Goth
- This article is about the contemporary goth subculture. For the Germanic peoples, see the Goths.
Goth is a modern popular
subculture that gained visibility in the
punk era in the late
1970s, although the name
goth did not start gaining currency until around
1984. It is associated with particular styles of
music and
clothing, primarily black with nice
boots.
What is goth?
The meaning and implications of the term goth have evolved through the years, though it seems to have been used initially to describe the new 1980s post-punk bands; bands which were close to the spirit of punk, but with a more despairing, introverted form of anger.
As a subculture, goth has evolved into many variations in style ("types" of goth), and local "scenes" vary greatly between areas. A large number of terms have developed to describe goth types, such as Batcave Goth, Gothpunk, Camden Goth, Victorian Goth, Fetish Goth, Cybergoth, Perkygoth, Mopeygoth.
Some claim that goth is defined by androgyny, black clothes, black hair dye, death, darkness, depression, heavy makeup, horror (inspired by fiction and film), Nihilism, sensuality, silver jewellery or any number of other things. Others protest that these categories are stereotypical and generally cause more harm than good.
The goth movement has certainly been going for a long time, and shows no sign of stopping. This owes much to its evolution, and the way this evolution has played out among the various scene factions, with a solid group always remaining to hearken back to the "golden days" and resist change while others choose to explore new artistic and expressive territory. Over time, the goth movement has grown to include a bewilderingly wide array of influences.
Origins of goth
The present goth subculture can be traced directly back to c. 1976 in Britain, as an off-shoot of the Punk movement with the formation of The Easy Cure (now simply The Cure) and Siouxsie and the Banshees in that year with other bands such as Bauhaus (formed 1978), Sex Gang Children (formed c. 1982), Southern Death Cult(1982), The Sisters of Mercy (1980) and Killing Joke (1979) following closely afterwards. The term gothic was used from 1979 to describe some of these bands and their music because of its haunting, dark and gloomy elements.
Although elements of the subculture were visible as a separate strain within punk and post-punk since the late 1970s it was not till around 1980 that followers of these bands started to come together as a distinctly recognisable group or movement. The opening of the Batcave in London’s Soho in July 1982 might be seen as marking the coming out of the scene. The term "goth" was not commonly applied to it until 1983 or 1984. Other terms mooted at the time were positive punk (most famously as the title of a New Musical Express article from early 1983 [1]) and gothic punk (commonly heard into the late 1980s).
Independently in the United States, death rock was branching off from US punk at about the same time, with similar themes and dress. The two were sufficiently compatible to more or less merge.
Influences and Precursors of the goth subculture
As the subculture has evolved, it has taken elements from popular culture and \nsubcultural tropes from similar and compatible subcultures, fashions and styles, though these are not directly the origins of the present subculture:
Musical Influences
- The Velvet Underground (1960s) A band whose dark and depressing sound and themes were frequently referenced by early goth bands, especially by Siouxsie and the Banshees.\n*The Doors were a musical influence on some goth bands, most noticeably on Southern Death Cult.\n* Elements of the seventies glam subculture helped influence goth both musically and visually. As the movement broke further away from punk the androgynous look, which Bahuaus favoured, developed, and was taken even further by bands like Alien Sex Fiend and their followers. David Bowie’s androgynous appearance, love of melodrama and his use of dark themes meant he had a major influence on many early goth bands. His songs frequently appeared on the Batcave playlists. \n*Alice Cooper and Black Sabbath are also worth acknowledging, despite rarely being considered goth music, they were key influences in the darker trend rock music began to and has continued to take up to the present day. Alien Sex Fiend in particular were Cooper fans.\n*Joy Division (1977-1980), their haunting sound was an influence on early goth bands, and their music was frequently described as gothic at the time helping spread use of the term, but they dissolved before the movement took off.
