Shoegaze was a musical genre that emerged in the UK in the late 1980s, characterised by a droning pedal-heavy sound, lilting vocals, textured distortions and guitar reverb. Journalists and music critics coined the term partly as a way of mocking the band’s performances and style, as due to the numerous pedals used, they joked that the artists spent most of their gigs quite literally gazing at their shoes. It was also a way of mocking the bands themselves for not being ‘rock and roll' enough and hiding behind their floppy fringes.
The Cocteau Twins are hailed as the original shoegaze band, inspiring other iconic pioneers of the genre such as My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, The Jesus and Mary Chain and Chapterhouse. Despite all of these bands sounding distinctly different, incorporating different elements of rock, pop, and different methods of layering reverb, fuzz and distortion, they all share one thing in common, they’re all white. Even though shoegaze was impressive in its approach to gender equality and representation, it was a very white-dominated genre and the black artists who helped build and influence the movement have faded slightly into the background, and never received the same amount of critical success.
When it comes to tracing shoegaze’s influences, it’s often difficult to know how far back to look. The most obvious influences being the heavy guitars and noise of Hüsker Dü, The Cure, and The Velvet Underground, or even the reverb, layering and distortion on the Beatles iconic track, ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’. Yet I want to argue that the genre’s influences can be traced back a little further to the mixed-race trio The Ronettes and their legendary 1963 track ‘Be My Baby’. Hailing from Spanish-Harlem in New York and an African-American, Puerto-Rican, Cherokee family, the Ronettes, produced by Phil Spector, were one of the first influencers of the 80s shoegaze movement. Spector pioneered his ‘wall of sound’ production on their track, making use of an echo chamber and tape echoes to create reverb and texture, bringing the Ronettes’ ‘Be My Baby’ to its fullest sound potential. The iconic drumbeat introduction of three beats on the bass drum, followed by the snap of snare and tambourine, was directly sampled in the infamous shoegazers The Jesus and Mary Chain’s album Psychocandy and on both ‘Just Like Honey’ and ‘Sowing Seeds’.
If we continue tracing black influence in shoegaze, we reach the pioneers of the genre itself, British band A.R. Kane. Started in 1986 by Alex Ayuli and Rudy Tambala, heavily inspired by The Cocteau Twins, A.R. Kane created their own unique sound that blended feedback, experimental and psychedelic noise pop with dreamier dub and free jazz. In this way they pioneered later acid house and trip hop movements and Tambala claims they were one of the first shoegaze bands. In an interview with The Guardian in 2012, he said, “My Bloody Valentine were a jangly indie band until we put out ‘Baby Milk Snatcher’ (1988)”, “suddenly they slowed it all down and layered it with feedback”. Music critics struggled to label A.R. Kane, as they did not fit any specific genres or any stereotypes of black artists, and so messily referred to them as the ‘Black Jesus and Mary Chain’, which encouraged Tambala to coin the term ‘dream pop’ and help encapsulate their sound. A sound which was so ahead of its time and so creative, its legacy is seen in artists now like Four Tet or Burial and not only spans, but created several genres.
Another hugely important black band within shoegaze are The Veldt, started by American twins Daniel and Danny Chavis, they pioneered a unique sound that blended moody soul with shoegazing alternative rock. Their iconic album Afrodisiac showcased distortion-heavy soul, textured guitars and honeyed vocals and much like A.R. Kane, The Veldt proved that black artists could create what they wanted and did not have to restrict themselves to the pre-established boundaries. Yet record labels and music critics never understood this, they were labelled as ‘difficult’ and no one knew quite how to market them as they did not fit any of the conventions of black bands. Producer Doc McKinney who has worked with black artists like the Weeknd and Santigold, recalls the influence The Veldt had on him. He said: “Danny’s a very inspiring dude. For black artists doing anything outside of the bubble, beyond what’s derivative of what white kids are doing, being able to express yourself honestly is not celebrated at all. So when I heard these guys, it gave me confidence”.
Black artists inspired not only shoegaze and the creation of dream pop, but also created a long-lasting legacy of black creativity. McKinney, referencing The Veldt’s way of layering textured atmospheric guitars with beats, calls this “the most influential new sound in R&B”, and we can see it echoed in newer artists like TV on the Radio or Miguel. A.R. Kane’s sound and ideas inspired countless new waves of music and experimental production movements, and show that black creativity and vision is limitless and we should hold record labels, producers and those within the music industry accountable and allow black artists the same chance for success.
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