shoegazing sound featured extensive use of guitar effects, and indistinguishable vocal melodies that blended into the creative noise of the guitars. Few shoegazers were dynamic performers or interesting interviewees, which prevented them from breaking through into markets in the United States. A lump description given to many of these bands was "The Scene That Celebrates Itself."[2] In the 1990s, shoegaze groups were pushed aside by the likes of American grunge and Britpop, forcing bands to breakup or evolve into a different style. Recent times have seen a renewed interest in the genre, among so-called "nu-gaze" bands.[3]
Common musical elements in shoegazing are distortion (aka "fuzzbox"), droning riffs and a "wall of sound" from noisy guitars. Typically, two distorted rhythm guitars are played together to give an amorphous quality to the sound. Although lead guitar riffs were often present, they were not the central focus of most shoegazing songs.
Vocals are typically subdued in volume and tone, but underneath the layers of guitars is generally a strong sense of melody. While the genres which influenced shoegazing often used drum machines, shoegazing more often features live drumming. Chapterhouse and Seefeel utilised both samples and live drumming.
The name was coined in a review in Sounds of a concert by the newly-formed Moose in which singer Russell Yates read lyrics taped to the floor throughout the gig.[4] The term was picked up by the ''New Musical Express'', who used it as a reference to the tendency of the bands' guitarists to stare at their feet (or their effects pedals), seemingly deep in concentration, while playing. ''Melody Maker'' preferred the more staid term The Scene That Celebrates Itself, referring to the habit which the bands had of attending gigs of other shoegazing bands, often in Camden, and often moonlighting in each other's bands.
The three most significant predecessors to the Shoegazing movement were the Cocteau Twins, Spacemen 3 and The Jesus and Mary Chain, specifically their debut album, Psychocandy. The bands first labelled as "shoegazing" were largely influenced by My Bloody Valentine, and emerged in the wake of their breakthrough in 1988 with the "You Made Me Realise" single and the album ''Isn't Anything'',[5] and the "shoegazing" label is usually applied to My Bloody Valentine themselves.
Michael Azerrad's book ''Our Band Could Be Your Life'' cites an early 1990s Dinosaur Jr tour of the United Kingdom as a key influence. While not classified as a shoegazing band, Dinosaur Jr did share a tendency to blend poppy melody with loud guitars and laconic vocals. A lengthy summer 1992 U.S. tour featuring MBV, Dinosaur Jr. and Yo La Tengo raised the genre's profile in the States considerably.
The first stirrings of recognition came when indie writer Steve Lamacq referred to Ride in a review for the ''NME'' as "The House of Love with chainsaws". The genre label was quite often misapplied. Key bands such as Ride, Chapterhouse and Slowdive emerged from the Thames Valley and as such Swervedriver found themselves labelled shoegazers on account of their own (coincidental) Thames Valley origins - despite their more pronounced Hüsker Dü-meets-Stooges stylings.
The BBC's John Peel was a relentless supporter of the shoegaze scene; most U.K. bands of the genre recorded "Peel Sessions" before even releasing an album.
Main articles: Dream pop
The shoegaze style is related to a genre that had existed since the mid 1980s, known as dream pop. Dream pop was a more ambient and abstract take on folk and pop music. It was pioneered by 4AD acts, such as Cocteau Twins and This Mortal Coil, who took advantages of the improvements in studio technology in the previous decades to create a new strain of pop music with a hazy, ethereal sound. Highly respected ambient artists like Harold Budd and Brian Eno have collaborated with dream pop acts, which serves to highlight the genre's connection with ambient music. The genre proved to be highly influential on the shoegazing scene that emerged in the early nineties, and certain acts straddle the two styles, though shoegaze can be distinguished by its noisier, psychedelic sound.
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 to those bands who formed the wave of newly-commercialised grunge music which was making its way across the Atlantic, and those bands who formed the foundation of Britpop, such as Blur, Suede, Oasis and Pulp. 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 the shoegazers, which often prized the melodic contribution of vocals over their lyrical depth. Lush's final album was an abrupt shift from shoegazing to Britpop, alienating many fans; the 1996 suicide of their drummer led to Lush's dissolution and served as a symbolic nail in the coffin of what was the shoegazing genre's original era. Nothing has surfaced from My Bloody Valentine since ''Loveless'', although there have been rumours of new material, with frontman Kevin Shields explaining the band's silence with "I never could be bothered to make another record unless I was really excited by it".[6]
Slowdive eventually morphed into the country-infused Mojave 3, while other shoegazing bands either split or moved in other directions. The Verve (at the time known simply as "Verve") went more towards mainstream rock on their 1997 album ''Urban Hymns'', before singer Richard Ashcroft went solo. Mark Gardener and Loz Colbert of Ride (band) released an album as The Animalhouse; in 2006, Gardener's first solo album was released. Several former members of shoegazing bands later moved towards post-rock and the more electronica-based trip hop. Adam Franklin of Swervedriver released lo-fi albums under the moniker Toshack Highway.
