Sinister: Re: Shoegazing

[DMC]

Shoegazing was one of those scenes put together in a conspiracy by the NME
and Melody Maker to tell the kids what to like. It was also referred to as
'The Scene that Celebrates Itself' - 'cos apparently everyone was really up
themselves, or the Thames Vallet Scene - as all the bands came from that
part of the world apparently... Well, Ride came from Oxford and Slowdive
from Reading. You get the picture!

 It came after baggy (Roses, Mondays) and C86 (The Wedding Present, Tululah
Gosh) and has been followed by such terrible things as Fraggle rock (Back
to the Planet), the crusty scene (Levellers), Riot Grrrl (Huggy Bear - Lest
we forget!), the New Wave of New Wave (Sleeper, Elastica), Britpop and all
the other terrible tags that those who want to destroy music have come up
with. Hell, lets put a tag on everything - Belle & Sebastian can be 'fey
pop' and lumped in with other bands that have acoustic guitars such as the
Auteurs. Or, apart from the fact that they come from Scotland could fall
into London's 'Red Wine Scene' with My Life Story, Rachel Stamp or Orlando,
because we can hear some strings at times!

The music press love to divide us, rule us and conquer!

I remember shoegazing as great, partly because I was living near Reading at
the time and everyone I knew was in a shoegazing band or new someone from
Chapterhouse. Anyway Steve Quarralt (is that right) bass player from Ride
still works in a record shop in Reading. Waheeey - what a career. In other
words shoegazing died as quickly as it began because although some of it
was good such as the early Ride stuff, eg Chelsea Girl and Nowhere, most of
it was pap, not P!O!P!

Does that help? I've got bucketloads of shoegazing stuff at home! A mispent
childhood I'm sure. It's good to discover that I am not alone in
remembering those dark old days of indie pop.

Dan
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