Shoegaze
Shoegaze is a style of alternative rock that buries soft, dreamy vocals under thick layers of distorted, effects-heavy guitar.
It emerged in Britain in the late 1980s. Guitars are run through reverb, delay and distortion until they blur into a wall of sound, while the singing sits low in the mix like another instrument. The name came from the music press, mocking players who stared down at their effects pedals on stage. It is louder and noisier than dream pop, its closest relative.
Artists it is known for: My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Ride.
- Family
- Alternative & Indie
- On Spotify
- A current genre
- What it is
- A genre
- From
- United Kingdom, late 1980s
- Also called
- shoegazing
- Trackify listeners who play it
- 25%
About 21,000 of 83,000 Trackify listeners with public profiles have shoegaze among their top artists of the last four weeks. Rounded; updated 13 November 2026.
Shoegaze artists
Cigarettes After Sex
Deftones
Panchiko
Cocteau Twins
Mazzy Star
Title Fight
Slowdive
Duster
Superheaven
The Sundays
The shoegaze artists most Trackify listeners have in their top fifty. Each opens on Spotify.
Sources
The definition is written for this site from open sources, and was checked against them on 13 November 2026.