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{{creator}}{{outdated}}
{{work}}
{{quote box|[[File:My_Bloody_Valentine.jpg|frame]]}}
{{quote| ''However decadent one might find the idea of elevating other human beings to deities, My Bloody Valentine, failings and all, deserve more than your respect.''<br|'''NME''' review of ''Loveless'', unintentionally encapsulating their legendary status in alternative rock. />}}
'''NME''' review of ''Loveless'', unintentionally encapsulating their legendary status in alternative rock. }}
 
{{quote| ''Whenever anyone uses the phrase'' swirling guitars'', this record is why''.<br|'''Chuck Klosterman''' describing ''Loveless''. />}}
'''Chuck Klosterman''' describing ''Loveless''. }}
 
Irish-British [[Alternative Rock]] band that pioneered a genre known as [[Shoegazing]] and carried it to its apex so thoroughly that it died soon after they dissolved. They are ''the'' quintessential shoegazing band, famous for their ability to make mountains of raging distorted guitars sound beautiful.
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* Colm Ó Cíosóig - drums, he of the [[The Unpronounceable|unpronounceable]] name (fella on the bottom left, looking like he wants to murder you)
 
'''My Bloody Valentine''' were formed in 1984 by [[Useful Notes/Ireland|Irishmen]] Kevin Shields and Colm Ó Cíosóig. Shields played guitar, Colm handled drumming, and Dave Conway was brought in for vocals, with his girlfriend Tina Durkin playing keyboards. Their name was taken from [[My Bloody Valentine (Filmfilm)|a 1981 Canadian slasher film]]. They spent three months in the Netherlands and then Berlin, where they recorded a mini-LP ''This Is Your Bloody Valentine'', which was mostly bland synth-heavy [[Post Punk]] that did not anticipate their later direction.
 
After losing contact for a while and sorting out a housing issue, the band regrouped and settled in London. Tina had left in the chaos, and Debbie Googe was brought aboard as bassist. They released an EP on Fever Records, ''Geek!'', in December 1985, but this did not bring the anticipated reaction. However, they persisted and signed to Kaleidoscope Records. Here they released two more EPs, ''The New Record by My Bloody Valentine'' (1986) and ''Sunny Sundae Smile'' (1987). Soon they built up a small following through regular live gigs. Dave Conway left the band in 1987 from dissatisfaction. After a tortuous audition process<ref>Shields mentioned making the "mistake" of saying in their ads that they liked [[The Smiths]], adding "You should've seen some of the fruitballs we got!"</ref>, the band hired Bilinda Butcher as a vocalist and secondary guitarist, who appeared on two new EPs, ''Strawberry Wine'' and ''Ecstasy'' (1987). The band finally settled down after years of false starts and EPs with a stable lineup and a new home at Creation Records.
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My Bloody Valentine's second album, ''Loveless'', was released on 4 November 1991, to universal acclaim and modest commercial success (reaching #24 on the UK charts and on the other side of the Atlantic, the single "Only Shallow" became a moderate hit single on American alternative radio). It is considered their [[Magnum Opus]], taking their painstakingly over-dubbed aggressive-but-dreamy guitar playing, ethereal vocals, and obsessive studio perfectionism (every sound on the album is either guitar, vocals, bass, drums, or a sampled and manipulated version of the same) to a whole new level, and basically remains the ''essential'' [[Shoegazing]] album. For a long time, McGee claimed the album cost £250,000 to record and nearly bankrupted Creation Records, but Shields has always denied both charges, claiming the 250.000 is an exaggeration and most of the money spent on the album was "money to live on"<ref>Considering Ó Cíosóig was ''homeless'' during recording, this is not as far-fetched an explanation as it may sound</ref>, with only a few thousand going into recording itself.
 
MBV embarked on a short tour of England and the USA (co-headlining with [[Dinosaur Jr (Music).|Dinosaur Jr]] and [[Yo La Tengo (Music)|Yo La Tengo]]) as a result of Creation's financial dire straits, and were dropped from the label soon after. They signed with Island Records in October 1992, and began building their own studio, which was completed by April 1993. After churning out a cover of [[On Her Majesty's Secret Service (Film)|"We Have All The Time In The World"]] for a charity album and [[Wire (Music)|"Map Ref. 41°N 93°W"]] for a tribute album, Shields' severe writer's block and extreme perfectionism (reportedly nearly 60 hours of material were recorded and discarded) caused the band to slide into a decade of inactivity and disintegrate<ref>Googe left the band in 1996, claiming that she "hadn't been happy for a long time", and formed Snowpony; Colm joined Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions; Shields himself kept busy by playing with [[Primal Scream]], [[Curve]], [[Dinosaur Jr.]] and others</ref>, and earned him comparisons with famous nutcases like [[Beach Boys|Brian Wilson]] and [[Pink Floyd|Syd Barrett]] to boot.
 
