This thread is dedicated for those who love shoegaze music. What is shoegaze? Well it was the underground movement in Britian during the early 90's and the transitionary period from Madchester to Britpop. The loud noisepop of Jesus and Mary Chain's Psychocandy mixed with the dreampop of Cocteau Twins with a dash of The Cure's Disintegration. Basically beautiful waves of noise. Britian's version of Grunge you could say.

 

You'll hear the sound reflected in artists works from Coldplay's Chinese Sleep Chant to Radiohead's Blow Out, to half of Smashing Pumpkin's Siamese Dream. But you'll likely know it best by its undisputed champion My Bloody Valentine's 'Loveless'. But others classics are just as essential such as Slowdive's 'Souvlaki', Ride's 'Nowhere, and Chapterhouse's 'Whirlpool'. Loads of other bands (Swervedriver, Lush, Pale Saints, Adorable, early The Verve, Catherine Wheel, Cure, and quite a few more great bands) also reflect this great undervalued genre.

 

so thems the basics.....who's already a fan and who wants to find out more :)

Really nice post and thread.

 

I came of age musically speaking in '89/'90 and so saw loads of these bands live at the time and was totally submerged in all of this.

 

Don't forget, though, that 'shoegazing' very quickly became a derogatory label that in the end effectively finished all these bands off!

 

It all started in 1989 (when I was fourteen) and was limping towards the end in early 1992. The peak in every sense was 1990.

M83, baby!

 

I love them. Also My Bloody Valentine.

ahhh M83 and Blonde Redhead are great nuo-gazers.

My brothers been playing a lot of the Cure recently, and I've been overhearing....I want to get into them as they sound good :nice:

 

I didn't realise they originated from Crawley..... LMAO!

 

EDIT: I truly love Blonde Redhead! I saw them last November :dance:

My brothers been playing a lot of the Cure recently, and I've been overhearing....I want to get into them as they sound good :nice:

 

I didn't realise they originated from Crawley..... LMAO!

 

EDIT: I truly love Blonde Redhead! I saw them last November :dance:

 

Ah, the Cure!

 

First saw them live in August 1990 or 1991 (I think!) at the lake at Crystal Palace. We all changed out of our school-clothes on the train :)

 

Supported by Lush and James that day in the sunshine, and the House of Love among very many others were in the audience, it was a real event at the time. Shake Dog Shake was especially good, The Walk, Caterpillar, Inbetween Days, Primary, A Forest...

 

*dreams*

Wow, I feel very young. :laugh3:

Wow, I feel very young. :laugh3:

 

So do I till I remember how long I've been going to gigs!! :laugh3:

:)

 

ahhh M83 and Blonde Redhead are great nuo-gazers.

 

Do you have any favourite BR songs? :) I don't know a lot, but 'SW' and 'A Cure' are my faves.

Eqqus by Blonde Redhead is awesome.

Gotta love early Verve She's a Superstar is my shoegazer anthem.

THIS is a very exciting thread!!!! Thanks for posting it..

 

I was really unaware of the genre and when I look threw my collection of CDs and folders I see that Im a fan of The Verve, The Cure, The Smashing Pumpkins (Dream being their greatest album), Depeche Mode, Cocteau Twins, and many others I might consider the genre "Shoegaze"...

 

When I was reading about CSC on VLVorDAAHF being "shoegazer like", I wasn't exactly sure what it meant. This might be the United States citizen coming out.

 

Thanks again, for turning me on to it! Im finally going to brake down and give My Bloody Valentine a serious listening again. Ive only heard them once.

Here's a great classic shoegaze starter. Badsically a best of the genre. 1 song from each of the top 50 voted albums except for some bonuses from the top 3 albums.

