Talk:Dark wave

goth subculture and Darkwave culture

I removed "In many countries, the Dark Wave movement also included the early Goth subculture (trad goth). " because:

• 1. Darkwave is a music movement and it just can't contain anything but music genres.And as far as I know goths are people.
• 2.Darkwave is a part of the goth scene but it's completely wrong to say that goth scene is or was included in the darkwave movement.I mean neither EBM and dark ambient nor deathrock and positive punk are from the darkwave genres.

Xr 1 (talk) 16:55, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

Absolute nonsense. Dark Wave is a musical movement with Dark Wave listeners. The listeners are called Wavers. And this is a culture.

"Darkwave is a part of the goth scene". Absolutely POV and historically incorrect. --Ada Kataki (talk) 17:00, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

Isn't it? So why all goths listen to it?? Also the Wavers, you mentioned, listen to the Darkwave music and are not part from it. Music may have its own but could not contain subculture. Also - I have added sources.Stop removing sourced information! Xr 1 (talk) 17:07, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

Listen to what? Neoclassical? Ethereal? Electrowave? Gothic rock? New German Death Art? Not every Goth listen to these genres. Furthermore the musical preferences of a Goth are not relevant. Do you think, if a Goth listen to Jazz, Jazz music becomes a Gothic genre?. --Ada Kataki (talk) 17:13, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, not every goth listens to them but if most goths listen to them and they are connected somewhat to goth rock, they will become part of the goth scene.And darkwave is one of the first movements/genres to be in this scene! Also Etherial, Electrowave, Neoclassical are forms of darkwave! 88.87.6.55 (talk) 17:20, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

POV, POV, POV. And historically incorrect. --Ada Kataki (talk) 17:23, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

Oh, and how you can prove it's historically incorrect?! Xr 1 (talk) 17:24, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

It's absolutly simple: Im older than you. You're only a teenie. You'd never seen the 80s. --Ada Kataki (talk) 17:26, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

"Some people love Bauhaus and can't stand the Sisters, that's all a matter of personal preference. Then there's people who lean more heavily towards darkwave, or ethereal, or ebm or industrial or deathrock."[1] this clearly shows that darkwave is a part of the goth scene. Xr 1 (talk) 17:56, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

Concerning the main issue. First of all:@ ADA ATAKI and Xr: stop this childish edit war!

I believe the problem of this dispute lies in the fact there's a misunderstanding in the fact the DW term may have different senses according periods.

While many people generally tend to use the DW term as distinct from music like gothic rock today (since 90s) , it seems like this term may also be used as an even larger umbrella term including gothic rock. Hence maybe the reason of your disagreement. Just an hypothesis. Trying to find a solution to this stupid edit war. But there's another lattent confusion: people confuse gothic subculture with gothic rock. In a certain sense, notion of darkwave may include gothic rock, but it doesn't mean it includes gothic culture. On the contrary gothic culture includes DW.

Frankely speaking, I never heard of a darkwave culture ( furthermore as a distinct culture from gothic CULTURE.)

I've been into gothic music for over 20 years and I never heard or read anything like Darkwave being an autonomous culture per se (that would include Gothic subculture!) DARKWAVE IS a MUSIC not a CULTURE. But I may be mistaken. Provide reliable and verifiable sources and I'm ready to change my mind.

If you're so sure of this Ada Ataki, then describe wavers distinct fashion, their distinct imagery, their distinct litterature, their distinct ideology,etc... And above everything PROVIDE SOURCES, AND NOTHING ELSE BUT SOURCES. I don't wanna hear of your usual personal essays. I wanna hear of Verifiable sources.

And futile and arrogant arguments like this " Im older than you. You're only a teenie. blabla." are irrelevant here, you may impress kids with such absurd arguments in ordinary life, but this won't help you here in wikipedia. First, noone can verify your alleged age. Second because you're older and have experience doesn't prove you're not mistaken. 3rd, your age doesn't prove anything with respect to Wikipedia's policy anyway. The fact you may be older than him doesn't prove anything. Forget it, you're not into a dick contest, you're in an encyclopedia. Get over it. Claiming you know better than others just because you say so isn't sufficient to legitimate your claims. Provide sources instead. And once again refrain from making personal attacks and being uncivil. There are many articles where you've been uncivil, engaged into edit wars and making personal attacks and insults. Keep that way and all you'll get is being blocked. No matter you are right or wrong, I'm really tired to see you attack, belitle everybody who disagrees with you. Frédérick Duhautpas (talk) 20:20, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

---

If you don't mind, I would like to inject my opinion; and it is my opinion only. I don't want to get involved in this battle, just provide an input. I'm interested in this discussion, and think it will help to clear up some things I'm also wondering about. I'm 58 years old. I am absolutely NOT a Goth, never have been and never will be. (I know what Goths are, btw; there are several here where I work.) I love neoclassical dark wave. I listen to it all the time; that and classical. In my opinion, neoclassical darkwave has absolutely nothing -- nothing -- NADA to do with the Goth subculture. And to make the blanket assumption that everyone who listens to darkwave is a Goth is just pure nonsense. Gothic rock is a specific genre. Goths as a rule listen to Gothic rock. Goths may listen to darkwave, but that does not mean that darkwave is or has ever been part of the Gothic subculture or Goth movement. People like me resent being linked with Goths. Both types of music share similar temperaments, but darkwave refers to 'music that is more introspective, moody, emotional, and artistic -- less rock and roll oriented.' [2] Daniel Grünfeld (talk) 18:05, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

