My Bloody Valentine cannot be neatly tethered to a specific place, time, scene, or genre. The incarnation of the band responsible for three groundbreaking studio albums and several stunning EPs first convened in London in 1987, featuring Bilinda Butcher (guitar/vocals), Colm Ó Cíosóig (drums/sampler), Debbe Googe (bass), and Kevin Shields (guitars/vocals/sampler).
A band of the same name, also featuring Ó Cíosóig and Shields, originated in Dublin in 1983, subsequently leaving Ireland and eventually settling in the English capital after stints in Holland and Germany. Their intention was to change the band’s name to usher in a radically different musical direction and present a new line up, but they were discouraged to do so by their label at the time, Creation Records.
After a series of more typically indie releases, they pursued a far more singular approach to creating unconventional and innovative music, eschewing conventional techniques, clichés, and gimmicks, while soaking up inspiration from hip-hop artists like Public Enemy and Beastie Boys and the peerless production work of The Bomb Squad.
“Hip-hop was so much more innovative and modern than any jangly-guitar, Velvet Underground wannabe, sunglasses wearing, cool types, or any so-called indie scene,” maintains Kevin Shields. “People couldn’t get their head around hip-hop for a long time, they could only hear rapping, but musically it was so innovative. It was truly modern music.” A cover of Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra’s Sand as performed by Einstürzende Neubauten was another beacon of inspiration, which Kevin Shields describes as “uncompromising, but still sounding like the world was ending.”
My Bloody Valentine’s first release for Creation Records, You Made Me Realise, was the sound of a band taking a sledgehammer to their former selves and purging the musical remnants of the past. They increasingly found the contemporary English indie scene to be extremely mannered and staid, preferring the grit, volume, and texture of American guitar music by Sonic Youth, Hüsker Dü, and Dinosaur Jr.