However, this hiatus only served to amplify their legendary status in the [[Alternative Rock]] scene. They eventually reunited in November 2007 and played their first gigs in 13 years in June 2008. They also headlined several 2008 festivals, including: Roskilde, Benicássim, Bestival, and All Tomorrow's Parties. They are currently working on their unfinished ''Loveless'' follow-up, which is totally not going to end up being the ''[[Duke Nukem Forever (Video Game)|Duke Nukem Forever]]'' or ''Chinese Democracy'' of [[Alternative Rock]].
 
The band recently announced on their [[Face BookFacebook]] page that remastered versions of ''Isn't Anything'', ''Loveless'' and a compilation of the contemporary EPs are scheduled to be released on 7 May 2012. [[Saved From Development Hell|And it actually happened]]. [[And the Fandom Rejoiced|OMGness ensued]].
 
Please don't confuse them with [[My Chemical Romance (Music)|My Chemical Romance]]. [[Penny Arcade|It's been a problem]]. Oh, and don't confuse them with [[My Bloody Valentine (Filmfilm)|the movie]], from which they took their name, which doesn't have near as many instances of people staring at their shoes. Nor should you confuse them for [[Bullet for My Valentine]], which is a [[Metalcore|completely different]] band entirely.
 
And in a rather ironic turn for the NME quote above, they're now part of the [[Trope Pantheons/Music|TV Tropes]] music pantheon]].
 
{{Discography:}}
* Early stuff. Disowned by the band (who pretend it never happened) and the fanbase (following the band's example).
** ''This Is Your Bloody Valentine'' EP (January 1985)
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{{creatortropes}}
=== Tropes used: ===
* [[Canon Dis ContinuityDiscontinuity]] + [[Old Shame]]: The band and their fanbase pretend the band did not exist before 1988. The band themselves have made sure that earliest release still in print is ''Ecstasy and Wine'', a combination of the ''Strawberry Wine'' and ''Ecstasy'' EPs. Good luck finding anything earlier than that, you'll need it. ▼
 