I disagree with you DG, sure I can understand people who don't consider themselves as goths but like neoclassical DW, wish DW was not associated with gothic culture. But no matter non goth people listen to it, culturally speaking DW IS basically connected with Gothic culture. While goths may listen to music like Industrial, dark folk, EBM, which are not primarly associated with gothic culture, this is not the case of DW. No, darkwave is culturally associated with the goth culture. I got a book which confirms this (Carnets Noirs, this book deals with the different tendencies of gothic music). Genres directly associated with gothic culture include Gothic rock, Death rock, gothabilly, Darkwave, Coldwave, most notably.

Oh btw if you pay more attention to your source, you'll notice this phrase:

"A fairly new term that refers to a branch of gothic music that is more introspective, moody, emotional, and artistic -- less rock and roll oriented."

Oh and don't misunderstand me, of course DW and neoclassical are different from gothic rock. I completely agree. But when making such a reasoning you're making an amalgam between music aesthetic and cultural considerations. Culture is not music aesthetic itself. Several styles may be different and belong to a same SUBCULTURE. It doesn't need to be aesthetically similar.On a side note the term DW is an umbrella term which includes very different stylistic tendencies, including tendencies very close to gothic rock. So don't let yourself be misguided by what you know of Neoclassical DW.Frédérick Duhautpas (talk) 19:35, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

Frédérick, I certainly don't know the history of gothic music, nor how dark wave originated. It is very likely that it did originate within the matrix of gothic music. Having read about gothic rock from Piero Scaruffi's website (whatever you may thing of him), I find the origin of DW confusing at best. While DW may have originated within the matrix of Gothic music, it has also certainly gone its own way, and left much of the Gothic sub-culture behind. In short, it has become more artistic, less rock-oriented, more introspective. Lastly, it certainly would be great to be able to engage in a constructive discussion on this topic without having to engage in flame wars; not that I'm accusing you of starting any; just making an observation. Thanks for your input. I hope to hear from you again. Daniel Grünfeld (talk) 22:00, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

As I already said I completely agree with you: DW, ethereal wave and neoclassical have certainly gone their own way aesthetically speaking (musically speaking if you prefer). There's no question they are different in terms of musical aesthetic and expressivity . But that's beside the point . No offense, but currently you're still making the same amalgam I was mentioning earlier: you apparently identify gothic rock (a music style) with gothic (a culture including fashion, literature, visual art, attitude, social comportement, and several different types of music, etc... ). Gothic culture CANNOT be reduced to gothic rock. It is generally admitted that gothic culture is associated with several other genres including post-punk, deathrock, coldwave, gothabilly, darkwave and even ethereal wave and neoclassical (as being subgenres of Darkwave). These music are generally regarded as gothic no matter they are obviously different. DW doesn't belong to gothic rock music, yes! On the other hand DW is indeniably associated with gothic CULTURE and world. Frédérick Duhautpas (talk) 20:32, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

Frédérick, if you read the first few sentences of the darkwave article, it refers to DW as a movement. So, according to the WP article, DW is a movement, not a genre. Therefore it is not the same as the gothic movement, unless you consider DW to be a sub-movement within the larger gothic movement. This is confusing at best. I'm not sure how you would describe the DW movement apart from the music itself. Thanks for giving me your time. Daniel Grünfeld (talk) 15:01, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Dear Daniel, here again I agree with you, Darkwave IS indeed a movement. Who said I disagree? But there’s actually a misunderstanding going on here. You apparently confuse movement with subculture. Yes, darkwave is a movement but this is a MUSICAL movement not a cultural movement like gothic subculture. And I agree DW is not a genre. As already said by me, Darkwave is a large umbrella term refering to DIVERSE types of music. So I'm perfectly aware this is not really a genre per se, if by “genre” we expect to have common musical traits. As Darkwave covers too many various types of music to be considered as a unified genre. No one denies this here. But no matter DW encompasses various aesthetics, the term Darkwave refers exclusively to MUSIC not to other cultural aspects. So when we're talking of Darkwave we are talking of several different musical approaches, yes, but nothing else but music. Hence my unformal (and apparently misguiding) use of the term "genre" applied to Darkwave, even though I agree it is notreally a genre per se.

