Beautiful Noise Trailer (2014)

Trailer for the documentary Beautiful Noise.

Beautiful Noise is an in-depth exploration of the dense, sensuous, and extremely loud movement in popular music, which was pejoratively named "shoegaze" by the British press. Tracing its influences back to the Cocteau Twins’ ethereal ambiance and the Jesus and Mary Chain’s brash guitar sound, the film explores how bands like My Bloody Valentine fused these two disparate sounds together to create a distinctive, new musical style. Acts including Slowdive, Ride, and Lush furthered the genre's ideals of sonic experimentation without the grandiose stage personas of traditional pop stars. First-time director Eric Green scores a coup by getting this notoriously press shy bunch to open up about their music and experiences: the class politics behind the genre’s poor treatment in the British press, My Bloody Valentine's infamous falling out with Creation Records, and how that band defied the rules to become sonic innovators whose music is only now receiving its due respect. These interviews are woven together with rare archival footage and testimonials from other music icons—including Trent Reznor and the Cure’s Robert Smith—to tell the story of a group of bands that aspired to not simply have a hit song for one week, but to make music that would change lives forever.