Long before grunge and britpop came onto the scene, another genre ruled the '90s: Shoegaze. Taking the UK by storm in the late '80s, bands like Ride, Stereolab, and of course, My B—y Valentine, defined this dreamy rock genre as we know it, creating history along the way.
From the genre's '60s origins to its lasting legacy, here are 10 nostalgic pics from the 1990s birth of shoegaze music.
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Pale. Lush. My B—y Valentine. Throughout the late ‘80s and ‘90s, these bands — as well as Ride, pictured above at a 1990 gig — helped bring the shoegaze genre into the mainstream world of rock n’ roll.
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Contrary to the pervasive joke that the genre is called “shoe gaze” because artists can’t look women in the eye, the moniker stems from all the pedals and gear used by these musicians. These rockers, per HuffPost’s Andy Ross, who invented the term in 1991, remained in "a state of trance by the footwear lurking semi-motionless beneath their low-slung guitars"
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So what, exactly, does one find while gazing at their shoes? A whole lot of cool sounds. Pioneered by Slowdive and Moose, shoegaze is all about harmony, with artists allowing the sounds of instruments — and vocals — to meld into each other.
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Shoegaze may have started in the late ‘80s, but several bands helped set the foundation for the genre’s now iconic sound. Artists like The Velvet Underground, The Byrds, and songs like The Beatles’ "It's All Too Much" have all been credited with laying the groundwork for shoegaze artists to come.
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My B—y Valentine’s 1991 album, ‘Loveless’ is often credited with crafting shoegaze as we know it, with NME’s Dele Fadele dubbing the work a “blueprint” for the genre.
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“With Loveless you could've expected the Irish / English partnership to succumb to self-parody or mimic The Scene That's Delighted To Eat Quiche,” he wrote. “But no, Loveless fires a silver-coated bullet into the future, daring all-comers to try and recreate its mixture of moods, feelings, emotion, styles and, yes, innovations."
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The biggest celebration of shoegaze? Itself. Dubbed “The Scene That Celebrates Itself,” the community surrounding shoegaze in London during the early ‘90s was uniquely supportive, with bands showing up to each other's sets rather than getting competitive.
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These bands were so supportive of each other, that they’d sometimes switch members with other bands. For instance, Russell Yates of Moose and Tim Gane of Stereolab would swap places in each other’s groups during performances.
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Despite this camaraderie, these groups were often seen as pretentious and privileged. This, coupled with grunge’s rising popularity and the beginning of the Britpop movement ultimately led to the genre’s decrease in popularity.
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But as the old saying goes, when one door closes another opens. The genre inspired several other spin-offs, including Nu gaze, an alt-rock genre defined by Silversun Pickups and The Radio Dept. as well as Blackgaze, which combines shoegaze’s sound with that of black metal.
