shoegazingn.
/ˈʃuːˌɡeɪzɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈʃuˌɡeɪzɪŋ/ Originally British. Frequently depreciative.
A style of popular music originating in Britain at the start of the 1990s, featuring a sound in which the distinctions between separate instruments and vocals are blurred, esp. through the use of effects, and characterized by a deliberately reticent or introverted style of performance. Frequently attributive. Cf. dream pop n. at dream n.2 and adj. Compounds 5.So named because of the supposed tendency of such performers to look down (esp. in order to operate guitar effects pedals) rather than at the audience.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > type of music > pop music > [noun] > other pop music
a cappella1905
soundclash1925
marabi1933
doo-wop1958
filk1959
folk-rock1963
Liverpool sound1963
Mersey beat1963
Mersey sound1963
surf music1963
malombo1964
mbaqanga1964
easy listening1965
disco music1966
Motown1966
boogaloo1967
power pop1967
psychedelia1967
yé-yé1967
agitpop1968
bubblegum1968
Tamla Motown1968
Tex-Mex1968
downtempo1969
taarab1969
thrash1969
world music1969
funk1970
MOR1970
tropicalism1970
Afrobeat1971
electro-pop1971
post-rock1971
techno-pop1971
Tropicalia1971
tropicalismo1971
disco1972
Krautrock1972
schlager1973
Afropop1974
punk funk1974
disco funk1975
Europop1976
mgqashiyo1976
P-funk1976
funkadelia1977
karaoke music1977
alternative music1978
hardcore1978
psychobilly1978
punkabilly1978
R&B1978
cowpunk1979
dangdut1979
hip-hop1979
Northern Soul1979
rap1979
rapping1979
jit1980
trance1980
benga1981
New Romanticism1981
post-punk1981
rap music1981
scratch1982
scratch-music1982
synth-pop1982
electro1983
garage1983
Latin1983
Philly1983
New Age1984
New Age music1985
ambient1986
Britpop1986
gangster rap1986
house1986
house music1986
mbalax1986
rai1986
trot1986
zouk1986
bhangra1987
garage1987
hip-house1987
new school1987
old school1987
thrashcore1987
acid1988
acid house1988
acid jazz1988
ambience1988
Cantopop1988
dance1988
deep house1988
industrial1988
swingbeat1988
techno1988
dream pop1989
gangsta rap1989
multiculti1989
new jack swing1989
noise-pop1989
rave1989
Tejano1989
breakbeat1990
chill-out music1990
indie1990
new jack1990
new jill swing1990
noisecore1990
baggy1991
drum and bass1991
gangsta1991
handbag house1991
hip-pop1991
loungecore1991
psychedelic trance1991
shoegazing1991
slowcore1991
techno-house1991
gabba1992
jungle1992
sadcore1992
UK garage1992
darkcore1993
dark side1993
electronica1993
G-funk1993
sampladelia1994
trip hop1994
break1996
psy-trance1996
nu skool1997
folktronica1999
dubstep2002
Bongo Flava2003
grime2003
Bongo2004
singeli2015
1991 New Musical Express 8 June 26 Call it ‘shoe gazing’, call it ‘murmuring’, even call it ‘post-rave comedown’.
1991 Daily Tel. 11 Nov. 2/7 Competent though they are, their long tousled hair, distorted guitar sound and ‘shoe gazing’ stance—they stare at their feet as they play—does little to set them apart from those in Britain.
1996 Raygun Nov. 91 Luna now rejects Galaxies trademark sound: the sensuous, expressionistic, reverb-drenched dreamscapes that went on to influence the entire so-called ‘shoegazing’ scene in the UK.
1999 London Student (Univ. London Union) 24 Feb. 15/3 Elements of emo, shoegazing, and other things can be heard in their often dreamy melodic music.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, December 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1991