Going "unplugged" has become a popular route to take for former lead singers of shoegazing bands: Gardener, Franklin, Ashcroft, Rob Dickinson of Catherine Wheel, and Slowdive/Mojave 3, have all reinvented themselves as acoustic troubadours.
The band Starflyer 59, headed and invented by Jason Martin (brother of Ronnie Martin of Joy Electric) is a contemporary shoegazer band forging the style into the current musical trends. A member of Starflyer 59, Josh Dooley, has a band called MAP that is heavily influenced by this genre as well.
There is another thread of shoegaze-influenced music which maintains the emphasis of texture (through the use of guitar effects pedals and digital signal processing) but departs, to some degree, from the rock structures and full-band instrumentation of shoegaze music. Also, there are little to no vocal elements. This “post-shoegaze” glitch and experimental electronic music has achieved some critical praise, especially releases by Sennen, Mabou, Televise, Fennesz and Tim Hecker. Also aspects of Seefeel, late-era Flying Saucer Attack, Main, lovesliescrushing, The Third Eye Foundation, and M83 have explored this territory as well in the mid-'90s and beyond.
Often using the digital studio of a computer, these artists focus much attention on creating spacious atmosphere. The outcome tends to be compositions ranging from ambient stretches of droning tones, distorted walls of sound, and reverb-laden atmospherics. What separates this from other strands of glitch or noise compositions and places it in the realm of shoegaze, are the inclusion of melodies that call to mind pop and rock music.
Selected bands and events in the genre:
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from:1983 till:1997 text:"Cocteau Twins"
at:1983 text:"1983: ''Head Over Heels'' released by Cocteau Twins"
from:1984 till:1999 text:"The Jesus & Mary Chain"
at:1985 text:"1985: ''Psychocandy'' released by The Jesus & Mary Chain"
from:1984 till:1994 text:"My Bloody Valentine"
at:1988 text:"1988: ''Isn't Anything'' released by My Bloody Valentine"
at:1991 text:"1991: ''Loveless'' released by My Bloody Valentine"
from:1987 till:2000 text:"Bailter Space"
from:1987 till:1994 text:"Chapterhouse"
from:1988 till:1996 text:"Ride"
at:1990 text:"1990: ''Nowhere'' released by Ride"
from:1988 till:1998 text:"Lush"
at:1992 text:"1992: ''Spooky'' released by Lush"
from:1989 till:1995 text:"Slowdive"
at:1991 text:"1991: ''Just For a Day'' released by Slowdive"
at:1993 text:"1993: ''Souvlaki'' released by Slowdive"
from:1989 till:1999 text:"The Verve"
at:1993 text:"1993: ''A Storm In Heaven'' released by The Verve"
from:1990 till:2001 text:"Catherine Wheel"
at:1991 text:"1991: ''Ferment'' released by Catherine Wheel"
from:1990 till:1999 text:"Swervedriver"
from:1991 till:1999 text:"Love Spirals Downwards"
1. All Music: Genre: Shoegaze. Retrieved April 12, 2007.
2. Lester, Paul (1992-09-12). "Whatever Happened to Shoegazing?" ''Melody Maker'', p.6. Retrieved April 12, 2007 from Proquest Research Library.
3. Smart, James (2005-06-13). "Review: Pop: Ambulance LTD: The Venue, Edinburgh 3/5." ''The Guardian''. Retrieved April 12, 2007 from Lexis Nexis Academic.
4. The Guinness Who's Who of Indie and New Wave Music, , Colin, Larkin, Square One, 1992,
5. The Great Alternative & Indie Discography, , Martin C., Strong, Canongate, 1999,
6. Kevin Shields: MBV Will "100%" Make Another Album
★ Said to be the oldest shoegaze fan site on the net, since 1997
★ All Music Guide genre entry
★ Links and discussion forum
★ Shoegaze Swiki
★ musicOMH.com Shoegaze revival feature
★ Interesting article on genre
★ List of shoegazing musicians
'Shoegazing' (also known as 'shoegaze' or 'shoegazer'; practitioners referred to as 'shoegazers') is a genre of alternative rock that emerged from the United Kingdom in the late 1980s. It lasted until the mid 1990s, peaking circa 1990 to 1991.