Influences from Gothic Horror
The gothic novel, of the early nineteenth century, was responsible above all else for the term gothic being associated with a mood of horror, darkness and the supernatural. The first gothic novel is commonly agreed to have been Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto (1764). They established what became horror stereotypes by featuring graveyards, ruined castles or churches, ghosts, vampires, cursed families, and melodramatic plots. A notable element in these novels was the brooding figure of the gothic villain, which developed into the Byronic hero, a key precursor in the male goth image. The most famous gothic villain appeared in a later gothic novel Bram Stoker’s Dracula 1897. In 1993 Whitby became the location for what became the UK’s biggest goth festival as a direct result of featuring in Stoker’s Dracula. The modern figure of the Femme fatale also has its roots in Romantic literature and is a key image for female Goths, most notably inspired via Siouxsie Sioux. Siouxsie and the Banshees were also one of the first to use the term gothic in reference to their music at the time, and some of their early songs were directly inspired by the master of the gothic short story Edgar Alan Poe.
However gothic literature’s influence on goth is really mediated through the modern popular horror genre in which the horror film is paramount. Imagery from horror films and television, especially the figure of the vampire, even camp horror B films such as Plan 9 From Outer Space have had significant influence on the evolution of Gothic Fashion. In the early days such references were tongue in check, typified by the Bauhaus song Bela Lugosi's Dead, the 1979 homage to the horror star which became a noted goth anthem. The inspiration of early goths was also Hammer Horror films, and 1960s TV series such as The Addams Family, and The Munsters, than Ann Radcliffe. The interconnection between horror and goth was highlighted in its early days by The Hunger, a 1983 vampire film, starring David Bowie, which featured one of Bauhaus' final performances singing Bela Lugosi's Dead in a nightclub.
Perhaps inevitably the popular view of goth, especially in the mainstream press has always emphasised these elements and thus as time went on bands and members of the subculture took the connection more seriously. As a result later on period dress in imitation of vampire films, as well as morbid, supernatural and occult themes became a more noticeably serious element in the subculture.
Other influences
Some goths hold that goth is much more than a modern subculture, that it is an archetype of sorts that has always been a part of humanity. Fascination with all things dark and morbid is nothing new. It may be that the punk scene was a catalyst to give form to something that had only been expressed in the writings of Edgar Allan Poe and Percy Bysshe Shelley. There are many other famous artists of whom we could wonder "if they were alive today, would they have been (considered) goth?" Other subcultures have come and gone, while goth has remained. This furthers the notion amongst some goths that it is more than a zeitgeist or passing fad, but a segment of the total human population across time.
Other suggested influences include:
Goth music
In the early period in the UK, the names most often mentioned would be The Cure,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Bauhaus,
Sex Gang Children (formed c.
1982), (originally named Andrew Hayward and the Panic Buttons),
Southern Death Cult (c. 1982) now called the Cult, Specimen (c.
1982), and Alien Sex Fiend (1982). Each of these bands had much in common with the punk movement, though any similarity with punk was owed to the fact that that was the scene from which they were emerging, and were attempting (whether consciously or unconsciously) to leave behind. What is most notable about the core early
'80s post punk bands is that, typical to their punk roots, they had a general distaste for labels, presumably seeing such things as anathema to creative expression
[1]. In recent years, the tendency has swung almost entirely the other way, with many bands being quick to label themselves as goth.
From the late
seventies onward, the
Death Rock movement in
Los Angeles, California was on the rise, with such bands as
Christian Death (formed
1981),
Gun Club (1981),
45 Grave (c.
1983), and the legendary
Kommunity FK (c. 1983) fronted by Death Rock Ikon Patrick Mata;
Nivek Ogre's
Skinny Puppy (formed
c. 1982), were also doing their "thing", quite apart from the Death Rock scene. Whilst all of these groups began as quite distinct from goth, they soon began to be equated with it, and are now recognised as strong early influences.
