25th May 1991 was the first time the term ‘shoegaze’ had been used in some form in the music press. Slowdive were described as “hotly tipped shoe-gazers” in the news section of the NME
Stuart Maconie was the first journalist to feature the word shoegaze in an interview the following week in the NME.
Several weeks later the word shoegaze was used again in a review of Revolver. However the hyphen was back when Simon Williams said they “aren’t the shadow-lurking shoe-gazers they’ve been labelled.”
The rumour for years has been that Steve Lamacq had invented the word when reviewing Moose, however the first time the word was used with Moose in print was in an interview in the NME on the 29th June by none other than Steve Lamacq.
To celebrate 30 years since this historic moment in music history we’re broadcasting our hour long special ‘1991 – The Year Shoegaze Broke’ again.
This show goes through the year playing new releases month by month and highlighting the key events that shaped the year of shoegaze.
Tracks featured in the show are:
Spacemen 3 – Big City
Moose – Jack
Ride – Unfamiliar
The Boo Radleys – The Finest Kiss
Curve – Coast Is Clear
Slowdive – Catch The Breeze
The Telescopes – Flying
Revolver – Heaven Sent An Angel
Bleach – Dipping
Smashing Orange – Sugar
Moonshake – Gravity
Spiritualized – Run
Teenage Fanclub – Star Sign
Catherine Wheel – Texture
Swervedriver – Sunset
Belltower – In Hollow
Chapterhouse Mesmerise
My Bloody Valentine – To Here Knows When
Lush – For Love
The show was originally broadcast in May 2020 before Nat (Sonic Cathedral) and I decided to trawl through all the old music papers, hence in the show I mention the name comes from a review of Moose which we’ve since discovered isn’t actually true.
If anyone has any evidence to prove any of the above incorrect, feel free to send it though and I’ll update the post!