Like A Daydream: the First Generation of Shoegaze, Part 1, 1984-1991
Click below on the streaming service of your choice to listen to the playlist as you read along. Unfortunately, a few songs for this topic are hard to find, so none of the services have the complete playlist, though YouTube is the most complete with only one missing song. This profile is broken into two parts, this is part one.
If you aren’t keen on the sound of the electric guitar, then perhaps it’s best you move past this playlist.
If vocal prowess and hanging on every word is important for you, then maybe this isn’t for you either.
If you’re looking for fun, whimsy, and a lighthearted vibe, then no, they will not be found here.
And if you’re in the mood for some quiet, contemplative music… um, yeah… definitely walk the other way.
Jesus & Mary Chain
The Playlist - artist\ song (year)
Cocteau Twins \ Lorelai (1984)
The Jesus & Mary Chain \ Just Like Honey (1985)
Spacemen 3 \ Losing Touch with My Mind (1986) (YouTube playlist only)
AR Kane \Lollita (1987)
The Heart Throbs \ Make My Day (1987)
Sonic Youth \ Teen Age Riot (1988)
My Bloody Valentine \ Feed Me with Your Kiss (1988)
Ultra Vivid Scene \ Mercy Seat (1988)
Kitchens of Distinction \ Innocent (1988)
Band of Susans \ Birthmark (1989)
Pale Saints \ Sight of You (1989)
Lush \ Second Sight (1989)
Yo La Tengo \ Barnaby, Hardly Working (1989)
Sonic Boom \ You’re the One (1990) (YouTube playlist only)
Lush \ De-Luxe (1990)
Ride \ Like A Daydream (1990)
His Name Is Alive \ Darkest Dreams (1990)
Cocteau Twins \ Cherry-Coloured Funk (1990)
Ride \ Kaleidoscope (1990)
Ride \ Vapour Trail (1990)
Swervedriver \ Rave Down (1990)
The Darkside \ Found Love (1990)
Chapterhouse \ Falling Down (1990)
Kitchens of Distinction \ Drive that Fast (1991)
Spirea X \ Chlorine Dream (1991)
Chapterhouse \ Breather (1991)
Chapterhouse \ Pearl (1991)
Stereolab \ The Light that Will Cease to Fail (1991)
Curve \ Coast is Clear (1991) (YouTube playlist only)
Slowdive \ Celia’s Dream (1991)
Band of Susans \ Now is Now (1991)
Lush \ Nothing Natural (1991)
My Bloody Valentine \ Only Shallow (1991)
My Bloody Valentine \ Come In Alone (1991)
Catherine Wheel \ Black Metallic (1991)
Chapterhouse \ Mesmerize (1991)
Revolver \ Cherish (1991)
The Belltower \ Outshine the Sun (1991)
In this playlist we’ll be exploring the rise of shoegaze, a brand of modern rock that evolved over the late 1980s and then exploded in the early 1990s, leaving its everlasting mark on the rock landscape. It wasn’t the most popular sub-genre, but it was loud, dark, serious, and built on layers of electric guitar with no mercy shown. It blended repetitive rhythms and melody, all buried in a wall of sound overriding the vocals to create a dreamy, sonic landscape with which you could lose yourself in its world.
Over the final years of the 1980s as new wave ebbed to the background, the guitar started to re-assert itself in modern rock. Sub-genres such as noise rock, no wave, and dark wave built small followings and reminded people the guitar was more than an accent instrument and that it needn’t be pretty or refined. Punk, which had been living on the fringes through the ‘80s, made a resurgence, grunge started building in the northwest, and acts like The Cult broke into prominent success appealing to crossover audiences between the classic and modern rock worlds. In the UK, the post-punk, dark wave bands were developing a guitar-driven evolution of new wave that led to dream pop, and as the guitars continued their push to the fore eventually a new form arrived, shoegaze. The sound was a dreamy blend of pop melody, psychedelia, had a penchant for repetition, and was driven by strumming guitars manipulated by whammy bars and many effects. This style of playing resulted in the bands standing on stage constantly looking down at their guitars and pedals – thus, they were christened, shoegazers.
Shoegaze bands came from a variety of styles and musical interests, blending pop, dance, hard rock, psychedelic rock, and the darker strains of modern rock such as goth and the new wave styled bands that didn’t entirely rely on keyboards. What they had in common were guitars as the primary instrument, an emphasis on mood, and a propensity to play very loudly both because of the guitars and to achieve an all-encompassing feel. To make up for the absolutely dull, motionless performance style and to further build the ambience for the ethereal music, many bands started projecting film loops and other visual effects onto the stage. Shoegaze shows became psychedelic, deafening, intoxicating affairs, filling the audience’s eyes and ears so fully that all other senses were rendered numb.
The shoegaze scene wasn’t for everyone, but for those who, like me, loved the wall of sound approach and couldn’t care less about lyrics, it was manna from heaven. I turned twenty in 1990 and was at the perfect age to revel in the shoegaze explosion; it was a big part of my music habit in those years. After several bleak years shoegaze was one of several assurgent genres that brought modern rock into one of its golden eras. Indeed, it was one of the last times we saw guitar-driven rock and modern rock rise to mainstream status (though not so much for the shoegazers). As Britpop and other forms of modern rock came along to replace the scenes of the early ‘90s, the shoegaze sound continued to infiltrate and influence the new music, and today there are many bands carrying on with the sound.
A few final words on this playlist before we get into it. I’ve cut it off at the end of 1993. There were many great bands, albums, and songs released over 1994 and 1995 before the shoegaze scene spent itself out (to be revived in the new millennium), but by 1993 all the ground-breaking releases had happened and the peak of the era had been crested. Also, not spiralling out into broader sounds was hard since bands drew from so many styles while incorporating the shoegaze sonic layer. The term ‘dream pop’ was also interchangeable with shoegaze, but I will use it more in reference to the lighter, pop sounding acts within the shoegaze spectrum. I have focused here on the dreamier, noisier, guitar-layered sound that was, in my opinion, the core and essence of shoegaze. Therefore, the many similar and excellent acts whose sound was sparse and jangly, or more purely rock and psychedelic, have been excluded; those would include the likes Guided By Voices, This Mortal Coil, Galaxie 500, Primal Scream, The Ocean Blue, Moose, and The Pastels. The purpose of this profile is to educate and celebrate the shoegaze sound, so hopefully any concerns over its boundaries will not distract from those goals.
So cast your gaze down, turn the stereo up loud, and get ready to be lost in the reverie of shoegaze.
Lorelai \ Cocteau Twins (1984) – As explored in the Cocteau Twins profile, they were an influential act out of Scotland that developed one of the most unique sounds in modern rock. They were one of the first to use guitar to create aural landscapes, to have obscure vocals worked into the mix, and to employ repetition to create a hypnotic, trance-like listening experience – all features that would become the defining characteristics of shoegaze. The ‘dream pop’ moniker was created to categorize bands like Cocteau Twins. It’s also significant to start with an act with a female band member, since compared to most other forms of modern rock, shoegaze had a refreshingly healthy participation of women.
