Random Rules Playlist 003: History of the Shoegaze Aesthetic
An attempt to explain the timeline of shoegaze and its various offshoots in the form of a 22+ hour playlist
Let’s be clear - the word aesthetic is doing a lot of heavy lifting in the title here, because this is not just a history of shoegaze, I’m trying to tell the whole story here, from the songs that influenced the sound, to a variety of scenes that would not have happened without the influence of shoegaze. A lot of the artists I’ve chosen to include here are not shoegaze bands. Most of them are, but the others either made one really good song that could be classified as such, or they operate in a microgenre / subgenre that owes a LOT to shoegaze (I have sections of the playlist devoted to IDM Shoegaze, Heavy Shoegaze and Post-Rock / Ambient shoegaze, for example). We can go ahead and get one elephant in the room out of the way; Deftones are included on this playlist, although I don’t think they are primarily a shoegaze band. They have clearly been influenced by the shoegaze aesthetic, and I’ve included here what I believe to be their most shoegaze leaning song, but Deftones are not shoegaze. There are bands that appear on other shoegaze playlists that I have left off completely but who also would not exist without the influence of certain shoegaze records - this list would incldue everyone from Smashing Pumpkins to Oasis, from Coldplay to The Cranberries. I also left off most “dream pop” bands like Beach House or Japanese Breakfast and the legions of bands they have influenced for the sake of brevity (that’s a joke, this playlist is already way too long)!
PART 1: THE ARCHITECTS OF THE AESTHETIC
If you google “what was the first shoegaze song?” the consensus answer seems to be The Beach Boys’ “All I Wanna Do,” but I’m making the case here that it might actually be The Byrds’ “Eight Miles High” from 1966. The vocal style seems to be the obvious precursor especially to Andy Bell and Mark Gardener of Ride, among countless others. Brian Eno’s 70s pop solo albums are also obvious reference points, without even getting into the influence of his ambient works.
The Byrds - “Eight Miles High”
The Byrds - “John Riley”
The Velvet Underground - “Here She Comes Now”
The Beach Boys - “All I Wanna Do”
Brian Eno - “Here Come The Warm Jets”
Brian Eno - “The Big Ship”
PART 2: PROTO SHOEGAZE
The term “shoegaze” was not used to describe a genre of music until around 1989 - 90 (more on that in a minute) and pretty much everyone agrees that the two most important bands that began developing the aesthetic were The Cocteau Twins and The Jesus and Mary Chain. My Bloody Valentine’s history goes back to 1983, but their first few releases could loosely be described as goth rock in the style of The Birthday Party or The Cramps. The first release from MBV where you can begin to see the style they would eventually settle on (and the obvious influence JAMC had on the band) was 1987’s Sunny Sundae Smile EP and the mini album Ecstasy and Wine. Neither of these releases are available on streaming services, so I’m including links to hear them on YouTube because these are VITAL documents to understanding the massive influence of MBV. There’s conflicting information about Kevin Shields’ current stance on the Conway-era MBV material (David Conway, who eventually left the band, was the primary vocalist on these releases). Certain reports will tell you that Shields has essentially disowned this part of the MBV catalog, and other sources claim that Shields has plans to finally reissue the Conway-era releases.
Cocteau Twins - “Wax and Wane”
The Jesus and Mary Chain - “Upside Down”
A.R. Kane - “When You’re Sad”
Galaxie 500 - “Melt Away”
Loop - “Too Real To Feel”
My Bloody Valentine - “Drive It All Over Me”
Spacemen 3 - “Just To See You Smile”
The Chameleons - “Up The Down Escalator”
MX80 - “Obsessive Devotion”
Cocteau Twins - “The Spangle Maker”
A.R. Kane - “Lollita”
Galaxie 500 - “Tugboat”
The Jesus and Mary Chain - “You Trip Me Up”
Loop - “Fix To Fall”
Spacemen 3 - “Feel So Sad”
My Bloody Valentine - “Emptiness Inside”
Cocteau Twins - “Sugar Hiccup”
The Jesus and Mary Chain - “The Hardest Walk”
My Bloody Valentine - “I Can See It (But I Can’t Feel It)
Cocteau Twins - “Lorelei”
Spacemen 3 - “Hypnotized”
My Bloody Valentine - “All I Need”
Band of Susans - “Plot Twist”
The Jesus and Mary Chain - “Something’s Wrong”
Cocteau Twins & Harold Budd - “Sea, Swallow Me”
Spectrum - “How You Satisfy Me”
My Bloody Valentine - “thorn”
Spiritualized - “Step Into The Breeze”
The Jesus and Mary Chain - “Just Like Honey”
Cocteau Twins - “Carolyn’s Fingers”
Band of Susans - “Now Is Now”
Smashing Orange - “Just Before I Come (Believe Me)”
Sonic Boom - “Angel”
Spiritualized - “Lay Back In The Sun”
The Darkside - “This Mystic Morning”
See See Rider - “Slip So Slow”
Thousand Yard Stare - “Wonderment”
Pale Saints - “…Sight Of You”
My Bloody Valentine - “You Made Me Realise”
PART 3: WE HAVE NOW REACHED PEAK SHOEGAZE
As I aluded to, legend has it that the first use of the term “shoegaze” was used in a concert review of the band Moose circa 1989 / 90 - the term was describing the way the band members were staring at their pedals for most of the show, rarely making eye contact with the crowd. There seems to be some debate about the validity of this claim online because no one can seem to find the exact press clip (there are several Reddit threads about this topic if you’re extremely bored). Personally I have always had a soft spot for Moose, but they never really found an American audience (I found their singles collection Sonny & Sam (also not on streaming) on CD in the 99 cent bin shortly after it was released) and are not the band most people would guess were the first to be labeled as shoegaze by the press. Moose were important for other reasons, they often played shows with Lush and the band’s Kevin McKillop would eventually become a member of the supergroup Piroshka alongside members of Lush and Elastica.
