The story
From shoe + gazing, because of the tendency of such performers to look down rather than at the crowd and the heavy use of effect pedals.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
shoegazing
Today it means: A subgenre of alternative rock music popularised in early 1990s, characterised by a dreamlike sound making much use of effect pedals, and by a detached or introverted performance style. Full definition →