I think I agree with the majority of what you've said there. The band that becomes most well known out of a scene is usually going to be the most influential, but of course that doesn't mean there aren't other fantastic (or better, even) bands around.
That said, I think that in early 90s England - pre-internet, where people had to buy records and go to gigs and bands couldn't promote their music on myspace or whatever other website - I think back then, marketing plays a lot less of a role. Especially in a fairly underground scene as shoegaze was at the time. The reason MBV came to the fore of that scene is because they produced a brilliant and unique album, and they were amazing live. Although these are subjective statements, I think something has to be said for a band who produce an album like Loveless that goes on to become the figurehead of an entire genre (and a fairly cerebral genre, as well)... it's not merely through hype, or luck of the draw that some other band didn't get there first. If the album was merely just hype-at-the-time, then it would be forgotten about like so many other underground albums that were initially praised/popular have been forgotten about.
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