I don't know why people are rubbishing you.
I remember reading a review of Milk & Kisses by the Cocteaus when it came out, so that must have been in '96. It started off with words to the effect of "The Cocteau Twins have recently lost their crown of best music to fuck to to Massive Attack, but they're still giving it a good shot..."
Half the MBV songs that anyone understands the lyrics to are about sex. Cigarette in Your Bed. Swallow. Slow...
It's music made by young people with big inexpressible emotions. Any guesses as to what those emotions primarily entail?
I think somehow a lot of people who've come to shoegaze over the past few years have the impression that is lonely, depressive music. They must hear something different, because the vague, indeterminate shapes and sounds, especially of Loveless, are so inescapably sensual. It's physical, emotional music.
Yes! Reddit is definitely skewing this towards the meloncholic direction but itās really subjective! Shoegaze (and by extension dream-pop) is a much wider genre than people give it credit for, esp here, so it can certainly contain the sad feelings the people here are speaking on but it also has a lot of erotic sensual sounds
Personally I happen to love shoegaze for both of those things and can probably find a shoegaze song for either of those moods, maybe even the same song idk
Cocteau Twins, some MBV, and Rumskib specifically feel erotic or at the very least romantic for me
At times I do get that feeling with specific tracks, but generally no. Shoegaze is melancholy, or spinning in love while the world stands still, or moving at hyperspeed through a sonic wormhole, but rarely erotic. Thatās just me though.. where the genre could be erotic, itās frequently romantic.
Soft as snow but warm inside?? Bro mbv is such a euphoric erotic band in terms of song writing Are people in these comments just like the biggest posers of all time or something. Idk how you could disagree with op
Man, don't want to be all elder statements but after a read through, I have to agree. There is a sexless sterility that has tried to sneak its way into this genre in recent years and some of that is starting to make sense to me now. Shoegaze isn't sexless virgin music though. It was born out of a mix of punk rock, goth, seedy, smokey clubs, drug experimentation, and lots of fucking.
Imagine the shadiest shit young people can get up to and me and my two other shoegaze loving buddies probably engaged in it. We were in a gang of skateboarding industrial kids, gutter punks, and metal heads. Your prime dating pool if you wanted to be with someone that didn't like atrocious music was goths if you were a shoegaze fan back in the day. And goths were doing crazy rave shit (including the drugs) before that became its own thing. That whole scene was extremely erotic.
I think you all took a wrong turn at Enya somewhere and mistook genres.
Soft as snow and warm inside /
Penetrate, you cannot hide /
Feeling lost forever, really need you /
Feeling dark and feeling true /
This is all I ever knew /
Soft as skin in leather and I whisper, "You" /
...
Touch your head, then your hair /
Softer, softer everywhere /
Fingertips are burning, can I touch you there? /
Soft as velvet, eyes can't see /
Bring me close to ecstasy /
High away to heaven, and I'm coming too /
Yes. Just look at the covers or read the lyrics. If 70s cock rock is penetrative wham bam thank you maam sex, shoegaze was the music of prolonged foreplay and cunnilingus. And the artists were aware of that in in the 1989-91 heyday.
I feel that, i donāt rlly pay attention to their lyrics cause i can never understand what theyāre saying lmfao just sick sounding washing machine noises
It's a genre that from its beginning kind of mixed masculinity and feminity and the shared dream space between them. You don't have shoegaze without men and women who have been intimately engaged before.
You can trace that back to Siouxsie and the Banshees (Steve Severin and Sioux were romantically involved when they started the band). Then the Cocteau Twins, who were heavily influenced by the Banshees, included Liz Frazer and Robin Guthrie when they were together. Neil and Rachel from Slowdive were a couple (Slowdive comes from the name of a Banshees song for those unaware).
So yes, there was some fucking between band members that lead to this genre even being created and continuing to exist. I think that lends heavily to the underlying erotic elements. In fact, I think a lot of wannabe shoegaze bands overlook it as a main component that's hard to replicate. That said, there are some solo artists like Tanukichan and Launder that still pull off incorporating a bit of that dreamy sexual energy on their own.