But one thing is sure this ensemble of music are directly connected with gothic culture .As explained in the referential book of gothic music Carnets Noirs, in the large article dedicated to Darkwave, Darkwave is a vast movement of gothic music revival in the early 90s coming from Germany when early goth rock was in a phase of stagnation ( Carnets Noirs, "Darkwave" p.167-185) If you need quotes just ask. It is said that Darkwave is a way to make new with old through diverse types blending. The movement includes bands directly inspired by gothic rock, as well as some other bands blending goth, indus and electro, some other applying a darker touch to electronic ( Carnets Noirs, "Darkwave" p.167), some exploring blending with classical or medieval music, etc…( Carnets Noirs, "Darkwave" p.168. )

Yes Dw is a musical movement, no question about this! but I doubt there’s a distinct and specific culture of darkwave, I mean distinct from gothic culture. But If you guys think I’m mistaken. Then provide sources describing a typical culture of Darkwave including wavers distinct fashion, their distinct imagery, their distinct literature, their cinematographic references, their distinct ideology, their distinct imagery, their distinct social comportment, etc... just like gothic subculture has its own characteristic on these points.

Seriously, the culture associated with this Darkwave is just gothic culture as far as I know. Keep in mind not to confuse music with culture. Gothic rock is not synonymous to gothic subculture. Gothic subculture emerged from gothic rock, but gothic culture is not the same thing as gothic rock. Gothic culture includes other musical styles beside gothic rock And

Gothic culture includes darkwave even though Darkwave,as a large musical movement, may encompass (according to certain views) some more gothic oriented rock bands.

As already said gothic culture can’t be reduced to gothic rock. Yes gothic rock is the core of this culture, but gothic culture also included diverse other types of music including the musical movement named Darkwave, post-punk, coldwave, deathrock and so on.

There are countless sources which confirm that. Darkwave IS part of gothic culture. Even the source you used in your posts confirms this: Darkwave is “A fairly new term that refers to a branch of gothic music that is more introspective, moody, emotional… and so on”

Gothic culture CANNOT be reduced to gothic rock. Absolutely Bullshit. Read Dave Thompsons book. The first Goths were Bauhaus and Siouxsie freaks in black clothes, fishnet, pikes etc. They're Goth rockers. If they're no Goth rockers, then they're Dark Wavers or nothing. Remember, in your country, Dark Wavers were called "corbeaux", not Goths.

Moreover is Dark Wave not a music style. There are synths, there are guitars, there are flutes and violins. Is Psyche a dark wave group? Or Joy Division? The Sisters of Mercy? Where is the stylistic connection? They all were post-punk-/wave groups. That's the only connection. --Ada Kataki (talk) 22:34, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

Ada kataki,

I can see you’re still very familiar with rules of civility and edit wars in wikipedia. Aren’t you? Anyway just a tip: when you want to reply arrogantly to a post make sure to read it carefully first. Because for the moment you mostly missed the point.

"The first Goths were Bauhaus and Siouxsie freaks in black clothes, fishnet, pikes etc."

I completely agree:

Who said the contrary? Not me. So what’s that got to do with anything?

Who denied goth rockers were at the origin of gothic culture? Not me

I said gothic culture cannot be reduced to gothic rock, because other music like post-punk, deathrock, gothabilly, coldwave also belong to gothic culture. So your comments are completely beside the point. Of course gothic rock is at the origin of the goth culture.

And yes, indeed in my country people who recognize themselves as part of the gothic culture may be called “corbeaux” occasionally, but most frequently they’re just called Goths or gothics. Indeed “Corbeau” is used just as a synonymous to "Goths". Why you think you can apply such a fictive distinction between Corbeau and goth in France. Too bad! I’m very well placed to know you’re mistaken. Sorry but such a distinction doesn’t exist here in France. Words like Gothics, Goths, corbeaux, and even your national “Gruftie” in France are all synonymous. So you don’t prove anything by arguing this. Call it bullshit, if you will. This doesn’t change anything.

Moreover Dark Wave is not a music style. There are synths, there are guitars, there are flutes and violins.

I agree. But here again that’s beside the point.DW isn’t indeed a genre, it’s a musical movement. But because it is not a genre but a large musical movement doesn’t mean it is a distinct culture from gothic.

I've been into gothic music for over 20 years and I never heard or read anything like Darkwave being an autonomous culture per se (that would include Gothic subculture!) DARKWAVE IS a MUSIC not a CULTURE. But I may be mistaken. Provide reliable and verifiable sources and I'm ready to change my mind.

If you're so sure of this Ada Ataki, then describe wavers distinct fashion, their distinct imagery, their distinct litterature, their distinct ideology,etc... And above everything PROVIDE SOURCES, AND NOTHING ELSE BUT SOURCES. I don't wanna hear of your usual personal essays. I wanna hear of Verifiable sources.

"Is Psyche a dark wave group? Or Joy Division? The Sisters of Mercy? Where is the stylistic connection?"

What that got to do with anything? Did I say they were supposed to have a stylistic connection? No I didn’t .

As for your little edit war, you keep on going and you still keep on deleting sourced material?Fine, You've been blocked for 24 hours yesterday for that, but apparently you want some more. Fine, keep on being uncivil and engaging into edit wars like this, you're going to get what you want soon.Frédérick Duhautpas (talk) 23:12, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Goth subculture and Darkwave culture discussion (part II)

But I may be mistaken. Provide reliable and verifiable sources and I'm ready to change my mind.

