I don't know if this is accurate or not, but when I saw The Joy Formidable, I remember thinking how they're loud as hell approach to hard rocking heavy music that wasn't metal or butt rock was basically standard during the grunge years, and now it's virtually absent in the age of chill wave and dream pop.  I also…

I don't know if this is accurate or not, but when I saw The Joy Formidable, I remember thinking how they're loud as hell approach to hard rocking heavy music that wasn't metal or butt rock was basically standard during the grunge years, and now it's virtually absent in the age of chill wave and dream pop.  I also…

I don't know if I'd call them a shoegaze band (they're far too heavy) but they put on the best concert I saw in 2011 and The Big Roar is like 75% flawless songwriting matched with basically perfect production.

I don't know if I'd call them a shoegaze band (they're far too heavy) but they put on the best concert I saw in 2011 and The Big Roar is like 75% flawless songwriting matched with basically perfect production.

I actually think shoegaze is the perfect name for the genre, in that it's both representative of something performers actually did, has a kind of poetic quality that overlaps with the sound of the genre, and is kind of funny.

I actually think shoegaze is the perfect name for the genre, in that it's both representative of something performers actually did, has a kind of poetic quality that overlaps with the sound of the genre, and is kind of funny.

Calling BJM shoegaze is a pretty big stretch stretch.  BJM never really had the same commitment to getting wildly experimental swaths of guitar noise to overlap tonally with a traditional melody that I think characterizes the genre.

Calling BJM shoegaze is a pretty big stretch stretch.  BJM never really had the same commitment to getting wildly experimental swaths of guitar noise to overlap tonally with a traditional melody that I think characterizes the genre.

Yeah, pretty much.  I disagree with the article's idea that Loveless' reputation makes it somehow unapproachable.  Certainly there's a ton of hype about Loveless, but it actually lives up to it.  That's hands down the gateway to shoegaze in my mind- it certainly was for me.

Yeah, pretty much.  I disagree with the article's idea that Loveless' reputation makes it somehow unapproachable.  Certainly there's a ton of hype about Loveless, but it actually lives up to it.  That's hands down the gateway to shoegaze in my mind- it certainly was for me.

That's a great album, but Loveless is just untouchable.  There are pretty big portions of Soulvaki's B Side that I skip.

That's a great album, but Loveless is just untouchable.  There are pretty big portions of Soulvaki's B Side that I skip.

I think I did mine on Nirvana and why same sex marriage should be legal (but this was in like 2003, mind you). Responses were mixed.

I think I did mine on Nirvana and why same sex marriage should be legal (but this was in like 2003, mind you). Responses were mixed.

That's insane, that was the song that got me into MBV.  "When You Sleep" might be the singularly most accessible and representative song of the entire genre.

That's insane, that was the song that got me into MBV.  "When You Sleep" might be the singularly most accessible and representative song of the entire genre.

I really love the tendency for shoegaze bands to open their albums with towering, swirling, psychedelic jams.  "Leave Them All Behind," "The Pink" from Medicine's The Buried Life, or even "Only Shallow."  Shoegaze bands really knew how to kick off their albums.

I really love the tendency for shoegaze bands to open their albums with towering, swirling, psychedelic jams.  "Leave Them All Behind," "The Pink" from Medicine's The Buried Life, or even "Only Shallow."  Shoegaze bands really knew how to kick off their albums.

It's pretty strange to experience the years long process of which critical perception of Rob Zombie gradually transmogrified from seeing him as a hyper-stylized, hackish dabbler and to one of the few remaining horror movie auteurs.

It's pretty strange to experience the years long process of which critical perception of Rob Zombie gradually transmogrified from seeing him as a hyper-stylized, hackish dabbler and to one of the few remaining horror movie auteurs.