Shoegaze: How My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive & Ride Lost the Battle and Won the War

In the early '90s, bands like My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Slowdive, and Lush transformed walls of distortion, oceans of reverb, and enough guitar pedals to bankrupt a small nation into Britain’s hottest new sound. Shoegaze had arrived, and seemed to be ushering in a new era of music out of England.

Then the press turned on them, Britpop arrived, and suddenly being called a “shoegazer” was practically an insult.

On this episode of Tape Spaghetti, Scott & Blake trace shoegaze from its unlikely origins and Loveless-era peak through its brutal fall from favor and its even more unlikely resurrection.

How did a genre once mocked as boring and self-indulgent become a massive influence on generations of musicians to follow? For a style built around musicians staring at the floor, shoegaze has had one seriously wild ride.