 

Tracklist http://img70430.pictiger.com/images/5107738/z/

 

part 1 http://www.megaupload.com/?d=PZXF4PU8

part 2 http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BFPB9HDL

part 3 http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WCZZ26AD

part 4 http://www.megaupload.com/?d=S5P85QMZ

password is shoegaze

Top 50 is from here http://rateyourmusic.com/list/TheScientist/top_50_shoegaze_albums__as_voted_

 

A few other of my lists

http://rateyourmusic.com/list/TheScientist/top_50_shoegaze_albums__atease_version_

and

http://rateyourmusic.com/list/TheScientist/my_25_essential_shoegazer_albums

and

http://rateyourmusic.com/list/TheScientist/the_evolution_of_britpop

Thanks! Lots of new music to explore here. Lush is great. I forgot all about them. Downloading part one now. This was very cool of you to do. Thanks again.

I'm a big verve fan, I have a sweet tooth for cranked up reverb and spacey-rock.

Sure thing. I posted those a year ago on sharebee on atease and luckily all the megaupload links survived. Glad to repost them here.

Thanks for sharing :D Gotta love Jesus and Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine, Cure and Ride ;)

Loveless= One of the Greatest Albums Ever!

I heart this thread :heart:

 

I love shoegaze, it's such a relaxing music.

 

Have you ever heard of Ulrich Schnauss? He makes also very nice songs.:)

I purchased Loveless on vinyl the other day.

 

Rare, 1000 copies, Clear blood red vinyl. It's beautiful :)

I heart this thread :heart:

 

I love shoegaze, it's such a relaxing music.

 

Have you ever heard of Ulrich Schnauss? He makes also very nice songs.:)

 

I adore his stuff. Radio Department isn't too far off from his style either but more song-structured.

It really is so nice to see this stuff being remembered - and even by those not in the UK! - and I'm so glad that Coldplay took that chance with Chinese Sleep Chant and revisited some of their musical idols :)

 

It's a great song live, too, by the way, really hope they keep it, and dream of them playing it straight after Yes, just like the album. That would be incredible!!

 

The Cure definitely aren't 'shoegaze' by the way, I think that really underestimates them, by pigeon-holing them into a scene they had absolutely nothing to do with, and that actually had very little to do with them either. They were, though, one of the inspirations (or rather some of their songs were) so I understand the reference. And funnily enough, while MBV were the main inspiration of the sound in an aural sense, they were never regarded as part of the movement at the time.

 

The main band in a national (i.e. as decreed by the 'almighty' NME!) sense were Ride, Chapterhouse, and Slowdive. Curve, Lush and others were also hanging around at the time.

 

Anyway my top pics (from those I do consider part of that scene):

 

Ride - Chelsea Girl, Vapour Trail, dreams Burn Down, Taste, Drive Blind.

 

Chapterhouse - Pearl (search out the 12" version!), Autosleeper, Falling Down.

 

Lush - Sweetness and Light.

 

Curve - Ten Little Girls.

 

Slowdive - doesn't matter, they all sounded the same!! (It's a bit harsh I guess, and they were always good live, but so hard to tell one song from another! And the singer did always look at the ground, which is where 'shoegaze' came from I think).

 

 

Other bands from around that time worth checking out are Galaxie 500 (incredible even today, almost all their stuff), House of Love, Ultra Vivid Scene, and some Pale Saints stuff. Obviously My Bloody Valentine (as much of it as you ears will allow! :D); Loveless and the To Here Know When E.P. are gold.

Interesting trend of the "shoegazers" were how many of them put out EP's before albums. It was almost like they got together and planned it out in advance.

The Cure definitely aren't 'shoegaze' by the way, I think that really underestimates them, by pigeon-holing them into a scene they had absolutely nothing to do with, and that actually had very little to do with them either. They were, though, one of the inspirations (or rather some of their songs were) so I understand the reference. And funnily enough, while MBV were the main inspiration of the sound in an aural sense, they were never regarded as part of the movement at the time.

 

Oh I agree. As I would say JAMC or Cocteau Twins, just an inspiration to the sound...