“Lorelai” was on their third album, Treasure. It was a transitional album that saw them move from the darker, goth-tinged sound of their first two LPs into the dream pop mold. Robin Guthrie moved the guitars to the fore and singer Elizabeth Fraser fully employed the non-lyrical use of her vocals to its wonderfully transcendent effect. It was the signature sound they would evolve further over the coming albums, and in doing so influence many bands to also explore that sound.
As a starting point for the creative spark that would become shoegaze, the Cocteau Twins are a good, proximate choice, and in 1984 they were in the minority in exploring modern rock without the use of keyboards or a light touch with the guitar. But before them, going to back to the 1960s, bands like Velvet Underground and The Stooges in the US and Neu! in Germany had been exploring fuzz-laden, distorted guitar sounds over repetitive rhythms to create innovative forms of modern rock. Johnathan Richman’s “Roadrunner” was another example of how a guitar and a catchy, repeated riff could make a simple formula become an all-encompassing song. So, while Cocteau Twins are our starting point, naturally they were just an evolutionary mix of prior musical strains. They just happened to turn the trend towards what would become shoegaze.
Just Like Honey \ Jesus & Mary Chain (1985) – Was Scotland the birth of shoegaze? Cocteau Twins and Jesus and Mary Chain make a good case for it. Formed around the brothers, William and Jim Reid, J&MC was built to pay tribute to the likes of Velvet Underground and The Stooges. Their debut LP, 1985’s Psychocandy, was so laden with feedback and screeching guitars, only the intrepid dared to embrace it. Surprisingly, there were more of those than would have been expected among the synth dominated era of new wave and pop. Pyschocandy reached #31 in the UK and started its path to the hallowed status it has achieved since its release. For many, this was the start of shoegaze.
Three singles from the album charted, reaching the 40s and 50s in the UK singles chart. “Never Understand” was a bold start, a three-minute sprint of pounding drums and rumbling base under a caustic layer of guitar-fed feedback and screeches. Jim Reid’s vocals echoed, almost in the background, only occasionally intelligible over the din of guitars. The song ended with him screaming, as if in agony. Yet, there was a catchiness to its minimalist melody, hard to discern, but it was there and caught the ear, perhaps if only through the subconscious. There was no music that sounded like that in September of 1985.
The third single was the album’s opening track, “Just Like Honey.” It was simply a beautiful, breathtaking song – terms not anticipated for a song that lay in a mossy bed of raw guitar. This time the melody shone through, carried by a lead guitar that rode behind Reid’s faraway vocal, this time more in the ear. The drums on the album were provided by Bobby Gillespie, future founder of the band, Primal Scream, and in this song the rhythmic, echoey beat of the drums created the perfect pace. The song’s final, lightening touch was a wonderful backing vocal from Karen Parker. The song was pop, but dreamy and built around a guitar sound that was tougher than even most punk bands. Future Shoegazers had another template from which to work.
Losing Touch with My Mind \ Spacemen 3 (1986) (available on YouTube playlist only) – Formed in Rugby, England by Peter Kember (Sonic Boom) and Jason Pierce (J Spaceman), Spacemen 3 were another act formed of the clay provided by The Stooges. Though their initial sound was more of a loose punk, by the time of recording a second demo they had developed into more of a feedback laden, psychedelic rock sound. This led to their first album, a seven-song release, Sound of Confusion, that despite the short list of songs still ran to forty minutes thanks to several lengthy tracks that fully explored their psychedelic, repetitive, feedback strewn, hypnotic sound. Though it hasn’t achieved the status of Psychocandy, it was another landmark album in developing the atmospheric, encompassing guitar sound.
No singles were issued from the LP but it managed to reach #2 in the UK Indie chart, again revealing there was an audience looking for this sound. The band released three more albums over the next five years along with eight singles and EPs, charting regularly on the UK Indie chart. The band broke up in 1991 as Kember and Pierce were spending more time on separate projects, choosing instead to pursue them. We’ll get back to both of them later.
Lollita \ A.R. Kane (1987) – This London duo of Alex Ayuli and Rudy Tambala displayed a remarkable flexibility with their music, exploring ambient forms of dance and dream pop (the term of which Ayuli is credited with creating as a description for their sound). To show how varied their sound could be, in the same year they released “Lollita,” their first single, they also teamed up with electronica act, Colourbox, to record under the name M|A|R|R|S, from which they enjoyed significant success with the dance track, “Pump Up the Volume.”
A.R. Kane released three albums before breaking up in 1994. Their sound moved away from dream pop towards more pop and dance styles during that time, and their success was limited to the indie charts. However, many prominent shoegaze bands cite A. R. Kane as an influence, cementing their legacy on the emergent genre.
The Heart Throbs
Make My Day \ The Heart Throbs (1987) – Reading, England’s The Heart Throbs featured sisters Rose Carlotti and Rachel DeFreitas, whose brother, Pete DeFreitas, was the drummer for Echo & The Bunnymen. Carlotti formed the band with Stephen Ward, and with her on vocals the two also provided the wall of guitars that drove their rough, aggressive form of power pop. They released three albums starting in 1990 through to 1993, but before that issued several singles and EPs, starting with 1987’s Toy. The title track was the single, a raw punk-pop tune, but on the B-side was “Make My Day,” a haunting, repetitive track that bore the markings of what would underpin their dream pop sound a few years later. With this track they were hewing closer to Jesus & Mary Chain than A.R. Kane, and showed the aggressive guitars paired with pop were starting to bleed into more and more acts.
Teen Age Riot \ Sonic Youth (1988) – By this, their fifth album, Sonic Youth had established itself as an important and influential act but were only just finding a broader fanbase. Coming out of the no wave scene in New York, they were the most prominent of a group of bands that had been exploring the use of feedback, dissonant structures, and minimalist compositions to challenge the prevalent forms of rock. This LP, Daydream Nation, started to coalesce their sound into a more accessible, polished form and brought greater success to just around the corner.
Led by husband and wife duo Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon, both provided vocals while she propelled the band with her bass and he created the sonic landscapes on guitar along with Lee Ranaldo. Steve Shelley was their drummer. Sonic Youth doesn’t qualify strongly as a shoegazer band, but their use of feedback and heavy guitars, repetition, and minimal vocals buried in the mix were all features adopted by shoegazers. There wasn’t much, however, about Sonic Youth I would define as dreamy. Yet, in “Teen Age Riot,” their first single to chart by reaching #20 on the US Modern Rock chart (which was only created the month before this album was released), the shoegaze vibe could be found.
Feed Me with Your Kiss \ My Bloody Valentine (1988) – My Bloody Valentine was formed in Dublin, Ireland in 1983 and were the defining act of the shoegaze era. They essentially invented the genre, so tracing their evolution helps explain its arrival. They also were one of the earliest acts to record for music label, Creation Records, which would become a seminal label for the shoegaze sound. It was formed by Alan McGee, Dick Green, and Joe Foster and named after the ‘60s act, The Creation (featured in the Builders of Modern Rock playlist). We’ll come across this label more than a few times on this list.
