It’s 1991. You drop a needle on a fresh slab of vinyl and instead of a clear melody, you’re hit with a vacuum cleaner hum that sounds like it’s being played through a broken radio submerged in honey. That’s the My Bloody Valentine LP experience. Specifically, we’re talking about Loveless. People call it shoegaze. Some call it a masterpiece. Others just think their speakers are broken.
Honestly, the myth of this record is almost bigger than the music itself. You’ve probably heard the rumors: it bankrupted Creation Records, Kevin Shields is a perfectionist lunatic, and they used seventeen different studios to find the right "vibrato." Most of that is actually true. But focusing on the drama misses why this specific My Bloody Valentine LP changed how people think about the electric guitar. It wasn't about being loud; it was about being liquid.
The "Glide Guitar" Secret
Everyone tries to copy that sound. Most fail. Kevin Shields didn’t use a mountain of pedals to get that hazy, swirling texture. That’s the biggest misconception out there. He basically held the tremolo arm (the whammy bar) while he strummed, constantly dipping the pitch just a fraction of a semi-tone. It’s called "glide guitar."
It creates this seasick feeling. You’re never quite on the note, but you’re never quite off it either. When you listen to a My Bloody Valentine LP on a good setup, the air in the room feels different. It’s physical. Shields once told Guitar World that he barely used any effects other than a distortion pedal and a wah-wah set to a specific frequency. The rest was just physical manipulation of the instrument and a pathological obsession with mic placement.
Why Loveless Took Two Years and All the Money
Alan McGee, the head of Creation Records, famously claimed the album cost £250,000 and nearly ruined his label. Shields disputes the "nearly ruined" part, but the timeline doesn't lie. They started in 1989. They didn't finish until 1991.
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Why? Because Shields wasn't looking for a "vibe." He was looking for perfection in the micro-details.
Think about the drums. On most of the My Bloody Valentine LP, the drums aren't even "real" in the traditional sense. Colm Ó Cíosóig was ill during much of the recording, so Shields sampled him playing for a few seconds and then looped and manipulated those samples. It gives the record this eerie, mechanical-yet-human pulse. It’s stiff but beautiful. Then you have Bilinda Butcher’s vocals. They aren't supposed to be understood. She’d often record them right after waking up from a nap so her voice sounded breathy and detached. The lyrics are buried under layers of feedback because the voice is just another instrument, another texture in the wall of sound.
The Contrast of Isn't Anything
Before Loveless, there was Isn't Anything. If you're a collector looking for a My Bloody Valentine LP, this is the one that sets the stage. It’s more jagged. It sounds like a band playing in a room, whereas Loveless sounds like a dream being broadcast from another dimension. Tracks like "Feed Me with Your Kiss" have a punk energy that the later stuff smoothed out.
It’s important to realize that the transition between these two records represents one of the biggest leaps in rock history. They went from being a "cool indie band" to being a genre-defining entity. Without the 1988 My Bloody Valentine LP, we don't get the 1991 masterpiece. The evolution is visible in the way they handled noise. In '88, noise was an attack. In '91, noise was a blanket.
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The Long Silence and the 2013 Comeback
For twenty-two years, fans waited. There were rumors of "The Lost Albums." Shields reportedly had tapes of jungle-influenced tracks, acoustic experiments, and more wall-of-sound chaos.
Then, on a random Saturday night in February 2013, the website crashed. m b v was out.
The 2013 My Bloody Valentine LP proved that the sound wasn't a fluke of 90s technology. It sounded modern. It sounded like they’d never left. The second half of that record, especially the track "Wonder 2," goes into this weird, jet-engine territory that sounds more like electronic music than rock. It’s a testament to the fact that Shields isn't interested in nostalgia. He’s interested in what sound can do to the human nervous system.
Buying a My Bloody Valentine LP: What You Need to Know
If you're looking to buy these on vinyl, be careful. The market is flooded with "grey market" pressings and bootlegs that sound like garbage. Because the music is so dense, a bad pressing will just sound like static.
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- The 2018/2021 All-Analog Remasters: These are the holy grail. Kevin Shields spent years remastering Loveless and Isn't Anything from the original analog tapes. If you see the versions released via Domino Records, buy them. They are night and day compared to the digital-source pressings from the mid-2000s.
- The "Loud" Factor: My Bloody Valentine is meant to be played loud. Not "I can't hear my phone" loud, but "the floorboards are vibrating" loud. The frequencies are designed to interact with each other in the air.
- Check the Matrix Runout: Genuine copies usually have specific etchings. Given the prices these go for on Discogs, it’s worth doing your homework.
How to Actually Listen to Shoegaze
Don't look for the hook. If you go into a My Bloody Valentine LP expecting a verse-chorus-verse structure like the Beatles, you’re going to be frustrated. Instead, listen to the "wash."
It’s like looking at an Impressionist painting. If you stand two inches away, it’s just blobs of paint. If you stand back, you see the cathedral. The melody is hidden in the overtones. Sometimes, the most beautiful part of a song like "Sometimes" or "To Here Knows When" isn't the guitar riff, but the weird "ghost" melody created by the feedback loops clashing against each other.
Misconceptions About the Gear
People think you need a Fender Jazzmaster to get this sound. While Shields famously uses them because of the specific tremolo system, you can get close with almost any guitar that has a floating bridge. The real "trick" is the tuning. They used a lot of open tunings that allowed strings to drone while the lead lines shifted around them. It creates a massive, resonant soundstage that feels much larger than four people in a studio.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Collectors
- Prioritize the Domino Reissues: If you are starting a collection, avoid the 1990s originals unless you have $500 to burn. The 2021 Domino reissues are widely considered superior in sound quality because of Shields' personal involvement in the cutting process.
- Use High-Quality Headphones: To hear the "hidden" layers in a My Bloody Valentine LP, skip the cheap earbuds. Use open-back headphones if possible. The spatial imaging in Loveless is legendary; sounds move across the stereo field in ways that most 90s records didn't even attempt.
- Explore the EPs: Don't stop at the LPs. The EP's 1988–1991 collection contains tracks like "You Made Me Realise" and "Slow," which are just as essential as anything on the full albums.
- Calibrate Your Turntable: Because of the heavy low-end and complex mid-range frequencies, these records can cause cheap needles to skip. Ensure your tracking force is set correctly before spinning.
The My Bloody Valentine LP isn't just music; it's a specific moment in time where technology, obsession, and artistic vision collided to create something that literally shouldn't have been possible with the gear they had. It remains a benchmark for production and a reminder that sometimes, the most beautiful things are found inside the noise.