Depending on who you talk to, the word Shoegaze was a term used in either admiration or derision. The same sort of thing Indie had in the 1980's - you either loved what Indie represented or hated it as a bunch of pretentious swill.
Slowdive was probably most closely aligned with another Shoegaze band My Bloody Valentine. Added to their already complicated status was the additional assignment of Dream Pop - a genre of music that embraced electronics and loud expanses of guitars, and something you appreciated by smoking an awful lot of dope in the process.
Slowdive were together from 1989 to 1995 and had moderate glimmers of success during that years. Unfortunately, most of the Press weren't on their side and went to great lengths trashing their live gigs and album releases.
They did tour the U.S., in 1992 as support for Blur. And again, like their UK success, their U.S. success wasn't what was hoped for.
Tonight's track is off their second ep, Holding Our Breath. Catch The Breeze made the indie charts in the UK and was one of their early successes.
Sadly, the band broke up and went their separate ways in 1995. They have since morphed into other groups and have gone on to other things, including some solo projects.
On the whole, Slowdive have weathered the proverbial sands of time rather well. And whatever ill-will was generated by the press during the time has faded from memory, and at least it's possible now to be objective and appreciate what was attempted during a time when Music was going through a lot of changes. And those changes were fighting for recognition at the time and they don't seem that earth-shattering now.
Sounds rather tame and dreamy by comparison.