I only have German sources. In Germany the culture was called Dark Wave Culture or Dark Wave Scene, not Goth. Goth was only a part from the Dark Wave movement. It's the same thing like New Wave and the New Romantic culture. New Romantics were a part of the New Wave movement. You cannot divide both cultures, because it was a cultural coexistence with many overlaps. It's like Sinti and Roma (Sinti are a subgroup of Roma people). --Ada Kataki (talk) 00:08, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Ada kataki, I agree New Romantics is a part of new wave. Your comparison is interesting but comparison doesn't prove anything. Because New Romantics is part of new wave movement doesn't necessarilly prove gothic culure is part of Darkwave.

Such a reasoning just doesn't prove anything. Please no personal essays, no comparison, no metaphors, JUST SOURCES.

In Germany the culture was called Dark Wave Culture or Dark Wave Scene, not Goth.

No offense, but once again you seem to confuse "culture" with "music". "Culture" is a term refering to a sociological movement whereas "Scene" refers to a MUSICAL movement exclusively. So "darkwave culture" and "Darkwave scene", in their strict sense, are not synonymous. Yeah sure music is one of the possible aspects of a culture, but it doesn't mean culture is synonymous to music. Culture includes music, but also lifestyle, values, symbols,literature, conventions, fashion, imagery, ideology, cinematographic references, and so on... whereas the term "scene" only includes musical aspects of a movement.

For my part I completely agree there's a Darkwave scene, but I totally disagree there's a darkwave subculture, just like there's a gothic subculture.

Provide sources even in German. It doesn't matter. Rules of wikipedia allow sources in non-english languages especially when they concern cultural aspects from that country. I read German, so give scans (just like you did on My Dying Bride issue or Ethereal Wave's one) that would be perfect. A quote where it reads something like "Darkwave ist eine Subkultur" as well as something like "Gothic ist Teil der Darkwave-Kultur".

So if you can provide explicit sources like this, at least we could specify "in Germany, Darkwave is considered as a culture encompassing gothic culture. But this is not the case in France and apparently in other english speaking cultures, Darkwave is considered as a music scene only, not as a culture. I have already provided sources supporting this: Darkwave is considered as a musical movement within the gothic subculture. But perhaps it's different in Germany.

Just an idea here: historically we seem to have had Goth or Goth-like subcultures emerging in many places at once. You have the UK Goth scene which was different from the US' scene, and from the sound of it the origins & musical styles of the German & French scenes appear to be different still. Heck, the scene in the north of England in the early 80s was hugely different from the scene in London. Germans who we in the UK would recognise as Goth may well have started off by calling themselves Dark wave, since in Germany art & musical movements are often termed "Irgendwas-Welle". If you put yourself in the Germans' place, as a young German Darkwave fan you're bound to look at the UK scene & think "Ha, they're doing our thing! They're a type of Darkwave!", while in the UK we'd be "Ha! They're doing *our* thing! They're a type of Goth!". As I see it you have 2 independent scenes with a massive overlap. Skiamakhos (talk) 13:13, 8 September 2017 (UTC)

Don't misunderstand me though, as my source notes, I completely agree that Darkwave (in terms OF MUSIC) may encompass styles like goth rock, electro, cold-wave and so on... But in terms of CULTURE per se, gothic subculture encompasses darkwave music. As my source notes, Darkwave is a musical revival of gothic MUSIC. If you need scans, I provide them. Frédérick Duhautpas (talk) 18:28, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

In my experience, Goths typically listen to Gothic Rock, Ethereal, Darkwave and Deathrock. To use the word "Goth" in description of music one assumes you are referring to the kind of music that a Goth will typically listen to. In which case this does not only apply to Gothic Rock but Ethereal, Darkwave and Deathrock as well. I would argue that this would not apply to Industrial as many shun that genre and EBM as well. Many I know despise metal so that's right out. But to claim that Darkwave has nothing to do with Goth is just plain foolish and ill-informed.Very Old School Goth (talk) 12:30, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

The first usage of the term?

In the article, it says "The first usage of the term appears to have been in the 1980s". The quote is incorrect and "appears " should not be used as is an unencyclopedic word. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kalied04 (talk • contribs) 10:03, 19 November 2008 (UTC)

Why do you think it's incorrect? I own a handful of music magazines from the 80s, and in 1988 there is a mention of Dark Wave in connection with Joy Division. --Ada Kataki (talk) 22:30, 24 November 2008 (UTC)

Dark wave is a music genre

I've changed the lead paragraph to specify that dark wave is a music genre. I'm concerned that some people might consider this controversial, as it was previously described as an umbrella term and as a "movement". The trouble is that Wikipedia doesn't recognize a "movement". While dark wave is very broad, it is still essentially a music genre. Punk rock, for example, is equally broad and has an equally diverse number of derivatives, but is still described as a music genre. Aryder779 (talk) 17:34, 7 March 2009 (UTC)

