For example, if I'd picked up Loveless after the event (having been more widely aware of the shoegaze scene having come and gone) I think it would have lessened the awe.

Ditto Sonic Youth's Dirty, which at the time was 'real noise' (ho ho) for me. Not so much now (as I type to Deafheaven, the shouting of which would have scared me off as a teenager).