You Made Me Realise
A black and white image of a woman laying on grass. To the left side of her face, she holds a bunch of flowers and to the right side of her face, she holds a knife. The text on the top right corner of the image reads "My Bloody Valentine".
EP by
My Bloody Valentine
Released8 August 1988 (1988-08-08)
RecordedJanuary 1988
Genre
Length17:06
LabelCreation
ProducerMy Bloody Valentine
My Bloody Valentine chronology
Ecstasy
(1987) 		You Made Me Realise
(1988) 		Feed Me with Your Kiss
(1988)

You Made Me Realise is the third EP by alternative rock band My Bloody Valentine, released on 8 August 1988 through Creation Records. It was their first record for Creation.

Sound and influences

The EP marked a change in direction for the band, where they adopted a noisier sound. Peter Kember, then of Spacemen 3, recalled seeing the band play "You Made Me Realise" at a live performance at the Roadmender in Northampton in 1988, after My Bloody Valentine had supported the Pixies on the latter's first European tour: "They’d transformed. I don’t know quite what had happened, but sometimes bands hit a certain quantum shift. The noise was overwhelming". In a 2013 interview, Kevin Shields acknowledged the influence of Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and Dinosaur Jr.'s J Mascis on his guitar playing at the time, but also highlighted a change in how he used reverse reverb. He had used this effect on the band's previous releases "Strawberry Wine" and Ecstasy, but "to no great consequence, because I was using it the way it was meant to be used. Then in '88, I discovered that it was extremely sensitive to velocity and how high you hit the string. You could make huge waves of sound by hitting it softer or harder". He also credited starting to smoke cannabis, which he had done for six months by the time of recording the EP, as an influence.[1]

Release

Both the single and EP versions were released on 8 August 1988. The single version was limited to 1,000 copies. According to Miki Berenyi from Lush, the girl featured in the album cover is Melanie, who was likely a friend of these bands at the time.[2][3] The Mercury Records version of the EP was released in November 1988 and added the tracks from its successor EP, Feed Me with Your Kiss.

The promotional video was directed by ex-Jesus and Mary Chain bassist Douglas Hart.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]

The You Made Me Realise EP has been very well-received critically.

Spin magazine called the record "astonishing".[5] AllMusic wrote that the EP "made critics stand up and take notice of the brilliant things My Bloody Valentine were up to; it developed some of the stunning guitar sounds that would become the band's trademark, and features tracks which are just as innovative."[4]

In 2005, Stylus Magazine ranked the title song's bassline at number 24 in their list of the "Top 50 Basslines of All Time".[6]

Live performances

During live performances the band repeats a single chord from the song for as long as they felt bearable, the song descending into cacophony,[7] usually lasting around 15 minutes, although there are reports of shows where it went on for well over half an hour.[7][8][9] For the 2008–09 reunion shows, "You Made Me Realise" brought each show to an ear-splitting conclusion, reaching up to 130 dB.[9][10][11]

From the 2014 documentary Beautiful Noise, Billy Corgan, on the long noise section played live, said:

It's one of those things where, it was full volume
and for the first three minutes it's like "oh okay this is kind of cool".
Then you're like "This is really too much. I wish they'd fucking stop".
And then at about 7 minutes it actually became kind of funny.
And about 10 minutes in you start actually getting into it.

and Colm Ó Cíosóig interpreted audience reaction as:

We hate you. But we have to keep on watching you. Because we can't believe what you're doing, that you're bringing this torture upon us!

Track listing

All tracks are written by Kevin Shields, except where noted

Single
No.TitleLength
1."You Made Me Realise"3:46
2."Slow"3:11
EP (Creation version)
No.TitleLength
1."You Made Me Realise"3:46
2."Slow"3:11
3."Thorn"3:36
4."Cigarette in Your Bed"3:29
5."Drive It All Over Me" (Shields/Bilinda Butcher/Colm Ó Cíosóig)3:04
EP (Mercury version)
No.TitleLength
1."You Made Me Realise"3:45
2."Slow"3:11
3."Cigarette in Your Bed"3:29
4."Feed Me with Your Kiss"3:56
5."Emptiness Inside"2:50
6."I Need No Trust"3:32

Personnel

All personnel credits adapted from the EP's liner notes.[12]

My Bloody Valentine

Chart positions

Chart (1988) Peak
position
UK Indie Chart[13] 2

Accolades

Year Publication Country Accolade Rank
2005 Q United Kingdom 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks[14] 35
2007 NME 50 Greatest Indie Anthems Ever[15] 50

References

  1. ^ Bonner, Michael (3 November 2017). "Going Blank Again: a history of shoegaze". Uncut. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  2. ^ Berenyi, Miki (16 March 2018). "Obscure shoey fact of the day: Lots of people think it's Billinda on the cover of My Bloody Valentine's You Made Me Realise but it's actually Melanie [...]". Twitter. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  3. ^ "My Bloody Valentine Merchandise Store". Wayback Machine. Archived from the original on 30 July 2013. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  4. ^ a b Abebe, Nitsuh. "You Made Me Realise [Creation] – My Bloody Valentine | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
  5. ^ Reynolds, Simon (August 2008). "'It's the Opposite of Rock 'n' Roll'". Spin: 97. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
  6. ^ "Stylus Magazine's Top 50 Basslines Of All Time - Article - Stylus Magazine". Archived from the original on 2 May 2015. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
  7. ^ a b Lukowski, Andrzej (2009). "Shoegaze Week: thoughts on My Bloody Valentine's Holocaust" Archived 14 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Drowned in Sound, 21 April 2009, retrieved 2010-05-31.
  8. ^ O'Hagan, Sean (2008). "Daydream Believers", The Guardian, 18 May 2008, retrieved 2010-05-30.
  9. ^ a b Ewing, Tom (2008). "My Bloody Valentine: The Roundhouse, London; 20 June 2008", Pitchfork Media, 23 June 2008, retrieved 2010-05-30.
  10. ^ Moore, John (2008). "Moore confessions: My Bloody Ears", The Guardian, 24 June 2008, retrieved 2010-05-30.
  11. ^ Mulvey, John (2008). "My Bloody Valentine - London Roundhouse, June 21, 2008", Uncut, 23 June 2008, retrieved 2010-05-30.
  12. ^ You Made Me Realise (Media notes). My Bloody Valentine. Creation Records. 1988. CRE 055T.((cite AV media notes)): CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  13. ^ Lazell, Barry (2004). Indie Hits: 1980-1999. Cherry Red Books. ISBN 0-9517206-9-4.
  14. ^ "100 Greatest Guitar Tracks – Ever!". Q. 224 (March 2005).
  15. ^ "The Greatest Indie Anthems Ever – countdown continues". NME. 1 May 2007. Retrieved 10 August 2012.

External links

My Bloody Valentine
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