In 2019, an image posted on 4chan of an empty yellow room looked eerily haunting. Soon, this was turned into a creepypasta, with other users contributing to the internet lore. For those who may not know, creepypastas are short horror stories posted online, typically paranormal stories.
The lore started with the image and soon turned into a short fictional story. If you “noclip out of reality, you end up in the Backrooms.” The original post explains that there are “six hundred million square miles of randomly segmented empty rooms to be trapped in.”
Kane Parsons turned this concept into a web series in 2022 and later adapted it into a horror film, released in May of 2026. If the Backrooms were real, these dream pop songs from the 1990s could be the soundtrack.
“Does This Hurt?” By The Boo Radleys
Most of The Boo Radleys’ sophomore album, Everything’s Alright Forever, could be included on a soundtrack for the literal Backrooms. “Does This Hurt?” has jarring elements of noise rock and shoegaze, while the beat keeps the song within the confines of dream pop. Still, you can get lost in the song, much like feeling lost in a series of empty rooms.
“Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space” By SPIRITUALIZED
This track is exactly as it sounds. You feel like you’re floating in space, but it’s also haunting at the same time. With vocal lines layered on top of each other, this track slowly turns into “I Can’t Help Falling In Love You” towards the end. It’s easy to get lost in how long you’ve been listening to the vocal layers that you almost don’t even notice when this change happens.
“Monochrome” by Lush
The final track on Lush’s 1992 album Spooky may be the spookiest track on the album. It balances between beautiful and scary at times, questioning life and experiences. It’s much more stripped back than the rest of the album, a brilliant way to bookend the album.
“A House Wife Love Song” by Starflyer 59
Starflyer 59 is another band that leaned heavily into shoegaze while contributing to dream pop simultaneously. This can be heard on tracks such as “A House Wife Love Song”, especially in their use of ethereal vocals. Their sophomore album is often referred to as “Gold”, as it’s the color of the simplistic album cover. Subsequently, their 1994 debut album has been referred to as “Silver”, with a similar album cover in silver.
Photo by Dave Tonge/Getty Images
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