Also, Kevin Shields and Bilinda Butcher of MBV were very briefly linked as a couple when Bilinda first joined the band circa 1987-88. Not much is made of this because it didn't last and she had kids from a previous relationship but many of the songs can be interpreted parallel to Kevin and Bilinda's time together.
Everyoneās different. Itās not cerebral at all to me. For me and my wife shoegaze is absolutely the top erotic music genre. Cocteau Twins #1 for sexy time for like 40 years now lol.
Hot take: Shoegaze was an overtly sexual music genre from the beginning; "Just like Honey" "Soft as Snow" "Feed me with your Kiss" are not subtle at all and came from a brash post punk, loud indie rock aesthetic as mentioned by some posts below. Fans who were around when the J&M Chain and MBV were starting out, understand this completely.
Some more recent fans to the genre have a more melancholic interpretation of shoegaze fed from years of emo music and introspection for a genre that diverges far from current mainstream popular music. It can still be sexual but in a dysfunctional way fed with guilt and morose regret.
Not saying that shoegaze is always full-on horny and has as much diversity on topics as any other, but:
> Some more recent fans to the genre have a more melancholic interpretation of shoegaze fed from years of emo music and introspection for a genre that diverges far from current mainstream popular music. It can still be sexual but in a dysfunctional way fed with guilt and morose regret.
What a massive downgrade on multiple levels...
That said, I've seen this general outlook applied to the original shoegaze acts too (usually through really shitty memes), so the outlook has been there for a while. Again, melancholy and break up is in shoegaze like in any other genres, but the "I am an introvert who can't get women" outlook always struck me as weird considering how much of the genre is about sex and made by club-going people.
I feel that way too but that would be a bit dishonest to some of the obscure and genuine shoegaze bands of the time. Alot of them paved the way for the 2020s revival.
Itās so true! So sensual and intimate. Not just in terms of lyrics but also how songs are sung and rhythm / stillness are reminiscent of intimacy. I think thatās the most amazing thing about Shoegaze! The fact that something so primal and personal can be captured through music.
Learn something about lovemaking you Incels! The lovers in coition become one being, just as the instruments and vocals in To Here Knows Where blur into one uniform sound.
No. Not even slightly. I donāt think Iāve ever had the same thoughts listening to *any* shoegaze that Iāve had while listening toā¦
R&B, soul, funk, disco, lords of acid, lounge, etcā¦
Are there shoegaze songs that compliment the mood? 100%. The genre in general? Not in the slightest.
Like quoting one song defines a genre. By this definition rock, metal, pop, opera, country, western, rap, noise, industrial, drum and bass, trance, and so many more are erotic too.
No, but I have done a lot of making out and some other things while some shoegaze played in the background. But oddly enough, I never viewed it as sensual or erotic.
one might consider absence as a part of presence. Just how color purple in reality is just the absence of green, the incels here are the absence of erotism. In this way, yes, shoegaze is extremely erotic
I see where youāre coming from but honestly not at all. The opposite almost. Shoegaze feels like solitude and serenity to me, like floating through space surrounded by colors or watching a really beautiful sunrise.
this is a very common take one that i still do not entirely understand although certain bands seem to fit this bill however they tend to be the bands i'm less into so perhaps that's why i feel a disconnect with this label
that or general s*xual trauma
Bros listening to freakygaze
šÆš»š®šŖš“šgaze
why are people acting like this is crazy? a lot of shoegaze bands have a sort of whispery sound to their vocals which definitely seems very intimate
MBV f\*cks.
I was just thinking that My Bloody Valentineās Loveless is pure sex in every sense of the word.
Literally first albums name was ecstasy
Loveless is the first record I got laid to, always a good choice if youāre looking for s x musics.
Especially ātouchedā I just play it on repeat tbh
I do have some fond memories of MBV and a particular relationship. Loveless ironically is a fantastic love making album.
I don't know why people are rubbishing you. I remember reading a review of Milk & Kisses by the Cocteaus when it came out, so that must have been in '96. It started off with words to the effect of "The Cocteau Twins have recently lost their crown of best music to fuck to to Massive Attack, but they're still giving it a good shot..." Half the MBV songs that anyone understands the lyrics to are about sex. Cigarette in Your Bed. Swallow. Slow... It's music made by young people with big inexpressible emotions. Any guesses as to what those emotions primarily entail?
