Each year on December 6, a holiday called Put On Your Own Shoes Day is celebrated. While the background of the special day is a little unclear, it seems to stem from encouraging small children to put on their shoes independently.

It is also a perfect reason to celebrate shoegaze in today’s Coffee Break! A subgenre of indie rock, shoegaze is thought to have originated in the U.K. in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s — and is still going strong. The music tends to be characterized by swirling vocals and distorted guitars with some fuzzy vocals mixed in. In the live setting, those effects are typically activated by pedal switches; because musicians tend to look at their shoes to turn the effects on and off with those pedals, the name “shoegaze” was coined. Today, let’s have some Friday fun by crafting a shoegaze playlist!

So for today’s 9:30 Coffee Break, what songs that could be considered shoegaze would you like to hear?

Respond with your song ideas in the comments below.

Have an idea for a Coffee Break topic? Submit your idea for a future theme and browse past Coffee Breaks in our archive.

Songs Played

My Bloody Valentine- When You Sleep
The Jesus and Mary Chain- The Hardest Walk
Cocteau Twins- Lorelei
Lush- Hypocrite
Ride- Taste
Slowdive- Kisses
she's green- bleed