March 22, 2024

Shoegaze: Through the Years

Written by: Laney Hansen

Introduction

Sprouting from the underground music scene of the UK in the late 80’s and early 90’s, shoegaze had its start up and began to increase in popularity. The term ‘shoegaze’ was coined by the press and other audience members due to the way that the bands would gaze down at their shoes while they performed. Also known as ‘dream pop’ or ‘neo-psychedelia’ this new genre combines sounds from obscured vocals, a large use of effects pedals, and intense volumes to create its ethereal and dreamy quality.

Production

The reasoning behind the bands gazing down at their shoes was because of the addition of effects pedals to create a large wall of sound in their compositions. These pedals are what give guitars the layers of reverb and strong vibratos to evolve the sound into a more atmospheric chain of noise. The use of these are essential to creating the right sound and texture for shoegaze; the most common pedals used being: fuzz, overdrive, chorus, delay, and reverb.

Defining each pedal, starting off with fuzz which opens the sound creating dense layers, establishing the wall of sound. Next, are overdrive pedals which add thickness to the sound, creating extra push throughout. Chorus pedals are used to bring in the dreamy effects: the staple of shoegaze. By doing this, they add dimensions to the production while also creating a spacious sound in the guitar. Like chorus pedals, delay pedals echo the guitar signal to create a spacious atmosphere. Lastly, reverb pedals are the most critical as they add depth and decay to the sound to create the immersive atmosphere shoegaze is known for.

The Beginning- The First Wave

Bands like The Velvet Underground, The Cure, and Siouxsie and The Banshees were strong influences on shoegaze. They were the originators of the noise-soft-noise production that many artists rising out of this era fell in love with. Shoegaze was pioneered by bands like My Bloody Valentine and The Jesus and Mary Chain which paved the way for new bands in the latter parts of the 90’s and early 2000’s to take the stage. My Bloody Valentine consists of members David Conway (vocalist), Colm O Ciosoig (drummer), Debbie Googe (bassist), and Bilinda Butcher (vocals and guitar). The band began in 1983 making music that leaned more towards the post-punk era but they soon moved to more noisy sounds stretching the limits of music production. This new sound began a new era of music that My Bloody Valentine had no intentions of setting. It wasn’t until they released their 1991 album “Loveless” that gave them the narrative of beginning shoegaze and changing the industry for years to come. This album was also the most influential of the era, as bands like The Cocteau Twins used it as an outline for their musical productions.

Moving to East Kilbride, Scotland, brothers, William and Jim Reid formed the band: The Jesus and Mary Chain. Other (present) members include Scott Von Ryper, Justin Welch, and Mark Crozer. This band took a lot of inspiration from previous bands like The Beach Boys, The Velvet Underground, and even The Ronettes. These inspirations are mostly seen in their 1985 album “Psychocandy” which is described as being their break-through in the industry. After many years of much success on the charts, with record labels, and with audiences, the band had a short falling out, which lasted until the year 2007 where they reunited at Coachella and have been presently playing and releasing music since.

Some bands that were inspired by the footprint these bands left included The Cocteau Twins, Chapterhouse, Slowdive, Moose and Pale Saints. The addition of these bands opened up a new culture within the world of shoegaze termed “the scene that celebrates itself.” This meant rather than having rivalries between bands, band members would go to each other’s gigs and often play with each other, sometimes even trading places.

NME (New Musical Express) was a huge contributor to this genre. A music and gossip paper, NME embraced this new term and culture of shoegaze. In this accord, NME’s articles and reviews about successes of one band would give other bands similar and shared publicity.

Though this culture of sharing music had its positive outcomes, It was also argued to have been the reasoning for the quick downfall the genre had in the music industry. Critics and journalists would view these bands, due to this structure, of being over-privileged and middle-class. Though it was in direct contrast to the lyrics portrayed, talking about the trials and tribulations of the working class, these bands either disbanded or pursued different directions in musical productions in response to these crude comments.

