Ride

English rock band formed in Oxford in 1988. With their first records, Ride created a unique wall of sound that relied on massive, trembling distortion in the vein of [a=My Bloody Valentine] but with a simpler, more direct melodic approach. The shatteringly loud, droning neo-psychedelia the band performed was dubbed shoegazing by the British press because the bandmembers stared at their pedals while they performed. Along with their initial influence, [a=My Bloody Valentine], Ride stood apart from the shoegazing pack, primarily because of their keen sense of songcraft and dynamics. For a while, the band was proclaimed the last great hope of British rock, but they fell from the spotlight nearly as quickly as they entered it.