Back to the matter at hand, around 1991 it’s clear that peak shoegaze was achieved with the release of My Bloody Valentine’s undisputed masterpiece, Loveless, alongside landmark albums from Chapterhouse, Lush, Slowdive, and Swervedriver just to name a few.
Moose - “Around The Warm Bend”
The Telescopes - “Flying”
Ride - “Seagull”
My Bloody Valentine - “Sueisfine”
Catherine Wheel - “Black Metallic”
Chapterhouse - “Breather”
Adorable - “Sunshine Smile”
Ride - “Drive Blind”
My Bloody Valentine - “Off Your Face”
Slowdive - “Celia’s Dream”
Ride - “Like A Daydream”
The Telescopes - “The Sleepwalk” (Sitar Version)
Slowdive - “When The Sun Hits”
Lush - “De-Luxe”
My Bloody Valentine - “Blown A Wish”
The Brian Jonestown Massacre - “Evergreen”
Ride - “Dreams Burn Down”
Spirea X - “Chlorine Dream”
The Boo Radleys - “Toward The Light”
Moose - “Screaming”
Kitchens of Distinction - “Drive That Fast”
Ride - “Vapour Trail”
Slowdive - “Slowdive”
Pale Saints - “She Rides The Waves”
Stereolab - “Brittle”
My Bloody Valentine - “Only Shallow”
Ride - “Taste”
Chapterhouse - “If You Want Me”
The Boo Radleys - “Skyscraper”
The Verve - “Slide Away”
Swervedriver - “Deep Seat”
Lush - “Sweetness and Light”
The Telescopes - “The Perfect Needle”
Cocteau Twins - “Fotzepolitic”
Slowdive - “Alison”
My Bloody Valentine - “Honey Power”
Swervedriver - “Pile-Up”
Slowdive - “Machine Gun”
Lush - “Downer”
My Bloody Valentine - “Soon”
The Boo Radleys - “Does This Hurt?”
Lush - “Hypocrite”
Swervedriver - “Duel”
Mercury Rev - “Bronx Cheer”
Slowdive - “Waves”
Cocteau Twins - “Iceblink Luck”
Ride - “Mouse Trap”
Lush - “Kiss Chase”
Seefeel - “Moodswing”
Catherine Wheel - “Flower To Hide”
Mercury Rev - “Something For Joey”
My Bloody Valentine - “I Only Said”
Stereolab - “Au Grand Jour”
Slowdive - “Morningrise”
Mazzy Star - “Blue Flower”
My Bloody Valentine - “What You Want”
Lush - “Tiny Smiles”
The Boo Radleys - “Barney (…and Me)”
Swervedriver - “Rave Down”
The Jesus and Mary Chain - “Tumbledown”
My Bloody Valentine - “Swallow”
Pale Saints - “Time Thief”
Ride - “Leave Them All Behind”
Stereolab - “Super-Electric”
Cocteau Twins - “Bluebeard”
Slowdive - “40 Days”
My Bloody Valentine - “To Here Knows When”
Revolver - “Bottled Out”
The Boo Radleys - “Lazarus”
Swervedriver - “Feel So Real”
The Brian Jonestown Massacre - “Deep In The Devil’s Eye & You”
Lush - “Superblast!”