I don't agree with you. Dark wave isn't a music genre. It's an umbrella term that describes different post-punk genres with dark tunes and themes. A music genre is Gothic rock, Ethereal or Neoclassical. --Chontamenti (talk) 10:41, 9 March 2009 (UTC)

I disagree with both of you. Well, actually I agree with Chontamenti for most part of it: I agree Dark wave isn't a music genre, but an umbrella term including several different genres. I agree it includes Ethereal wave and Neoclassical music. But on the other hand I disagree Gothic rock is part of Dark wave. According to my source ("Darkwave" in the gothic book Carnets noirs),Dark wave is described as more recent movement than gothic rock. It is described as a large musical movement that emerged when original gothic rock seemed to be a bit exhausted in the end of the 80s. DW gave a new breath to gothic music in the 90s. DW approach is very diverse, it includes different kind of music that blends gothic rock/post punk inflections with differents other genres (Electronic, indus, ethereal, classical). But there's no stylistic unity that characterizes the genre. It's way too diverse to consider it as a unified genre per se.Fred D.Hunter (talk) 13:35, 9 March 2009 (UTC)

I remember it as a genre. It is basically New wave with a dark sound. The original true gothic music was actually punk and not post-punk. Groups coming out during the post-punk era with the gothic theme were called dark wave. RottingSouls (talk) 20:26, 9 October 2009 (UTC)

My problem with Carnets noirs: The autor thinks that Dark Wave and Neue Deutsche Todeskunst would be one and the same thing. But the NDT is only a German-language genre within the Dark Wave movement, started by bands such as Das Ich, Goethes Erben, Relatives Menschsein and early Lacrimosa. In Germany, Gothic rock was a part of the Dark Wave movement. A British Gothic rock collection also agrees with me. --Chontamenti (talk) 21:02, 9 March 2009 (UTC)

Btw: Maybe Gothic Rock, Ethereal Wave, Neo-classical, Cold Wave, Electro Wave & Neue Deutsche Todeskunst show different stylistic characteristics. But the origin of all the genres is the Post-punk movement and the Do it Yourself philosophy of the late 70s/the early 80s (Don't forget: Neo-classical artists such as Dead Can Dance and In the Nursery were formed as simple Post-punk bands). --Chontamenti (talk) 21:02, 9 March 2009 (UTC)

                         ,--------> Electro Wave (Anne Clark, Pink Industry, Psyche)
                         |
                         |
                         |
                         +--------> Gothic Rock aka Gothic Wave (Bauhaus, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Cure)
                         |               |
                         |               |
                         |               |
Punk --------------> Post-Punk            `---> Ethereal Wave (Cocteau Twins, Love Spirals Downwards, Lycia) --
                         |                                                                       |
                         |                                                                       |
                         |                                                                       |
                         +--------> Neo-classical (Dead Can Dance, In the Nursery, Love is Colder Than Death) <---
                         |
                         |
                         |
                         +--------> Cold Wave (Clair Obscur, Norma Loy, Leitmotiv) regional movement in france
                         |
                         |
                         |
                         +--------> Dark Cabaret (Sex Gang Children, The Vyllies, Rozz Williams)
                         |
                         |
                         |
                         `--------> Neue Deutsche Todeskunst (Das Ich, Goethes Erben, Relatives Menschsein)
                                                                         regional movement in germany with influences of gothic rock, post-industrial,
                                                                         neo-classical and electro wave

Dark wave and Gothic rock

With regard to Fred Hunter's point, the relationship between dark wave and Gothic rock seems difficult to pin down. We have German sources cited on the page from as far back as 1988 indicating that Gothic rock groups, or post-punk groups influential on Gothic rock (Joy Division et. al.) are also referred to as dark wave. Chontamenti's external link to the British gothic rock collection supports this point. The trouble is that we don't really have access to the original German sources that make the claim that late '70s dark post-punk groups were called dark wave in Europe, and we don't know exactly when this usage began. It's possible that it was a retrospective appellation after the later dark wave groups (Project Pitchfork and all). This would make Bauhaus and company precursors, rather than dark wave proper. We also have an interview with Attrition, an early '80s group, who do lay claim to the dark wave tag.

I've added a "precursors" subsection to better reflect the sources. Unless we have evidence that "dark wave" was used prior to 1988, its application to late-70s/early-80s post-punk groups is retroactive. Aryder779 (talk) 16:09, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

Besides Dark Wave there was also another term called Doom Wave. I found this term in different magazines (1984 and 1988) and also a second mention of Dark Wave in May 1988 in connection with Fields of the Nephilim and The Mission. However, Dark Wave and Doom Wave are synonyms for the same thing. It seems that Doom Wave has been replaced by the term Dark Wave in the late 1980s. --Chontamenti (talk) 14:19, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