* [[Cover Version]]: Covered "Map Ref. 41°N 93°W" by [[Wire (Music)|Wire]] and "We Have All the Time in the World" by [[Louis Armstrong]] (originally the theme for ''[[On Her Majesty's Secret Service (Film)|On Her Majesty's Secret Service]]''). On the other side, some brave souls occasionally take a hack at a My Bloody Valentine song - "You Made Me Realise" was covered by Silver Sun, Midway Still and Amusement Parks on Fire, with [[First and Foremost|none coming nowhere near the level of the original]].▼
* [[A Good Name for A Rock Band]]▼
▲* [[Canon Dis Continuity]] + [[Old Shame]]: The band and their fanbase pretend the band did not exist before 1988. The band themselves have made sure that earliest release still in print is ''Ecstasy and Wine'', a combination of the ''Strawberry Wine'' and ''Ecstasy'' EPs. Good luck finding anything earlier than that, you'll need it.
▲* [[Cover Version]]: Covered "Map Ref. 41°N 93°W" by [[Wire (Music)|Wire]] and "We Have All the Time in the World" by [[Louis Armstrong]] (originally the theme for ''[[On Her Majesty's Secret Service (Film)|On Her Majesty's Secret Service]]''). On the other side, some brave souls occasionally take a hack at a My Bloody Valentine song - "You Made Me Realise" was covered by Silver Sun, Midway Still and Amusement Parks on Fire, with [[First and Foremost|none coming nowhere near the level of the original]].
* [[Deliberately Monochrome]]: They have normal pictures, yes, but the more famous/commonly used ones tend to be black and white (see below under [[Small Reference Pools]]).
* [[Development Hell]]: Nothing's emerged about the new album since Kevin confirmed that they are, in fact, still recording, and the ''Loveless'' remaster has been delayed for ''at least'' two years.
* [[Garfunkel]]: For the duration of ''Loveless''' recording, Colm and Debbie. Kevin even said that "I'm basically the only musician on the album except for 'Touched' [Colm's song]".
* [[Girl Withwith Psycho Weapon]]: The "You Made Me Realise" EP cover, a dreamy black-and-white image of a girl surrounded by flowers and holding a knife to her own throat.
▲* [[A Good Name for Aa Rock Band]]
* [[Grandma, What Massive Hotness You Have!]]: Bilinda. an ungodly amount of people like to point out that, at 48, she still looks largely the same as back in 1991. Kevin seems to have aged well, too.
* [[I Am the Band]]: Kevin, basically and Bilinda, what with having a really nice voice and all. Colm and Debbie? [[Garfunkel|Garfunkels]].
* [[Intercourse Withwith You]]: "Swallow". All the distinguishable lyrics are the refrain, which goes something like ''Swallow, swallow, love, I close my mouth''.Their stuff in general tends to be more about [[Silly Love Songs]] than, y'know, getting physical.
** "To Here Knows When" is hardly subtle with ([[Indecipherable Lyrics|barely intelligible]]) lyrics such as ''Move on top, because that way you touch her, too.'' The song ''itself'' sounds like druggy sex.
*** All of which is still lyrically subtler than "Slow".
* [[Intentionally Awkward Title]]: They named themselves after an obscure 1981 Canadian [[Slasher MoviesMovie|slasher film]] (that was remade in 2009 in [[Three D3D Movie|3D]]).
* [[Loudness War]]: Averted. ''Loveless'' is mastered at 1991 loudness (or slightly below it) but has an excellent mastering and thus doesn't clip or cause any trouble. Live however, is another story...
** It's almost unreal how ''Loveless'' can sound radically different depending on which stereo (speakers, headphones etc.) you play it on.
** A 2-CD reissue (including a remastered version, plus the original recording) is slated for UK release on March 8, 2010. Mark your calendar in pencil, as that release date has been pushed back endlessly over (at least) the past year. It's finally received a new release date of May 7, 2012.
* [[Lyrical Dissonance]]: So many examples, but just for one, "Once in love/I'll be the death of you" sneaks into the otherwise ethereal "Blown a Wish". To be fair, this is an album of [[The Unintelligible|unintelligibles]] we're talking about, so you really need to know what you're listening for or you need to have listened to it many times to catch it.
* [[Minimalistic Cover Art]]: All of their stuff. For example: ''Realise'' is just a picture of a woman <ref>No, nobody knows who she is, or if she's from the band</ref> [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/65/Youmademerealise.jpg lying in a field with flowers holding a knife to her own throat], ''Feed'' is a [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/63/My_Bloody_Valentine_-_Feed_Me_with_Your_Kiss.jpg creepy close-up of a woman's face], ''Anything'' has [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/07/MyBloodyValentineIsntAnything.jpg a blurred picture of Kevin and Bilinda] so as to appear [[The Faceless|faceless]], ''Glider'' is a [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a9/MyBloodyValentineGlider.jpg photomanipulated image of two people kissing], ''Tremolo'' is [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/88/My_Bloody_Valentine_-_Tremolo.jpg a less creepy, blurry close-up of a woman's face], and probably the most iconic one of all, ''Loveless'' is [https://web.archive.org/web/20131017174938/http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a6/MyBloodyValentineLoveless.jpg a close-up of Kevin's guitar, manipulated to appear pink].
* [[Mythology Gag]]: At least [http://www.last.fm/music/My+Bloody+Valentine/+images/24089167 one of their publicity photos] nods to their name being swiped from a Canadian slasher movie. (That photo in particular doubles as [[Multiple Reference Pun]] since it has Bilinda holding up a ''butcher'''s axe. Unfortunately, it doesn't have Kevin defending himself with ''shields''.)
