Challenge: Make Shoegaze a Dominant Genre

Romantic Nihilist

In the late 80's/very early 90's, there was a plethora of bands united by the genre of Shoegaze. Bands like My Bloody Valentine, Lush and Ride were major stars of this genre. So here's my challenge: make it the dominant genre no later than 1991.

Bonus points if:

  • This affects The Cocteau Twins positively (They were to Shoegaze what Sonic Youth was to Grunge)
  • If it affects Madchester (rivalry perhaps?)
  • You can detail how this can supplant Britpop
 

Dathi THorfinnsson

Romantic Nihilist said:
In the late 80's/very early 90's, there was a plethora of bands united by the genre of Shoegaze. Bands like My Bloody Valentine, Lush and Ride were major stars of this genre. So here's my challenge: make it the dominant genre no later than 1991.

Bonus points if:

  • This affects The Cocteau Twins positively (They were to Shoegaze what Sonic Youth was to Grunge)
  • If it affects Madchester (rivalry perhaps?)
  • You can detail how this can supplant Britpop
Click to expand...
Aha! this is a music question. Here, I thought it was about Imelda Marcos :);)
 
Aelita

Aelita

Is it a sign of becoming old when you can neither keep up with music genres, retroactive, current or otherwise, nor do you really care?
 

Whanztastic

It's called shoegaze because the singers just stood on stage and gazed at theirs shoes.

It is rather boring and the exact opposite of most popular music and has no chance. Maybe a one-hit wonder would pop up on the charts but it's a niche genre.
 
flippikat

flippikat

Romantic Nihilist said:
In the late 80's/very early 90's, there was a plethora of bands united by the genre of Shoegaze. Bands like My Bloody Valentine, Lush and Ride were major stars of this genre. So here's my challenge: make it the dominant genre no later than 1991.

Bonus points if:

  • This affects The Cocteau Twins positively (They were to Shoegaze what Sonic Youth was to Grunge)
  • If it affects Madchester (rivalry perhaps?)
  • You can detail how this can supplant Britpop
Click to expand...

Hmm.. Not sure whether Shoegaze can be dominant in the USA - the best opportunity would be if it replaces Riot Grrrl as the rock music of choice for female indie bands in the USA. (Difficult, because Showgaze is generally too vague lyrically to be political)

It would probably take a weaker underground punk scene in the USA (and thus no grunge) for this to happen - perhaps a USA where all alternative & indie bands are '60s revivalist folk-rock?

In that scenario, a two-pronged "English invasion" in 1991/92 by dance-influenced Madchester bands ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW9yQvSEuBI ) & the poppier end of Shoegaze ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQ8y87YQDX4 ) MIGHT gain some traction.

Even if it that "British invasion" scenario doesn't happen - without the wave of grunge coming from the USA, there's a massive butterfly effect.

Consider the two main players in Britpop - Blur & Oasis.. one started their recording career under intense pressure to ape Madchester indie-dance tunes, and the other band were roadies for one of those bands - they may never have found their own style, let alone achieved success.
 

brazen

Shoegaze was just to introspective, and a lot of the music was not easily accessible in a way that Madchester and Britpop was to the masses.

The example of Ride being a good one, one great tune 'Twistarella' and a half way decent couple of albums, with probably the best guitarist of the scene in Andy Bell, yet he went on to have bigger success with Hurricane#1 and then later on as a bit part of Oasis.

I'd also say that the Mojave 3 are a more accessible than Slowdive, yet have never had the success that they deserve.

There was no one of any great personality or charisma to really bring the scene to national and international attention, to make Shoegaze a sucess you need a Cobain/Vedder/Gallacher/Anderson type scene leader.
 

Tyr

Give it time. The tendancy amongst modern indie bands seems to be in a bit of a shoe gazey drone rock direction.
With music piracy though good music rarely gets recognised these days though. Which sucks.