Other Waves

The beginning of shoegaze explained above is known as being the wave of classic shoegaze. Though they did see a downfall, shoegaze picked up again a few years later in the 2000’s and 2010’s. This wave was known as nu-gaze because of the new knowledge about composition and technology these artists had. Bands of this era would take influence from productions of earlier shoegaze, but had a new addition of synthesizers in their music creating a more modern sound. Some bands that led this wave include The Radio Dept. and My Vitriol.

Another of these newer waves include that of blackgaze. This genre mixes sounds from black metal and shoegaze. A fusion. Pioneered by Niege in 2005, blackgaze grew to a strikingly large fandom and more bands like Ulver, Deafheaven, and Summoning continued the trend. In performance, bands combine the angelic and dreamy vocals of shoegaze with shrieks and hard sounds found in metal. Though members of the traditional black metal and heavy metal fandom criticized the upbringing of this new genre and the ever growing positive remarks it received, blackgaze kept a constant upclimb in popularity. This was due to the defining influence the band Deafheaven, being the most popular, had on this genre.

In coordination with blackgaze, the heavy shoegaze movement, being a separate wave, was another fusion of genres with influence from the classic age of shoegaze. In this style of music, bands involve punk and metal soundscapes with that of shoegaze offering a new rendition of the possibilities shoegaze can possess. The mission of doing this shows that shoegaze can be more than just a part of the music scene that had a short life but that it can be revitalized into something people can shape into stronger sounds and mixes.

From the UK to the US

Shoegaze originated in popularity within regions of the UK and other European countries. At the time this music was being produced, many audiences were fans of the underground scenes and new, experimental music so these bands began to climb the charts within their regions. Same as britpop, the shoegaze fandom increased rather quickly and began to make its way overseas to the States. This fandom mostly consisted within audiences of the college rock age. These fans were big on bands like Blur, Stereolab, and Pulp, which were popular britpop bands, often finding themselves roped into shoegaze because of their similar productions. Since they were fans of these bands, it wasn’t a shock that they would fall in love with shoegazers. After finding this new love across the sea, many shoegaze bands, including The Jesus and Mary Chain, made their way to tour across the US and neighboring countries opening a whole array of possibilities of composition for years to come.

With the influence these bands brought to the States, several American-shoegaze bands began to form. Some of which included Blonde Redhead, Deftones, Drop Nineteen, LSD and The Search for God, and many others. The sound of American-shoegaze was, and is, considered heavier than that of shoegaze in the UK which is believed to have been in correlation with the heavy shoegaze movement.

Beautiful Noise

Arising out of the nu-gaze era, “Beautiful Noise” was a project that began in 2005 from the imagination of writer, producer, and director: Eric Green. A documentary 90 minutes in length, this film follows the careers of bands like The Cocteau Twins, My Bloody Valentine, and The Jesus and Mary Chain to highlight the impact they had on the industry and genre as a whole. Eric set his intentions of this film to put a spotlight on this greatly appreciated genre after having seen so many films being created about The Beatles and punk and rap genres galore. The documentary includes several interviews, performances, and music videos of these bands and the surrounding community of shoegaze in the UK.

Set to release in 2008, the film saw some problems and audiences were unable to view the film until several years later. Some of these problems included the financial crisis between 2007-2008, the decrease in DVD sales, and licensing issues to get the film appraised. After much trial and tribulation, the film was finally on the big screen in commission by the Seattle Film Festival on May 31, 2014. With grandiose audience reactions, “Beautiful Noise” toured the country and made its way across to Sheffield, England on June 8, 2014.

Conclusion

Shoegaze has seen its ups and downs through the years but even from the beginning, it was set for the stars. The genre’s impact on underground scenes alone has changed the limits of what music composition and production can be. From the eerie, swirly sounds of My Bloody Valentine to the harder mixes of modern bands like Wednesday, shoegaze has been able to carry on its classic tones while shaping into newer, stylized versions these later generations have created.

Author’s Picks

“Live a Little Love a Lot” Moose
“Sit Down for Dinner” Blonde Redhead
“A Certain Smile, a Certain Sadness” Rocketship
“Flesh Balloon” Pale Saints
“Lesser Matters” The Radio Dept.

Sources:

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