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You Made Me Realise was My Bloody Valentine's first release through Creation Records, and its title track was the embodiment of the Irish alt-rockers' noise pop style. During live performances, the experimental guitar sounds, matched with obscured lyrics about inner turmoil, gave way to an extended white noise section nicknamed "the holocaust," the unrelenting repetition of a single chord that could last up to 20 minutes (once even 40 minutes), taking the audience through a range of emotions that usually ended in stunned silence - or unconsciousness.
"It seems like such an odd thing to do, you know, to make a lot of noise," Kevin Shields, MBV guitarist and vocalist admitted to Option magazine. "But I think we take it way past the point of acceptedness. It takes on a meaning in itself. I don't know exactly what it means, but it basically transcends stupidity. For us it's genuinely… It's the most relaxing moment of the whole gig."
Shields had witnessed some concertgoers react to the song with rage, unable to bear the sonic overload, but a performance in Germany made him question his safety. "There were guns and drug addicts everywhere," he explained. "That time I was genuinely frightened. There were dodgy people all over the place. It was a bizarre crowd, the weirdest crowd we'd ever played for. It seemed like a brave thing to do to play that song at that show, but generally it's not bravery, really, it's just a bit intense."
This song's uncompromising sound was influenced by the likes of Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr. Kevin Shields told Uncut writer Michael Bonner in 2013:
"Thurston Moore and J Mascis were big influences. They were a kickstart. But also one of the main effects we used was called reverse reverb. I used it all over the Ecstasy and 'Strawberry Wine' records 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."
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