Shoegaze

Shoegaze (originally shoegazing and also known as dream rock ) is a subgenre of indie and alternative rock characterised by ethereal soundscapes, obscured vocals, and extensive use of guitar effects

Origins#

The term shoegaze—originally shoegazing—was coined by Andy Ross, who was a part-time Sounds contributor and head of Food Records, the label that promoted Blur. On March 15, 1991, Ross attended Lush’s concert at the Venue in New Cross with his then assistant Polly Birkbeck, where Blur and Moose also performed as support. According to writer Ryan Pinkard, an erroneous story claimed that Ross introduced the word “shoegazing” in a live review of the concert published in Sounds. This use predated Ross’s recollection in his 2016 HuffPost article, in which he stated that he pitched “shoegazing” to Lamacq and fellow NME writer Simon Williams over lunch on October 9, 1991, after Sounds was shut down and he no longer had a publication in which he could promote his “groundbreaking genre”. According to Pinkard, the appearance of the term in print several months earlier than Ross’s conversation with Lamacq and Williams suggested a problem with Ross’s timeline, with the most likely explanation being that he “got the dates wrong”.

Criticism#

The term shoegaze was initially used as a pejorative, which led to several musicians and journalists promptly criticizing it. Ride’s Mark Gardener stated that the term was an “English label”, that wasn’t known in Japan and America, he criticized the term for inaccurately representing “passionate” groups as apathetic and compared the style to the Velvet Underground who “could stand still and make a load of noise”. In the 2000s, the term “shoegaze” lost its negative connotations after the genre was reassessed amid a revival driven by new listeners discovering the music on the internet. British music journalist Paul Lester stated, “All bands hate labels, but with shoegaze, the sense of derision was factored into the name from the word go”. Music journalist Chris Roberts stated that the term was “a throwaway comment in the pub”, adding “It’s such a lame name, and it doesn’t even work as an umbrella term. I mean, loads of bands from other genres look at their feet. Pink Floyd stared at their shoes. Does that make them shoegaze?”. Musician Greg Ackell cited bands such as the Cure and the Jesus and Mary Chain as being “pretty fucking still on stage”, noting that the Velvet Underground showcased “that kind of stoic, backlit presence”.

Sound#

Shoegaze combines ethereal, swirling vocals with layers of distorted, bent, or flanged guitars to create a wash of sound where no instrument is distinguishable from the others. To achieve this, shoegaze musicians often employ a wide range of effects pedals, including reverb, delay, chorus, tremolo, and distortion. According to Pitchfork, shoegaze is “above all else” a space for exploring the outer edges of guitar texture, and emotionally it turns inward—it’s “music for dreaming”. Although shoegaze has at times been used interchangeably with dream pop, the two are distinct. Galaxie 500 founder Dean Wareham explained the difference, noting that “shoegaze bands are more of an assault, a wall of sound”, while dream pop allows “more room for melody and counter-melody, whether on vocals, keyboards, or guitars.”

Visual style#

According to Victor Provis the visual style of shoegaze album covers and music videos reflected its music. He wrote that the genre developed “an artistic code based on close-ups of objects, to the point of losing their definition and becoming nothing more than coloured, amorphous blotches”; it also often incorporated “fusions of images, projections, colour filters, and swirling cameras”. Slowdive’s member Simon Scott considered that “Robert Smith, when he was in Siouxsie and the Banshees playing guitar on the 1983’s Nocturne live video , was the coolest as he just stood there and let the music flood out”, which was like anti showmanship.

1960–early 1980s: Roots and early influences#

Shoegaze traces its roots to Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound technique, along with the psychedelic pop pioneered in the 1960s by bands such as the Byrds, the Beach Boys, and the Beatles. Songs such as “Tomorrow Never Knows” (1966) by the Beatles Other influences include the Velvet Underground, the Stooges, MC5, and the garage rock compilation albums Nuggets and Pebbles. Additionally, writer Vernon Joynson cites David Bowie’s song “Heroes” (1977) written by Bowie and Brian Eno, as showcasing “the type of noisy production with distorted and reverberated guitars and a dreamy hazy atmosphere all of which became key ingredients of shoegaze”. Siouxsie and the Banshees and the Cure are equally formative influences.

