What is the best-selling shoegaze album of all time?
Shoegaze is one of those musical trends that didn’t live for anywhere near as long as it should have, and I will die on that hill. Ethereality and airiness in music is something the rock scene distinctly lacks. It’s so focused on thrashing guitars and screaming vocals that sometimes you just need a bit of light and shade, a tiny hint of nuance.
And sure, when the 1990s rolled around and the blaze of Britpop was alight, we all rocked up and enjoyed the hell out of it. But in the moments where you stopped to catch your breath, didn’t you miss the softer edge and distorted tones of what had come before? Granted, Liam Gallagher and co certainly wouldn’t think so, but for those of us with an arguably more refined sonic palate, there is some reminiscence to be indulged in.
Of course, with the fullness of time, the popularity of shoegaze has come back around in recent years, but like with everything, you can’t help but herald the greats who pioneered the sub-genre. Take the likes of Curve, Cocteau Twins, or Slowdive, who all indulged in those dreamy distortions from an early point of the movement and were all the more lauded for it within ‘the scene that celebrates itself’.
But above them all stood one band who outdid them all in terms of longstanding heroism. They were the undisputed monarchs of shoegaze, My Bloody Valentine, and their seismic album Loveless, released in 1991. Reaching number 24 in the charts and selling 225,000 copies, as estimated by Rolling Stone, this was an album that, although it didn’t seem to make a huge commercial impact at the time, went on to be celebrated as a quintessential hallmark of shoegaze.
What happened to shoegaze after My Bloody Valentine?
Being considered one of your musical scene’s brightest lights is most definitely an honour, but it’s also a label that comes with a lot of weight and pressure. Indeed, despite healthy enough sales figures and a hero’s welcome waiting for them, the pressure of Loveless significantly took its toll on My Bloody Valentine who, after being dropped from their label and coming up trumps with any new material in the meantime, were forced to split up six years later, in 1997.
Naturally, with everyone from Brian Eno to Robert Smith and Billy Corgan lavishing Loveless in praise for the impact it had on their own music as well as the scene at large, it would be frankly absurd if My Bloody Valentine didn’t at least attempt to give it another go. That’s why, in 2013, they returned with the album mbv and won back all their critical praise, but it still didn’t replicate what had come before.
With shoegaze partially taking its place in the indie limelight once again, My Bloody Valentine will always hold their place in the scene’s history books, even if the ride was a little bumpy along the way. Who knows, maybe one day we’ll see a whole dreamy cultural resurgence, with shoegaze leading the way in terms of music? If that does happen, we at least know one band who might heed the call.
