Wall of sound ... Ride were a revelation. Photograph: Steve Pyke/Getty
With the resurgence of shoegaze - or nu-gaze - and Panda Bear, Animal Collective, Deerhunter and No Age all referencing them as an influence in interviews, I feel it's time to look back at one of the all-time underrated Creation bands, Ride.
In '91, Ride had the critical and commercial world at their feet. Their full-length debut Nowhere marked them out as teenage saviours of rock'n'roll. The Nowhere cover pictured an ocean wave, a knowing tribute to the wall of sound they were creating. And what a wall of sound: Andy Bell and Mark Gardener's guitars and harmonies underpinned by Steve Queralt and Loz Colbert's eight-mile-high bass-and-drum dance groove.
Nowhere fused Byrds and Sonic Youth influences with the exuberant spirit of their contemporaries, the Stone Roses and the House of Love. It epitomised the feeling that something was happening in independent music beyond twee C86 and third form baggy. However, by the time they released the follow-up, Going Blank Again (an album that originally had the title of Prog Rock), a year later, they were up against it. Critics accused them of having nothing to say. Their influence had spread - now they were competing with a hundred shambolic versions of themselves. Despite this, they triumphed with the lead-off single which went to the top ten - the first Creation single to do so. Leave Them All Behind was no longer the sound of shoegaze but full-blown psychedelic stadium rock. Their second single, Twisteralla, was played non-stop on Radio One. Going Blank Again demonstrated how powerful a group Ride had become. The sound they explored on Nowhere had coalesced into classic songs. The album's success kept Creation Records going during the My Bloody Valentine aftermath. Their sound was a revelation.
However, by 1993, Ride were out of fashion with the British music press who had fallen in love with Suede, Pulp and Nirvana. Ride were written off as an anachronism: shoegazing was passé. In spite of this, Ride and the Charlatans got together to play the now infamous Daytripper shows in Bournemouth and Brighton, which demonstrated there was more life left in Ride than most bands. After extensive touring, the band took time off. By the time they reconvened, Britpop was in full flight, and Oasis had captured the imagination of the public with the singles leading up to Definitely Maybe.
The band were at odds as to where to go to next for inspiration. First, they settled on Jayhawks/Black Crowes-style Americana space boogie, then droning Pink Floyd-style acid rock. Finally, they turned all the songs into retrofied numbers. The resulting 1994 album, Carnival of Light, split the old school fans - and still does to this day. The album was divided into halves, with Mark Gardner songs on one side and Andy Bell's on the other (a la Spacemen 3's Recurring). In retrospect, it was a mistake to have dropped Ride's experimental nature in favour of full-on Byrdsian guitar pop songs. By the time their final album, Tarantula, was released the following year, Ride were no more. Their Black Nite Crash was an incredible single of crashing guitars, venomous lyrics and heavy grooves but the accompanying album was released to no fanfare and deleted the week it came out.
However, with their alchemical guitar noise becoming a hip influence again, I think it's about time Ride reconvened to play a Don't Look Back show. The series has already showcased the post-apocalyptic rock of Slint and the narco-blues of Cowboy Junkies. It's Ride's turn to be recognised as the seminal band they truly were.