The British music press (notably ''NME'' and ''Melody Maker'') called this genre "shoegazing" because the musicians in these bands often maintained a motionless performing style—standing on stage and staring at the floor while playing their instruments, hence the idea that they were gazing at their shoes.[1] The shoegazing sound featured extensive use of guitar effects, and indistinguishable vocal melodies that blended into the creative noise of the guitars. Few shoegazers were dynamic performers or interesting interviewees, which prevented them from breaking through into markets in the United States. A lump description given to many of these bands was "The Scene That Celebrates Itself."[2] In the 1990s, shoegaze groups were pushed aside by the likes of American grunge and Britpop, forcing bands to breakup or evolve into a different style. Recent times have seen a renewed interest in the genre, among so-called "nu-gaze" bands.[3]
| Contents |
| Definitions |
| Influences |
| Heyday: "The Scene That Celebrates Itself" |
| Dream pop |
| Decline |
| Post-movement directions |
| Use of electronic manipulation |
| Shoegaze timeline |
| References |
| External links |
| See also |
Definitions
Common musical elements in shoegazing are distortion (aka "fuzzbox"), droning riffs and a "wall of sound" from noisy guitars. Typically, two distorted rhythm guitars are played together to give an amorphous quality to the sound. Although lead guitar riffs were often present, they were not the central focus of most shoegazing songs.
Vocals are typically subdued in volume and tone, but underneath the layers of guitars is generally a strong sense of melody. While the genres which influenced shoegazing often used drum machines, shoegazing more often features live drumming. Chapterhouse and Seefeel utilised both samples and live drumming.
The name was coined in a review in Sounds of a concert by the newly-formed Moose in which singer Russell Yates read lyrics taped to the floor throughout the gig.[4] The term was picked up by the ''New Musical Express'', who used it as a reference to the tendency of the bands' guitarists to stare at their feet (or their effects pedals), seemingly deep in concentration, while playing. ''Melody Maker'' preferred the more staid term The Scene That Celebrates Itself, referring to the habit which the bands had of attending gigs of other shoegazing bands, often in Camden, and often moonlighting in each other's bands.
Influences
The three most significant predecessors to the Shoegazing movement were the Cocteau Twins, Spacemen 3 and The Jesus and Mary Chain, specifically their debut album, Psychocandy. The bands first labelled as "shoegazing" were largely influenced by My Bloody Valentine, and emerged in the wake of their breakthrough in 1988 with the "You Made Me Realise" single and the album ''Isn't Anything'',[5] and the "shoegazing" label is usually applied to My Bloody Valentine themselves.
Michael Azerrad's book ''Our Band Could Be Your Life'' cites an early 1990s Dinosaur Jr tour of the United Kingdom as a key influence. While not classified as a shoegazing band, Dinosaur Jr did share a tendency to blend poppy melody with loud guitars and laconic vocals. A lengthy summer 1992 U.S. tour featuring MBV, Dinosaur Jr. and Yo La Tengo raised the genre's profile in the States considerably.
Heyday: "The Scene That Celebrates Itself"
The first stirrings of recognition came when indie writer Steve Lamacq referred to Ride in a review for the ''NME'' as "The House of Love with chainsaws". The genre label was quite often misapplied. Key bands such as Ride, Chapterhouse and Slowdive emerged from the Thames Valley and as such Swervedriver found themselves labelled shoegazers on account of their own (coincidental) Thames Valley origins - despite their more pronounced Hüsker Dü-meets-Stooges stylings.
The BBC's John Peel was a relentless supporter of the shoegaze scene; most U.K. bands of the genre recorded "Peel Sessions" before even releasing an album.
Dream pop
Main articles: Dream pop
The shoegaze style is related to a genre that had existed since the mid 1980s, known as dream pop. Dream pop was a more ambient and abstract take on folk and pop music. It was pioneered by 4AD acts, such as Cocteau Twins and This Mortal Coil, who took advantages of the improvements in studio technology in the previous decades to create a new strain of pop music with a hazy, ethereal sound. Highly respected ambient artists like Harold Budd and Brian Eno have collaborated with dream pop acts, which serves to highlight the genre's connection with ambient music. The genre proved to be highly influential on the shoegazing scene that emerged in the early nineties, and certain acts straddle the two styles, though shoegaze can be distinguished by its noisier, psychedelic sound.
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 to those bands who formed the wave of newly-commercialised grunge music which was making its way across the Atlantic, and those bands who formed the foundation of Britpop, such as Blur, Suede, Oasis and Pulp. 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 the shoegazers, which often prized the melodic contribution of vocals over their lyrical depth. Lush's final album was an abrupt shift from shoegazing to Britpop, alienating many fans; the 1996 suicide of their drummer led to Lush's dissolution and served as a symbolic nail in the coffin of what was the shoegazing genre's original era. Nothing has surfaced from My Bloody Valentine since ''Loveless'', although there have been rumours of new material, with frontman Kevin Shields explaining the band's silence with "I never could be bothered to make another record unless I was really excited by it".[6]
Post-movement directions
Slowdive eventually morphed into the country-infused Mojave 3, while other shoegazing bands either split or moved in other directions. The Verve (at the time known simply as "Verve") went more towards mainstream rock on their 1997 album ''Urban Hymns'', before singer Richard Ashcroft went solo. Mark Gardener and Loz Colbert of Ride (band) released an album as The Animalhouse; in 2006, Gardener's first solo album was released. Several former members of shoegazing bands later moved towards post-rock and the more electronica-based trip hop. Adam Franklin of Swervedriver released lo-fi albums under the moniker Toshack Highway.
