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Shoegaze is still going strong in the same way that Mozart is still going strong, despite dying aged 35 in 1791. At least in the UK, the scene described in the

by Joeboy 12y ago

Shoegaze is still going strong in the same way that Mozart is still going strong, despite dying aged 35 in 1791. At least in the UK, the scene described in the article was fairly obscure even in its heyday, and by the mid-'90s it was remembered mostly as a slightly embarrassing pre-Britpop phase. Having watched it come and go the first time around, its post millennial resuscitation feels pretty weird.

niklasni1 12y ago
I only got into Slowdive a year or two ago so I can't think of it in terms of scenes or who drank at which pub in 1993. But without that context I think they made one good and one great record -- objectively so, as much as one can say that about music -- and I don't see why there's anything weird about still listening to them, or discovering them if you weren't there at the time.
- Joeboy 12y ago
  > I don't see why there's anything weird about still listening to them No, please listen to them. I should listen to more of them myself. I loved Morningrise, but never heard much of Slowdive's other stuff simply because getting hold of music was expensive and difficult at the time. > or discovering them if you weren't there at the time. That's the bit that feels weird. A couple of decades ago they seemed destined for oblivion. Watching Lost in Translation with no advance warning was a very odd experience.
makeitsuckless 12y ago
Obscure? Maybe if you were only into mainstream pop (there was still a much bigger gap between "commercial" and "alternative" back then than there is today, and there wasn't the easy access of the internet), but some of those bands where pretty big.
- Joeboy 12y ago
  They were big for indie bands. They were obscure compared to actually big bands like U2 or Dire Straits. Their names would be met with blank stares in most milieux. See the comment elsewhere about "organizing a shoegaze party at a local bar, low attendance of course and ending up being kicked out by the manager because "this isn't music!"."

by Joeboy 12y ago

niklasni1 12y ago

I only got into Slowdive a year or two ago so I can't think of it in terms of scenes or who drank at which pub in 1993. But without that context I think they made one good and one great record -- objectively so, as much as one can say that about music -- and I don't see why there's anything weird about still listening to them, or discovering them if you weren't there at the time.

Joeboy 12y ago
> I don't see why there's anything weird about still listening to them No, please listen to them. I should listen to more of them myself. I loved Morningrise, but never heard much of Slowdive's other stuff simply because getting hold of music was expensive and difficult at the time. > or discovering them if you weren't there at the time. That's the bit that feels weird. A couple of decades ago they seemed destined for oblivion. Watching Lost in Translation with no advance warning was a very odd experience.

makeitsuckless 12y ago

Obscure? Maybe if you were only into mainstream pop (there was still a much bigger gap between "commercial" and "alternative" back then than there is today, and there wasn't the easy access of the internet), but some of those bands where pretty big.

Joeboy 12y ago
They were big for indie bands. They were obscure compared to actually big bands like U2 or Dire Straits. Their names would be met with blank stares in most milieux. See the comment elsewhere about "organizing a shoegaze party at a local bar, low attendance of course and ending up being kicked out by the manager because "this isn't music!"."