Six incredibly underrated shoegaze albums

Or how you can create a great rock sound with the use of some guitar distortion and a set of foot pedals, among other things. At the time when shoegaze became a legitimate term in rock music back in the eighties, it was not predicted to last long, particularly when the grunge thing set in in the early nineties.

Yet, here we are today, decades on, and not only is shoegaze still around, but is now set as one of the more prominent rock genres that are still booming.

Maybe that booming has something to do with all those buzzing electric guitars and ever-growing sets of sound-modifying foot pedals shoegazers use (after all, constant changing of your guitar sound with pedals requires you to "gaze" at your shoes). Or, on the other hand, it has something to do with the modern shoegaze bands often referring to some of the defining albums that preceded them and defined the sound of the genre.

Here are just seven such albums that essentially remain as benchmarks for the shoegaze sound. (Oh, and one more thing, shoegaze is often mixed up with dream pop. And while the two genres do have close connections - the one being that they cropped up in a very close timeline - they are not the same, although both can sound quite great, thank you.)

These shoegaze albums are ridiculously good

Jesus and Mary Chain - Psychocandy

This album is often cited as one of the earliest examples of shoegaze, although it is not sure whether the Reid brothers, who are the backbone of the band, would label themselves as shoegazers. Yet, their buzzing, distorted guitar sound harking back to the early sixties garage bands and Velvet Underground in their White Light/White Heat mode dominate here, combined with some quite nifty vocal harmonies as an added touch. 

It is no wonder this Jesus and Mary Chain album was set out as a precedent and a blueprint for many bands and artists yet to come.