Bring me your "shoegazing" memories!

Dudess

I am REALLY excited about this forthcoming documentary:
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/page/news/44170-mbv-jamc-corgan-coyne-reznor-in-shoegaze-doc

Ok, to those not in the know, "shoegazing" was the rather crap term (but used by me for the sake of convenience) for a bunch of bands gracing the indie charts, and sometimes the mainstream charts, back in the late eighties/early nineties. Many of these bands sounded nothing like each other, but what they all had in common was their use of guitar effects and feedback - thus creating a wall of distorted, often "dream-like" sound. This could be exceptionally noisy, as well as exceptionally melodic.
The British music press latched onto them and, behold, the term "shoegazing" was born - in reference to the fact that the musicians had to keep looking down at their guitars to work the effects pedals while they performed (and also because plenty of them were rather earnest, miserable gits and wouldn't dare do anything as vulgar as engage with their audience! Such self-obsessive behaviour also led to the collection of bands being referred to as The Scene That Celebrates Itself.)
The bands' often psychedelic sound owed much to legends like later Beatles, The Beach Boys, Phil Spector and The Byrds. Also The Velvet Underground, Joy Division, The Cure and Sonic Youth could be heard in there. But the groups to be namechecked the most were the feedback/effects holy trinity of My Bloody Valentine, The Cocteau Twins and The Jesus and Mary Chain. Whether these influenced the shoegazing groups directly or indirectly, there was no denying that there definitely WAS an influence from those quarters.
Shoegazing was also characterised by bands with monosyllabic names, they tended to be signed either to Creation, 4AD or various Rough Trade off-shoots, and they were often led by pretty, girlish boys (the obvious one being Mark Gardener of Ride - ehhh, no thanks! Similar-looking guys in Slowdive and Chapterhouse. However Moose were that bit more rugged, and therefore ridiculously hot!) Or else the bands would feature a pretty female (Rachel Goswell of Slowdive) or a damn gorgeous one (Toni Halliday of Curve, and the undeniable queen of them all, Miki Berenyi of Lush). The music press tried to throw Blur in there too - mostly because of their monosyllabic name and Damon and Alex's looks, but apart from the sublime track Sing, which perfectly fitted the shoegazing blueprint (off their debut album Leisure, also featured on the Trainspotting soundtrack) Blur were not shoegazing. According to the press, the bands went on the piss a lot together in London too. And they tended to be very middle-class and educated (which they would inevitably try to hide), hailing from places like the Home Counties (areas bordering London, in particular Berkshire) and Oxfordshire. To be fair though, they weren't all posh kids. For example, Miki of Lush had an upbringing that certainly wasn't so easy.
I personally was and wasn't there for shoegazing. I was there in that, between 1991 and 1992, when shoegazing was at its height, I bought countless albums and singles, and devoured NME and Melody Maker every week, Select every month. Unfortunately I was only aged between 12 and 14 so I couldn't attend the concerts (not that there were many such concerts in Cork). A great time for music though - granted, there were some turkeys (Catherine Wheel anyone?!) but the likes of Ride, Lush (my favourite) and Kitchens of Distinction left an indelible musical legacy. Too bad none of them lasted very long. That was another strange characteristic of shoegazing: longevity - where both the scene and the individual bands were concerned - wasn't part of it. With the exception of the glorious Lush, who were around from 1988 to 1996 when their drummer took his own life. And I'll bet, if it wasn't for such an awful tragedy, they would have lasted a whole lot longer - and would have been massive too.
With the advent of grunge, shoegazing slipped under the radar, and Britpop was the final nail in the coffin. :mad: Most bizarrely embodied by Andy Bell of Ride joining bloody Oasis!

So, the list (forgive the repeats, and this doesn't include everyone, but the main players are there): Ride, Lush, Curve, Swervedriver, Chapterhouse (hugely hyped but, while they did some good stuff, a lot of their output was pretty sucky), Slowdive (ditto), Kitchens of Distinction, Pale Saints, Bleach, Cranes, Levitation, Moose, Spirea X, Catherine Wheel (just a watered-down Ride, so to speak - shíte), Revolver (even more of a watered-down Ride).