Guitarist Kevin Shields and drummer Colm Ó Cíosóig met in their teens and had a punk band, The Complex, from 1979 to 1981 along with Liam Ó Maonlaí, who would go on to form Hothouse Flowers. After another aborted attempt at a post-punk band they formed MBV with David Conway on vocals and what would be a revolving door of band members on guitar and bass, eventually having Conway’s girlfriend, Tina Durkin, settle in on keyboards. Supposedly, they chose the MBV name without awareness of the 1981 slasher movie of the same name. Their noisy, chaotic, goth-rock sound (think The Cramps or The Birthday Party) wasn’t finding an audience in Ireland, but a demo was good enough to secure a contract with Tycoon Records. Deciding to try other locales, stints in the Netherlands and Germany followed during which they recorded a mini-LP, This Is My Blood Valentine, released in 1985. It didn’t garner the band much attention.
Relocating to London, Durkin left and was replaced with Debbie Googe, finally giving them a full-time bassist. They next released an EP, Geek!, on Fever Records in late ’85. It had a slightly more pop bent but was still a darkly tinged goth and post-punk sound. Creation co-founder Joe Foster then took them in, releasing an EP in 1986, The New Record by My Bloody Valentine, on his other label, Kaleidoscope Sound. This EP was the first time their screaming guitars started to resemble the sound for which they would become known, blended with a pop-punk sound that was reminiscent of Jesus and Mary Chain’s, Psychocandy. The EP reached #22 in the UK indie chart, garnering them more exposure and gigs.
MBV: Kevin Shields, Bilinda Butcher, Debbie Googe, and Colm Ó Cíosóig
Their next release was the single, “Sunny Sundae Smile,” issued in early ’87 on Lazy Records. It reached #6 in the indie chart as they were getting more pop sounding, however on the B-side was the song, “Kiss the Eclipse,” a rip-roaring tune with a pounding beat under a sheet of white-noise guitar. It was another step towards an emerging sound.
After completing a tour as the opener for The Soup Dragons, David Conway left the band. A recruiting effort brought in Bilinda Butcher as the new vocalist and second guitarist, and who was a bit of an odd fit given her training was in classical music. Shields decided to also start singing to offset her vocals, which were a touch weak amidst the din of their sound. With this new line-up – Shields and Butcher on guitars and vocals, Googe on bass, and Ó Cíosóig on drums – they put out two more releases on Lazy Records, the single “Strawberry Wine” (#13 on UK indie chart) and another mini-album, “Ecstasy” (#12 on UK indie chart). The MBV sound started to come together with its mix of pop melodies riding over a thick din of guitars, bass, and drums and, with Bilinda and Kevin’s vocals both a bit timid on the mic, hushed, obscured vocals.
MBV found themselves back with Creation Records when Alan McGee was impressed with their live performance, declaring them the Irish version of Hüsker Dü. He signed them to release an EP, You Made Me Realise, which arrived in August 1988 and, in many respects, forged the dawn of the shoegazer sound. A better recording budget (they’d had to self-fund their recordings on Lazy Records in return for the labels’ promo help) resulted in much stronger performances and a more immediate, full-on sound. It also didn’t hurt that the EP was built on five stunning songs. “You Made Me Realise” was a driving, fuzz romp marked by a crashing chorus and a chaotic white-noise break of forty seconds in the middle. It would become the band’s signature closing tune in their concerts, elongating that break to fifteen minutes or longer of a sonic assault quite unlike anything else heard at a typical concert. It sounded like a jet taking off inside the venue and was an endurance test for the audience, who would run through a gamut of reactions from awe, to laughing, to flashes of anger and fingers in ears to gain a rest from the sound, and finally back to awe as the band sustained the din and then casually dropped back into the final half of the song. Putting their audience through this saved them having to do encores since few were looking for more after that. The EP was rounded out by the gorgeous, thick morass of, “Slow” (an all-time fave of mine), the poppy “Thorn,” the moody “Cigarette in Your Bed” which more than the others laid the mold for the shoegaze sound, and closed with the mid-tempo fuzz-pop of “Drive It All Over Me.” You Made Me Realise announced MBV to the broader UK scene, with the EP debuting at #2 on the UK indie chart and the title track peaking at #5 on the singles chart, exciting interest in this new sound.
The Isn’t Anything album cover
Therefore, all was primed for the arrival of the band’s first, full-length album, Isn’t Anything, released in November 1988. Their prior work had been sketches, sorting out where everything should go, You Made Me Realise was the first draft, and Isn’t Anything was the realization of a masterpiece. The band’s mix of moody ballads, aggressive rockers, pop melodies, and mix of guitars were a marvel. The guitars provided a complex landscape of textures and moods, almost provided as the lead through the album thanks to the subtle vocals. If you’re not used to MBV, upon first listen the album likely sounds too noisy, unhinged, boring at times and assaulting in others such that you’re as much to toss it against the wall than embrace it. But a few listens allow the layers to peel back and the complexity, subtlety, and hooks of the album start to reveal themselves. UK audiences ‘got it’ and sent the album to #1 in the indie album chart and #61 in the main album chart. “Feed Me with Your Kiss” reached #2 in the UK indie singles chart.
Their sound would never make My Bloody Valentine appealing to broader audiences, but in the late ‘80s as the indie rock scene was searching for its next thing, Isn’t Anything provided a template for a sound that many were willing to explore further.
Mercy Seat \ Ultra Vivid Scene (1988) – Released the same day as Isn’t Anything, New York’s Ultra Vivid Scene was building on the feedback sound forged by Jesus and Mary Chain. Signed to 4AD Records, the band was essentially just Kurt Ralske. After stints in the bands Nothing but Happiness and Crash, he started releasing EPs and singles as UVS in 1987, leading to the first LP in 1988. The album was not a shoegaze album, it not yet being a definable genre, but his use of high-pitched and fuzzy, raw guitars joined it with the others on this list building around that sound. “Mercy Seat” was the single from the album and reached #13 in the UK indie chart, while the album reached #10, once again showing UK audiences, more than anywhere else, were open to the noisier variations coming out. The video included a young Moby on guitar, who was part of the touring band at that point. The dream pop sound was also hinted at, showing shoegaze was more than rhythm and noise.
Innocent \ Kitchens of Distinction (1988) – Kitchens of Distinction provided a mix of pop and dream pop that helped bridge indie-pop audiences to the slowly forming edges of shoegaze. They mixed the non-synth new wave sound with the dream pop touches of the Cocteau Twins. “Innocent” was a B-side that offered a more ethereal take on their sound than the more accessible singles, but it was this sound that would leave its mark in terms of the growth of shoegaze.
KoD were formed in 1986 and were a trio of Julian Swales (guitar), Patrick Fitzgerald (vocals, bass), and Dan Goodwin (drums) from Tooting, South London. They released their first single in December 1987 and “Prize” (of which “Innocent was the B-side) was the lead single from their debut LP, Love Is Hell, issued as a single in October 1988 before the album followed in April 1989. They were signed to One Little Indian Records. These early efforts didn’t gain them charting success as the band would struggle to ever attract much commercial attention – bands that straddle genres often slip through the cracks in between.
Band of Susans - with 3 Susans and 4 females, a good example of how strongly women contributed to shoegaze
Birthmark \ Band of Susans (1988) – Back to New York where Band of Susans were making their way amidst the noise rock and no wave scenes. As previously noted, shoegaze would have considerable contributions from women compared to most other genres of rock. As you might expect from an act called Band of Susans, this was one heavily filled with estrogen, comprised of four women and two men. Founded by Susan Stenger and Robert Poss (vocals, guitar), the band’s name came from the no less than three Susans in the band: Stenger (bass), Lyall (guitar), and Tallman (guitar). Alva Rogers (backing vocals) was the fourth female and Ron Spitzer played drums.
