Psychedelic Barbershop Quartet

[Cliff1000uk]

I have the same grudge against Nirvana (the 90s band, not the 60s band) for stealing any hope away from the shoegazers of making any kind of a dent on the public mind. But that's also because that scene never found an innovator great enough to take up the baton from My Bloody Valentine.

Sorry for bringing this back up but I've only just seen it. You're completely right that there was no-one else as good or innovative enough to challenge MBV. Other bands around this time like Swervedriver, Chapterhouse, Adorable and Curve just didn't have the songs to crossover. Have you seen The Year That Punk Broke-1991? Chapterhouse following Nirvana on the Main Stage just summed up what was wrong with the UK scene at the time and, obviously what was to come.
Funnily enough, and I hope you agree with this, but I feel that 'shoegaze' was a reaction to the previous indie scene of The Smiths, (early ie Pre Sit Down) James amongst others. Ironically, it was the first Suede album and Blur's Modern Life Is Rubbish, both coming out in '93, that started the counter-reaction to Nirvana et al.
I saw MBV a couple of years back at The Roundhouse and it was like standing next to a Boeing 747 for 2hrs. But by God, could they write the most amazing songs!

[mabewa]

I think a lot of breaking down the misunderstandings has to come from the listeners themselves who need to go beyond what the popular media outlets would feature on a more convenient, more regular basis - I hate to dwell on what is a really cool record, but Hendrix does in fact come down to a record like Purple Haze for a lot of folks because that is the one most often and conveniently heard. The rewards are found when looking beyond that, much like whatever impression someone may have of The Beach Boys can be shifted in so many different directions by simply handing them a certain album from a certain era, and having the music shatter those preconceived notions of who the band was or is.

Exactly.  My dad didn't like Hendrix because he thinks it's all guitar noise, and he didn't like the BBs because he thinks they are all teen-pop fluff.  In both cases, I needed to educate him.  Play stuff like "Little Wing" or "Angel" or "All This is That" or "Big Sur," let him say "What's this?  It's really beautiful" and then tell him who it was.