Going "unplugged" has become a popular route to take for former lead singers of shoegazing bands: Gardener, Franklin, Ashcroft, Rob Dickinson of Catherine Wheel, and Slowdive/Mojave 3, have all reinvented themselves as acoustic troubadours.
The band Starflyer 59, headed and invented by Jason Martin (brother of Ronnie Martin of Joy Electric) is a contemporary shoegazer band forging the style into the current musical trends. A member of Starflyer 59, Josh Dooley, has a band called MAP that is heavily influenced by this genre as well.
Use of electronic manipulation
There is another thread of shoegaze-influenced music which maintains the emphasis of texture (through the use of guitar effects pedals and digital signal processing) but departs, to some degree, from the rock structures and full-band instrumentation of shoegaze music. Also, there are little to no vocal elements. This “post-shoegaze” glitch and experimental electronic music has achieved some critical praise, especially releases by Sennen, Mabou, Televise, Fennesz and Tim Hecker. Also aspects of Seefeel, late-era Flying Saucer Attack, Main, lovesliescrushing, The Third Eye Foundation, and M83 have explored this territory as well in the mid-'90s and beyond.
Often using the digital studio of a computer, these artists focus much attention on creating spacious atmosphere. The outcome tends to be compositions ranging from ambient stretches of droning tones, distorted walls of sound, and reverb-laden atmospherics. What separates this from other strands of glitch or noise compositions and places it in the realm of shoegaze, are the inclusion of melodies that call to mind pop and rock music.
Shoegaze timeline
Selected bands and events in the genre:
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at:1991 color:grid2 layer:back
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width:25 fontsize:M textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) color:bars
barset:Bands
from:1983 till:1997 text:"Cocteau Twins"
at:1983 text:"1983: ''Head Over Heels'' released by Cocteau Twins"
from:1984 till:1999 text:"The Jesus & Mary Chain"
at:1985 text:"1985: ''Psychocandy'' released by The Jesus & Mary Chain"
from:1984 till:1994 text:"My Bloody Valentine"
at:1988 text:"1988: ''Isn't Anything'' released by My Bloody Valentine"
at:1991 text:"1991: ''Loveless'' released by My Bloody Valentine"
from:1987 till:2000 text:"Bailter Space"
from:1987 till:1994 text:"Chapterhouse"
from:1988 till:1996 text:"Ride"
at:1990 text:"1990: ''Nowhere'' released by Ride"
from:1988 till:1998 text:"Lush"
at:1992 text:"1992: ''Spooky'' released by Lush"
from:1989 till:1995 text:"Slowdive"
at:1991 text:"1991: ''Just For a Day'' released by Slowdive"
at:1993 text:"1993: ''Souvlaki'' released by Slowdive"
from:1989 till:1999 text:"The Verve"
at:1993 text:"1993: ''A Storm In Heaven'' released by The Verve"
from:1990 till:2001 text:"Catherine Wheel"
at:1991 text:"1991: ''Ferment'' released by Catherine Wheel"
from:1990 till:1999 text:"Swervedriver"
from:1991 till:1999 text:"Love Spirals Downwards"
References
1. All Music: Genre: Shoegaze. Retrieved April 12, 2007.
2. Lester, Paul (1992-09-12). "Whatever Happened to Shoegazing?" ''Melody Maker'', p.6. Retrieved April 12, 2007 from Proquest Research Library.
3. Smart, James (2005-06-13). "Review: Pop: Ambulance LTD: The Venue, Edinburgh 3/5." ''The Guardian''. Retrieved April 12, 2007 from Lexis Nexis Academic.
4. The Guinness Who's Who of Indie and New Wave Music, , Colin, Larkin, Square One, 1992,
5. The Great Alternative & Indie Discography, , Martin C., Strong, Canongate, 1999,
6. Kevin Shields: MBV Will "100%" Make Another Album
External links
★ Said to be the oldest shoegaze fan site on the net, since 1997
★ All Music Guide genre entry
★ Links and discussion forum
★ Shoegaze Swiki
★ musicOMH.com Shoegaze revival feature
★ Interesting article on genre
See also
★ List of shoegazing musicians
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