1982–1988: Origins#

As a music genre, shoegaze developed in the 1980s, when a group of Scottish and Irish bands such as Cocteau Twins, the Jesus and Mary Chain, and—most notably—My Bloody Valentine reimagined the sound of the electric guitar, combining contrasting sonic textures with dreamy vocals that challenged the idea of the singer as the central figure of the band. Emerging from the UK alternative scene with their 1982 debut album, Garlands, on 4AD, the Scottish trio Cocteau Twins had a substantial influence on the development of shoegaze. Their music featured ethereal, atmospheric guitar textures crafted by guitarist and producer Robin Guthrie, alongside Elizabeth Fraser’s distinctive, often unintelligible vocals, which were mixed low in the recordings. Blending conventional pop with noise and guitar feedback, their 1985 debut album, Psychocandy, exerted a major influence on the subsequent shoegaze bands, including My Bloody Valentine, with Creation Records founder Alan McGee noting that the latter “changed their style because of The Jesus and Mary Chain.” Parallel to this, groups such as Spacemen 3 and Loop revived elements of 1960s space rock in their first albums (Sound of Confusion, 1986; Heaven’s End, 1987), exploring minimalist, droning psychedelia over conventional pop structures. According to Peter Kember, Spacemen 3 “could be called a shoegaze band” due to their lack of “stage moves” and focus on their own sound rather than how they were “trying to look”. Across the Atlantic, American indie bands such as Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., and Hüsker Dü also helped shape shoegaze’s guitar language, particularly influencing My Bloody Valentine. In 1988, after several stylistic and lineup changes, the group released their breakthrough third EP, You Made Me Realise, on Creation Records, which showcased frontman Kevin Shields’ newfound approach to guitar playing, known as “glide guitar”. Later that year, their debut album, Isn’t Anything, was critically acclaimed and credited with establishing the shoegaze genre.

Rise of the scene#

Shoegaze began to emerge as a distinct music scene in late 1989 and came into full view in 1990. In September 1989, 4AD released Pale Saints’ first EP, Barging Into the Presence of God, followed by Lush’s debut mini-album Scar. Both records produced by John Fryer—who had previously worked with Cocteau Twins—were well received by the British music press and each reached number 3 on the UK Indie Chart. In December, Pale Saints and Lush played a co-headlining show in Leeds, which received a mixed live review from Melody Maker. Melody Maker and NME critics praised Ride’s blend of dense guitar textures and melodic songwriting, while Nowhere—mixed by producer Alan Moulder after a troubled recording process —became one of the genre’s defining works. In April, Creation released My Bloody Valentine’s Glider EP, including the track “Soon”, which reached number 2 on the UK Indie Chart and was later described by Brian Eno as “the vaguest music ever to have been a hit.” The label also released debut EPs by Swervedriver (Son of Mustang Ford) and Slowdive (Slowdive EP), the latter earning Melody Maker’s “Single of the Week.” Meanwhile, The Boo Radleys released their debut album, Ichabod and I, on Action Records, which received little attention from the press. Chapterhouse followed with the Freefall and Sunburst EPs, while Lush’s Sweetness and Light EP demonstrated shoegaze’s pop potential despite Melody Makers critique of its title track as “sorely over-produced”. Ride’s Nowhere appeared in Melody Makers Top 30 albums of 1990 (#20), while My Bloody Valentine’s Glider (#5), Ride’s Fall (#7), and Lush’s Mad Love (#19) featured in the magazine’s year-end singles poll.

The Scene That Celebrates Itself#

One common thread the British music press used to group shoegaze bands together was that many of them came from the Thames Valley, a region including Oxford (home to Ride and Swervedriver) and Reading (Slowdive and Chapterhouse). These groups, along with Lush and Moose (both formed in London) constituted the core acts of the original shoegaze scene. My Bloody Valentine, however, wasn’t part of the scene despite being the progenitors of the genre. Members of the scene often attended each other’s concerts, shared producers and labels (Creation, 4AD), and adopted similar approaches to album artwork. Outside London, the bands often toured together, and when the music press eventually took notice, the scene was quickly named and sensationalised. Although Sutherland later noted that the term was intended as a compliment—reflecting his impression that the bands regularly attended each other’s performances, which was unusual at the time—it was soon used derisively by the music press. Beyond the core groups, the scene also included artists such as avant-pop band Stereolab, which frequently exchanged members with Moose, Th’ Faith Healers, and early Blur. In addition, the press also associated Catherine Wheel, Curve, Cranes, Silverfish, and Pale Saints with the movement, even if they had few or no ties to the London club scene.