Music genre

With regard to the music genre vs. umbrella term debate: I think it's important that Wikipedia have a standard way of addressing music genres. Punk rock and Heavy metal music are both recognized as featured articles. Both articles specify that punk rock and heavy metal are genres of rock music. Punk and metal have also diversified just as much as dark wave has. Amebix and the Undertones have almost nothing in common, but they're both punk groups. Poison, Dream Theater, and Hellhammer definitely don't have anything in common, but that doesn't make heavy metal an umbrella term. The link for umbrella term indicates a fairly technical usage, and not a usual one for application to music. This article needs to be written for the general reader, and if the lead sentence begins "dark wave is an umbrella term ..." it's only going to cause confusion (see WP:BETTER for the general principles on this). It's not as if the name dark wave refers to several radically different things. It's a name for dark post-punk music, which extended in a variety of different heterogeneous directions through time, as Chontamenti's exemplary diagram shows. All the groups have common ancestry in post-punk. Aryder779 (talk) 15:58, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

Faulty comparison. Rock music is the umbrella term. The music genres (subgenres) of Rock music are Heavy Metal, Psychedelic Rock, Grunge or Punk. The same with Dark Wave. Neoclassical is a subgenre of Dark Wave and it has not the same genre characteristics such as the subgenre Gothic rock. Pink Floyd is a Progressive Rock band and a band under the umbrella term Rock music. But Pink Floyd's music has not the same characteristics such as Judas Priest's music, because Judas Priest is a Rock band, but they play Heavy Metal music, not Progressive Rock. Do u understand? --Chontamenti (talk) 17:34, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

Poison, Dream Theater, and Hellhammer definitely don't have anything in common, but that doesn't make heavy metal an umbrella term.

Not really. Poison is a Sleaze Rock act. Hellhammer, Megadeth and Iron Maiden play different variants of Heavy metal. But you can find the same phenomenon in Gothic rock. Bauhaus doesn't sound like Fields of the Nephilim. And Fields of the Nephilim doesn't sound like The Cure. But in fact, all the bands play Gothic rock. --Chontamenti (talk) 17:34, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

Admittedly, I haven't read this entire discussion page. What has stood out to me regarding the articles about genre is that they often neglect to describe historical use of the term and are written as if the various mentioned bands were actually categorized as such when they were originally active. In this article for instance The Cure was commonly referred to as "Goth" on the West Coast of the U.S. and at that time (early 1980s) I had personally never heard the term "dark wave". This article's sources appear to be weighted as German and my impression as a reader is that "dark wave" was probably a German term if it was used at that time. Mostly I wonder if it is being applied retroactively which would then make it a matter of whim to any current source-able rock critic. - Steve3849 ^talk 09:46, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

Poison is a Glam metal band, "Sleaze rock" is an umbrella term. Aside from that, how could gothic rock be a stylistic origin AND a fusion genre? Also do you think that we should include progressive rock in the stylisitic origins? Thanks.

Darkwave& Goth Subculture

As far as I know, Dark wave is a wave of dark music, subgenres of post punk I think. Gothic rock, Deathrock, etc. And it's considered too electronic music & goth rock mixed = Clan of Xymox —Preceding unsigned comment added by 170.51.3.109 (talk) 19:45, 14 October 2009 (UTC)

This article discusses only one possible meaning

If anyone cares: this article discusses only one possible meaning of Darkwave, in my own experience it's been used in a few different ways (and I would guess a lot of the variation in meaning is regional). There was a brief fad in the 90s in the United States to start using the term "darkwave" because you thought the term "gothic" had embarassing connotations, consequently, a lot of us have trouble taking this term as seriously as the present article does. Earlier versions of this article (back in the days when I was contributing to it) tried to make it clear that there is no One True Darkwave. -- Doom (talk) 04:22, 14 December 2009 (UTC)

Earlier versions are Point of View, nothing more. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.134.20.42 (talk) 12:35, 14 December 2009 (UTC)

I'm not sure I know what you're talking about. Care to expand on that?

Myself, I think that the article should lead with an acknowledgement that the term means different things to different people -- I'm not talking about pushing a point of view, just acknowledging that there are points of view. To be fair, the History section looks okay, it tracks at least some of the drift in meaning that took place, but most people aren't going to read that far. -- Doom (talk) 00:49, 27 December 2009 (UTC)

The term means what books say (and fanzines and compilations of the 80s/90s). People's opinion is irrelevant. Dark Wave is a historical term. It contains music of the 1980s and early 1990s Goth-, Post-Punk- und New Wave movements. That's all. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.244.67.23 (talk) 18:32, 2 January 2010 (UTC)

We're discussing the meaning of a term, the definition of a term. At the bottom, the only thing you have is people's usage of the term: there is no authority you can refer to to discover the one-true-meaning of darkwave. Print publications are certainly relevant, but, for example, usenet usages are also relevant. I can assure you that in the United States, the most common meaning of darkwave (no longer in use, as far as I know) is "music from the Projekt Record label", as is mentioned in the history section here. One more time: the only NPOV thing to do is to admit up-front that there are multiple, regional variations in the meaning of this term. -- Doom (talk) 05:15, 7 July 2010 (UTC)

Hi Doom, actually, you're currently speaking to a banned user (the IP is without any doubt Ada Kataki) which is known for his peremptory pov-pushing attitude and his recurrent personal attacks. He's the only one I know around to insist so dogmaticaly on this specific definition of Darkwave. I already showed him that there are published sources that state otherwise. But he doesn't wanna hear about anything.And he thinks the only right definition is the one he claims - a definition purportly coming from publications of his own homeland-Germany. While I'm not necessarilly saying he's wrong - he's no sick idiot who doesn't know what he's talking about- I'm just afraid he's a bit too dogmatic to understand such things like cultural relativeness and acceptions variation, not to speak notions such as dialogical approachs encouraged by wikipedia.

