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Shoegaze

Grangemouth, 4AD, 1979

Cocteau Twins

Cocteau Twins formed in Grangemouth, Scotland, in 1979, when Robin Guthrie and Will Heggie started playing together. Elizabeth Fraser joined in 1981, and after Heggie left, Simon Raymonde came in during 1983 to complete the best-known trio. Guthrie's effects-heavy guitars over a drum machine and Fraser's voice, often singing words that were barely words, gave 4AD its defining sound through the 1980s, from Treasure in 1984 on. Their 1990 album was their best-selling record in Britain. They later moved to Fontana and released Milk & Kisses in 1996, then split in 1997 while working on a ninth album. Guthrie and Raymonde started the label Bella Union. A reunion planned for 2005 was called off before it began.

Oxford, Creation, 1988

Ride

Ride formed in Oxford in 1988, with Mark Gardener and Andy Bell on vocals and guitars, Steve Queralt on bass and Laurence Colbert on drums. They signed to Creation and were among the first bands the press lumped together as shoegaze. Their 1990 debut album, all loud guitars and close harmonies, made the UK top twenty. Going Blank Again came in 1992, but as the sound changed the tensions grew, and they split in 1996. Bell later joined Oasis. They got back together in 2014, signed to Wichita, and have made three albums since, the latest Interplay in 2024. After a break while Bell toured with the Oasis reunion, they announced a UK tour for February 2027.

1983 — feedback and a near-riot

The Jesus and Mary Chain

Brothers Jim and William Reid formed the Jesus and Mary Chain in East Kilbride in 1983. They paid for their first Portastudio with their father's redundancy money and built a sound that ran Velvet Underground noise straight through Beach Boys melody. Early shows got properly chaotic. A 1985 London gig ended in something close to a riot and got the band banned by more than one venue. The debut album Psychocandy (1985) followed, and it is still the one people point to. Thirteen years on, Munki (1998) was the last album the brothers made together before the first of the band's several breakups.

London, 4AD, 1988

Lush

Lush formed in London in 1987, at first as the Baby Machines, and played their first show under the new name in March 1988. Miki Berenyi and Emma Anderson were at the centre, both singing and playing guitar, with Chris Acland on drums and Steve Rippon, later Phil King, on bass. 4AD signed them in 1989. After the mini-album Scar came Spooky in 1992, which reached the UK top ten. Split followed in 1994, and Lovelife, their best seller, in 1996, by which point the sound had brightened up towards Britpop. Chris Acland died in October 1996, and the band officially ended in 1998. They reunited in 2015 and 2016 and released an EP before splitting again. Berenyi now plays in Piroshka.

Coventry, Creation, 1990

Adorable

Adorable formed in Coventry in September 1990 out of a band called The Candy Thieves. Pete Fijalkowski sang and played guitar, Robert Dillam played guitar, Wil Williams bass and Kevin Gritton drums. Creation signed them in 1992, and their debut album, Against Perfection, made the UK chart the next year, putting shoegaze textures alongside bigger, more anthemic songs. Fake came out in 1994, but Creation dropped them that year, and they announced the split from the stage in Brussels at the end of a European tour. Fijalkowski went on to Polak and then a duo with Terry Bickers of the House of Love. Adorable reunited in 2019 for a run of UK shows, the Scala in London among them.

Wilmington, Delaware, 1990

Smashing Orange

Smashing Orange formed in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1990 around the siblings Rob and Sara Montejo on vocals, Rob also playing guitar, with Rick Hodgson on guitar, Steve Wagner on bass and Tim Supplee on drums. Unusually for an American band then, the British music press got to them first, and NME and Melody Maker covered their early singles on Native Records. A mini-album came out in 1991 and The Glass Bead Game in 1992. After that the sound drifted away from shoegaze towards heavier rock in a 1960s style. A final album on MCA in 1994 went down badly, and the band split in the mid-1990s. Elephant Stone gathered the early recordings in 2005, and Rob Montejo later formed The Sky Drops.

Lincoln, Nebraska, 1984

For Against

For Against formed in Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1984, after going through names that included Glue and Four Against One. At the core were Jeffrey Runnings on vocals and bass and Harry Dingman on guitar, with Greg Hill drumming in the early years. Their records on Independent Project Records, starting in 1987, made them one of very few American bands working in the shadowy, atmospheric vein of the British post-punk and shoegaze groups. Hill and Dingman left after the second album and Runnings kept going with new players. Dingman came back in 2004, Nick Buller joined on drums in 2007, and the last album came out in 2009. Captured Tracks put out a box set in 2013. Runnings died of cancer in March 2025.

Moncton, Sub Pop, 1990

Eric's Trip

Eric's Trip formed in Moncton, New Brunswick, in 1990, with Rick White on vocals and guitar, Julie Doiron on vocals and bass, Chris Thompson on guitar and, from 1991, Mark Gaudet on drums. They recorded a lot of their music at home on four-track machines, and it could be hushed and intimate one minute and buried in fuzz the next. Sub Pop signed them and put out three albums between 1993 and 1996. They split that year, during a tour of the United States. A rarities collection followed on Sappy Records in 1997. They got back together in 2001 and played shows until 2009, the SappyFest festival among them, while Doiron and White each built a long solo career.

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