Although the roots of the genre can be traced as far back as the use of distorted viola on The Velvet Underground’s eponymous 1967 album, The Velvet Underground and Nico, we can see the first formations of the genre begin to appear in the mid-80s. This would see Scottish bands like Cocteau Twins and The Jesus and Mary Chain pair their affinity for melodic vocal and song structure with the use of heavily distorted and reverb-soaked guitar work. The resulting songs would take shape as both addictively immersive and hauntingly ethereal. Songs such as ‘Just Like Honey’ from TJAMC’s 1985 debut Pyschocandy, demonstrate the cinematic quality of these early shoegaze pioneers, with the song’s pining romanticism later serving as the perfect backdrop for the star-crossed lovers within Sofia Coppola’s excellent 2003 feature, Lost in Translation.
Moving into the 90s, the evolution of the genre took an exciting turn, in which US bands began to take the recognisable ‘wall of sound’ and place it within the differing contexts of 60s rock and psychedelia. Emerging from the Portland and San Francisco scenes respectively, bands like The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre stood as a shimmering testaments to this notion, with both bands making use of vintage amps and instrumentation to compliment their stripped back styles of self production. I can recommend the BJM’s 1995 album Methodrone (a personal favourite of mine) as a raw, powerful and unforgivingly iconoclastic contribution to the genre. In the UK, the mid-90s would see the peak of shoegaze’s popularity, with bands like Lush and Slowdive taking the genre’s dreamy sensibilities to its most accessible form. These bands also represented an important element of the scene – its inclusivity. Vocalists Rachel Goswell and Miki Berenyi took melodic lead of their respective bands and stood in stark contrast to the masculine centred Britpop bands of the era. I had the privilege of seeing Slowdive live at Outbreak festival in 2025 and can wholeheartedly attest to their enduring talent.
Today, while remaining in the underground, there are a number of shoegaze bands that continue to create their own unique and engaging interpretations of the ‘wrap around’ sound. Bands like DIIV, Julie and Ringo Deathstarr come to mind, all merging fierce and expansive tonality with razor-sharp post-punk styled rhythm sections. So, if you're looking for something new, and willing to turn up your headphones a little louder than usual, you might want to give shoegaze a closer look.