The shoegazer movement of the 1990's was the UK answer to the Grunge scene in America. Both broke around the same time and both contained artists that were original followed by a lot of imitators who took the scene more seriously than the music. Those early bands, MY BLOODY VALENTINE, THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN and RIDE (pictured) set a tone and feel with their sound. They weren't interested in theatrics or flashy stage shows, just playing music that they felt passionately about. They all set out with the intent of pushing the boundaries of what guitar based music should sound like. Although most of these bands had critical success here in the States, many of them failed to make any commercial dent. Most bands today seem to shy away from this sound, opting for a more radio friendly mix of rock and pop that plays well in car commercials, which only seems to reinforce the unique nature of what these bands were doing. This podcast is just a small sample...Tracklisting
My Bloody Valentine -- Soft As Snow (But Warm Inside)
My Bloody Valentine -- Only Shallow
Ride -- Leave Them All Behind
Sonic Youth -- Dirty Boots
Spacemen 3 -- Take Me To The Other Side (Live)
Swervedriver -- Rave Down
Th' Faith Healers UK -- This Time
Slowdive -- Some Velvet Morning
Snowpony -- Easy Way Down
Catherine Wheel -- Salt
m83 -- A Guitar and a Heart
p.s. here is a site with a great live show by RIDE from Italy in 1992. I think it's a great example of this style of music played live.
1 comment:
This is all from my funny period.
I had sort of lost my enthusiasm for music - the great bands of the 80s had come and gone, it was time togrow up, settle down etc, - and I never really listened to many of this lot. More importantly, I failed to catch them live in concert.
As such, I still have trouble connecting with Ride and MBV - the latter in particular. I'm not saying the bands are no good....I just struggle with the shoegazing thing for the most part.
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