My Bloody Valentine are a rock band formed in Dublin in 1983. Since 1987, the band's lineup has consisted of founding members Kevin Shields (vocals, guitar, sampler) and Colm O Ciosoig (drums, sampler), with Bilinda Butcher (vocals, guitar) and Debbie Googe (bass). Their music is best known for its merging of dissonant guitar textures with ethereal melody and unorthodox production techniques, and helped to pioneer the alternative rock subgenre known as shoegazing during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Following several unsuccessful early releases and membership changes, My Bloody Valentine signed to Creation Records in 1988.

In January 1988, My Bloody Valentine performed in Canterbury, opening for Biff Bang Pow!, a band that featured Creation Records founder Alan McGee. After "blowing [Biff Bang Pow!] off the stage", My Bloody Valentine were described as "the Irish equivalent to Husker Du" by McGee, who approached the band after the show and offered them an opportunity to record and release a single on Creation. The band recorded five songs at a studio in Walthamstow, East London in less than a week and in August 1988, released You Made Me Realise. The EP was well received by the independent music press and according to AllMusic's Nitsuh Abebe, the release that "made critics stand up and take notice of the brilliant things My Bloody Valentine were up to", adding "it developed some of the stunning guitar sounds that would become the band's trademark". It debuted at number 2 on the UK Indie Chart. Following the success of You Made Me Realise, My Bloody Valentine released their debut full-length studio album, Isn't Anything, in November 1988. Recorded in rural Wales, the album was a major success, receiving widespread critical acclaim, peaking at number 1 on the UK Indie Chart and influencing a number of "shoegazing" bands, who according to Allmusic, "worked off the template My Bloody Valentine established with [the album]". In February 1989, My Bloody Valentine began recording their second studio album at Blackwing Studios in Southwark, London. Creation Records believed that the album could be recorded "in five days". However, it soon "became clear that wasn't going to happen". Following several unproductive months, during which Shields assumed main duties on the musical and technical aspects of the sessions, the band relocated to a total of nineteen other studios and hired a number of engineers, including Alan Moulder, Anjali Dutt and Guy Fixsen. Due to the extensive recording time, Shields and Alan McGee agreed to release another EP and subsequently the band released Glider in April 1990. Containing the lead single "Soon", which featured the first recorded use of Shields' "glide guitar" technique, the EP peaked at number 2 on the UK Indie Chart and the band toured in summer 1990 to support its release. In February 1991, while still recording their second album, My Bloody Valentine released Tremolo, which was another critical success and topped the UK Indie Chart. Released in November 1991, Loveless was rumoured to have cost over PS250,000 and bankrupted Creation Records, claims which Shields has denied. Critical reception to Loveless was almost unanimous with praise although the album was not a commercial success. It peaked at number 24 on the UK Albums Chart but failed to chart elsewhere internationally. McGee dropped My Bloody Valentine from Creation Records soon after the release of Loveless, due to the album's extensive recording period and interpersonal problems with Shields. My Bloody Valentine signed with Island Records in October 1992 for a reported PS250,000 contract. The band's advance went towards the construction of a home studio in Streatham, South London, which was completed in April 1993. Several technical problems with the studio sent the band into "semi-meltdown", according to Shields, who was rumoured to have been suffering from writer's block. The band remained largely inactive, but they recorded and released two cover songs from 1993 to 1996--a rendering of "We Have All the Time in the World" by Louis Armstrong for Peace Together and a cover of "Map Ref. 41degN 93degW" by Wire for the tribute album Whore: Tribute to Wire. In 1995, Debbie Googe and Colm O Ciosoig left My Bloody Valentine. Googe, who briefly worked as a taxi driver following her departure, formed the indie rock supergroup Snowpony with Katharine Gifford, who also performed with Stereolab and Moonshake, and O Ciosoig relocated to the United States, forming Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions with Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star. Shields and Butcher attempted to record a third studio album, which Shields claimed would be released in 1998. However, Butcher departed the band in 1997. Unable to finalise a third album, Shields isolated himself, and in his own words "went crazy", drawing comparisons in the music press to the eccentric behavior of other musicians, including Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys and Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd. Shields later became a touring member of Primal Scream, collaborated with a number of artists including Yo La Tengo, Dinosaur Jr., and Le Volume Courbe and recorded songs for the soundtrack to the 2003 film Lost in Translation. Rumours had spread amongst fans that albums worth of material had been recorded and shelved prior to the band's break up. In 1999, it was reported that Shields had delivered 60 hours of material to Island Records, and Butcher confirmed that there existed "probably enough songs to fill two albums." Shields later admitted that at least one full album of "half-finished" material was abandoned, stating "it was dead. It hadn't got that spirit, that life in it." CANNOTANSWER

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