The arrival of grunge#

In 1991, after winning Melody Maker end-of-year readers’ poll for Best Band, Ride appeared on the magazine’s January cover, which proclaimed them “Your Brightest Hope for a Grand New Year.” The group’s extensive touring and the success of their fourth EP, Today Forever, further elevated their profile and led to an appearance on Top of the Pops. While this moment marked shoegaze’s brief entry into mainstream culture, Ride’s declining sales soon underscored the genre’s limited mass appeal. Early 1991 saw a wave of several shoegaze releases. In February, Creation Records issued My Bloody Valentine’s Tremolo EP, showcasing the band’s experimentation with sampling. Although Chapterhouse’s third EP, Pearl, received a negative review in NME, Meanwhile, Kitchens of Distinction released their second album, Strange Free World, which, despite Patrick Fitzgerald’s unconventional vocal style for the genre, went on to become a shoegaze classic. Significant albums released during the first half of 1991 include Mercury Rev’s (Yerself Is Steam), Catherine Wheel’s (Painful Thing EP), Pale Saints’s (Flesh Balloon EP), Slowdive’s (Holding Our Breath EP) and Swervedriver’s (Sandblasted EP). The release of Nirvana’s Nevermind in September abruptly shifted global attention toward American grunge. Slowdive’s debut album, Just for a Day, released the same month, received a lukewarm critical reception, marking the first sign of shoegaze’s decline. In contrast, Swervedriver’s debut Raise received stronger reviews, with Steve Sutherland describing it as “a great road movie for the ears”. Lush’s Black Spring EP also performed well but was overshadowed by lineup changes and exhaustion from relentless touring. Shoegaze reached its peak in November 1991 with the release of My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless. Noted for its innovative production and dense, immersive sound, the album—reportedly costing £270,000 and recorded over two and a half years across nineteen studios—often tops lists of the best shoegaze releases.

Decline#

In 1992, shoegaze started to decline in popularity. Part of the growing backlash was linked to the perception that many shoegaze bands came from privileged, middle-class backgrounds. NME reinforced this perception with a satirical column, “Memoirs of a Shoegazing Gentleman,” written from the perspective of the fictional Lord Tarquin, who, in diary-like entries, described absurd situations at an elite boarding school supposedly attended by all shoegaze musicians. In January 1992, Lush’s debut album, Spooky, received a lukewarm review from NME, which described the band as “due for a good kicking” after “a good run of press encouragement.” Meanwhile, Ride moved beyond their early shoegaze sound, drawing influence from such bands as R.E.M. and Massive Attack on their second album, Going Blank Again. That year, Creation signed shoegaze band Adorable, who were ultimately dropped after a string of Top 5 singles and the release of their 1993 debut album, Against Perfection. Vocalist Pete Fijalkowski noted that after Sony partially acquired Creation in 1992, “there was enormous pressure on the label to make every band profitable”. The first half of 1992 also saw the release of Ferment by Catherine Wheel, Doppelgänger by Curve, and In Ribbons by Pale Saints. Following Ferment, Catherine Wheel adopted a heavier, more metal-leaning sound on their 1993 album Chrome, later moving toward straightforward hard rock. In April 1992, the British music press began turning its attention toward the emerging Britpop movement, with Melody Maker featuring the then-unknown Suede on its cover as “The Best New Band in Britain.” While facing growing hostility at home, shoegaze found renewed support in the US, where audiences were less influenced by the British music press. In June 1992, American shoegaze band Drop Nineteens released their debut album, Delaware, which Melody Makers review ironically described as “the first decent album in a Scene style” to come from “America (Boston, to be precise), so late in the day.” Other American bands soon followed with their own debuts, including Lilys’ In the Presence of Nothing and Medicine’s Shot Forth Self Living in late 1992, and Swirlies’ Blonder Tongue Audio Baton in early 1993. That same month, Melody Maker ran a three-page feature by Paul Lester titled “Whatever Happened to Shoegazing?”, which both announced Moose’s new album and portrayed the British shoegaze scene as a brief, outdated phenomenon. A major turning point came in March 1993 with Suede’s self-titled debut album, which became the fastest-selling debut in British history at the time and marked the rise of Britpop. The movement accelerated in 1994 with greater successes for Blur’s Parklife and Oasis’s Definitely Maybe, presenting a lively, extroverted alternative to both grunge and shoegaze. Oasis brought substantial commercial success to Creation Records, and after 1994 the label shifted its focus away from its earlier shoegaze roster. Meanwhile, Swervedriver’s second album, Mezcal Head, had a relative success, especially with the US audiences, where they toured with such bands as Soundgarden and the Smashing Pumpkins. After 1994, several shoegaze bands shifted to a Britpop-oriented sound, including Ride (Carnival of Light), Lush (Lovelife), and Kitchens of Distinction (Cowboys and Aliens). Meanwhile, Chapterhouse moved toward alternative dance on 1993’s Blood Music, and Neil Halstead, Rachel Goswell, and Ian McCutcheon soon formed Mojave 3, pursuing a light, melodic blend of indie folk and Americana. Swervedriver were dropped while nearing completion of their third album, Ejector Seat Reservation. Ride, facing internal conflict, broke up in 1996 while working on their fourth album, Tarantula. Lush, after achieving their highest chart success with Lovelife, ended abruptly the same year following drummer Chris Acland’s suicide. Meanwhile, My Bloody Valentine went on a two-decade hiatus, despite having signed with Island Records in 1992 for a reported £250,000.

