History Main / MyBloodyValentine

* The {{shoegazing}} band Music/MyBloodyValentine.

* 1981 slasher movie ''Film/MyBloodyValentine'', which got a 3D remake in 2009.

[[redirect:Music/MyBloodyValentine]]

[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/My_Bloody_Valentine.jpg]]
-->''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.''
-->'''NME''' review of ''Loveless'', unintentionally encapsulating their legendary status in alternative rock.

-->''Whenever anyone uses the phrase'' swirling guitars'', this record is why''.
-->'''Chuck Klosterman''' describing ''Loveless''.

Irish-British AlternativeRock 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.

Its members were as follows:
* Kevin Shields - vocals, guitar, [[IAmTheBand main songwriter/mastermind]] (fella on the top-right in the picture)
* Bilinda Butcher - vocals, guitar, other important member, handling most of the lead vocals, [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean focus of fandom's attention for some reason]] (top-left)
* Debbie Googe - bass, [[{{Garfunkel}} often forgotten]] (bottom right)
* Colm Ó Cíosóig - drums, he of the [[TheUnpronounceable unpronounceable]] name (fella on the bottom left, looking like he wants to murder you)

My Bloody Valentine were formed in 1984 by [[UsefulNotes/{{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'', 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 [[{{Synthesizeritis}} 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, 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.

My Bloody Valentine finally found their new sound with the EP ''You Made Me Realise'', released in August 1988, followed in November the same year with the EP ''Feed Me With Your Kiss'' and their first full-length, ''Isn't Anything''. Their style, combining multi-layered and aggressive guitars with breathy, muffled singing was soon termed "shoegazing" (thanks to their lack of motion onstage and use of effects pedals) by the press and [[FollowTheLeader imitated by many]].

The band began recording the follow-up album in 1989 and initially said it would be done "in five days". However, the process stretched out over two years and grew to involve almost nineteen studios (two used for taping vocals, one for mixing/mastering), sixteen credited engineers (most of whom ended up bringing Shields tea and coffee; only Anjali Dutt and Alan Moulder actually ''engineered'' anything), Shields' obsessive studio perfectionism, bizarre behaviour (he didn't allow engineers to listen to him and Butcher while they were recording vocals) and a rumoured enormous studio bill. In the meanwhile, the [=EPs=] ''Glider'' (May 1990) and ''Tremolo'' (February 1991) were released to keep an active profile.

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 MagnumOpus, 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", with only a few thousand going into recording itself.

MBV embarked on a short tour of England and the USA 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. Shields' severe writer's block, extreme perfectionism (reportedly nearly 60 hours of material were recorded and discarded), isolation and eccentric behaviour caused the band to slide into a decade of inactivity and disintegrate, and earned him comparisons with famous nutcases like [[BeachBoys Brian Wilson]] and [[PinkFloyd Syd Barrett]] to boot. However, their hiatus only served to amplify their legendary status in the AlternativeRock scene. They 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.

Please don't confuse them with MyChemicalRomance or BulletForMyValentine. [[PennyArcade It's been a problem]]. Oh, and don't confuse them with [[Film/MyBloodyValentine the movie]], from which they took their name.

And in a rather ironic turn for the NME quote above, they're now part of the [[Pantheon/{{Music}} TV Tropes music pantheon]].

Discography:
* Early stuff. Often disowned by the fanbase.
** ''This Is Your Bloody Valentine'' EP (January 1985)
** ''Geek!'' EP (December 1985)
** ''The New Record by My Bloody Valentine'' EP (1986)
** ''Sunny Sundae Smile'' EP (1986)
* Works who's status fall somewhere between the above and the below.
** ''Strawberry Wine'' EP (August 1987)
** ''Ecstasy'' EP (November 1987)
* The more well-known part of their discography. Includes ''Loveless''.
** ''You Made Me Realise'' EP (8 August 1988)
** ''Feed Me With Your Kiss'' EP (November 1988)
** ''Isn't Anything'' (November 1988)
** ''Glider'' EP (April 1990)
** ''Tremolo'' EP (February 1991)
** ''Loveless'' (4 November 1991)

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!!Tropes used:

* AGoodNameForARockBand
* AudioErotica - It's a tie between Bilinda's vocals and Kevin's wall of guitars...
* BeyondTheImpossible - The infamous "holocaust section" from "You Made Me Realise", one minutes of noise and cacophony sandwiched in the middle between the EpicRiff and EarWorm 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.
* CoverVersion - Covered "Map Ref. 41°N 93°W" by {{Music/Wire}} and "We Have All the Time in the World" by LouisArmstrong (originally the theme for [[OnHerMajestysSecretService 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 [[FirstAndForemost none coming nowhere near the level of the original]].
* DeadHorseGenre - Yeah, they were so good they killed their own genre.
** [[YourMileageMayVary Some would argue that]] shoegaze was displaced by the more extroverted grunge and {{Britpop}} styles (fellow shoegazers {{Lush}} pulled a jarring GenreShift to Britpop for their final album in 1996 and {{Slowdive}}, the only other major shoegaze band, evolved into the folk rock group Mojave 3) although there's no denying that ''Loveless'' was (and is) a hard act to follow.
** A very visible trend among music reviewers, both amateur and professional, is to instantly give any new shoegaze album a low grade simply for "trying to be My Bloody Valentine". Make of that what you will.
* DeliberatelyMonochrome - They have normal pictures, yes, but the more famous/commonly used ones tend to be black and white (see below under SmallReferencePools).
* DisContinuity + OldShame - 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.
* EpicRiff - Everything they recorded starting in 1988.
* EpicRocking - Specifically the "epic album" kind.
* FaceOfTheBand - Kevin and Bilinda.
* FetishFuel - To quote the band's entry on the page: Massive guitars that sound simultaneously heavy and bright? Breathy, high-pitched angelic female vocals? YES PLEASE.
* {{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]".
* GirlWithPsychoWeapon: 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.
* GrandmaWhatMassiveHotnessYouHave - 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.
* IAmTheBand - Kevin, basically and Bilinda, what with having a really nice voice and all. Colm and Debbie? {{Garfunkel}}s.
* IntercourseWithYou - "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 SillyLoveSongs than, y'know, getting physical.
* IntentionallyAwkwardTitle - They named themselves after an obscure 1981 Canadian [[SlasherMovies slasher film]] (that was remade in 2009 in [[ThreeDMovie 3D]]).
* LyricalDissonance - 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 [[TheUnintelligible 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.
* MagnumOpus - ''Loveless'', what else?!
* MinimalisticCoverArt - All of their stuff. For example: ''Realise'' is just a picture of a woman [[hottip:*:No, nobody knows who she is, or if she's from the band]] [[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 [[TheFaceless 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 [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a6/MyBloodyValentineLoveless.jpg a close-up of Kevin's guitar, manipulated to appear pink]].
* OvershadowedByAwesome - 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 [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean 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.
* PerformanceVideo - "Only Shallow", parts of "Soon".
* PunBasedTitle - Well, the movie they named themselves after is this...
* RecordOfLoudnessWar - 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.
* {{Sampling}} - Used on ''Loveless'' for beats due to Colm's personal and physical issues interfering with recording. Shields himself admitted that only two of the songs have live drums ("Only Shallow" and "Touched"), and said that he believes the listener probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference - well, he's right about that.
* SeriousBusiness - NME's famously hyperbolic review, whose conclusion was quoted above.
* ShoeGazing - ''The'' shoegazing band.
* SillyLoveSongs - Just delivered at an ear-shattering volume with heavy doses of droney psychedelia.
* SmallReferencePools - 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, [[http://www.last.fm/music/My+Bloody+Valentine/+images/43198175 the other one]] being a bit more unsettling, what with the DeathGlare-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.
* SomethingCompletelyDifferent - 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.
* SomethingSomethingLeonardBernstein - With all the {{Mondegreen}}s, 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 EpicRiff, "something something ''you may as well commit suicide''", the refrain of "something something ''insane eyes, you made me realise''" and the holocaust section.
* SopranoAndGravel - 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".
* SurrealMusicVideo - 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 PerformanceVideo run through heavy hallucinogenic processing. "To Here Knows When", "Soon" and "Swallow" take the blurry effect and run with it.
* TroubledProduction - ''Loveless''.
* TheUnpronounceable - Non-Irish people will inevitably butcher Colm Ó Cíosóig's last name or just stick with "Colm". Apparently, it's supposed to be pronounced "krysla" (sort of like "Chrysler").
* VideoFullOfFilmClips - "You Made Me Realise" alternates low-quality [[PerformanceVideo footage of the band performing]] with bits of other films, including the "Ludovico treatment" scene from AClockworkOrange.
* WordSaladLyrics - [[UpToEleven 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 WordOfGod, 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".
<<|{{Musicians}}|>>

** [[YourMileageMayVary Some would argue that]] shoegaze was displaced by the more extroverted grunge and {{Britpop}} styles (fellow shoegazers {{Lush}} pulled a jarring GenreShift to Britpop for their final album in 1996 and Slowdive, the only other major shoegaze band, evolved into the folk rock group Mojave 3) although there's no denying that ''Loveless'' was (and is) a hard act to follow.

