My Bloody Valentine are an alternative rock band formed in Dublin, Ireland in 1984 and predominantly based in London. The founding members were guitarist/singer Kevin Shields and drummer Colm Ó Cíosóig. The band's lineup during their heyday also included singer-guitarist Bilinda Butcher and bassist Debbie Googe.
My Bloody Valentine's use of distortion, pitch bending, and digital reverb established them firmly within the shoegazing genre. Their 1991 album Loveless took two years to make due to funding problems, but once released it was critically acclaimed. Following Loveless, My Bloody Valentine became inactive, with Shields discarding several albums' worth of follow-up material. In 2007, Shields announced that the band had reunited and were recording new material.
Colm Ó Cíosóig and Kevin Shields met in the late 1970s as teenagers in Dublin. They quickly became friends and joined a local punk rock band named The Complex. Toward the end of 1983, Shields and O'Ciosoig formed their own band with singer Dave Conway. Conway, who went by the stage name Dave Stelfox, suggested names such as "Burning Peacocks" before they settled on "My Bloody Valentine" after a 1981 Canadian slasher film of the same name. The band was completed by Conway's girlfriend Tina, who played keyboards. Gavin Friday of Dublin post-punk band The Virgin Prunes gave the group contacts that secured them a show in the Netherlands. Based on getting that one gig, the band moved to Holland and ended up staying for three months. Due to a lack of opportunities and a lack of correct documentation, the band then moved to Berlin, where they recorded the mini-LP This Is Your Bloody Valentine. The record failed to have the expected impact, and, after four months, the band left Berlin, returning to Holland briefly before settling in London around the middle of 1985.
Studio albums
* Isn't Anything (1988)
* Loveless (1991)
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