Be a Shoegazer
Shoegaze is a genre of alternative rock that emerged from the United Kingdom in the late 1980s. It lasted until the mid 1990s, peaking circa 1990 to 1991. But don't be fooled, it's back! And in a big way. Try shoegazing on for size, and start listening to the best of the alt rock genre.
Steps
- If you have short hair, let your hair grow longer.
- Buy some hooped shirts and T-shirts, especially black and white.
- Buy and rip a pair of light denim skinny jeans and wear a big leather jacket.
- Perform or watch a "motionless performing style, where you stand on stage and stare at the floor while playing. The sound of the music was overwhelmingly loud, with long, droning riffs, waves of distortion and cascades of feedback. Vocals and melodies created a wash of sound where no instrument was distinguishable from the other -- but are usually very pretty and fundamental to the song, but its true that the magic of the songs is in the complex harmonics blended into noise."
- Write or listen to shoegaze music which is "introspective, self-deprecating music with a non-confrontational feel... Guitar effects are typically from two distorted rhythms interwoven together giving an exceptional muddied sound."
Tips
- Find a cool indie record store which has staff who were teenagers in the late 80's and ask them about shoegaze music.
- You don't have to be an expert on shoegaze, but it never hurts to know some of its history. While The Velvet Underground, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr, Jesus and Mary Chain (especially Psychocandy) and the Cocteau Twins weren't shoegaze, per se, they were important influences on the genre.
- Loveless isn't MBV's only recording: You also need to have at least heard Isn't Anything, and the You Made Me Realise and Tremolo EPs.
- My Bloody Valentine isn't the only Shoegaze band, just the most well-known. Other good Shoegazer bands are: Teenage Filmstars, Ultra Vivid Scene, Fleeting Joys, Lush, Ride, Slowdive, Chapterhouse, Astrobrite, Soundpool, and Catherine Wheel. Contemporary bands influenced by shoegaze include Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Silversun Pickups, Airiel, Pinkshinyultrablast, and The Raveonettes.
- Become more relaxed, nothing ever bothers a shoegaze fan too much.
- If you are a Metalhead, many Deftones songs could be considered.
Warnings
- 90s Britpop is the enemy of shoegaze. Shoegaze was all about chilling out and enjoying the weird sounds, while Britpop was about getting energised and changing the world with catchy tunes (another nemesis of shoegaze). Oasis fans won't be too popular with shoegazer lovers. Blur or Verve shirts may be OK given their background in shoegaze, but stay away from mentioning/wearing signs of other Britpop luminaries.
Things You'll Need
- A good stereo so that you can hear the mix of delicate melody and overwhelming guitar feedback in the music.
- If you want to play shoegaze music, be prepared to spend a LOT of money. A good place to start is a guitar with a floating tremolo (Fender Jaguars and Jazzmasters are the guitars of choice in the genre), a relatively clean amp or at least a single channel valve amp that takes pedals well (most Fender tube amps, Hiwatts and one-channel Marshalls are preferred) and a LOT of pedals. If you're on a budget, a digital reverb pedal, fuzzy distortion (ProCo Rat, Boss HM-2, Marshall Shredmaster would be some of your best choices although the latter two are discontinued) and delay pedal through a clean amp can approximate some of the "wall of sound" distortion tones.
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- Write Shoegazing Songs