I think somehow a lot of people who've come to shoegaze over the past few years have the impression that is lonely, depressive music. They must hear something different, because the vague, indeterminate shapes and sounds, especially of Loveless, are so inescapably sensual. It's physical, emotional music.
lick lick lick and suck suck suck
mbv have at least five songs about blowjobs
Which ones other then slow?? (I love blowjobs)
To Here Knows when alludes to it. Soft as Snow, Cupid Come.. So many tbh
Swallow and Sunny Sundae Smile as wellĀ Honestly wasn't thinking of To Here Knows When but I think you're right lol
"your red button falls from my mouth" - only lyric I can make out from the song lol
Huh i found cupid come to be like sexual frustration not what you thought of at all
well, username checks out
TIL I haven't paid attention to the lyrics.
Slow slow slow slowwww
Yes! Reddit is definitely skewing this towards the meloncholic direction but itās really subjective! Shoegaze (and by extension dream-pop) is a much wider genre than people give it credit for, esp here, so it can certainly contain the sad feelings the people here are speaking on but it also has a lot of erotic sensual sounds Personally I happen to love shoegaze for both of those things and can probably find a shoegaze song for either of those moods, maybe even the same song idk Cocteau Twins, some MBV, and Rumskib specifically feel erotic or at the very least romantic for me
At times I do get that feeling with specific tracks, but generally no. Shoegaze is melancholy, or spinning in love while the world stands still, or moving at hyperspeed through a sonic wormhole, but rarely erotic. Thatās just me though.. where the genre could be erotic, itās frequently romantic.
> itās frequently romantic. lick lick lick and suck suck suck very romantic
It often feels sensual, like musical cushions. Sometimes organic, like the ocean or windy canyons. But it doesn't feel sexual to me.
Soft as snow but warm inside?? Bro mbv is such a euphoric erotic band in terms of song writing Are people in these comments just like the biggest posers of all time or something. Idk how you could disagree with op
Man, don't want to be all elder statements but after a read through, I have to agree. There is a sexless sterility that has tried to sneak its way into this genre in recent years and some of that is starting to make sense to me now. Shoegaze isn't sexless virgin music though. It was born out of a mix of punk rock, goth, seedy, smokey clubs, drug experimentation, and lots of fucking. Imagine the shadiest shit young people can get up to and me and my two other shoegaze loving buddies probably engaged in it. We were in a gang of skateboarding industrial kids, gutter punks, and metal heads. Your prime dating pool if you wanted to be with someone that didn't like atrocious music was goths if you were a shoegaze fan back in the day. And goths were doing crazy rave shit (including the drugs) before that became its own thing. That whole scene was extremely erotic. I think you all took a wrong turn at Enya somewhere and mistook genres.
Iāve banged to it and Iāll bang again šš
šš Ftfy Hope you and your partner are ok š
Youāre right but Reddit feels like gaslighting you.
She always does that š *fuzzed out guitar riff*
I didn't know about that. But I do find pastrami to be the most sensual of all the salted, cured meats...
Over jamon iberico? What kind of savage are you?
Ayyy, the total disregard for gabagool ova here will not stand. What kind of stunad are you? š¤
Y'all tripping. Sea urchin. Learn it. Live it. Love it.
Shoegaze and sexš
Soft as snow and warm inside / Penetrate, you cannot hide / Feeling lost forever, really need you / Feeling dark and feeling true / This is all I ever knew / Soft as skin in leather and I whisper, "You" / ... Touch your head, then your hair / Softer, softer everywhere / Fingertips are burning, can I touch you there? / Soft as velvet, eyes can't see / Bring me close to ecstasy / High away to heaven, and I'm coming too /
To me it's more cerebral and meditative. It gets my brain alpha waves going.