Christian shoegaze and Tooth & Nail Records#

Christian shoegaze emerged in the early 1990s alongside the rise of Tooth & Nail Records, founded in 1993 by Brandon Ebel to support Christian artists working outside mainstream CCM conventions. One of the label’s first signings was Starflyer 59, led by Jason Martin. Influenced by the idea of combining dreamy melodies with the heavy guitar riffs of bands such as Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, the band’s first three albums—Silver (1994), Gold (1995), and Americana (1997)—displayed a strong shoegaze orientation. Despite its troubled recording process, Gold became a notable release, later ranking number 41st on Pitchforks “50 Best Shoegaze Albums of All Time” list. Morella’s Forest moved toward an electropop sound, while the Prayer Chain (signed to Rode Dog Records) disbanded after their 1995 album Mercury. The band’s guitarist, Andy Prickett, later pursued non-Christian projects, producing young shoegaze acts such as the Autumns. In 2001, Lift to Experience made their only album, The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads, a Christian shoegaze album.

2000s: Nu gaze#

Following its decline in the mid-1990s, most former shoegaze musicians moved into other careers, and the term “shoegaze” was often regarded as derogatory. A gradual reassessment began in the early 2000s, driven by new listeners discovering the genre through the internet, Cinema also helped keep the style in circulation, with American indie films such as 1994’s Amateur and 1997’s Joyride featuring shoegaze music in their soundtracks. Director Gregg Araki used the genre extensively in his filmography, titling The Living End (1992) and Nowhere (1997) after releases by the Jesus and Mary Chain and Ride, while 2004’s Mysterious Skin featured original music by Robin Guthrie. Meanwhile, Sofia Coppola, inspired by Wong Kar-wai’s Chungking Express—a film noted for its shoegaze-like visual style and its Cantonese-language covers of Cocteau Twins’ and the Cranberries’ songs—recruited Kevin Shields to contribute original music to her Oscar-winning Lost in Translation. By 2007, the movement had led to an increased notoriety of contemporary albums by artists including Maps, Blonde Redhead, Mahogany, Deerhunter, Asobi Seksu, and Ulrich Schnauss. In 2002, German record label Morr Music released Blue Skied an’ Clear, a two-disc Slowdive tribute album featuring indie electronic artists, many inspired by Pygmalion. That same year, French electronic duo M83 released their second album, Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts, which Pitchfork retrospectively described as “the most original take on shoegaze in years”. Throughout the 2000s, shoegaze grew increasingly referenced among listeners and new artists, with the term being loosely applied to releases such as Jesu’s Jesu (2004), Autolux’s Future Perfect (2004), Asobi Seksu’s Citrus (2006), Blonde Redhead’s 23 (2007), the self-titled debuts of A Place to Bury Strangers (2007) and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (2009), and A Sunny Day in Glasgow’s Ashes Grammar (2009).

Band reunions#

In 2007, My Bloody Valentine initiated a wave of reunions among former shoegaze bands by returning to the stage and later releasing their third album, m b v, to critical acclaim. Chapterhouse briefly reformed between 2008 and 2010, while Swervedriver resumed activity in 2008 and subsequently released new material: 2015’s I Wasn’t Born to Lose You and 2019’s Future Ruins. Ride reunited in 2015, touring internationally and releasing three new albums: Weather Diaries, This Is Not a Safe Place, and Interplay. Lush returned in 2016 for a Europe and the US tour; although internal tensions during the tour led to another split, the reunion produced their final EP, Blind Spot. Drop Nineteens reformed in 2022, releasing their third album, Hard Light, in 2023. Slowdive’s reunion in 2014 was described as the most “triumphant” among other first‑wave bands, and the group subsequently released two successful albums: 2017’s Slowdive and 2023’s Everything Is Alive.