Albums: Ride - Going Blank Again, Lush - Gala (not an album but a compilation of their first three releases - a six-track mini album and two EPs, four-track and three-track), Pale Saints - The Comforts of Madness, Curve - Pubic Fruit (again, a compilation of their EPs rather than an album). EPs was another great thing these shoegazing bands did (like little albums - four individual tracks rather than crappy remixes). Kitchens of Distinction - Strange Free World.

Songs: Ride - Vapour Trail (holy shít, what a song) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0tOjAESwSY, Lush - Deluxe http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrL6Xx0kLlA (and countless others), Curve - Horror Head http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1Bgov8_SUI, Kitchens of Distinction - Drive That Fast (think Editors' sound is new? Pffft, listen to this!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JXk_oV4nbo, Bleach - Decadence (no YouTube clip - well there is if you put in those very words, but it's something completely different), Slowdive - Shine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwVGPtNTYVQ, Chapterhouse - Pearl http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiG6OKPiYVU, Moose - Boy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QewavB0hJcU. Actually, doing my bit of research, I realise Lost In Translation made much use of shoegazing music.

So, any others who want to reminisce with me? Bring those memories/corrections/criticisms on!

acidhappy

Rollerskate Skinny Horsedrawn Wishes is a true work of myth as its been deleted. Better than Loveless in my opinion. Incredible!

Dudess

Very true. Didn't think of mentioning them - they missed the shoegazing boat by a couple of years, but yeah, what an incredible album.

Dregon

I'm too young to remember when shoegazing was big, but listen to 23 by blonde redhead, great modern shoegazing track, probably my favourite track this year

Dudess

Yeah, they're fantastic and their home is the magnificent 4AD Records. They're around a long time though - since 1993.

Dudess

Oooh what a find! The ITV Chart Show's Indie Top Ten from June 1991. I actually recorded that top ten and watched it over and over! '91 really was the year of shoegazing! The Pale Saints song on it is very un-shoegazing though. God, the graphics are so dated. No, I refuse to acknowledge it makes me feel old!!!
Did anyone collect Indie Top 20 compilations? I still have two cassettes - one is volume 12 - again from summer '91. The other is The Best of Indie Top 20 - came out in '91 and was a compilation of the highlights since the series was started ('87).

nlgbbbblth

Dudess wrote:

Did anyone collect Indie Top 20 compilations? I still have two cassettes - one is volume 12 - again from summer '91. The other is The Best of Indie Top 20 - came out in '91 and was a compilation of the highlights since the series was started ('87).

Beechwood comps.
I picked up most of them up until number 12 then stopped. Volume 8 was amazing - Spacemen 3, Loop, Dub Sex, Field Mice.

The vinyl always had 20 tracks, the CD version cut a couple of tracks to fit on one disc.

nlgbbbblth

acidhappy wrote:

Rollerskate Skinny Horsedrawn Wishes is a true work of myth as its been deleted. Better than Loveless in my opinion. Incredible!

I'm far from being a massive fan of theirs but Speed To My Side sounds like nothing on earth before 1996 or since then.

nlgbbbblth

The indie scene of that period was superlatively good.

Highlights - you've covered most of them Dudess.

a few others
Boo Radleys - Everything's Alright Forever. Amazing album that's way better than Giant Steps
Pale Saints - In Ribbons.
Ultra Vivid Scene - Ultra Vivid Scene / Joy 1967 - 1990 / Rev. Take your pick.
AR Kane - I or Sixty Nine

Moose were good. Great song called Jack.
Swervedriver too. Especially the debut LP Raise.

Lush kept the quality going till the end.

favourite LP of that era. My Bloody Valentine - Isn't Anything

jd

nlgbbbblth wrote:

favourite LP of that era. My Bloody Valentine - Isn't Anything

1988-nearly 20 years ago. I am old
jd

Dudess

nlgbbbblth wrote:

Speed To My Side sounds like nothing on earth before 1996 or since then.

Yeah it's magnificent.

