Shitgaze

Shitgaze
Wavves performing in 2012; their early material has been described as shitgaze.[1][2]
Stylistic origins	Shoegaze noise rock indie rock slacker rock garage rock lo-fi garage punk noise pop
Cultural origins	Early 2000s, United States
Other topics
Blog rock blogosphere bloghouse microgenres

Shitgaze is an internet-based microgenre coined in the mid-2000s by the Midwestern rock band Psychedelic Horseshit. The genre is characterized by its use of abrasive brickwalling lo-fi production, guitar feedback and distorted sounds, drawing influence from garage punk, noise pop, shoegaze and noise rock.^[3][4] Shitgaze was one of the earliest examples of an internet microgenre.^[5][6] Artists primarily gained popularity through early music blogs and online music forums within the emerging blog rock movement.^[3]

Notable acts include Psychedelic Horseshit, the Hospitals, No Age,^[7] Times New Viking,^[8] early Wavves, Grave Babies, Sic Alps,^[9] Vivian Girls,^[10] Sealings, early Best Coast,^[11][12][13] Meth Teeth, Pink Reason, the Bitters, Eat Skull and P.H.F.^[14][15]

Shitgaze artists primarily made use of "sub-par equipment," and were built around a low budget, DIY and lo-fi aesthetic.^[16]

The term shitgaze is a portmanteau of “shoegaze”, coined by the Midwestern rock band Psychedelic Horseshit^[6][17] to describe their brand of rock music, it served as an ironic nod to the overall sound of the genre which aimed to make recordings sound "bad" or like "shit". The term first saw prominence in the 2000s West Coast garage punk scene which included artists like Ty Segall, the Intelligence, Gang Wizard, and the Hospitals, the latter of which featured Coachwhips guitarist John Dwyer.^[3] Subsequently, prominent shitgaze act Times New Viking emerged in 2005, which was followed by underground music artists and bloggers further adopting the label.^[18][19]

The Philadelphia independent record label Siltbreeze, founded in 1989, became a central hub for the movement, and released many early shitgaze recordings by bands such as Vivian Girls, Psychedelic Horseshit, Eat Skull, Pink Reason and Times New Viking.^[20][21][22]

San Diego rock band Wavves^[23][24][25] are regarded as one of the most notable and commercially successful bands to emerge out of the original shitgaze scene,^[3][26][27] with the sound later proliferating and intertwining with bands like Best Coast.^{[11][12][13][28]} Music blogs and sites like Vice,^[29] Spin,^[30] NME^[9] and Pitchfork^[31][32] helped further popularize the shitgaze label through various articles and music reviews during the late 2000s to early 2010s.^[33][34]

Shitgaze fell out of prominence in the mid-2010s as other blogosphere-related music scenes such as bloghouse, blog rock and blog rap declined as online streaming algorithms took over. Mike Lesuer of Flood magazine wrote that of the "subgenres that define the early-’10s, many of them can only be stumbled upon in 2023 by finding a Tumblr account that hasn’t seen activity since the height of seapunk—which, like witch house, likely faded from memory because no one could think of a cooler name for it".^[3]

Additionally, the front man of the Canadian rock band Japandroids stated that "Shitgaze" was one of the titles they had considered for their 2009 album Post-Nothing.^[35]

• Shoegaze
• Witch house
• Internet aesthetics
• Microgenre
• Blog rock