Your way in
Shoegaze 1989
Walls of cascading guitar effects with the vocals buried in the mix. Named after the habit of staring at the pedalboard on stage.
- Heaviness
- 4
- Speed
- 4
- Melody
- 8
- Where from
- United Kingdom
- Tempo
- 100-140 bpm
- Song length
- 4-7 min
- Written about
- Desire, Dissociation, Weather, Words you cannot make out, which is the arrangement's decision rather than an accident
- Vocals
- Sung
Why this one
| You said | Shoegaze | Match | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Singing When someone is singing, what should come out? | clean | 100% | ×3 |
| There, but not the point How much weight do you want behind it? | 4 out of 10 | 90% | ×2 |
| Slow. Let it take its time. What pace? | 4 out of 10 | 70% | ×2 |
| This century Does it matter when it was made? | 1989 | 56% | ×1 |
| Being young and out late What should the words be about? | Desire, Dissociation, Weather, Words you cannot make out, which is the arrangement's decision rather than an accident | 50% | ×1 |
| No. Texture and force are enough. Do you want a tune you could hum afterwards? | 8 out of 10 | 30% | ×1 |
| Weighted mean | 76% | ||
Ranked over all 150 genres in the encyclopedia, on the 6 answers you gave, weighted vocals 3, heaviness 2, pace 2, era 1, about 1, melody 1 out of 10. Shoegaze leads the next by 1 point. Where two genres score the same the broader one wins, because a genre with subgenres under it is somewhere to carry on from and a leaf is a full stop.
Five records, in this order
- 1Start one step outside
Pixies, Doolittle 1989
Pixies - Doolittle. Cobain admitted he was simply trying to write a Pixies song.
- 2The one to put on first
My Bloody Valentine, Loveless 1991
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless. Nobody has yet reproduced the sound exactly.
- 3Then
- 4Then
Ride, Nowhere 1990
- 5Then
Lush, Spooky 1992
The first is the entry point for Alternative rock, one step outside, so the second record has something to be heard against. After it come Shoegaze's essential records in the order the encyclopedia lists them. Every one of these has a page here with links out to somewhere it can be played.
If that is not it
-
Garage rock revival 75%
A reaction to nu metal and radio pop: crisp guitars, plain production, narrow suits. It put guitar rock back on festival bills in the 2000s.
5 steps from Shoegaze, meeting it only at Rock.
The way into Garage rock revival -
Desert rock 74%
The hypnotic, jam-based side of stoner rock, with lots of space between the notes and a warm bass tone.
6 steps from Shoegaze, meeting it only at Rock.
The way into Desert rock
Not simply the second and third of the ranking: those are almost always near neighbours of the first, which is three names for one suggestion. An alternate has to sit at least 4 steps through the tree from the headline and from the other alternate, which is the same floor the "sounds like this, but isn't" panel uses.
What your answers ruled out
- Singing put 54 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Black metal, Death metal, Post-hardcore. Worth 3 of 10.
- Slow. Let it take its time. put 22 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Hardcore punk, Black metal, Death metal. Worth 2 of 10.
- This century put 43 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Punk rock, Hardcore punk, Blues rock. Worth 1 of 10.
- Being young and out late put 115 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Punk rock, Hardcore punk, Alternative rock. Worth 1 of 10.
- No. Texture and force are enough. put 40 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Folk metal, Folk rock, Emo. Worth 1 of 10.
Counted as genres scoring 20% or less on that answer alone. A recommendation that only shows what it chose is hiding half of what it did.