Oh yeah, Boo Radleys. Knew I'd forget obvious ones! Yep, I have a copy of Everything's All Right Forever (well, my brother's actually) on vinyl. It is indeed fantastic.
Jack by Moose is fabulous - to me it sounds like New Order in deadpan mode combined with The Wedding Present and Cocteau Twins. That's just me!

Well Lush were always great but there was a dip in quality towards the end. I think they hit their zenith with Split in 1994 and then their return in '96 was a bit brit-poppy (though obviously a million times better than the likes of Sleeper and Echobelly etc) but they lost their "ethereal" quality and became more direct, which wasn't hugely appealing.

Just heard a song called Sunshine Smile by a one-off shoegazing type group called Adorable. I remember loving it so much. It is a great song - even if they were a bit questionable!

jd wrote:

1988-nearly 20 years ago. I am old

Ah, I bet there's no walking stick or zimmer-frame just yet! Keep telling yourself it's older, not old!

nlgbbbblth

jd wrote:

1988-nearly 20 years ago. I am old
jd

I know. Sobering thoughts....
Isn't Anything, the first House Of Love LP and Daydream Nation remind me of studying for my Leaving Cert.

'Studying' = listening to records with headphones in my room.

Good times.

Dudess

I, on the other hand, did the leaving in 1996 - bloody britpop.:mad:

nlgbbbblth

Dudess wrote:

Yeah it's magnificent.


Just heard a song called Sunshine Smile by a one-off shoegazing type group called Adorable. I remember loving it so much. It is a great song - even if they were a bit questionable!

Adorable's first album, Against Perfection, still sounds good. They released a slew of great singles in addition to SS - I'll Be Your Saint, Homeboy, Sistine Chapel Ceiling, Favourite Fallen Idol. 1992 was their year.

I remember being at a party on the South Circular Road sometime in 1993 with two stereos, one in the kitchen, the other in the living room. One blasting Doppleganger, the other Against Perfection. Sheer noise bliss.

Dudess

Good God, if heaven was a party, I think that would be it. Sounds flippin awesome!

nlgbbbblth

Dudess wrote:

I, on the other hand, did the leaving in 1996 - bloody britpop.:mad:

will you be getting this?

Rhino always do good box sets.

Irish Wolf

Wow.. Lush - there's a blast from the past.. I still got a few of their 10" releases back at home..

Saw Ride at one of the Feile gigs - think it was in '91/'92 and they were fkn awesome!

JAMC and the Cocteau Twins are the grandaddies and granmas of them all...

Notable mention for Dead Can Dance - another 4AD stalwart, such a magnificent label..

And holy $hit Dudess - what about The Stone Roses! :eek:

Dudess

Anything that's good I already have. With the exception of disc 4, it's pretty fabulous. The Family Cat and The Mighty Lemon Drops - wow, thought they'd never be heard of again!

Dudess

Irish Wolf wrote:

Saw Ride at one of the Feile gigs - think it was in '91/'92 and they were fkn awesome!

'91. Wanted to go so badly.

4AD, such a magnificent label

I know. So unique. That artwork - even the typefaces they use are beautiful.

what about The Stone Roses!

But were they shoegazing though? I agree, their sound did contain elements of it, and when you think about it, even though they got lumped in with Madchester and baggy, the only baggy-sounding song by them is Fool's Gold.

Irish Wolf

You never gazed at your shoes during "I Wanna be Adored"?

I've a huge collection of vinyl up home from this era.. must dust it off the next time I'm home..

:eek: The Pixies! - not much shoe gazing going on but lot of jumping...

Whoa-ha-ha-ho...

Dudess

Very, very good point re I Wanna Be Adored!

DerekD Goldfish

I quite like a lot of stuff from that era

granted, there were some turkeys (Catherine Wheel anyone?!)

cant agree with that first 2 Catherine Wheel records were great albums since then and Dickensons solo work were much though.

