My Bloody Valentine
Irish-English pioneers who defined shoegaze with Kevin Shields' revolutionary guitar techniques and production innovations. The band formed in Dublin in 1983, stumbling through various lineups before finding their voice in 1988 with the You Made Me Realise EP. "We were not really a proper band," Shields recalled of the early days. "We just did gigs and rehearsed occasionally. It was basically just noise." Everything changed when they signed to Creation Records. Alan McGee saw them support Biff Bang Pow! in Canterbury and was genuinely surprised by how much he liked them. Their 1991 masterpiece Loveless—recorded over two years at a cost of £250,000—became the genre-defining statement, nearly bankrupting Creation in the process. Shields' innovations included his "glide guitar" technique using customized Fender tremolo systems, reverse digital reverb, and the use of samplers to manipulate feedback. "We cited hip-hop production—particularly Public Enemy and the Bomb Squad—as inspiration," Shields explained, drawn to sounds that felt "half-buried or muted, a real sense of sounds being semi-decayed, or destroyed, but then re-used." The band went silent after 1991, with Shields working on a follow-up that consumed years. They reunited in 2007, finally releasing m b v in 2013 to universal acclaim.
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Discography
Isn't Anything
Kevin Shields' breakthrough that showcased his revolutionary glide guitar technique and established MBV as shoegaze's defining innovators. Released in 1988 after the band signed to Creation Records, the album marked the moment when My Bloody Valentine found their voice. Shields developed his signature tremolo arm manipulations combined with reverse digital reverb from an Alesis Midiverb II, creating that warping effect that would define the genre. "We basically had no set plans about anything," Shields later explained. The album proved shoegaze wasn't just noise—it was carefully constructed sonic architecture.
Loveless
The genre's magnum opus, recorded over two years at nineteen different studios at a cost of £250,000. Released in November 1991, it established production techniques that defined shoegaze and influenced generations. Kevin Shields would record a guitar part, listen back, decide the tone wasn't quite right, and start over. Engineers were hired and fired. "When we started, I was borrowing money from myself when I should have been paying tax bills," Shields told Rolling Stone. "Instead, I was like, 'No, let's do this. It will only take six months.'" The techniques—burying vocals, layering guitars until they became orchestral, using Akai samplers to manipulate feedback—had never been heard before. Initial press reaction was muted, overshadowed by grunge, but among musicians it was revelatory. Billy Corgan used it as the template for Siamese Dream. Decades later, it would be recognized as one of the greatest albums ever made.
m b v
After 22 years, MBV's third album arrived to universal acclaim, validating the long wait and proving the sound's continued relevance. Released in February 2013 with no warning via the band's website, it crashed the servers. Kevin Shields had spent years working on it, with some sessions dating back to 1996 and 1997. "We spent £200,000 on equipment for the tour," he said of their 2008 reunion, because they wanted to recreate the live sound properly. The album proved that shoegaze's influence hadn't faded—if anything, it had grown. A new generation discovered My Bloody Valentine through the internet, unencumbered by the baggage of 1990s British music journalism. m b v vindicated Shields' perfectionism and showed that the sound he pioneered in 1991 still had potency.