If you were counting, that line-up included three guitarists in the sextet, and thus it should be no surprise their sound was dominated by a constant din of electric fuzz. The band’s sound was dark, touching on goth in places and generally an anti-pop, noise-laden crashing of drum, bass and guitar. They weren’t a pure fit for shoegaze, but like Sonic Youth they forged the way for a guitar friendly music world. “Birthmark” was from their second LP, 1989’s Love Agenda, which was recorded with a different line-up after Lyall, Rogers, and Tallman all left (losing two of their Susans), to be replaced with Karen Haglof and Page Hamilton. The song was of a sound that will be quite familiar by the end of this playlist. I find it strongly resembles the sound of Ride’s debut, which we’ll be getting to soon.
Sight of You \ Pale Saints (1989) – Hailing from Leeds, England, Pale Saints were a 4AD act that was moving from the new wave sound towards a harder, rawer sound. They were a trio of Ian Masters, Graeme Naysmith, and Chris Cooper. Barging into the Presence of God was their first release, a 3-song EP in 1989 that included “Sight of You,” a song that captured the mix of noise and pop they were exploring. It reached #3 in the UK Indie chart. The album that followed in 1990, The Comforts of Madness, would crack the top 40 in the UK album chart. Dream pop acts were getting noticed.
Second Sight \ Lush (1989) – The pace of releases from acts swirling in the dream pop realm was increasing, and Lush was one of the more distinct and appealing arrivals. Another female-driven band, the trio of Meriel Barham, Miki Berenyi and Emma Anderson provided the winning shoegaze formula of aggressive guitars underlying a lighter, female vocal. Formed in London in 1987 as Baby Machines, Steve Rippon and Chris Acland provided the all-male rhythm section. They changed their name to Lush in 1988 and Barham shortly left the band thereafter (to eventually join Pale Saints in 1990), leaving Berenyi as the lead vocalist.
Drawing on influences such as Siouxsie and the Banshees and Cocteau Twins (whose Robin Guthrie was originally tagged to produce the album, but couldn’t make himself available between tending to his newborn daughter and the recording of the Twins’ LP, Heaven or Las Vegas), Lush’s first release was the six-song mini album, Scar. It provided the most stripped-down example of their sound, which over time would become, well, more lush. Mixing punky, jangly guitars, earworm melodies and hooks, and dreamy atmospheres, the mini-album reached #3 in the UK Indie chart. “Second Sight” was a great example of how the band could move between the heavier shoegaze mood, punky interludes, and direct pop.
Barnaby, Hardly Working \ Yo La Tengo (1989) – Formed in 1984 out of Hoboken, New Jersey, Yo La Tengo (Spanish for “I have it,” which derived from Mets outfielders that used the phrase on fly balls) were on to their third LP with the release of President Yo La Tengo in 1989. Through line-up changes and a maturing sound, their form of psychedelic rock mixed with ‘80s new wave produced songs like the album’s lead track, “Barnaby, Hardly Working,” which rode a droning mix of guitar and bass that hypnotized the listener, a favourite shoegaze technique. The band was led by its founding members, the husband and wife team of guitarist/vocalist Ira Kaplan and drummer Georgia Hubley.
You’re the One \ Sonic Boom (1990) (available on YouTube playlist only) – After Spacemen 3, Peter Kember began performing under his stage name, Sonic Boom. In February 1990 he released an album, Spectrum, which was also a name he would sometimes perform under. The album carried on the repetitive, droning sound of Spacemen 3, with songs often ranging up to seven or nine minutes. “You’re the One” was a shorter example of the album’s sound.
De-Luxe \ Lush (1990) – Lush followed Scar with another EP in February 1990, “Mad Love,” which featured the lead track and single, “De-Luxe,” a fantastic, up-tempo take on dream pop, broken up by descending rhythms. The other three tracks, “Leaves Me Cold,” “Downer,” and “Thoughtforms,” were all just as appealing. This time succeeding in getting Robin Guthrie to produce, the EP moved Lush into their more polished, fully formed ethereal sound. It reached #55 in the UK singles chart, making it one of the first shoegaze releases to get mainstream chart attention. Lush was edging themselves into a leading position within the new genre.
Pictured above are Lush’s impressive releases in their first year: the mini-LP Scar, the EPs Mad Love and Sweetness and Light, and the compilation for North America that combined the three, Gala. Like many shoegaze acts, a colourful and repetitive design approach was used that relied on imagery over the traditional pictures of the band themselves. The abstract approaches favoured blurred images and textured mixes of colours that matched the music.
Like A Daydream \ Ride (1990) – 1990 was the year when shoegaze started to coalesce into something recognizable and warranting attention. New acts like Lush and MBV were impressing critics and gathering fans. But it was the newest arrival, the band Ride from Oxford, England, that seemed to be building something impressive around the new sound with three fantastic EPs issued over the course of that year.
Ride was formed in 1988 by Andy Bell and Mark Gardener, whose harmonies and guitars would be the foundation of their sound, and were soon joined by Steve Quaralt on bass and Laurence Colbert on drums, both of which provided a rumbling, crashing balance to the wall of guitars from the founding duo. They were helped by Jim Reid of Jesus and Mary Chain, who was impressed with their demo and put them on to Alan McGee, who signed Ride to his Creation Label and set them up for their impressive debut.
First up was the self-titled EP in January, featuring the speedy, swirling, “Chelsea Girl,” and the grinding, mesmorizing, “Drive Blind.” It got the band on the board with a #71 placing in the UK singles chart. Next up in April was the EP, Play, in which Ride’s heavier, rock influenced brand of shoegaze came to brilliant fruition in the song, “Like A Daydream.” It arrived like a hurricane, whipping around you in an abrasive, swirling deluge of guitars, dreamy vocals, and dizzying, hypnotic riffs. Shoegaze should have had its first smash hit, except no one was paying enough attention, with the EP only reaching #32 in the UK singles chart. Again, they were another artist straddling genres – too hard for the fans of the moody, atmospheric dream pop and too artsy and dreamy for punks and hard rockers. Yet, they were still impressing some, I know that I was when I got my hands on their first North American release, Smile, which was issued in the summer and was a compilation of the first two EPs. They finished the year with their third EP, Fall (#34 UK singles chart), which furthered the consummation of their dream pop and rock blend and gave a taste of what was to come with their upcoming first LP.
Pictured above are Ride’s three 1991 EPs: Ride, Play, and Fall, and the North America compilation that combined the first two, Smile. They took the shoegaze visual approach a step further by matching the consistent sound of the music with a very consistent design approach.
Darkest Dreams \ His Name Is Alive (1990) – The link between His Name Is Alive and shoegaze is tenuous at best, but really, HNIA has always defied easy categorization. Coming out of Livonia, Michigan in 1985 the band has always centred around its only constant band member, Warren Defever. Preferring to work with female vocalists, he first paired with fellow local, Angie Carozzo, before joining with Karin Oliver after meeting her at college.
