What is "shoegazing"

n. (context British English) A type of Britpop or other indie music of the 1990s, characterised by a dreamlike sound making much use of effect pedals, and by a detached or introverted performance style. vb. (present participle of shoegaze English)

Shoegazing (also known as shoegaze) is a subgenre of indie rock, alternative rock, or neo-psychedelia that emerged from the United Kingdom in the late 1980s and reached peak popularity in the early 1990s. The style is typified by the blurring of component musical parts—typically significant guitar distortion, feedback, and obscured vocals—into indistinguishable mixture of sound.

The term "shoegazing" was coined by the British music press to ridicule the stage presence of a wave of groups who stood still during live performances in a detached, introspective, non-confrontational state, often with their heads down; the heavy use of effects pedals meant the performers were often looking down at their feet during concerts. The term was often used contemporaneously with " dream pop."

A loose label given to the shoegazing scene and other affiliated bands in London in the early 1990s was The Scene That Celebrates Itself. In the early 1990s, shoegazing groups were pushed aside by the American grunge movement and early Britpop acts such as Suede, forcing the relatively unknown bands to break up or reinvent their style altogether. In the 2000s, there was renewed interest in the genre among " nu gaze" bands.