The House of Love: The ill-fated pioneers of the Shoegaze movement
From the very moment that the media crowned a movement at the dawn of the 1990s, shoegaze was positioned as the spiritual successor to the jangly psychedelia that The Byrds pioneered in the 1960s. Many parallels exist in the ethereal tones of the respective bowl-cut generations, with the boundary-pushing groups who hit their creative stride in the late 1980s picking up on the waltzing psychedelic tones and making them their own. Whilst the most prominent names remain the likes of Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr. and The Stone Roses, another group had a defining impact on shoegaze, helping to lay its sturdy foundations: The House of Love.
The band, formed in London, were one of the ultimate acts of the era, a group that was remarkably ahead of its time. Fusing the shimmering guitar melodies of Fifth Dimension-era The Byrds, the intellectually robust songwriting of The Smiths, and the expansive sensibility of the mid-1980s ‘Big Music’, The House of Love created a sound that was completely unique but strangely familiar. This stylistic verve made them one of Britain’s most revered groups between 1987 and 1993.
For many, the band’s best period was underpinned by their first two records, 1988’s The House of Love and, somewhat confusingly, 1990’s The House of Love (known as Fontana or The Butterfly Album by fans). This was when the partnership of frontman Guy Chadwick and their prodigal young lead guitarist, Terry Bickers, was perceived to have been at its best. Demonstrating this status, following the release of their debut, the duo was even likened to The Smiths’ Morrissey and Johnny Marr by elements of the media.
Although their sophomore effort is their most refined, it was during the recording process that the cracks between Chadwick and Bickers started to show, with drugs and egos taking hold. Ultimately, the band needed strong personal and business guidance, but it never came.
Compounding the strain on proceedings was that they had recently left the hottest record label of the day, the amateurish yet dedicated Creation Records. The House of Love were drawn away by the major label, Fontana, and their decision was ultimately fuelled by Chadwick’s ambitions outgrowing what he saw as the limited parameters of Alan McGee’s company.
As well as struggling with personal issues, Bickers was unhappy with the implications of the band’s deal with Fontana and would acrimoniously leave the fold during the early stage of the 60-date tour not long after the record’s completion. Chadwick would later describe the move from Creation to Fontana as the worst mistake of The House of Love’s career.
The argument of their first two records being their best is a contested point by fans. Much brilliance followed those projects, with 1992’s Babe Rainbow also a fine moment, unfairly overlooked because of Bickers’ departure. Even their most recent effort, 2022’s A State of Grace, which features a new iteration of the band, is an exciting body of work, with Chadwick and his latest posse keeping the flame of The House of Love burning brightly. Uncustomarily swaggering, the group’s early influences of The Rolling Stones and The Velvet Underground are heard more clearly than ever before.
Whilst Chadwick has seemingly been working to put the ghosts of The House of Love’s early period to bed since then, this will never stop the group from being spoken about as one of the defining influences of the original crop of shoegaze bands. They made a significant impact when they first broke through, with the quality of their work in the early period impossible to ignore.
Whilst many acts from the era mentioned The House of Love as influential, the two they are most connected with are Ride and Slowdive. These two bands drew on their ethereal melodies and penchant for soundscapes more heavily than any others. Whether it be the glistening guitars of Ride, or the moving vocal melodies of Slowdive, the hallmarks of The House of Love on both bands and the rest of the scene have always been clear.
Asked to describe the musicians who influenced Ride when speaking to Pop Matters in 2003, frontman Mark Gardener noted The House of Love and the other “noisy” bands of the time. He recalled: “We liked the noisy bands of the time. When we were at art college we went to see My Bloody Valentine, House of Love, Stone Roses and Sonic Youth. I think these all had a lot of influence on us in the early days as they were great gigs. Influences changed as we discovered more and more music. I guess any music that you love will always be some kind of influence. That’s a hell of a lot of music.”
Less descriptive in his account, sitting down with Penny Black in 2016, Slowdive’s Neil Halstead was asked to name the other acts who inspired him alongside the Lazy-era My Bloody Valentine. He listed the most eminent groups of the late 1980s: “The Jesus and Mary Chain, Sonic Youth, the Cocteau Twins, the Byrds, AR Kane, Dinosaur Jr., the House of Love…”
So what does Guy Chadwick have to say about The House of Love’s connection to shoegaze? During an interview with Pop Matters in 2022, he was re-informed that the band were a “huge influence” on acts such as Ride, Slowdive and Lush and was asked if he could hear his work in that of contemporary bands. He said: “I don’t specifically listen out for that, so I really don’t know. A lot of bands really liked us when we were around 30 years ago and were inspired by us. That’s going to have a knock-on effect—bands like Radiohead, the Verve, and the Stone Roses.”
Typically diplomatic, he continued: “I don’t listen to commercial radio. When I do listen, I never say, ‘This is shit’. You have to be pretty good to get on the radio or to get people to buy your music, and that’s the way it’s always been. I know a lot of people who, when they get a little older, say, ‘Oh, music isn’t as good as when I was a kid,’ but I don’t feel that. Music evolves. Occasionally, you’ll hear a brilliant song, and I’ve always been more into songs than production. There is some great stuff around. I have two daughters, and they both play music to me, and I always like it. Good music is good music.”