There is a bit of a problem in it being a rather depressing genre. Succesful music tends to be a bit more upbeat.
 
history nerd

history nerd

You need to change the genre a lot. you need a very good lyricist and then production that doesn't push the vocals to the back and it could become popular in the ballady sad song niche... but then its not really shogaze is it?
 

Zacoftheaxes

What about a modern day revival?

Most indie music today can trace it's origins to one of three albums. In The Aeroplane Over the Sea (beardy acoustic bands), OK Computer (pseudo-electronic rock bands), or Oracular Spectacular (bands blatantly trying to sound like MGMT). Wouldn't be too hard to get Loveless on the same list. It just needs to be salvage by the internet to the same level as the first two albums.

Alternatively, MBVT doesn't wait 20 or so years to release their newest album and have more of a presence in music.
 

BauglirZero

Mmm, I believe the shoegaze isn't the kind of music that would be a dominant genre easily. One of the biggest problems is that you can't actually sing a shoegaze song, bring the vocals to the front a little more, and use catchy choruses. In other words, make the shoegaze more attractive to the public, I have no other ideas.
 

The Piano

flippikat said:
Hmm.. Not sure whether Shoegaze can be dominant in the USA - the best opportunity would be if it replaces Riot Grrrl as the rock music of choice for female indie bands in the USA. (Difficult, because Showgaze is generally too vague lyrically to be political)
Click to expand...

I could more easily see other bands/scenes adopting shoegaze as their music of choice than riot grrrl. It just doesn't lend itself well to strong political themes and nothing about it particularly says "Smash the patriarchy!".

I think the idea that it could be salvaged by the Internet somehow is more doable, but your scenario may not happen in the early 90s. I mean, In The Aeroplane Over The Sea and OK Computer were released in the late 90s, and Oracular Spectacular in 2007/2008.

Taking this into account, I can think of two ways that make it more popular thanks to the Internet:
- A band releases a shoegaze album in the late 90s that becomes quite popular among the "hip" kids for some reason. Maybe you could add some kind of innovation, or particularly interesting lyrics. Those who are teenagers in the late 90s are in their 20s in the period between 2000-2010, when more and more young people start being able to access the Internet and as it becomes a better promotion tool for musicians. As they blog, review music, and start their own bands, slightly younger people also start getting into it as well. That record becomes a cult record of sorts due to how incredibly clever it sounds, or something. Then you have people who were in their 20s in the 00s and people who are in their 20s now starting indie bands inspired by the sound.
- A band releases an album between 2008-2011 that appeals to the "hipster stoner" types. They also manage to have a relatively strong Internet presence, and the explosion of tumblr and its popularity among their target demographics leads them to get even more exposure. As does being featured in a TV show that said demographic watches and which has a reputation for always being ready to feature cool, relatively unknown music. Many people I know became aware of MGMT through Skins. And it was also featured on Gossip Girl.

It could also go the riot grrrl route if you still give it a stronger presence in the early 90s; it becomes more obscure following that, but a specific demographic manages to make it more popular again.
 

Romantic Nihilist

Okay, here's a thought:

4AD (and later Mercury Records) gives The Cocteau Twins a bigger push and they achieve stronger chart success. Dream Pop becomes more prominent in the 80's.

Psychocandy by Jesus and Mary Chain explodes much bigger thanks to the help from Blanco y Negro. JAMC then strike it even bigger with Darklands.

The reasonable success of the Dream Pop and Noise Pop genres (and Alternative Rock in general) become a force in the UK. Madchester and Baggy benefit as a result due to Happy Mondays and Stone Roses achieving OTL success.

This paves the way for Shoegaze.
 
Athelstane

Athelstane

brazen said:
Shoegaze was just to introspective, and a lot of the music was not easily accessible in a way that Madchester and Britpop was to the masses.
Click to expand...

It also wasn't exactly amenable to producing popstars - outsized personalities - that are almost always necessary in the pope world, whether it's the 50's, 90's, or 10's - for truly vast commercial success.

I don't see how it can be done. But it doesn't make me love my Lush tracks any less.
 
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