Shoegaze

Etymology

Coined derisively by the British music press in the late 1980s to mock bands like My Bloody Valentine whose players stared down at their banks of effects pedals — appearing to "gaze at their shoes" — instead of engaging the crowd. The insult was reclaimed as the genre’s proud name.

noun · /SHOO-gayz/
A style of guitar rock built from dense, blurred walls of effects-drenched sound and buried vocals.
What it names
It labels a specific sonic texture — beauty smeared into haze — that has re-entered wide use as younger listeners revived the genre online.
Example
The new record trades sharp hooks for shoegaze murk, where the melody surfaces only after several listens.
Related idea
Contrast lo-fi, which prizes deliberately rough, low-fidelity recording; shoegaze is often lush and high-fidelity, just densely layered.