Defever aggressively pursued a contract with 4AD Records by sending Ivo Watts-Russell his self-recorded and released cassette tapes, intuitively knowing his music was a fit for the label. He finally got signed as the music improved, leading to the release of the first LP, Livonia, in the summer of 1990. Watts-Russell and his collaborator John Fryer, who worked together on the label’s house band, This Mortal Coil, produced the album. The result was a very This Mortal Coil sounding album, full of sparse recordings centred around minimalist instrumentation and the operatic vocals of Oliver (Carozzo’s vocals remained on two tracks also). When the music asserted itself, it was often repetitive, dreamy, and interspersed with jarring sequences of drums and feedback-riven guitar. “Darkest Dreams” was the closing track, and embraced a full-on shoegaze guitar sound.
Amazingly, Defever has continued to release music, and has now issued upwards of twenty-five albums and EPs. 1993’s Mouth by Mouth, featuring the song, “In Every Ford,” was likely the best received LP, though none of HNIA’s music has ever received much attention or sales, despite the intriguing music on offer.
Cherry-Coloured Funk \ Cocteau Twins (1990) – Heaven or Las Vegas remains one of my all-time favourite albums. I can still remember hearing “Iceblink Luck” for the first time on the radio and the hours spent deliriously listening to the album on repeat, easily done on my new, first CD player. It was the Cocteau Twins’ sixth album and their creative and commercial peak, releasing two less successful LPs over the ‘90s before both the band and its married couple, Robin Guthrie and Elizabeth Fraser, broke up.
After helping create the dream pop sound, in Heaven or Las Vegas, Cocteau Twins perfected it. In terms of its shoegaze bona fides, it was a little light on the guitar, leaning more heavily into the synth-pop side of their sound, but offered up a more distilled, less jarring, and warmer version of the genre’s dreamy loveliness. It had the hypnotic, repetitive rhythms, Fraser’s achingly beautiful, otherworldly, captivating vocals, and Guthrie’s layered, atmospheric layers of fuzzy guitars. The melodies were impeccable, song after song, leaving you giddy as one song rolled after the other. The album reached the top ten in the UK albums chart and was their first to crack the top 100 in the US, just making it in at #99. “Cherry-Coloured Funk” was the LP’s lead track, setting off the listening journey in perfect, even-tempo, shoegazing bliss.
Ride: Mark Gardener, Andy Bell, Steve Quaralt, & Loz Colbert
Kaleidoscope; Vapour Trail \ Ride (1990) – After the stellar trio of EPs, Ride capped off their incredible inaugural year with an epic, transformative LP that set the new standard for shoegaze and modern rock. The early ‘90s were an incredible period for music, especially out of the UK, and when you start lining up the shoegaze releases and the Madchester releases over that period, an especially impressive line-up of albums comes together. Nowhere easily ranks in its upper echelons. Issued in October, just one month after their third EP, Fall, the album unleashed a more aggressive, more polished, dreamier, larger rock sound than what had been revealed over the three EPs earlier that year. Every song was a thrill to hear and the album left you spent and wholly satisfied after each and every listen.
The Nowhere LP and its minimalist cover
“Vapour Trail” and “Kaleidoscope” were the two singles issued in the US in 1991 and offered two different and consummate examples of the album’s excellence. “Kaleidoscope” was Ride’s rockier, rambunctious shoegaze sound, hitting you with a thundering, wall-of-sound relentlessness that was electrifying. And then there was the album’s closing tune, “Vapour Trail,” simply one of the most beautiful rock songs ever written. Strumming guitars, a booming beat, the distant vocals, and once again a relentless mid-tempo pace that carried you along like a ride on a cloud. The pièce de résistance was the addition of strings, with a cello and violin adding an element of grace, melancholy, and catharsis as the song and album came to an immensely satisfying conclusion. In North America, the CD release added the additional three songs from the Fall EP (the album already included the lead track, “Dreams Burn Down”), leaving “Vapour Trail” in a less ideal eighth slot of an 11-track album (or fifteen songs when you get to the 2001 version, which added the Today Forever EP from 1991).
Nowhere was critically acclaimed and widely recognized as one of the best and most important of the shoegaze genre. Revealing the limited commercial appeal of shoegaze, and perhaps Ride’s more strident version of it, the album only reached #11 in the UK album chart.
Rave Down \ Swervedriver (1990) – Swervedriver’s story closely followed that of Ride’s. They too came out of Oxford when Adam Franklin and Jimmy Hartridge got together in 1989. They also favoured a heavier, rock influenced variation of shoegaze. They were helped by Ride’s Mark Gardener, who gave a copy of their demo tape to Alan McGee, leading Swervedriver to also sign with Creation. And they too made a name for themselves with a series of strong EPs over the last half of 1990 and early 1991.
The first EP was Son of a Mustang Ford, issued in July, followed by Rave Down in November and then Sandblasted in July, 1991. The debut LP, Raise, was released in September 1991 and brought together the three title tracks from those EPs along with six new strong tracks (especially “Sci-Flyer,” “Sunset,” and “Feel So Real”), providing another outstanding shoegaze album of unabashed rock songs layered with the noisy guitars, propulsive rhythms, and in-the-mix vocals.
“Rave Down” was the best of the lot, providing a deep-ended well of guitar, bass, and drums with which the descending chorus could lead back to explosive verses and frenetic interludes. The song seemed to fuse the heaviness of ‘70s metal with a punk energy and shoegaze’s thick, droning dreaminess. It was a sound that exhilarated me, demanding to be heard at full volume at all times. Unfortunately, not enough others agreed as none of the EPs charted and the album only reached #44 in the UK album chart. Shoegaze, despite issuing one stellar release after another, was failing to stir the popular consciousness.
Found Love \ The Darkside (1990) – In the wake of Spacemen 3, we’ve already noted that Peter Kember started performing as Sonic Boom, and by the summer of 1990 several other members of the band were performing as Spiritualized, who we’ll come to further down this playlist. Two other former members of Spacemen 3, Pete Bain and Sterling Rosswell, formed the band The Darkside. Nick Haydn was also briefly in the band but left before they released their first music, which came with the single, “Highrise Love,” in April 1990. The first album, with the fittingly shoegazey title, All That Noise, arrived late in the year.
The Darkside channeled ’60s psychedelia into droning shoegaze rock, offering some meandering, trippy variations of the sound amongst some straight-ahead, noisy, soulful garage-rock tunes like “Found Love” and “Soul Deep.” The album was quite good and I listened to the CD a lot. There were several lengthy songs such as the Doors-like tune, “Love in A Burning Universe,” the ultra-psychedelic, stoner bliss of “Guitar Voodoo,” and the lovely single, “Waiting for the Angels.”
The band would manage two more LPs amongst several line-up changes before packing it up in 1993. Their psychedelic, soul, blues, and garage rock sounds distanced themselves somewhat from the purer shoegaze sound, but the repetition, buried vocals, droning guitars, and strong sonic relationship to Spacemen 3 and its offshoots warranted their notice in the shoegaze universe.
Falling Down \ Chapterhouse (1990) – Along with the rock sound of Ride, Swervedriver, and The Darkside, there were also emerging brighter, poppier, and dancier variations of shoegaze. The best of that vibe was Chapterhouse, formed in Reading, England in 1987 by Stephen Patman and Andrew Sherriff, who shared vocal and guitar duties. They learned their shoegaze ways from early stints touring with Spacemen 3.
