In the early '90s, shoegaze was the genre that everyone loved to hate. Blinded by the ascendancy of grunge and Britpop, the UK music press, in particular, was quick to show their contempt for what they saw as "the scene that celebrates itself". By the Reading's Slowdive emrged, criticism of shoegaze had become something of an obsession for NME and Melody Maker journalists, and the band's first two albums were panned as unimaginative and boring, too ethereal and dreamy in the face of the anthemic lad-rock that had taken over Britain.
In a remarkable and largely unforeseen turn of events, however, today shoegaze is revered by industry and media tastemakers and Gen Z music fans alike, and Slowdive are rightly regarded as one of the very best in the genre.
