Tuesday, September 11, 2007

MML Pop Quiz: The Original Shoegazers?


























Before the term shoegazers first was coined by the NME and soon adopted widely by the British music press, there were a handful of bands that most now consider the precursors to that specific genre. While I believe that the swirling guitars of American bands who gained exposure in the UK during the mid 80s (Dinosaur Jr., Husker Du) were heavy handed fuel for the original sound, the pre-existing structure that would shape this new movement most definitely evolved within the UK. The "mystery track" featured today was released in March 1985, around four years before the original joking mention of the term shoegazers, as part of a four song EP by a band most of you know... We were revisiting some music over a couple of beers the other night, and had to double check our home audio system to make sure this was the same band we had originally chosen. The track and/or artist will be easy for some of you to identify while others of you might require a few additional listens.

Can any of you name the artist? Extra points for the title of this amazing instrumental song...

MP3: March 1985 - Mystery Shoegaze Track

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like PiL...

Anonymous said...

AARRGGHHH!!!! This should be easy!! Yup it definitely has a PIL feel (but with such a New Ordery bass sound..) It's a Roland R-8 Drum machine for sure. I'm gonna hate myself when I find out who but I'll have to say it's...SPK?

HRH Courtney, Queen of Everything said...

Wow, so much going on in here. I hear Kevin Shields type stuff too. I'm flummoxed, but it sounded great.

Anonymous said...

Hah I had the track guessed before even downloading---Rococo, 4th track from Cocteau Twins Aikea Guinea EP (my favorite disc of theirs) Mark aka Secretly a Terrific Whistler

4casey4 said...

You got it Mark! It's a forgotten favorite of mine also.

Cheers,
Casey

Anonymous said...

Knew it in two notes. Confirmed by the prev. anon, the mystery song is by Cocteau Twins and the title is Rococco, BSide to the single Aikea-Guinea.

Emma@Samsung said...

People who bring in or are pioneers in any type of music are sometimes not as easily recognized. I am glad that there were so many responses indicating that listeners knew exactly how to answer your question. Then again, maybe there were even more people who know but didn't comment. Thanks for helping to keep the history of the music available to everyone.

Andy said...

t definitely has a PIL feel (but with such a New Ordery bass sound..) It's a Roland R-8 Drum machine for sure

Anonymous said...

Amazing post.
Windows update

Anonymous said...

Good post thanks.
Mcafee Phone Support

Unknown said...

if you have any problem related to the router then you can contact us we are here to provide you the complete solution to your problem.
d link router customer support