在80年代末至90年代，英国出现了纯粹以吉他噪音实验为目标的乐队与风格，并且获得了相当大的成功，在英国独立摇滚中可谓独树一帜。敏感的乐评人称这一类音乐风格为“自赏摇滚”（Shoe-gazing）。“自赏摇滚”这一名称很是贴切，既包涵了乐队的音乐风格，又暗示了乐队特立独行的生活态度， My Bloody Valentine就是这类摇滚的代表人物。 Like the Velvet Underground, Sonic Youth, and the Jesus & Mary Chain before them, My Bloody Valentine redefined what noise meant within the context of pop songwriting. Led by guitarist Kevin Shields, the group released several EPs in the mid-80s before recording the era-defining Isnt Anything in 1988, a record that merged lilting, ethereal melodies of the Cocteau Twins with crushingly loud, shimmering distortion. Though My Bloody Valentine rejected rock & roll conventions, they didnt subscribe to the precious tendencies of anti-rock art-pop bands. Instead, they rode crashing waves of white noise to unpredictable conclusions, particularly since their noise wasnt paralyzing like the typical avant-garde noise rock band: it was translucent, glimmering, and beautiful. Shields was a perfectionist, especially when it came to recording, as much of My Bloody Valentines sound was conceived within the studio itself. Nevertheless, the band was known as a formidable live act, even though they rarely moved, or even looked at the audience, while they were on-stage. Their notorious lack of movement was branded shoegazing by the British music press, and soon there were legions of other shoegazers — Ride, Lush, the Boo Radleys, Chapterhouse, Slowdive — that, along with the rolling dance-influenced Madchester scene, dominated British indie rock of the late 80s and early 90s. As shoegazing reached its peak in 1991, My Bloody Valentine released Loveless, which broke new sonic ground and was hailed as a masterpiece. Though the band was poised for a popular breakthrough, it disappeared into the studio and didnt emerge over the next five years, leaving behind a legacy that proved profoundly influential in the direction of 90s alternative rock.Born in Queens, New York, Kevin Shields family moved to Dubin, Ireland, when he was six years old. In his teens, he became obsessed with pop music, eventually playing in Complex with his childhood friend Colm OCiosoig. In 1984, Shields and OCiosoig formed My Bloody Valentine with vocalist Dave Conway and keyboardist Tina, taking their name from a slasher horror film. The group relocated to Berlin, where they released the Birthday Party-influenced EP This Is Your Bloody Valentine on the Tycoon label in 1985 to little notice. The following year, the band moved to London, where they added bassist Debbie Googe. By the summer, they had signed to Fever and had released the EP Geek!, which again was ignored. Later that year, the group moved to Kaledoscope Sound, releasing The New Record by My Bloody Valentine EP, which illustrated a Jesus & Mary Chain influence. The following year, the band moved to the Primitives Lazy Records, releasing Sunny Sundae Smile early in the year. That EP was the first My Bloody Valentine record to mesh airy melodies with grinding guitars, but the two EPs that followed in 1987 — Strawberry Wine and Ecstasy — were more focused and acclaimed. Conway left the band by the end of the year and was replaced by vocalist/guitarist Bilinda Butcher, whose breathy vocals fit the groups evolving sound more appropriately.My Bloody Valentines new sound coalesced with the groups first full-fledged album, 1988s Isnt Anything. Released on Creation Records, Isnt Anything was greeted with enthusiastic reviews in the U.K. music press and the bands following increased dramatically by the end of the year; in fact, their reputation had become large enough to attract the attention of Sire/Warner Bros. in the U.S., who became the groups American label. Two other EPs, Feed Me With Your Kiss and You Made Me Realise, were also quite popular, and by the beginning of 1989, bands that based their sound on My Bloody Valentines droning swirl began to appear. The group retreated to the studio in 1989 to record its follow-up, which meant that only one EP, Glider, was released during that year. By the spring of 1990, it was becoming clear that the follow-up to Isnt Anything wouldnt be appearing anytime soon, and reports about Shields growing perfectionism began to circulate in the U.K. weekly music press. Soon, it became apparent that the bands lengthy recording sessions were crippling Creation Records, but the groups audience was still passionate despite the inactivity: the Tremolo EP was released at the end of 1990 to considerable acclaim, and managed to climb into the U.K. Top 40. When My Bloody Valentines second album, Loveless, finally appeared in late 1991, it was greeted with uniformly excellent reviews and it became a hit within the U.K., reaching number 24 on the charts. In America, the group made significant inroads, particularly by supporting Dinosaur Jr. Despite the bands acclaim and growing audience, Loveless didnt sell in numbers to recoup its reported 500,000 dollar recording cost and Creation dropped the band from their label roster; Creation wouldnt fully recover until 1994, when they signed Oasis. My Bloody Valentine signed with Island and entered the studio at the end of 1992 to record a new album. In 1993, the group contributed a James Bond cover to a charity compilation.And then...nothing happened.Shields built a home studio with his Island advance and reportedly completed two separate albums, but scrapped them both. Often, the studio ran into technological problems. Between 1993 and 1997, both Googe and OCiosoig left the band, leaving only Shields and Butcher; after driving a cab for about a year, Googe formed Snowpony in 1996. There were signs that My Bloody Valentine were emerging from hiding in 1996, when the group contributed to the Wire tribute album Whore and Shields played on Experimental Audio Researchs Beyond the Pale. Still, no new My Bloody Valentine material appeared.