Conversely, The Telescopes sounded like a mixture between Spaceman 3 and hardcore punk. ‘Love Is Hell’ was a clear step from post-punk, sounding like bands like Chameleons or the aforementioned Cocteau Twins, fronted by the melancholy, plaintive vocals of Patrick Fitzgerald were a style familiar within the last decade. This highlighted the diversity of what was termed as shoegaze. Along with this, the often-indistinguishable vocals of Kevin Shields and Belinda Butcher created a fuzzy, indistinct melancholy.įollowing this, other albums in this ethereal yet noisy mould appeared like Kitchens of Distinctions’ ‘Love Is Hell’ and The Telescopes’ ‘Taste’. The swirling, repetitive guitar lines and the sweet vocal harmonies made the album harsh, but weirdly soothing. After a number Their debut album ‘Isn’t Anything’ and EPs called ‘You Made Me Realise’ and ‘Feed Me With Your Kiss’ were both released in 1988. Kane certainly edged towards this style, shoegaze was truly kicked off for most by an Irish band called My Bloody Valentine. Whilst bands on the 4AD label like Cocteau Twins and A.R. The result was a sound both hostile and strangely innocent. It’s 60’s pop melodies concealed behind walls of vicious, feedbacking guitar and the cynical voices of William and Jim Reid created a compelling juxtaposition. The Jesus and Mary Chain’s opening album ‘Psychocandy’ is for some the first shoegaze album. Shoegaze above all was about creating walls of noisy guitar alongside more conventional melodies, with the “shoegazing” often referring to guitarists spending gigs staring at their effect’s pedals used to create this sound.

You could hear elements of the heavy psych-rock of Hawkwind (or a decade later Spacemen 3), the noisy experimentation of New York bands from The Velvet Underground to Sonic Youth, the noise-pop of the Jesus and Mary Chain as well as much of the post-punk and dream pop of the previous decade. Named as such by journalists describing the somewhat restrained and inhibited stage presence of artists like My Bloody Valentine, shoegaze comprised a vast amount of influences. Possibly the last clear development of the experimentation of the late ’70s and early ’80s, however, was “shoegaze”.

The larger independent labels like Rough Trade and Factory that had fuelled post-punk were struggling financially and the indie movement was changing. The early ’90s was an odd point of transition for British rock.

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