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Shoegazing is characterized by the use of distortion and fuzz , droning riffs and a Spectorish wall of sound from the noisy guitars. Vocals were typically subdued in volume and tone, but underneath the layers of guitars was often a strong sense of melody. While the genres which influenced shoegazing often used drum machines, shoegazing more often featured live drumming. Shoegazing drummers such as Chris Cooper of Pale Saints and the late Chris Acland of Lush often displayed complex drumming.

The name was coined by the New Musical Express, playfully noting the tendency of the bands' guitarists to stare at their feet (or their effects pedals), seemingly deep in concentration, while playing. Melody Maker preferred the more staid term "The Scene That Celebrates Itself" (referring to the bands' habits of attending each others gigs, often in Camden).

As with C86 before it, the Velvet Underground proved to be a major influence, with many of the bands eschewing the punk era altogether, though bands like The CrampsThe Cramps are a punk rock/ rockabilly band whose only permanent members have been Lux Interior (Erick Purkhiser) and Poison Ivy (Kristy Wallace), the lead singer and lead guitarist respectively. Their musical style is fuzz-toned, stripped-down rockabilly, Pere UbuPere Ubu is an experimental rock music group, see Pere Ubu (band). the enigmatic central figure of Ubu Roi, a play by Alfred Jarry. and The Birthday PartyThe Birthday Party is the name of an acclaimed play (and later movie) written by Harold Pinter: The Birthday Party (play); and an influential post-punk band led by Nick Cave: The Birthday Party (band). proved influential in some cases, especially with the forerunners of the genre. However, in the main, artists like The Jesus & Mary Chain and especially Cocteau TwinsCocteau Twins were an influential and prolific British band formed in 1980, their music becoming nearly synonymous with their record label 4AD. Their trademark sound of layered, ethereal guitar and indecipherable vocals inspired the 1990s shoegazing genre and Spacemen 3Spacemen 3 were an English space rock band of the 1980s. Jason Pierce and Peter Kember (sometimes credited as J. Spaceman and Sonic Boom) formed the group in Rugby, Warwickshire in the early part of the decade and began touring, finally recording in 1986 gave birth to the genre directly rather than through opaque influences.

Michael Azerrad's Our Band Could Be Your LifeOur Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground, 1981-1991 is a book by Michael Azerrad. The book chronicles the careers of several underground rock music groups who, while finding little or no mainstream success, were hugely influ traces shoegazing to a Dinosaur Jr tour of the United Kingdom. While not generally classified as shoegazing, Dinosaur Jr did share a tendency to blend poppy melody with loud guitars.

The first stirrings of recognition came when indie scribe Steve Lamacq referred to Ride in a review for the NME as "The House of Love with chainsaws". The music is sometimes now referred to as a category of dream pop (though this term is mainly restricted to the US).

The genre as a label was quite often mis-applied. Swervedriver found themselves labelled 'shoegazers' on account of their Thames Valley (where key bands such as Ride, Chapterhouse and Slowdive hailed) origins, despite their more profound Husker Du stylings. Curve were once described as "the exact point where shoegazer meets goth" and the genre did overlap with others to some extent. It was certainly the case that bands like Blur, on occasion, chanced their arm with shoegazer-esque tunes ('She's So High' for instance) on a purely commercial basis. The careers of Thousand Yard Stare and Revolver were over before anyone had even noticed they'd begun, on account of the eventual backlash that befell the scene.

A concise summary of the genre can be found at: http://www.3ammagazine.com/musicarchives/2003/jan/shoegazing.html

See also: List of shoegazing musicians