S H O E G A Z I N G

[yertle-the-turtle]

'Parklife' is the best album of the 1990s, bar none.

'She's So High', like most of Leisure bar 'Sing' and 'There's No Other Way' is terrible though.

 

[Jack In The Box]

shoegaze?

Slint

 

[jkayet]

slowdive

 

[Screendoor]

What's so great about Song 2?

It rocks. Reason enough.

 

[agentorange]

Back off of Blur. I'd put Leisure, Modern Life, and Parklife up against ANY sugar pop that came out of the 90's. I defy anyone to put on There's No Other Way, Tracy Jacks, Turn It Up, or London Loves, and not shake their rear. Of course, only half the songs of those albums was bubblegum, which makes songs like Pressure on Julian, She's So High, Oily Water, To the End, etc., that much more special to me. Unfortunately, I lost track of Blur after The Great Escape, but I love their old stuff. I've got a mix cd of over an hour of GREAT BLUR SONGS.

Blur were not really a shoegazer band; in my mind, they were more peers of the Charlatans, Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, etc.; that is, the more "cheerful" music. The shoegazers were much more fatalistic in general. Even the more bouncy stuff, like Ride's Taste or Catherine Wheel's Balloon, tended to be much darker.

I was actually much more into the shoegazers (with their Doc Martens, for whoever asked ) than I was the Manchester/Blur stuff. In addition to Ride, Catherine Wheel, and early Lush, I was really into Pale Saints (anybody remember them?). Also, I don't know how to categorize them, but I loved Ned's Atomic Dustbin. I probably just lost some music cred, but I loved God Fodder, and still do.

SORRY about the breathless post. Y'all got me excited about some music I still listen to a lot. Let's see some more early 90's alt-rock threads!!

 

[yertle-the-turtle]

I liked shoegaze the best when it was married to some nice pop hooks; the Darling Buds, for instance, had some brilliantly catchy tunes in the vein of Lush. And the whole New Zealand scene at the time. I can't listen to this stuff for very long though.