Spreading influence#

During the 2000s, some bands began to adopt the influence of shoegaze into doom metal, resulting in a distinct post-metal subgenre called “doomgaze”. The founders of this style were the Angelic Process, Nadja and Jesu, who took doom metal’s slow tempos and combined it with the wall-of-sound effects use of shoegaze, often in a lo-fi production style. It often particularly takes from the doom metal subgenre drone metal. During the late 2000s, the genre’s second wave emerged, fronted by True Widow and Planning for Burial. Bandcamp Daily writer Zoe Camp called True Widow the genre’s “most pivotal ambassadors”, with their third album, Circumambulation (2013), being the most commercially successful release in the genre. 2005 saw the emergence of shitgaze, a music microgenre and scene, whose name referenced shoegaze. The term was coined by Kevin DeBroux of Pink Reason to describe the music of the Midwestern rock band Psychedelic Horseshit, who he later became the bassist for. Front man Matt Whitehurst stated: I had a test of our first album that I was playing in the car … I was saying ’this is the shoegaze song’ and he DeBroux said ‘yeah, but it is a really shit version of shoegaze. It is totally shitgaze.’ It was a joke and I put it on MySpace and then NME wrote an article and made it into a scene."

2010s#

By 2011, a separate shoegaze revival had succeeded nu gaze. Pitchfork called this the “shoegaze revival revival”, crediting Whirr, Weekend, No Joy and Young Prisms as its forefront acts, while the Guardian credited DIIV, Cheatahs, Wild Nothing, Younghusband, Echo Lake, Teen and Melody’s Echo Chamber. At this time, the term “shoegaze” was applied to an increasingly broad range of artists, from direct stylistic descendants such as Beach House, Ringo Deathstarr, and Spirit of the Beehive, to the blackgaze of Deafheaven. Shoegaze scenes also expanded globally, with notable groups including Resplandor (Peru), Gnoomes (Russia), Tokyo Shoegazer (Japan), Flyying Colours (Australia), Echo Ladies (Sweden), and Lucid Express (Hong Kong). On their second album Visions of a Life (2017), Wolf Alice embraced the influence of shoegaze, with its single “Heavenward” being an entirely shoegaze song. The album won the 2018 Mercury Prize award, which Consequence named as an example of “how viable shoegaze had become in 2017”.

Developments in the hardcore scene#

During the 2010s, a wave of musicians from the hardcore punk scene began to play shoegaze, including Nothing, Whirr, Deafheaven, King Woman, Oathbreaker Deafheaven’s 2013 album Sunbather popularised blackgaze, Pity Sex merged shoegaze with elements of emo, particularly its bouncy rhythms. Their debut album, Feast of Love (2013), was influential. In a 2023 article, Sacher stated that “Feast of Love imitators continue to pop up today”, calling “emogaze” a “now-crowded realm”. Enis called their style a “Midwestern response to” shoegaze during the emo revival. This style was also practiced by Ovlov Stove and Adventures. Around 2019, an international online wave of musical artists began to make music under the influence of Ovlov and Pity Sex, largely made up of solo artists, including Weatherday, Asian Glow, Computerwife and Hotline TNT.

Heavy shoegaze#

During the early 2010s, many shoegaze bands in the hardcore scene subtracted the more experimental elements of the original shoegaze sound, favouring a more mid-tempo metal-influenced rhythmic structure, simpler chords and favouring dynamics. These bands merged the shoegaze of Slowdive and Ride with the heavier but still atmospheric music of Failure, Smashing Pumpkins, Hum, Quicksand and Deftones. The most influential in this sound was Nothing, In a 2021 interview with Stereogum, Nothing vocalist Domenic “Nicky” Palermo stated of the style “I don’t really know if any of this stuff is traditional shoegaze”. Palermo expressed that with the release of Nothing’s debut Guilty of Everything (2014), the band “felt awkward holding onto anything, like shoegaze or whatever”, and that no separate tag was being applied to it. Patrick Lyons, the article’s writer, discussed the style using the broad terms “heavy shoegaze” or “post-shoegaze”. Brooklyn Vegan editor Andrew Sacher called the style “punkgaze”, noting Nothing, Cloakroom, Greet Death and Holy Fawn as forefront acts. Revolver editor Eli Enis called Greet Death the “leaders of the current wave of heavy shoegaze that came in the wake of Nothing and Cloakroom”, calling their second album New Hell (2019) “a modern landmark for the genre”. Enis also noted Holy Fawn’s Death Spells (2018) as embracing elements of blackgaze.

Genre family: British styles of music, Rock music genres