Stereolab - “Tone Burst”
Swallow - “Tastes Like Honey”
My Bloody Valentine - “When You Sleep”
Mazzy Star - “She’s My Baby”
Slowdive - “Blue Skied An’Clear”
Lush - “Nothing Natural”
Swervedriver - “Never Lose That Feeling / Never Learn”
The Veldt - “It’s Over”
Curve - “Nowhere”
PART 4: INDIE POP SHOEGAZE
14 Iced Bears - “Surfacer”
Mahogany - “Soleil Radieux”
Ecstasy of St. Theresa - “Square Wave”
Velocity Girl - “My Forgotten Favorite”
Piano Magic - “Snowfall Soon”
The Depreciation Guild - “Darklooming”
A Sunny Day In Glasgow - “Shy”
Blind Mr. Jones - “What’s Going On”
Rocketship - “I Love You Like The Way That I Used To Do”
Electro Group - “Mandobo”
The Manhattan Love Suicides - “Sycamore Peripheral”
Black Tambourine - “We Can’t Be Friends”
Velocity Girl - “A Chang”
PART 5: INDIE ROCK DOES SHOEGAZE
DIIV - “Under The Sun”
Bedhead - “Haywire”
Yo La Tengo - “From A Motel 6”
Seam - “Sweet Pea”
Yuck - “Rubber”
Duster - “Inside Out”
Low - “Do You Know How To Waltz”
Blonde Redhead - “23”
PART 6: THE BRISTOL SCENE
In 1993 the release of the self-titled debut LP from Bristol band Flying Saucer Attack found legions of fans worldwide and made hundreds of kids realize that they could make shoegaze music on a 4-track. It was sort of the polar opposite approach to MBV’s Loveless and its maximalist approach. Here’s a sample of FSA’s sound and several of the offshoot projects they inspired & collaborated with:
Flying Saucer Attack - “Soaring High”
Movietone - “Sun Drawing”
Amp - “Stellata”
The Third Eye Foundation - “What To Do But Cry”
Flying Saucer Attack - “My Dreaming Hill”
PART 7: SECOND WAVE SHOEGAZE: IMITATION IS THE SINCEREST FORM OF FLATTERY
This section is pretty self-explanatory, and covers the years 1994 - 1999 or so. It’s worth pointing out that there were hardly any American bands in Part 3, but Part 4 has quite a few.
Drop Nineteens - “Delaware”
Swirlies - “Jeremy Parker”
Lenola - “Z-Frame”
Secret Shine - “Into The Ether”
Bailter Space - “Splat”
Starflyer 59 - “The Zenith”
Medicine - “Never Click”
Secret Shine - “Temporal”
Drop Nineteens - “Winona”
Lilys - “There Is No Such Thing As Black Orchids”
Swirlies - “Pancake”
Starflyer 59 - “Happy Days Are Here Again”
Medicine - “Aruca”
Lilys - “The Hermit Crab”
All Natural Lemon & Lime Flavors - “Muffin 57”
Swirlies - “Sarah Sitting”
Medicine - “The Pink”
Loveliescrushing - “babysbreath”
Swirlies - “Tall Ships”
Half String - “Eclipse”
Alison’s Halo - “Dozen”
Whipping Boy - “Switchblade Smile”
Medicine - “Something Goes Wrong”
Swirlies - “Upstairs”
Bowery Electric - “Empty Words”
Swirlies - “Bell”
PART 8: IDM SHOEGAZE
Ulrich Schnauss - “A Letter From Home”
Gui.tar - “House Full Of Time”
Sweet Trip - “Steps”
múm - “Green Grass Of Tunnel”
Pia Fraus & Ulrich Schnauss - “That’s Not All”
Seefeel - “Polyfusion”
Sweet Trip - “Chocolate Matter”
Styrofoam - “A Heart Without A Mind”
Fennesz - “A Year In A Minute”
Boards of Canada - “Nothing Is Real”
B. Fleischmann - “Here She Comes”
Sweet Trip - “Fish”
PART 9: POST-ROCK / AMBIENT SHOEGAZE
Sigur Ros - “Ny Batteri”
Loveliescrushing - “Valerian (Her Voice Honeyed)”
Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - “A Song Of Summer”
Windy & Carl - “Traveling”
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - “Job’s Lament”
Füxa - “Main Sequence Diffusion”
Auburn Lull - “Stockard Drive”
Belong - “Perfect Life”
Explosions In The Sky - “Your Hand In Mine”
Juliana Barwick w/ Jonsi - “In Light”
A Winged Victory For The Sullen - “Total Perspective Vortex”
Yume Bitsu - “The Frigid, Frigid, Frigid Body Of Dr. TJ Eckleberg”
Jessica Bailiff - “Failing Yesterday”
PART 10: THIRD WAVE SHOEGAZE
Around the year 2000 and through the early aughts, as most people were waiting around to see if MBV would ever make another album, a fresh crop of shoegaze bands popped up and injected some new life into the genre, led by M83.