Anyway, I agree with you, Doom, Darkwave has always been a very mobile notion that may differ along with different areas, periods and cultural contexts. There may be several different senses to it. In France goth-specialized published sources define Darkwave as the specific german 1990's goth renewal, bands such as Das Ich. In this definition, Darkwave is viewed as a subgenre related to the goth movement, not the contrary. (See Carnets noirs book, for example). He's the only one I know so far to claim that Darkwave would be a cultural movement including goth or postpunk. But I'm not saying this view is necessarilly wrong. I'm saying this is not the only one. Anyway I remember I asked him to provide sources saying what he claims (for example "A quote reading explicitely something like "Darkwave ist eine Subkultur" as well as something like "Gothic ist Teil der Darkwave-Kultur".) I note he never provided such sources. However I agree with him on one point, only reliable sources can be used in Wikipedia. Regarding to Wikipedia's guidelines many websites are not reliable, And people opinions are just regarded as POV. We can't use them. Alpha Ursae Minoris (talk) 10:42, 7 July 2010 (UTC)

Capitalization

Why capitalize dark wave? It seems like any wave that isn't New Wave wouldn't warrant it. For being much more than a music genre, and for the same reasons we capitalize Bronze Age, New Wave makes sense. These other waves are just genres, although dark wave came closest to earning its caps. Is there something about "wave" that makes capitalization implicit? Pixel Eater (talk) 03:42, 18 January 2011 (UTC)

You may be right. A quick google books search suggests that capitalization is pretty usual in reliable sources.--SabreBD (talk) 07:38, 18 January 2011 (UTC)

What?

Sorry, but as someone who grew up during the period covered in this article, this is nonsense. I literally hadn't heard the term 'Darkwave' EVER before about 5-10 years ago. All those bands would have been descrived at the time as variously post-punk, new wave, indie, or goth. If you'd said anyone was a 'waver' back then they'd have presumed you meant 'raver' and had a speech impediment. Maybe it was an Australian term, but I can ctaegorically state that this is a load of revisionist nonsense by people who weren't there and a music scene that now seems obsessed with putting every band into neat little genres for iTunes, and rewriting music history while they do it. NOBODY ever used the term 'Dark Wave' or 'Waver' back then. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.184.110.97 (talk) 15:36, 11 February 2013 (UTC)

That's your opinion, nothing more. There are different sources from the '80s, especially from Europe. Dark Wave is definitely an '80s term. You also will find the term "Waver" in old music magazines, such as Maximumrocknroll (from the US).

"I literally hadn't heard the term 'Darkwave' EVER before about 5-10 years ago"

Ohhh, you're from the UK and you never heard the term before? Take a look into the booklet of the "New Alternatives II" compilation that was released in 1995 on Nightbreed Recordings, UK. Please, work with sources, not with your point of view. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.134.15.39 (talk) 17:37, 12 March 2013 (UTC)

Requested move

The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: page moved. Arbitrarily0 ^(talk) 02:54, 1 March 2013 (UTC)

---

Dark Wave → Dark wave – Music genres are not capitalised. I don't see why this should be an exception. Lachlan Foley (talk) 23:15, 19 February 2013 (UTC)

Comment New Wave music is an exception, which I suspect is the reason why this is capitalised.--SabreBD (talk) 23:44, 19 February 2013 (UTC)

• comment "dark wave" should be a disambiguation page, instead this would be called dark wave (music genre) -- 65.92.180.137 (talk) 05:17, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

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Sources

@RivetHeadCulture: Please stop restoring the entire article as it was. Many of the sources do NOT support the stated claims. Instead, it would be more useful to bring back the sourced info one at a time, so that we don't reintroduce WP:SYNTH concerns.

• https://i.imgur.com/bxqtWLH.jpg
• https://i.imgur.com/JbMS0cs.jpg

What do these pages say? Can you give a literal translation of the specific claims you want added? --Ilovetopaint (talk) 20:38, 12 February 2018 (UTC)

Everytime you change the content to its current version, historical facts (primary sources) from the original article disappear. I hope you are aware of that. Your article version doesn't make sense at all. Dreampop is something that started in the mid-/late-1980s, probably with Cocteau Twins and A.R. Kane. Dark Wave started in the late 1970s. It's much older. So explain to me, how can Dark Wave be a mixture of Synthpop and Dreampop? That's not very logical. --RivetHeadCulture (talk) 14:43, 13 February 2018 (UTC)

The two sources explain what the original article says. Dark Wave is a term that has been applied to a musical movement that started in the late 1970s as a part of the (British) New Wave scene.