Good sex is *very* meditative
Yes. Just look at the covers or read the lyrics. If 70s cock rock is penetrative wham bam thank you maam sex, shoegaze was the music of prolonged foreplay and cunnilingus. And the artists were aware of that in in the 1989-91 heyday.
oh yes my bloody valentine? more like my freaky valentine
You should probably take a break from social media š¤Ŗ
God forbid someone notice something about their favorite music and talk about it š¤Ŗ
you too
Fuck yeah. Best shoegaze for me hits like ecstasy
it feels like it belongs in a bedroom for sure
MBV popularized the genre and are one of the horniest bands ever, so fair
[even that 50 second instrumental track on Loveless is about sex](https://x.com/MBVofficial/status/1456382721933123584)
How are they one of the horniest bands ever, genuinely curious because i could see deftones on that but mbv??
Idk man, basically all their songs are about sex. that's kinda it
I feel that, i donāt rlly pay attention to their lyrics cause i can never understand what theyāre saying lmfao just sick sounding washing machine noises
Lmao
It's a genre that from its beginning kind of mixed masculinity and feminity and the shared dream space between them. You don't have shoegaze without men and women who have been intimately engaged before. You can trace that back to Siouxsie and the Banshees (Steve Severin and Sioux were romantically involved when they started the band). Then the Cocteau Twins, who were heavily influenced by the Banshees, included Liz Frazer and Robin Guthrie when they were together. Neil and Rachel from Slowdive were a couple (Slowdive comes from the name of a Banshees song for those unaware). So yes, there was some fucking between band members that lead to this genre even being created and continuing to exist. I think that lends heavily to the underlying erotic elements. In fact, I think a lot of wannabe shoegaze bands overlook it as a main component that's hard to replicate. That said, there are some solo artists like Tanukichan and Launder that still pull off incorporating a bit of that dreamy sexual energy on their own.
Also, Kevin Shields and Bilinda Butcher of MBV were very briefly linked as a couple when Bilinda first joined the band circa 1987-88. Not much is made of this because it didn't last and she had kids from a previous relationship but many of the songs can be interpreted parallel to Kevin and Bilinda's time together.
I only listen to beach house naked
Lover of Mine is a truly sexy song.
Everyoneās different. Itās not cerebral at all to me. For me and my wife shoegaze is absolutely the top erotic music genre. Cocteau Twins #1 for sexy time for like 40 years now lol.
I would say that itās autoerotic at bestā¦ Feels more like maladaptive daydreaming about an unrequited fantasy, though
so erotic in fact that when i listen to medicine it gives my ear tinnitus
me
Hot take: Shoegaze was an overtly sexual music genre from the beginning; "Just like Honey" "Soft as Snow" "Feed me with your Kiss" are not subtle at all and came from a brash post punk, loud indie rock aesthetic as mentioned by some posts below. Fans who were around when the J&M Chain and MBV were starting out, understand this completely. Some more recent fans to the genre have a more melancholic interpretation of shoegaze fed from years of emo music and introspection for a genre that diverges far from current mainstream popular music. It can still be sexual but in a dysfunctional way fed with guilt and morose regret.
Not saying that shoegaze is always full-on horny and has as much diversity on topics as any other, but: > Some more recent fans to the genre have a more melancholic interpretation of shoegaze fed from years of emo music and introspection for a genre that diverges far from current mainstream popular music. It can still be sexual but in a dysfunctional way fed with guilt and morose regret. What a massive downgrade on multiple levels... That said, I've seen this general outlook applied to the original shoegaze acts too (usually through really shitty memes), so the outlook has been there for a while. Again, melancholy and break up is in shoegaze like in any other genres, but the "I am an introvert who can't get women" outlook always struck me as weird considering how much of the genre is about sex and made by club-going people.
Freaky ass nigga, he a 69 god
lol shoegaze is 50% melancholy/longing and 50% horny and I will die on this hill
the sadder ones, yea. Any melancholic music makes me think of sex though
I lost my virginity to MBV
Shout out to my fellow shoegaze chads for agreeing with me.
I could imagine shoegaze being a possible soundtrack to a drug fueled orgy. But like the fun kind, not the creepy eyes wide shut kind.
In the early days? Absolutely but its taken a more mature melancholic approach after the 90s.
Let's not conflate sexuality with immaturity... or for that matter, sadness with maturity
Yea agreed. What i meant by āmatureā was in other words āconsciousā.