Astrobrite “crasher”
M83 - “Graveyard Girl”
Airiel - “Sharron Apple”
Ringo Deathstarr - “So High”
The Raveonettes - “Remember”
Autolux - “Plantlife”
Pia Fraus - “Moon Like A Pearl”
Amusement Parks On Fire - “Eighty Eight”
Caribou (they were called Manitoba at the time of release) - “Jacknuggeted”
M83 - “Don’t Save Us From The Flames”
Fleeting Joys - “Magnificent Oblivion”
Asobi Seksu - “Sooner”
Serena-Maneesh - “Sapphire Eyes”
M83 - “Run Into Flowers”
Plastic Girl In Closet - “Like A Strawberry”
The Majestic High - “See Her Fall”
Asobi Seksu - “Thursday”
Young Prisms - “Sugar”
No Joy - “Here Tarot Lies”
LSD And The Search For God - “I Don’t Care”
I Break Horses - “Winter Beats”
The Bilinda Butchers - “Tulips”
PART 11: HEAVY SHOEGAZE / BLACKGAZE
Luster - “Wherever You Are”
Doused - “Ease”
Bardo Pond - “Tommy Gun Angel”
Slow Crush - “Glow”
Nothing - “Fever Queen”
bdrmm - “Kare”
Alcest - “Les Voyages de l’ame”
Boris - “Farewell”
Deftones - “Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)”
Deafheaven - “In Blur”
Hum - “Little Dipper”
Nothing - “Blue Line Baby”
Helen - “Allison”
A Place To Bury Strangers - “Everything Always Goes Wrong”
Grouper - “Disengaged”
Jesu - “Silver”
Deafheaven - “Sunbather”
Ovlov - “Grapes”
PART 12: FOURTH WAVE SHOEGAZE
Shoegaze in the 2010s was, for the most part, splintered into microgenres that we’ve already covered here. It was also the decade that saw the return of both My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive with fantastic new albums (more on that later). There were still a few new bands who emerged as exciting new torchbearers of the classic shoegaze sound, like Hatchie, Tamaryn, Spirit of the Beehive, Beliefs, etc.
Vaadat Charigim - “Ze Beseder Lefahed”
Froth - “Turn It Off”
Hatchie - “Sure”
Infinity Girl - “But I’m Slow”
Trementina - “Brilliant Noise”
Tennis System - “Shelf Life”
CANDY - “Honey Blue”
Tamaryn - “Cranekiss”
Fleeting Joys - “Kiss A Girl In Black”
Cheatahs - “Northern Exposure”
Star Horse - “Slower Now”
Hatchie - “Sugar & Spice”
Ringo Deathstarr - “Acid Tongue”
The History of Apple Pie - “Come Undone”
Beliefs - “Tidal Wave”
Spirit Of The Beehive - “Natural Devotion”
Pity Sex - “Wind-Up”
MJ Guider - “Lit Negative”
PART 13: FIFTH WAVE SHOEGAZE: PANDEMIC ERA NOISE
This is what’s happening RIGHT NOW in shoegaze and it might be the most exciting era since the original peak shoegaze years of 1990 - 1994. These are mostly bands that formed right before, or during the Covid shutdown, a lot of them are touring for the first time ever this year.
KUYASHII - “Hello”
Nabihah Iqbal - “Dreamer”
93MillionMilesFromTheSun - “Summer Girl”
For Tracy Hyde - “Kodiak”
Peel Dream Magazine - “Pill”
Deafcult - “Secret Wisdom”
Graywave - “Cycle”
Zoon - “Dodem”
They Are Gutting A Body Of Water - “kmart amen break”
Clearbody - “New Essence”
Parannoul - “Polaris”
Pinkshinyultrablast - “Holy Forest”
Blankenberge - “Look Around”
Cloakroom - “Dottie-back Thrush”
Hotline TNT - “Stampede”
Knifeplay - “Untitled”
Full Body 2 - “fifty heaven”
Bedlocked - “Talk”
Glare - “Blank”
Pinkshinyultrablast - “Blaster”
Launder - “Blue Collar”
Tanukichan - “Take Care”
Dummy - “Daffodils”
Narrow Head - “Caroline”
Dream, Ivory - “welcome and goodbye”
Taleen Kali - “Crusher”
Sword II - “Mirror”
Panchiko - “Gwen Everest”
feeble little horse - “Steamroller”
yeule - “dazies”
DAIISTAR - “Tracemaker”
crushed - “coil”
They Are Gutting A Body Of Water - “23 til infinity”
julie - “skipping tiles”
PART 14: THE RETURN OF THE O.G.S
Swervedriver - “Last Rites”
Piroshka - “Everlastingly Yours”
My Bloody Valentine - “in another way”
Swervedriver - “The Lonely Crowd Fades In The Air”
My Bloody Valentine - “only tomorrow”
Slowdive - “Sugar For The Pill”
Ride - “Future Love”
Sun’s Signature - “Golden Air”
Slowdive - “kisses”
Ok, so I know some of you have thoughts on all this, please let me know what you think in the comments. What did I leave out? What should not be on the playlist at all? What genre would you like to see me tackle next?