Chapterhouse
By the time of their first EP, Freefall, released in 1990, the band had been filled out with Russell Barrett on bass (replacing original bassist, Jon Curtis), Simon Rowe on guitar, and Ashley Bates on drums. Yes, in true shoegaze fashion, they had three guitarists. They signed to new label, Dedicated Records, another that would focus on the shoegaze sound by signing Spacemen 3, Spiritualized, Chapterhouse, and Cranes. Freefall included the song, “Falling Down,” which from the first notes seemed to indicate the band was more akin to the trippy, Madchester sound with it’s dance beat and waka-waka guitar. But as the song progressed the guitars layered on in rough hews, and then the dreamy vocals arrived thirty seconds in, followed by washes of further guitar to broaden the sound. The chorus was pure dream pop. Yes, this was shoegaze with a dance beat and it was wonderful. Freefall was followed with a second LP in 1990, Sunburst. Their titles certainly matched the music.
Drive that Fast \ Kitchens of Distinction (1991) – And so we arrive to 1991, when shoegaze managed to broaden its franchise and more people finally took notice. We first met KoD on this playlist in ’88 when they were helping introduce the shoegaze sound with their distinct, lighter pop approach. After the debut LP in 1989 they’d released an EP later that year, Elephantine, followed by two singles in 1990 before another LP in January 1991, Drive that Fast. The title track again showed how the dream pop sound and atmospheric, shoegaze guitars could be melded into a driving, pop song. It would be their first single to chart, only getting as high as #93 in the UK singles chart, but scoring a #12 spot in the US Modern Rock chart. The three singles would all be included in their second LP, Strange Free World, released March. KoD would go on to release two more albums in 1992 and 1994 and release a single under the name, Kitchens O.D., in 1996 before breaking up. They reformed in 2013 and released a fifth LP, Folly.
Chlorine Dream \ Spirea X (1991) –Spirea X was a good example of the plethora of new bands arriving into the new genre. They too pursued the dance style of shoegaze, similar to Chapterhouse. The band was another Scottish contribution, coming out of Glasgow in 1990 when former Primal Scream band member Jim Beattie started the band, naming it after a Primal Scream B-side track. By 1991 Beattie had been joined by his girlfriend, Judith Boyle, as well as Jamie O’Donnell, Thomas McGurk, and Andy Kerr. Signing to 4AD, Spirea X released its first EP, Chlorine Dream, in April of 1991. It was followed by a second EP, Speed Reaction, in May before issuing their one and only LP, Fireblade Skies, in October. The LP had a more varied sound, emphasizing the beats and dream pop sound and lightening up on the shoegaze guitar layers. None of their releases managed to chart.
By 1992 the band started coming apart, whittling down to just a duo of the couple, Beattie and Boyle. 4AD dropped them and in 1993 they shut Spirea X down, going on to form the act, Adventures in Stereo.
Another iconic album cover of the shoegaze era, Chapterhouse’s Whirpool album. I think I owned this CD for a few months before it occurred to me it was a picture of a dog.
Breather; Pearl \ Chapterhouse (1991) – Back to Chapterhouse, who released their first LP at the end of April, 1991. Whirlpool was a masterpiece, blending their shoegaze airiness with catchy beats and melodies. The album reached #23 in the UK album charts, making it one of the most successful charting shoegaze albums yet. It included the tracks “Falling Down” and “Something More” from their first two LPs, and seven more incredibly consistent, wonderfully layered shoegaze songs. Ranging from Ride-like pumped up rock such as “Breather” to dreamy, guitar-textured tracks like “Treasure,” to beat-filled, danceable tracks like, “Pearl,” the album was pure joy. It harkened the maturing, more accomplished state of shoegaze, in which bands were more assertively exploring and perfecting the sound.
The Light that Will Cease to Fail \ Stereolab (1991) - This was another band that drew from the shoegaze sound but played in so many different styles they were hard to define within any single genre. In their earliest incarnation, they were best known for droning, repetitive, guitar-driven songs inspired by the likes of Krautrock acts like Neu!. Stereolab came together through the couple of Tim Gane and Laetitia Sadier. Formed in London in 1990 out of Gane’s band, McCarthy, which Sadier had performed with in its final period, they set-up a label, Duophonic, with which to release their avant garde music.
Their first release was an EP in May 1991, Super 45, which introduced their unique sound to the world and was sold by mail order and through the Rough Trade record shop in London. The EP had their repetitive guitars with Sadier’s understated vocals buried in the mix. Her French accent and occasional lyrics gave their sound an added, continental element. Their sound was less dream pop and didn’t feature much in the way of beats, with the rhythms focused on a deep, droning style to underpin the strumming guitars and lighter vocals. The music was darker and more rock-infused in places, making it a more stripped down and bleaker version of shoegaze. “The Light that Will Cease to Fail” was the lead track off the EP. It didn’t chart as it would take awhile for the band to find their audience.
Coast is Clear \ Curve (1991) (available on YouTube playlist only) – This duo of Toni Halliday (vocals) and Dean Garcia (guitar) were also a loose fit for shoegaze. Their sound mixed electronics with rock, utilized electronic beats, and had a strong pop element in their song structures. Yet the sound was dense, had the lighter vocals riding just above the mix, and often moved through droning, repetitive stretches alternating with dream pop choruses and breaks. They were a favourite act of mine and easily one of my most played artists during the early ‘90s.
Halliday and Garcia met through the Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart. Garcia had been a backing player for Eurythmics in 1983-84 and Stewart had signed Halliday as a solo artist to his label, Anxious Records. Garcia and Halliday had a brief attempt working together in the ‘80s as the act, State of Play, but returned to their respective gigs when it didn’t work out. They came back together as Curve in 1990, and like Ride and Swervedriver, made a name for themselves with three stellar EPs released over their first year on Stewart’s label.
The first EP in March 1991 was Blindfold, a fantastic collection of four songs that immediately revealed Curve’s brand of electro-rock shoegaze. Frozen followed in May and was another impeccable quartet of songs, including the exhilarating “Coast is Clear,” the song that introduced them to me. It was love at first listen. It didn’t sound like anything else I was hearing yet seemed to have the best of all the types of music I loved. Finally, Cherry was issued as the third EP in October, offering more incredible songs including the swirling, dark ear-candy of “Die Like A Dog.” The three EPs were compiled onto a release, Pubic Fruit, in November 1992 in order to help fans collect the early songs after their debut LP, Doppelgänger, took off in the spring of ’92. It was a fantastic LP with not a single weak track and it’s astounding that none of the EPs or the compilation managed to chart.
I’d like to take a moment here to call out that, of the 23 artists profiled so far in this playlist, ten have featured women in their line-ups, and quite a few prominently so. This ratio of male to female artists in any rock genre was extremely rare, and one of the more appealing aspects of shoegaze.
Celia’s Dream \ Slowdive (1991) – In May 1992 I went to see Ride, who was touring for their second LP. Opening for them during their North American tour was a band called Slowdive. I bought their debut LP, Just for A Day, ahead of the show and quickly fell in love with it and was therefore certain not to miss their opening slot. To this day that show was one of the best double-bills I’ve had the pleasure of seeing. Mostly unknown this side of the ocean at that time, over time they’d establish themselves as one of the most celebrated and iconic shoegaze bands, and now enjoy sold out shows when they come over in more recent years.