True but id say more starting in like the 2010s is when shoegaze became not shoegaze anymore
I feel that way too but that would be a bit dishonest to some of the obscure and genuine shoegaze bands of the time. Alot of them paved the way for the 2020s revival.
Only true shoegaze like that is pute shoegaze to me is mbv and swirlies to be honest but i get what your sayin
r/shoegazecirclejerk
I hate how shoegaze cj isnāt even an irony sub
i mean, it can be?
It definitely can be. Not the main thing I associate the genre with though
Loveless is ironically very erotic imo.
Yes
Itās so true! So sensual and intimate. Not just in terms of lyrics but also how songs are sung and rhythm / stillness are reminiscent of intimacy. I think thatās the most amazing thing about Shoegaze! The fact that something so primal and personal can be captured through music.
Yeah
Yeah and thatās a huge part of its appeal
100%
Move on top Because that way You touch her too. Turn your head Come back again To here knows when MBVās very erotic lyrics
It's pretty romantic and intimate to me
Pale Saints -- Kinky Love
My gf and I get freaky to our Loveless vinyl
Hell - fucking yeah - that shits designed for the bedroom!!
Thereās a whole chapter of the 33 1/3 on Loveless dedicated to its ties to queerness and sensuality
Itās sexy in a strange way yes.
I can see where youāre coming from. I agree that some songs/bands have this type of vibe
Learn something about lovemaking you Incels! The lovers in coition become one being, just as the instruments and vocals in To Here Knows Where blur into one uniform sound.
There are certainly erotic shoegaze songs. But I donāt think the genre as a whole is erotic at all.Ā
Just Like Honey..!
whirr
No. Not even slightly. I donāt think Iāve ever had the same thoughts listening to *any* shoegaze that Iāve had while listening toā¦ R&B, soul, funk, disco, lords of acid, lounge, etcā¦ Are there shoegaze songs that compliment the mood? 100%. The genre in general? Not in the slightest.
soft as snow but warm inside
Like quoting one song defines a genre. By this definition rock, metal, pop, opera, country, western, rap, noise, industrial, drum and bass, trance, and so many more are erotic too.
I have to admit that EP "Infinity Signature" by Full Body 2 feels kind of erotic
i like the innocence in it tbh shoegaze is beautiful
Yeah and thatās a huge part of its appeal
honestly yeah
Off Your Face and Donāt Ask Why feel very intimate Not MBV but Sooner by Asobi Seksu is prolly the most sexy shoegaze song to me
No, but I have done a lot of making out and some other things while some shoegaze played in the background. But oddly enough, I never viewed it as sensual or erotic.
Maybe not erotic, but definitely intimate. The whispered vocals and lush atmospheres from a lot of shoegaze bands certainly create that effect
log off
I do think of it as a perfect genre for spacing out on drugs. So, yeah maybe
my boyfriend and iās sex playlist is all shoegaze so iād have to agree with yaĀ
Ya it's nice
No
Were yon holding your junk when you typed this?
I was mid-orgasm
Bet you are now too.
Itās the same orgasm from the previous post. Iāve been sustaining that long.
lol
naw
i mean my band is legit releasing a song about doing the deed, so i get it
It absolutely can be, when someone besides dry-dicked sadbois are making it.
No
one might consider absence as a part of presence. Just how color purple in reality is just the absence of green, the incels here are the absence of erotism. In this way, yes, shoegaze is extremely erotic
I see where youāre coming from but honestly not at all. The opposite almost. Shoegaze feels like solitude and serenity to me, like floating through space surrounded by colors or watching a really beautiful sunrise.
Someone somewhere is writing the lyrics and melody for a song titled āHawk Tuahā
I think it's a very horny genre, clear distinction
uh huh...
Nah
fuuuuuuck no
no and if someone tried to smang me to shoegaze i'd freak out and run away
Nah. Just spacey.
personally the only shoegaze/dreampop act iāve seen that leans into sex is Oddnesse, so iām down to see where all the hidden horny shoegaze is
this is a very common take one that i still do not entirely understand although certain bands seem to fit this bill however they tend to be the bands i'm less into so perhaps that's why i feel a disconnect with this label that or general s*xual trauma
legit opposite.