My Bloody Valentine formed in Dublin in 1983 around Kevin Shields and Colm Ó Cíosóig and wrote the shoegaze playbook. Loveless (1991) — the record that reportedly bankrupted Creation Records — is still the genre's high-water mark, with Isn't Anything (1988) and 2013's m b v rounding out the catalog. Explore My Bloody Valentine vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
My Bloody Valentine formed in Dublin in 1983 around Kevin Shields and Colm Ó Cíosóig. The classic lineup solidified with the addition of Bilinda Butcher (1987) and Debbie Googe (1985). They are widely cited as the foundational shoegaze band - establishing the foundational template for the genre with their distinctive layered guitar feedback, glide guitar technique (Shields's signature use of the tremolo bar), and atmospheric production approaches. Their 1991 album Loveless - recorded over a extended period at multiple studios with enormous cost overruns (reportedly bankrupting Creation Records) - is widely cited as one of the most important albums in shoegaze and broader alternative rock history. After Loveless, the band entered an extended hiatus, returning in 2013 with m b v (recorded across an even more extended period) and again with experimental EPs (Glider, Tremolo) for subsequent vinyl reissues. They have toured intermittently across multiple decades. Their foundational influence on shoegaze, dream pop, and broader alternative music is widely documented.
My Bloody Valentine's sound is foundational to shoegaze as a recognized genre - combining shoegaze, dream pop, noise pop, alternative rock, and noise rock with Shields's distinctive vocal delivery (Bilinda Butcher providing co-lead vocals), extensive distorted glide-guitar work (using the tremolo bar to bend pitches continuously), and atmospheric production approaches. Their foundational influence on shoegaze is widely documented.
Original Creation Records pressings of Isn't Anything (1988) and Loveless (1991) are foundational items in shoegaze collecting, with collector premiums.
Listeners new to My Bloody Valentine typically start with Loveless (1991).
