Favorite Shoegaze band?
 

Who is it? I know that some of these aren't 100% "shoegaze" but they are noise-rock/pop that is close enough

Honestly, I've only head MBV and J&MC.

there all good bands (Cocteau Twins deserve to be listed though.. one of my favourites) but i have to pick MBV, cos they are simply the best. sorry every other band listed...

AAH! I forgot to put the Twins on there. I knew I was missing one.

Haven't heard any of the others so I chose MBV.

If anyone wants to give me suggests, I'll check the rest of them out.

ahhh shame, SY37! (rubbing fingers) shame,shame,shame!

what about the swirlies ?

hey, whats a codger anyway ? does anybody know ?

I think it's like "geezer." An old guy who's out of the loop or something.

Some suggest for the Dom

Slowdive- Souvlaki-kinda a softer MBV
Jesus and Mary Chain-they were like the 1st shoegaze band, but they are mostly considered Noise Pop. Like the Beach Boys with ear-piercing feedback and drumming that sounds like a two-year old with rhythm and a bass drum.
Check out a thread I made about them a few days ago for some YouTube videos of the Chain

Shoegaze is an offensive term when given to a bands live performance. Explain to me how it can be a genre?

norma, this style of music (blaring gtrs, tons of distortion and fx and such, basically just pop songs underneath seven hundred fuzz pedals, however you describe it) has become known by the populus as 'shoegaze' (because of, yes, there stage antic, or lack thereof). you and we all know it. it's much easier to say shoegaze (which everyone understands anyways) than saying heavily distorted pop music...

They pretty much just shoegazed. The music relies on constant effects alteration and they just need to look at them. And some suffered considerable stage fright.

Edit: k-krack is right. Basically it is pop music but just fuzzed and pitch-shifted and tremeloed into a warm mass of sound.

So is "pop" or "emo," depending on the band.

word.

Alright, you guys explained it well. So the term still is what I know it as, but it's became a genre... within certain bands. Because we all know every genre has their shoegazers.

It isn't the same in which I am referring to. "Shoegaze" was/is a term given to a band which are visually boring - obviously then a genre was coined from that saying. "Emo" is an abbreviation of emotional (obviously) - that's not offensive - the genre inwhich the term was given to, has made the word "emo" offensive (due to the shitty bands and trendseekers). As for pop music, it's really just the musically uneducated who get offended by that term - the people who see pop music as Britany Speares, and the rest of them goons, etc. "Pop" music can be regcognised by song structure, etc. The opposite to "pop" music is "serious music" which would be bands such as Tool and even Sonic Youth - bands/artists who don't follow a set structure when it comes to songwriting. There's an interesting book based upon 'pop vs serious music'. The term in itself is a bit provocative given that it makes out pop music to be unworthy, when it's not necessarly the case nor what the book is about. Pop to me is not a dirty word. Pop music, when done well, is extremly creative and artistic. Subjective, I guess.

Ahh yes, the Swirlies. One of the most underrated bands ever.

Blonder Tongue Audio Baton!

this is true.. but it's just the way it is known. dig? (i know you do, i just wanted to say "dig?")

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I know, I didn't mean in general - I like tons of pop, and some emo, too. But I was actually under the impression that shoegazing was a newer term, post-genre. I figured it was the same type of thing. Maybe not. I dunno. Wikipedia just explains the genre - couldn't find anything on the adjective. Hm. Now I'm curious.

Loop.

How many times must we tell you how great Loop were before you get the message?

on that list? jamc.
if scarling counts, then scarling.

Jesus and Mary Chain ain't no shoegaze

no shit, but i picked them since they were on the list and i hate MBV

I picked the Jesus and Mary Chain becuz I knew everyone would pick MBV...I do like them, and pretty much every other band on there-Ride's "Vapor Trail" has to be the most moving song ever, after Joy Divison's "Love Will Tear Us Apart".

It looks like I'm the only one who voted for Ride. Hands down, one of the best bands of the last 15 years, and easily one of the most unappreciated. They only lasted about 5-6 years, but they made some great albums and created this awesome, swirling sound of guitars and drums crashing against each other.

To learn more about Ride, consult your local library. But, better yet, go to http://www.ticket2ride.it/, for some great sound clips and just everything you've wanted to know. The song playing in the intro is a loop of "Leave Them All Behind," which is one of my favorite songs ever.

Alright, that's enough for now. Long Live Ride.

I'll check that site out. Thanks.

I love Slowdive as well but my vote went for MBV

i love the Mazzy Stars

I voted for MBV but I like the others, too.

Serena Maneesh is really good, too. Kind of like MBV's kid sister.

Please stop insulting My bloody Valentine by caling them shoegaze! Sure, they may have inspired all the shoegazers, but they were something much more and better. Oh yeah, and loop definitly isn't shoegaze music!

Well they certainly spent a lot of time looking at their feet when I saw them.

But more importantly I like to hope that if I mention them often enough there'll be a surge of popularity and a huge reissue program.:)

By that definition, Spacemen 3 qualify too, but I wouldn't call them or Loop shoegaze bands. Loop in particular were far too dark and heavy. Not "blissout music" really. My favorite band for many years!

I dunno, JAMC predate the term by several years, as do the Cocteau Twins.
For me, it's a tossup between Ride and Slowdive. Both of those bands wiped the floor with MBV in a live setting, at least going by the shows I saw. Ride's last couple of albums were pretty crappy, but in the beginning no one could touch them.

I choose MBV, although the other bands are great too.


I heard that they were a space rock band.

Loop were heavy, minimalist psychedelia. Not really "Space Rock," if what you mean is something like Hawkwind et al. No synthesizers, buried washed-out vocals, fuzz and wah, not too many chords, loud. Really incredible. I recommend all their albums, which is rare for any band.

To me shoegaze is the the bands that came in the wake of Cocteau Twins and MBV and played trance-y type guitar music. Ride, Chapterhouse, Catherine Wheel and Slowdive definitely fall in there, but most of the other bands that get lumped in with it are just there because of a coincidence of timing.


I'd also like to give a shout out to Bowery Electric, who could possibly qualify as post-shoegaze.

yes, it doesn't make sense why their albums have not been reissued, I had to pay quite a bit of money on ebay to get all their lps.
.

Ha! Being old rules.
Got all that stuff at retail on release!
Actually, I have a test pressing of Fade Out that I got for less than ten bucks on ebay. Guess it was before the apparent resurgence of interest...

yeah, I got a gilded eternity for like eight dollars off ebay that was a pretty good deal, but I got heaven's end for like thirty dollars. I think it's just heaven's end that everybody wants, because I got fade out and world in your eyes for reasonabe prices, but I always see heavens end go for high prices.

out of those bands i've got to pick the mary chain but i also like ride, my bloody valentine and the boos. never really heard slowdive or swervedriver. btw does anyone remember a band called adorable from around the same time? they were real good but i'm not sure if they were strictly shoegazers