Pighead

Dudess wrote:

Or else the bands would feature a pretty female (Rachel Goswell of Slowdive) or a damn gorgeous one (Toni Halliday of Curve, and the undeniable queen of them all, Miki Berenyi of Lush)

You can say that again! That girl was like a Goddess. She made a young Pigheads knees wobble many a time. Missed out on the real shoegazing years myself. Was playing my Saw Doctors albums whilst all this beautiful music was been played. Suede in 92 was when Pighead got cool. Got into Ride Spaceman 3 etc much later through me friends shoegazing older brother. Ah sweet sweet memories!

John

Not only do I love the music of this period (always so textured, you can just immerse yourself in the sound) but also the fantastic album covers which really suited the music:

Dudess

1992? Ah, you didn't miss out by too much, Pighead.

Miki of Lush (http://www.curve.demon.co.uk/lush/img/miki1.gif) and Toni of Curve (http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/a/a0/225px-ToniHalliday.jpg) were my first decent style icons (prior to that it had been Kylie). Miki's exotic look (half-Japanese, half-Hungarian) wasn't too easy to achieve. Although my hair was that fire-engine red for a while too but when I noticed my hairline starting to recede and clumps of red hair everywhere, I sadly had to give it the old heave-ho. Jet-black (like Toni's hair) followed. That wasn't a problem cos my hair is black anyway. Today my hair is a nice two-tone shade of jet-black with fire-engine red chunks at the front. It only took 15 years to get the combination right.

Yeah John, the artwork was pretty sublime, with the work of 4AD's Vaughn Oliver being the outright winner in my opinion.

funktastic

Sianspheric and Asobi Seksu are recent bands with a good shoegaze sound. M83 and Ulrich Schnauss also incorporate elements of the style into their music.

AR Kane were fantastic. Galaxie 500 - not really shoegaze - but a great guitar sound, Medicine 'Shot Forth Self Living', a lot of Yo La Tengo's stuff has a shoegaze sound (like 'Pablo and Andrea'/'I Heard You Looking'), Starflyer 59 had 1 or 2 really good albums, first BRMC album has some shoegazery guitars as well as 'Favourite Sister' (and a couple of other tracks) from the first Whipping Boy album 'Submarine'.

Dudess

Yeah Galaxie 500 and AR Kane of course. I remember AR Kane being mentioned in the same breath all the time as Papa Sprain, Bark Psychosis, Disco Inferno and Butterfly Child.
Spacemen 3, preceding the shoegazing scene by a few years, had to have been an influence along with the J&MC, MBV and Cocteaus. Spiritualised did get lumped into it, which probably annoyed Jason Pierce. Weirdly enough, The Verve (then simply Verve) had the shoegazing sound.
There was also Moonshake, and in the States, where grunge was happening, Drop Nineteens.
Miranda Sex Garden were initially a showcase for medieval-esque "madrigals" combined with a contemporary beat - beautiful stuff. But then they got more rocky and released some stomping feedback-drenched material.

nlgbbbblth

I remember Miranda Sex Garden featuring on one of the Indie Top 20 volumes. Good track I think.

The Blue Skied An' Clear compilation on Morr Music is great. Half of it (one CD or three sides of vinyl) dedicated to Slowdive covers.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Blue-Skied-Clear-Music-Compilation/dp/B000654Z82/ref=sr_1_1/026-0759811-7418044?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1187132667&sr=8-1

Dudess

nlgbbbblth wrote:

I remember Miranda Sex Garden featuring on one of the Indie Top 20 volumes. Good track I think.

Yep, Gush Forth My Tears on Volume 12. Gorgeous track.
The band Scheer (from Derry and on 4AD) had the shoegazing thing going on too. But even though they were getting attention in Ireland from around 1992, they didn't get to a wider audience til about '95/'96. A track by them called Shéa is fantastic.

radiospan

The first two tracks off Chapterhouse - Whirlpool (Breather and Pearl) are two of my favourite shoegaze tracks.

Rumours of My Bloody Valentine new album and tour in 2008 too.

Any good more recent shoegazing stuff? I really liked Autolux - Future Perfect.

Dudess

Yeah, Breather is a fabulous opener all right.

Remember the crap the music weeklies would come up with - "shimmering sonic cathedrals" etc!