Great list, I’m adding a lot of artists that I had never heard of. I always felt like I Can See For Miles by The Who was a bit of proto-gaze, between the guitar tones and the vocal harmonies.
I also want to recommend the first few Spotlights releases as great blackgaze/doomgaze examples. Their new one is a bit less shoegazey but still good heavy rock.
It's a damn good list! Just a few random thoughts in no order.
The earliest song that fits the aesthetic has sometimes been called the birth of "space rock:" The Tornado's "Telstar." Speaking of, you can't ignore Frippertronics. Bowie's "Heroes" - yes it's played out, but still - is the first major pop hit in this genre, and maybe the only top ten proper proto-shoegaze hit. Phil Spector's work is missing, that's a big deal - "I Wonder" by the Crystals can't be denied as seriously real shoegaze shit. Hate to mention them by name so I won't, but Tomorrow Never Knows. Siouxsie's "Circle" is another track - a lot of hers, for sure - that fall into that proto-shoegaze lump. The Clean's "Don't Point That Thing," The biggest missing link from this list is The Lassie Foundation's California EP, which deeply inspired a lot of the artists on this list - I know, because I've bonded with more than a few of them on stage and in the studio while discussing our common love for "California." On that note, it's great to see SF59 here, maybe Le Vainqueur or "Do You Ever Feel That Way" would be good additions. It's really dope that Veldt is getting a resurgence. The Vandelles were a Brooklyn band from my time in NYC who still don't get enough pings, same with Violens. Broadcast and Autolux can't be denied either. Blushing and Holy Wave are younger Austin bands who would be on this list.
An interesting aspect of "shoegaze," though a lot of these bands don't identify (publically) as being a part of a scene, the genre itself remains rather small and close-knit, even across all of the various "waves" and oceans. M83, sonically, and personally, don't seem connected to the rest of the music. But who am I to gatekeep? This is called the history of the "aesthetic" not the history of the "scene." It's funny to me that Hum and Deftones are there, but I can't gatekeep on them either. I'm too old now and outvoted by younger gazers who find something enjoyable in there. But that does open the door for the argument - why not the Pumpkins?
Here's a big thought that has persisted since Loveless. Shields himself says he didn't think of MBV as "Shoegaze." There is a gulf between them (and reverse reverb followers with lush tunings) and the "Soft-Focus" gazers like Slowdive, Lush et al. Shield's chord inventions owe a lot to celtic tuning, and there is a link through Lou Reed back to Doo-Wop (see also Phil Spector and Brian Wilson) to washed-out voices with "extra" harmonic information. Distortion itself is a harmonic effect, and Shields (and Serena and Ringo) use this as a harmonic effect, while some of the shoegazers use the thick fuzz not as an intentional extra layer of musicality but as a explosive device for external or lyrical context (Hum comes to mind; the heavy/punk/metal derived folks as well). If we restrict this list to just the Harmonygazers vs the Trailgazers, you'd have a much smaller list. But you'd probably have to add "Gimme Shelter" or even some Zep to the proto-gaze pile, and remove Slowdive. That can't be right. Genres are weird. Maybe, as Shields says, MBV just ain't real shoegaze.
Finally: how can someone state that shoegazing is a "Zombie Genre." Many of these bands are still hanging out with each other, some of the older bands are connected with the youngest bands on the list and there is a clear "scene" though it's international. It's always been hard to find another person in the same town to make shoegaze with, much less another band. It's probably true that "Shoegaze" is a derogratory term invented by the critics. But it's clearly an active community, marginalized by the more accessible "indie" rockers, punks, or hard rockers. It's having a moment now, for whatever reason, and this will probably change. But a lot of the more accessible "cross-over" shoegazers may miss some of the nuance, and they will probably have as much in common with Loveless as the RHCP's "Dark Necessities." ---- Rant over
Love the list and the substack!