Originally coined in the early 1990s by the British press to describe bands that spent much of their time on-stage staring down at their effects pedals, 'shoegaze' was initially intended to be a derogatory term.

Throughout the remainder of the 1990s, and into the 2000s, the term began to be co-opted by fans of bands like Ride, My Bloody Valentine, and Slowdive as a sort-of catch-all descriptor. Shoegaze, as a genre, usually encompasses bands with dream-like qualities. This often includes vocals that are lower in volume, guitars that are heavily processed and/or feature a woozy vibrato effect, and an overall sound that is more "blurry" than it it is straightforward.

Through the rise of streaming services and social media, the genre has experienced a meteoric rise in popularity since the mid 2010s and into the 2020s. Subgenres have emerged - most notably 'nu-gaze' - resulting in a larger cultural significance for both modern artists as well as the forbearers of the genre.