Shoegazing
| Shoegazing | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | Late 1980s, United Kingdom |
| Derivative forms | |
| Fusion genres | |
| Local scenes | |
| The Scene That Celebrates Itself | |
| Other topics | |
Shoegazing (also known as shoegaze) is a subgenre of indie rock,alternative rock, and neo-psychedelia that emerged in the United Kingdom in the late 1980s. The style is typified by the blurring of component musical parts—typically significant guitar distortion, feedback, and obscured vocals—into indistinguishable mixture of sound.
The term "shoegazing" was coined by the British music press to ridicule the stage presence of a wave of groups who stood still during live performances in a detached, introspective, non-confrontational state, often with their heads down; the heavy use of effects pedals meant the performers were often looking down at their feet during concerts. The term was often used contemporaneously with "dream pop."
A loose label given to the shoegazing scene and other affiliated bands in London in the early 1990s was The Scene That Celebrates Itself. In the early 1990s, shoegazing groups were pushed aside by the American grunge movement and early Britpop acts such as Suede, forcing the relatively unknown bands to break up or reinvent their style altogether. In the 2000s, there was renewed interest in the genre among "nu gaze" bands.
Shoegaze combines ethereal, swirling vocals with layers of distorted, bent, flanged guitars, creating a wash of sound where no instrument was distinguishable from another. Most bands drew from the music of My Bloody Valentine as a template for the genre, although co-founder Kevin Shields stated that the band had never used any chorus, flanger or delay effects pedals.
"Shoegazing" was coined to describe dream pop bands. It originated in a concert review in Sounds for the newly formed band Moose in which singer Russell Yates read lyrics taped to the floor throughout the gig. The term was picked up by the NME, who used it as a reference to the tendency of the bands' guitarists to stare at their feet—or their effects pedals—while playing, seemingly deep in concentration. Melody Maker preferred the more staid term The Scene That Celebrates Itself, referring to the habit that the bands had of attending gigs of other shoegazing bands, often in Camden, and often in each other's bands. According to AllMusic: "The shatteringly loud, droning neo-psychedelia the band performed was dubbed shoegazing by the British press because the bandmembers stared at the stage while they performed."
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