Slowdive
Slowdive started in 1989 with Rachel Goswell (guitar/vocals) and Neil Halsted (guitar/vocals), who were friends since childhood in Reading, England. After their first band called it quits they formed Slowdive with Adrien Sell on drums, Nick Chaplin on bass, and Christian Savill as a third guitarist (we see where this was headed). The band’s name was taken from the title of a Siouxsie and the Banshees song and for its dreamlike quality, which fit their developing sound.
Signing with, of course, Creation Records, the band converted their first demo into their first EP, a self-titled release in November 1990. Sell left the band to attend university (they were all only nineteen at the time) and was replaced on drums by Neil Carter as they released their second EP, Morningrise, in February 1991. They changed drummers again, welcoming Simon Scott who played on their third EP, Holding Our Breath, in June 1991. The EP reached #52 on the UK albums chart and #5 on the Indie chart, and the single, “Catch the Breeze,” went to #1 on the Indie chart.
In September 1991 they released their first LP, Just for A Day, which included “Catch the Breeze.” It was a wonderful album, giving shoegaze its lushest, dreamiest album to that point. “Celia’s Dream” was a consummate example of how dreamy vocals riding over varying layers of guitar created an epic soundscape with which to lose yourself. The album floated along through a beautiful, 45-minute journey of pure bliss. It reached #32 on the UK albums chart, ranking it up there with Cocteau Twins and Ride as one of the most successful shoegaze releases to that point.
Now is Now \ Band of Susans (1991) – We return to the rock side of shoegaze and back to America (note the last ten acts profiled have all been from the UK) for another check-in with Band of Susans. BoS first appeared on this playlist in 1989 when the New York band had released their second LP. In 1991 they were issuing their third album, The Word and the Flesh. After the second LP, Page Hamilton had left to form the band, Helmet, while Karen Haglof also departed. They were replaced by guitarists Anne Husick and Mark Lonergan, making the band a quintet along with original members, Robert Poss, Susan Stenger (the only Susan remaining), and Ron Spitzer. This line-up would hold through the band’s next three, and final, albums.
The Word and the Flesh continued their style of noise-rock, mixing the trio of guitars under faraway vocals and on top of rumbling bass and drums. It was a little less raw and more accessible, but still packed a punch with the full-on guitar assault. “Now is Now” was a more melodic offering than the rest of the album, but BoS would never be a charting band, though did receive reasonable critical acclaim, especially starting with this LP.
I didn’t come to know of the band until 1993’s Veil LP, another great album in which the songs, “Mood Swing” and “The Red and the Black” were staples on my mix tapes through the mid-‘90s.
Lush: Miki Berenyi, Steve Rippon, Chris Acland, & Emma Anderson
Nothing Natural \ Lush (1991) – In the fall of 1991 I went to Los Angeles to visit my father and brother. My brother had just moved in with his girlfriend (and future wife), Nancy, who worked for WEA Records. She had stacks of CDs for me to explore, one of which was a new single by Lush, “Nothing Natural.” I had already been listening to Gala quite a bit, which was a compilation released in late ’90 of the band’s mini-LP and two subsequent EPs. It included songs from Sweetness and Light, another fantastic EP that provided the band another charting entry, reaching #47 in the UK singles chart and #4 in the US Modern Rock chart.
“Nothing Natural” was the lead song off a new EP, Black Spring, released in the UK in October 1991 and that went to #43 in the UK singles chart. The song was released in North America as the lead single from their upcoming debut LP, Spooky, to be issued in January ’92. The song’s persistent, driving rhythm riding under the light, swirling guitars and airy vocals were shoegaze gold, but with a straight-ahead pop feel. It went to #22 in the US Modern Rock chart and when followed by two more excellent singles – “For Love” in October “Superblast” in December – the album was set for success, eventually reaching #7 in the UK albums chart and adding it to the growing list of highly successful shoegaze releases.
In the previous entry on this playlist for “De-Luxe,” Lush was noted as having taken a leading position among shoegaze bands, and with Spooky that was further cemented. However, revealing how shoegaze was still relatively obscure among the music genres but starting to edge out into more prominent exposure, especially in North America, Lush managed the opening slot in 1992’s Lollapalooza line-up, joining shoegaze pioneers Jesus & Mary Chain as one of eight bands on the main stage. It was one of the best line-ups ever for the festival (it was in its second year, following its fantastic opening year), so being in the opening slot, at the least, was not the worst situation for a shoegaze act. I attended the show in Barrie, Ontario, and it was fantastic. It was the first of two times I’d see Lush perform and they were great, even in the bright, afternoon sun.
Only Shallow; Come In Alone \ My Bloody Valentine (1991) – While Lush was conquering the charts, Ride was setting new standards for shoegaze excellence, and Chapterhouse and Slowdive were broadening the scene with breathtaking releases, one of shoegaze’s founding artists had been toiling away assiduously on their next release. Since the release of their debut LP, Isn’t Anything, My Bloody Valentine had only released two EPs in the intervening three years, 1990’s Glider and 1991’s Tremelo. The first had provided an epic, beat-driven song, “Soon,” that had taken the Glider EP to the #2 spot in the UK indie chart. Tremelo had included “To Here Knows When” and “Honey Power,” two more fantastic songs that propelled the EP to the #1 spot in the UK Indie chart. Both “Soon” and “To Here Knows When” would be included on their second LP, Loveless.
Kevin Shields was known to be a perfectionist, taking significant amounts of time to experiment with his guitar sounds and re-work songs into densely elaborate compositions. The growth of MBV’s sound over their seven-year tenure was evidence of how he and the band were developing a unique and exhilarating sound. Loveless took two-and-a-half years to record, the use of nineteen different studios, and a significant chunk of Creation’s budget to complete the album. Already having been teased to its excellence from the preceding EPs, the album’s arrival in November 1991 was a landmark, throwing down the gauntlet for not just shoegaze artists, but for all rock artists at the time. Arriving just two months after Nirvana’s Nevermind, it was a heady time for alternative music as it ascended to primacy among music fans, though shoegaze would never make it out of grunge’s shadow. But within the shoegaze genre, it now had its own Sgt. Pepper’s, an album that broke all the rules and was so brilliant it set an impossibly high standard for all that had to follow it. I think it was the best album of the ‘90s.
Loveless’ iconic album cover, blurred and shaken photos were a mainstay of shoegaze imagery as a way to capture its sound
Loveless was a dense amalgam of guitar, hazy vocals, and intricately woven beats and basslines. It was best listened to as a whole, following the band’s journey through the exhilarating peaks and valleys of the album’s eleven songs and complex guitar soundscape. It opened with four sharp cracks on the drum before exploding into a repetitive dirge of thick guitar and then a persistent tempo of strumming guitars and Bilinda’s light vocal floating above. With its sharp turns and assaulting interludes, “Only Shallow” was a fantastic opening track and made the listener immediately aware they were listening to something new, interesting, and brilliant. By the time the album closed forty-eight minutes later after the broad, hypnotizing experience of the final track, “Soon,” the listener was transformed and transfixed, knowing a new world of music had been opened up. Even on this playlist of themed music, the songs from this LP stand apart, unique in sound and quintessential in their capture of the genre’s creative spirit.