Irish-British AlternativeRock and Alternative Dance 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.

Irish-British AlternativeRock 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.

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome - ''Loveless'' is the ultimate shoegazing album for a damn good reason.

* EarWorm

* GrowingTheBeard - With ''Loveless'', MBV went from a shoegazing band to ''the'' shoegazing band.
* HypeAversion - The sheer "MBV-are-Gods" praise they receive can scare off newcomers.
* HypeBacklash - A common occurrence among shoegaze bands, especially when compared to supposedly more "working class" bands like Oasis and {{Blur}}. MBV are still the most critically acclaimed though.

* {{Lostalgia}} - Sucks that they haven't made anything after ''Loveless'' and are only now working on it. Then again, this is ''Loveless'' we're talking about...

* {{Mondegreen}} - Intentional, and often [[UpToEleven taken to eleven]]. For a good example: the album version of "Sueisfine" from ''Isn't Anything'' keeps the word ambiguous, but live Kevin and Bilinda always sing it as "suicide".
** This is actually part of their songwriting style: Kevin Shields would write the lyrics, sing them to Bilinda, and then have Bilinda write down what she ''thought'' he was saying, and sing that on the song.
** And additionally, sometimes Kevin spent so long overdubbing guitars that Bilinda would just dose off. So when it was time to record vocals, he had to wake Bilinda up and get her in the control room, thus accounting for her sleepy vocals and slurring the words even further.

* ToughActToFollow - ''Loveless''. No wonder Kevin and co. have had trouble coming up with new material...

* CoverVersion - Covered "Map Ref Map Ref 41°N 93°W" by {{Music/Wire}} and "We Have All the Time in the World" by LouisArmstrong (originally the theme for [[OnHerMajestysSecretService 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 [[FirstAndForemost none coming nowhere near the level of the original]].

* CoverVersion - Covered "Map Ref Map Ref 41°N 93°W" by Wire and "We Have All the Time in the World" by LouisArmstrong (originally the theme for [[OnHerMajestysSecretService 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 [[FirstAndForemost none coming nowhere near the level of the original]].

* My Bloody Valentine in name only
** [[strike: ''This Is Your Bloody Valentine'' EP (January 1985)]]
** [[strike: ''Geek!'' EP (December 1985)]]
** [[strike: ''The New Record by My Bloody Valentine'' EP (1986)]]
** [[strike: ''Sunny Sundae Smile'' EP (1986)]]
* YourMileageMayVary My Bloody Valentine

* Actual My Bloody Valentine

Please don't confuse them with MyChemicalRomance. [[PennyArcade It's been a problem]]. Oh, and don't confuse them with [[Film/MyBloodyValentine the movie]], from which they took their name.

* Bilinda Butcher - vocals, guitar, other important member due to handling most of the lead vocals (top-left)

* WordSaladLyrics - [[UpToEleven Taken to eleven]]: they did not publish their lyrics and buried their vocals in the mix, at some points even singing nonsense lyrics. Kevin Shields even admitted that he at one point considered grading fansite transcriptions of their lyrics based on accuracy.

My Bloody Valentine finally found their new sound with the EP ''You Made Me Realise'', released in August 1988, followed in November the same year with the EP ''Feed Me With Your Kiss'' and their first full-length, ''Isn't Anything''. Their style, combining multi-layered and aggressive guitars with breathy, muffled singing was soon termed "shoegazing" (thanks to their lack of motion onstage) by the press and [[FollowTheLeader imitated by many]].

* TheUnpronounceable - Non-Irish people will inevitably butcher Colm Ó Cíosóig's last name or just stick with "Colm".

* GirlWithPsychoWeapon: 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. SoYeah...

* IntercourseWithYou - "Swallow". All the distinguishable lyrics are the refrain, which goes something like ''Swallow, swallow, love, I close my mouth''. SoYeah. Their stuff in general tends to be more about SillyLoveSongs than, y'know, getting physical.

* Kevin Shields - vocals, guitar
* Bilinda Butcher - vocals, guitar
* Debbie Googe - bass
* Colm Ó Cíosóig - drums