Noun

Singular shoegazing

Plural uncountable

shoegazing (uncountable)

1. (British) A type of Britpop or other indie music of the 1990s, characterised by a dreamlike sound making much use of effect pedals, and by a detached or introverted performance style.

Synonyms

• shoegaze

Verb

shoegazing

1. Present participle of shoegaze.

Shoegazing (also known as shoegaze) is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged from the United Kingdom in the late 1980s. It lasted until the mid 1990s with a critical zenith reached in 1990 and 1991. The British music press—particularly NME and Melody Maker—named this style shoegazing because the musicians in these bands stood relatively still during live performances, whilst concentrating on their effects pedals on the floor, hence the idea that they were gazing at their shoes.

The shoegazing sound is typified by significant use of guitar effects, and indistinguishable vocal melodies that blended into the creative noise of the guitars. A lump description given to shoegazing and other affiliated bands in London in the early 1990s was The Scene That Celebrates Itself. In the 1990s, shoegazing groups were pushed aside by the American grunge movement, forcing the relatively unknown bands to break up or reinvent their style altogether. Recent times have seen a renewed interest in the genre among "nu-gaze" bands.