The album was universally acclaimed and went on to be recognized as a significant release of the decade, shoegaze genre, and across the modern rock universe. It only went to #24 in the UK album chart but to #1 in the UK Indie chart. “Only Shallow” was released as a single in the US, reaching #27 on the Modern Rock chart. Like so many ground-breaking works of art, it had a limited audience of people that appreciated it. Shoegaze as a genre would only ever have a limited audience of admirers, and with its serious demeanour and navel-gazing performance style, the UK press would dub it, “the scene that celebrates itself.”
The leading exhibit for such impressions had to be Kevin Shields, whose perfectionist and expensive recording methods were too much for the Creation label. Despite the album’s brilliance, its limited sales compared to its recording expense and the difficulty in dealing with Shields prompted Alan McGee to drop the band from his label. Creation would almost go bankrupt soon after, prompting many to point at Loveless as to why. McGee sold ownership of half the label to Sony Music in 1992 in order to keep it alive.
My Bloody Valentine also struggled to find its way after the ordeal of making Loveless. They signed with Island Records in 1992 and used their advance to build a home studio, a process that, like any renovation, tested their fortitude. It didn’t help that Shields had writers block and they weren’t producing any music. There would be only two cover songs issued for fundraising and tribute albums before Debbie Googe and Colm Ó Cíosóig left the band in 1995. Kevin Shields and Bilinda Butcher, who ironically had broken up their relationship while recording Loveless, continued to record a new album, but as that failed to materialize Butcher departed in 1997, effectively shuttering MBV as a going concern. Island Records wasn’t able to capitalize on its investment in the band. Shields entered a period of prolonged isolation and suspected mental health difficulties. Surprisingly, the band reunited in 2007 and began touring in 2008, but it would take until 2013 for a third album to be released, m b v.
MBV live - pictures of their show from the early ‘90s are hard to find, but there are plenty from recent times, and they have continued the psychedelic presentation with backdrop film loops
I have seen MBV four times, twice in 1992, on the 2008 reunion tour, and finally on the m b v tour in 2013. There are few adequate words to describe their shows. They played incredibly loud, such that earplugs were offered to you as you entered the venue. They played mostly in darkness with psychedelic film loops displayed over the entire band and onto a large white sheet hung across the back of the stage. Their sound, the loudness, and the cornucopia of sights made for an immersive and exhilarating experience. The unbelievable crescendo of their closing song, “You Made Me Realise” (described earlier in this profile), left you exhausted and numb. These may not sound like the most positive reactions to a show, but how often do you attend a concert that not only entertains, but affects your whole body? I found it immensely enjoyable and it only elevated my appreciation for the band, which remain one of my favourite artists and the undisputed champions of the shoegaze genre.
Black Metallic \ Catherine Wheel (1991) – So, how do we follow shoegaze’s greatest musical achievement? Well, Catherine Wheel’s debut LP, Ferment, is a pretty good place to start. The band formed in 1990 in Great Yarmouth on England’s east coast near Norwich. Their name came from a popular fireworks display (the term also came from a medieval torture device and has been used to describe cartwheels in gymnastics and a circular, spoked window design). They were a quartet of Rob Dickinson (vocals/guitar), Neil Sims (drums), Dave Hawes (bass), and Brian Futter (guitar). Rob (cousin to Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson) and Brian were the songwriters.
After recording a session with DJ John Peel the band issued two EPS in 1991 through Wilde Club Records in Norwich, She’s My Friend and Painful Thing, which scored a #5 spot on the UK Indie chart. Four songs from those EPs would end up on their album, Ferment, issued on the Fontana label in June 1992. The album was a fantastic, accessible blend of rock, pop, and shoegaze-laced guitar and echoey vocals. “I Want to Touch You” (originally from the Painful Thing EP) was one of the best shoegaze-pop compositions heard to date. It reached #35 on the UK singles chart and #20 on the US modern rock chart, helping the album reach a #36 spot on the UK albums chart.
“Black Metallic” was the album’s lead single, released in November 1991. It reached #68 on the UK singles chart and #9 on the US Modern Rock chart. It perfectly captured the band’s expansive sound, with crashing guitars and swelling crescendos lifting up from quieter verses, all moving under Dickinson’s faraway vocal. Songs like this and the quality of the album made Catherine Wheel an immediately notable presence in the shoegaze and modern rock scenes.
Mesmerise \ Chapterhouse (1991) – Also issued that year was a new single from Chapterhouse, following their exquisite debut LP, Whirpool. Issued as a 12” and including three other songs, the single reached #60 on the UK singles chart to make it the band’s top tune. Led by a beautiful mix of mid-tempo beats and a piano riff (a rare instrument in shoegaze), the song firmly lived in the dream pop side of shoegaze, lacking the usually prominent guitars. It was a pure pop song, showing shoegaze didn’t have to live in the hard to reach corners of the sonic universe.
Revolver’s 45 LP
Cherish \ Revolver (1992) – Hut Records was a subsidiary of Virgin Records and a label that would go on to sign many shoegaze and dream pop bands. London’s Revolver was one, formed in 1990 of a trio of Mat Flint (vocals/guitar), Hamish Brown (bass), and Nick Dewey (drums). They issued their debut LP, 45, in 1991 which included the song, “Heaven Sent An Angel,” which went to #1 on the UK indie chart. It also included “Cherish,” which featured more of the fuzzy shoegaze guitar sound than their more pop sounding singles. Follow-up EPs/singles, Cherish and Venice, also topped the indie charts and were handily compiled into a compilation album in 1992, Baby’s Angry.
The Belltower: Nino Dmytryszyn, Britta Phillips, & Jody Porter
Outshine the Sun \ The Belltower (1991) – We’ll close off 1991 and part one of this profile with a relatively obscure entry, indicative of how shoegaze was growing with many bands now plying their craft within its boundaries. The Belltower was formed in 1990 by the female duo of Britta Phillips and Jody Porter (both on guitar and vocals), who were from New York. They moved to London along with vocalist/bassist Mark Browning prior to their first release, the EP Exploration Day, issued in 1991. It included the song, “Outshine the Sun,” which offered a fresh, bright take on the shoegaze sound. The Belltower was primarily pop with shoegaze guitar elements mixed in for texture and depth. They also employed the usual echoey vocal to further link them to shoegaze.
After issuing a few singles and adding drummer Nino Dmytryszyn, the band released their only LP, 1992’s Popdropper, which was a very solid, fun listen from start to finish. Returning to the US, Porter and Phillips joined with bassist Adam Schlesinger and issued a final single in 1995 and, despite some critical praise, The Belltower failed to make a mark in either the UK or US and disbanded in 1996. Schlesinger went on to form Fountains of Wayne, with Porter joining soon after. Phillips joined the band, Luna, in 1999 and after its demise continued performing with its founder, Dean Wareham (who had also founded Galaxie 500 in the late ‘80s), as the act Dean & Britta.
This is end of part one. The playlist continues uninterrupted. To continue reading the profile, proceed to part two.