* [[Overshadowed Byby Awesome]]: Debbie. As far as the general recollection goes she didn't play on ''Loveless'' despite being credited (Kevin also took over Bilinda's guitar parts, but she didn't mind because she didn't think she was very good and wanted recording to go faster). Also, doesn't inspire the fans in a certain way like Bilinda. Colm too, who's also saddled with an unpronounceable name and didn't contribute that much to ''Loveless'' either.
* [[Performance Video]]: "Only Shallow", parts of "Soon".
* [[Pun -Based Title]]: Well, the movie they named themselves after is this...
* [[Sampling]] - Used on ''Loveless'' for beats due to Colm's personal and physical issues ([[Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick|and homelessness]]) interfering with recording. Shields himself admitted that only two of the songs have live drums ("Only Shallow" and "Touched") while for the rest they sampled whatever Colm played and looped it. He also mentions that he believes the listener probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference, except for the more obviously dancier work like "Soon".
* [[Serial Escalation]]: The infamous "holocaust section" from "You Made Me Realise", one minutes of noise and cacophony sandwiched in the middle between the [[Epic Riff]] and [[Ear Worm]] chorus. The band always plays the song last in concert, and drags the holocaust section to up to 20 minutes of pure cacophony and noise before ending, fully justifying its title.
** There's also ''Loveless'''s recording process. Ungodly amounts of money, 19 studios, 16 engineers, bizarre behaviour, by the end they needed a week to master it instead of the customary day, and the cherry on the cake - during mastering, the computer they used threw the entire album out of order and Kevin had to put the tracks back together from memory.
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* [[Silly Love Songs]]: Just delivered at an ear-shattering volume with heavy doses of droney psychedelia.
** It's fun to think of MBV as [[The Smiths]] if the latter were tortured in Hell.
* [[Small Reference Pools]]: Generally, if you see something about MBV, it will use one of two band pictures. One of them's also used on this very page, [https://web.archive.org/web/20130628025923/http://www.last.fm/music/My+Bloody+Valentine/+images/43198175 the other one] being a bit more unsettling, what with the [[Death Glare]]-ish looks and all. Doesn't help that those are the best and most famous images of the band, with others not really measuring up.
* [[Something Completely Different]]: After an album's worth of shoegazing, "Soon" ends ''Loveless'' by tossing a funky Madchester beat under the band's signature guitar walls. And it kicks arse.
* [[Something Something Leonard Bernstein]]: With all the [[Mondegreen|Mondegreens]], My Bloody Valentine's lyrics basically embody this trope. Notably, Midway Still attempted to cover "You Made Me Realise", but admitted to Melody Maker that they couldn't understand the lyrics and they made some of them up instead. Understandable, since that song basically boils down to [[Epic Riff]], "something something ''you may as well commit suicide''", the refrain of "something something ''insane eyes, you made me realise''" and the holocaust section.
* [[SopranoandSoprano and Gravel]]: Averted. Butcher and Shields have similar voices.
** The interplay between the breathy vocals and fuzzed-out guitars arguably creates a similar effect, particularly on a song like "Sometimes".
* [[Surreal Music Video]]: the 1990-1991 videos directed by Angus Cameron are low-budget but very psychedelic. "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiomcuNlVjk Only Shallow]" is a [[Performance Video]] run through heavy hallucinogenic processing. "To Here Knows When", "Soon" and "Swallow" take the blurry effect and run with it.
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* [[The Unpronounceable]] - Non-Irish people will inevitably butcher Colm Ó Cíosóig's last name or just stick with "Colm".
** If you're interested, it's roughly Kolm Oh Kweesoigue.
* [[Video Full of Film Clips]] - "You Made Me Realise" alternates low-quality [[Performance Video|footage of the band performing]] with bits of other films, including the "Ludovico treatment" scene from ''[[A Clockwork Orange (Filmfilm)|A Clockwork Orange]]''.
* [[Word Salad Lyrics]] - [[Up to Eleven|Taken to eleven]]: they did not publish their lyrics and buried their vocals in the mix, at some points even singing nonsense lyrics - one of their writing methods was as follows: Kevin would sit down and sing something, and then Bilinda would listen to the tape and write down what she ''thought'' he sang. Kevin Shields even admitted that he at one point considered grading fansite transcriptions of their lyrics based on accuracy.
** According to [[Word of God]], ironically, writing the lyrics was one of the more time-consuming parts of "Loveless". Shields himself once said, "there's nothing worse than bad lyrics".
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[[Category:Shoegazing]]
[[Category:Trope Makers]]
[[Category:My Bloody Valentine (band)]]
[[Category:Music]]
[[Category:Irish Music]]
[[Category:Names to Know in Music]]
[[Category:Musicians of the 1970s]]
[[Category:Musicians of the 1980s]]
[[Category:Musicians of the 1990s]]
[[Category:Musicians of the 2000s]]
[[Category:Musicians of the 2010s]]
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