Goth was as much a continental European phenomenon as it was British or American. At the same time that The Cure and Christian Death were forming in those countries, in Germany (home to the largest modern gothic festival, the yearly
Wave Gotik Treffen in
Leipzig which started in 1992) were such dark bands as Xmal Deutschland formed
1980,
Die Krupps formed 1981, and Der Mussolini. Belgium gave rise to
electronic body music (EBM) with influence from bands such as
Kraftwerk and the early
Industrial band
Front 242 formed in 1981. Meanwhile, Amsterdam had
Clan of Xymox formed in 1983. Mephisto Waltz (c.1987) founded by former Christian Death composer / guitarist Barry Galvin \n(alias Bari Bari), Galvin defined the dark droning style of Christian Death on the Album 'Atrocities', the songs of which he composed and later transfered to the Mephisto Waltz Repertoire.
Australia also deserves a mention, the emerging movement there characterised by
Nick Cave's first band,
The Birthday Party formed c. 1979 and later moving to London.
Throughout the '80s, there was much cross-pollination between the European goth subcultures, the Death Rock movement, and the
New Romantic (
New Wave) movement. The rise in popularity of rock music in the mid-eighties, was mirrored by the rise of gothic rock, most notably in the form of the seminal
goth rock bands,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Fields of the Nephilim (1984) and
The Mission (1986). In the UK this period saw goth bands at their most popular, and the subculture at its largest extent.
Goth music in the nineties
The late 1980s and early nineties saw the development of
industrial music, often linked with goth, with bands such as
Nine Inch Nails; the band
Project Pitchfork established the German electro-goth phenomenon of
Darkwave, now including bands such as Das Ich.
Glam Rock divergered into Death Glam, assimilating some of the visual elements of goth, whilst retaining the frantic lolly-pop essence of Glam Rock with a dark theme, with bands like
Marilyn Manson (formerly Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids).
With the arrival of Manson, the goth movement has became almost
mainstream in popularity in the United States and has brought the "goth-not goth" debate to a head. Many people—including a large number of 'traditional' goths—balk at the claim that Manson or Mansonites are goths. Indeed to say as much is to commit heresy in many gothic circles. To them, Spooky Kids (as fans of the band have also been dubbed) are just
not goth.
Others say that with many Mansonites consistently identifying themselves as goths, they speak for the movement, however much some may wish to deny them a place. Seeking a middle-ground, others have begun to accept a distinction between
goth and
goth-friendly, and placing Manson and his ilk in the latter category.
The strongest US Gothic scenes have always been in California, hosted by San Francisco clubs such as Temple, and Usherhouse, and in Los Angeles the legendary former goth embassy
Helter Skelter (debut venue of the LA goth band London After Midnight), later replaced by Hollywood club
Perversion.
Another genre of music sometimes associated with the Goth subculture is Goth Metal, which combines medieval Gothic music with heavy
Doom metal. Goth metal is often described as sounding like "Beauty and the Beast" because of the characteristic duets between operatic female vocals and male
death metal vocals. Some of the key bands in this area are
Paradise Lost,
Theatre of Tragedy,
Tristania and
Lacuna Coil. As with Manson, above, it is hotly debated whether this genre is really part of the Goth subculture; many traditional goths will have nothing to do with it.
In the UK of equal importance was the gradual rise of
Cybergoth first developing at Slimelight, arguably the most famous and longest running Goth club in the world, currently based in a disused industrial complex in
Islington,
London.
Cybergoth developed in the late 90s, the term influenced by so called
cyberpunk writers such as
William Gibson, as a new breed of gothic fashion/lifestyle. With influences from
rave culture,
Industrial music and
anime, the neon hair extensions, glowsticks, bright make up and clothes, and love of upbeat music sets this somewhat apart from the "mainstream" goth movement. For bands, see Goteki, Action Directe, Sheep on Drugs and Apoptygma Berserk.
Goth, as a concept, continues to evolve and develop in the
21st century.
See also:
Gothic rock,
Gothic fashion
References
- Paul Hodkinson: Goth: Identity, Style and Subculture (Dress, Body, Culture Series) (Berg, UK, September 2002; hardcover ISBN 1859736009; softcover ISBN 185973605X)
External links
Category:Goth
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