Guest JangoFett4Hire Report post Posted December 27, 2002 Well, for starters, what the hell is it? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Incandenza Report post Posted December 27, 2002 From allmusic.com Shoegazing is a genre of late '80s and early '90s British indie rock, named after the bands' motionless performing style, where they stood on stage and stared at the floor while they played. But shoegazing wasn't about visuals — it was about pure sound. The sound of the music was overwhelmingly loud, with long, droning riffs, waves of distortion, and cascades of feedback. Vocals and melodies disappeared into the walls of guitars, creating a wash of sound where no instrument was distinguishable from the other. Most shoegazing groups worked off the template My Bloody Valentine established with their early EPs and their first full-length album, Isn't Anything, but Dinosaur Jr., the Jesus & Mary Chain, and the Cocteau Twins were also major influences. Bands that followed — most notably Ride, Lush, Chapterhouse, and the Boo Radleys — added their own stylistic flourishes. Ride veered close to '60s psychedelia, while Lush alternated between straight pop and the dream pop of the Cocteau Twins. None of the shoegazers were dynamic performers or interesting interviews, which prevented them from breaking through into the crucial U.S. market. In 1992 — after the groups had dominated the British music press and indie charts for about three years — the shoegazing groups were swept aside by the twin tides of American grunge and Suede, the band to initiate the wave of Britpop that ruled British music during the mid-'90s. Some shoegazers broke up within a few years (Chapterhouse, Ride), while other groups — such as the Boo Radleys and Lush — evolved with the times and were able to sustain careers into the late '90s. The most essential album of this genre is My Bloody Valentine's Loveless. Most of the work of the other great shoegazing band, Jesus & Mary Chain, is out of print, so, unless you come across any of their stuff in a used record store, the 21 Singles collection is your best bet. On a further note, the most commercially successful band to have ever been influenced by the shoegazing style is Smashing Pumpkins; their Siamese Dream is basically a cop of that sound. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Edwin MacPhisto Report post Posted December 27, 2002 My favorite shoegazing album is Ride's Nowhere. Super-duper stuff, and the latest reissue has one of their equally good EPs tacked on the end, all for 11 or 12 bucks. It's also probably the most accessible album of the genre that I've heard, simply because the vocals remain clear instead of the weird soundscapes being at full blast with vocals kinda of blurring into the pile. Best track is still "Loomer" off of Loveless, because it sounds kinda like the world's being annihilated. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest JangoFett4Hire Report post Posted December 27, 2002 Would Coldplay pass as a descendent of shoe-gazing music, because they remind me of Catherine Wheel (who I heard described as shoe gazing, hence the thread, n-g's) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Incandenza Report post Posted December 27, 2002 No, Coldplay's more about melody than noise and such. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest saturnmark4life Report post Posted December 28, 2002 even more about being THE WORST BAND ON THE PLANET. I HATE COLDPLAY SO FUCKING MUCH. Sorry, boys and girls, carry on. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Incandenza Report post Posted December 28, 2002 I don't know about worst band on the planet, but they do suck. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest saturnmark4life Report post Posted December 29, 2002 that's a ggod topic we haven't done yet, actually. Watch this space. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest notJames Report post Posted January 2, 2003 Catherine Wheel rocks. I love that song they do with Tanya Donelly... "Judy Staring at the Sun" Lush and Ride are also great bands. And even though I can't understand the lyrics, I'm a big fan of the Cocteau Twins, especially their Blue Bell Knoll album which I have on vinyl. Some friends of mine used to be in a "wall of sound" band called All Natural Lemon and Lime Flavors. Great stuff, with a lot of Beatles influence. Incidentally, pop punkers Bracket did a song called "Shoegazer"... fun stuff. And I... I'm just a shoegazer I think my shoe's untied I'm just a shoegazer My day turns into night I'm just a shoegazer... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest JangoFett4Hire Report post Posted January 2, 2003 She's suffering... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
