My Bloody Valentine

The original My Bloody Valentine sounded nothing like the post-1988 model, which introduced a groundbreaking studio concoction of discordant guitar and effects and fragile melodies, kicking off Britain's late-'80s dream-pop scene.

After moving from New York to Ireland at age six, Kevin Shields befriended Colm O'Ciosoig, who shared his obsession with pop music. In 1984 the two formed My Bloody Valentine, named for a B movie, with singer Dave Conway. It wasn’t until 1988's Isn’t Anything, however, that MBV locked into its unusual, influential sound, inspired equally by the churning guitars of the Jesus and Mary Chain, the melodic sense of the Cocteau Twins, and the dissonance of Sonic Youth. (All of their U.K. releases from 1988 were subsequently released in the U.S.) Sire signed MBV that same year, but it took a full three years for the band to complete its full-length magnum opus, Loveless, which cost a reported $500,000 and nearly sunk its British label. (The LP reached only #24 in the U.K. and didn’t chart in the States.) The band’s approach onstage - motionless and reserved - popularized the phrase “shoe gazers” to describe their (and those who followed in their footsteps) passive, introspective demeanors.

My Bloody Valentine has yet to return after the deeply influential Loveless. After moving to Island Records, plans for a followup were reportedly hobbled by technical problems. Nevertheless, up through the late ’90s, Shields promised that another album was imminent. By then, though, bassist Deborah Ann Googe had joined former Stereolab keyboardist Katharine Gifford in Snowpony, which released The Slow Motion World of Snowpony in 1998. O’Ciosoig joind Clear Spot. And Shields occasionally appeared on records by the likes of J Mascis and Dinosaur Jr and Experimental Audio Research before finally joining Primal Scream on tour in 2000 as a result of coproducing that group’s XTRMNTR album.

from The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001)