The first source literally says: "A new generation of Punk bands changed its musical direction to a more introverted and melancholy sound" (generally known as "Post-Punk"). "New Wave turned into Dark Wave"... ← Yes, that is what it says. Probably the most important part.

The next section says "The most prominent artists of this movement are Bauhaus, The Cure, Joy Division, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Sisters of Mercy."

Of course, these are Post-Punk and Goth bands. But like New Wave itself, the term Dark Wave has a broader meaning. It includes not only guitar-oriented Post-Punk/New Wave bands but also bands that follow a synthesizer-based sound, such as Clan of Xymox (who produced both, guitar and synth music), Depeche Mode, Anne Cark etc.. All of these music artists are connected to the New Wave movement but followed a darker approach.

The second source says almost the same. It starts with a long list of bands that have been considered "Dark Wave". The source describes them as "godfathers" of the movement. It also says that Dark Wave is the "centerpiece" or the "musical foundation" of the entire "dark scene" (or "Goth scene"). In other words: It's the cradle of the Goth movement. --RivetHeadCulture (talk) 14:46, 13 February 2018 (UTC)

Here is a third source from the book "Handbuch Popkultur", ISBN 978-3-476-02677-4 (translated "Pop culture guide"). All three sources are from three different authors and describe the same music culture. Can we now restore the original content?? As far as i can see, only the section "The 2000s and 'wave'-divergence" is unsourced. So let's make this part invisible (until there are sources that support this section). --RivetHeadCulture (talk) 14:23, 14 February 2018 (UTC)

Your edits introduced numerous issues to the article. WP:NAMEDROP: it's not clear why so many of these artists have to be listed, they have to either be put in context or moved to a standalone list; WP:INTEGRITY/WP:SYNTH: multiple sources are used for very specific claims, which is highly suspicious. Because all of the citations are German-language books, it's virtually impossible for myself to verify whether any of these claims are actually supported by the sources. From what I can tell in the article, there is synthesis - things like "cold wave" and "gothic rock" are stated to be subgenres of dark wave when nothing of the sort is suggested in the article body. Another suspicious example: does the 11th citation state "dark wave was coined in the eighties," or is it just a 1980s-published review of "Love Will Tear Us Apart" that calls it "dark wave"? If it's the latter, then that absolutely does constitute original research. Your arbitrary exclusion of certain English sources - not to mention your edit warring at Synthwave and Ethereal wave - is also a red flag for WP:ADVOCACY.

With all that said, I have to ask you to expand the in-line citations in the article so that they include direct quotes from the texts. I recommend doing it in this format:

• Dark wave is a variant of new wave and post-punk.{{sfn|Neubauer|2001|p=25|loc=[insert relevant German text here, NOT your personal translation]}} Some of the most popular bands were Joy Division, Cocteau Twins, and Gary Numan.<ref>{{harvnb|Neubauer|2001|p=25|loc="Joy Division and Cocteau Twins were one of the most popular dark wave bands"}}; {{harvnb|Jones|20XX|p=25|loc="Joy Division and Gary Numan were one of the most popular dark wave artists"}}</ref>

If you can't do that, then I will have to seek administrative help.--Ilovetopaint (talk) 04:17, 23 February 2018 (UTC)

Also just as an aside, Wikipedia is not the end-all be-all of information about microgenres like this, nor is it supposed to be a guidebook for musical artists (WP:NOTGUIDE). Most of this article is just a big series of "some dark wave groups include X Y Z, other dark wave groups include A B C". Anyone can Google "dark wave bands" and get the same recommendations on countless other sites.--Ilovetopaint (talk) 04:25, 23 February 2018 (UTC)

"Because all of the citations are German-language books, it's virtually impossible for myself to verify whether any of these claims are actually supported by the sources."

I'm afraid YOU are not Wikipedia. If you want to know what's written there you have to learn German. Or ask some users with a German background. These sources are reliable. That's what you have to accept. The language doesn't change anything.

"Wikipedia is not the end-all be-all of information about microgenres like this..."

You mean microgenres like chillwave, chamber pop, baroque pop, avant-pop and others? These articles don't include many book sources. And some of them don't include a single one. They are even less reliable than the sources of the dark wave article.

"it's not clear why so many of these artists have to be listed"

Your arguments don't make sense. You call dark wave a "micro genre" but on the other hand you criticize the "big" amount of bands in this article (and it's not really that big, because in fact there are thousands of dark wave bands worldwide).

"From what I can tell in the article, there is synthesis - things like "cold wave" and "gothic rock" are stated to be subgenres of dark wave when nothing of the sort is suggested in the article body."

Since the 80s, goth and cold wave bands (like Clair Obscur) have been described as dark wave. What's your logical understanding? The books support this fact, especially "Handbook Popculture".

"Another suspicious example: does the 11th citation state "dark wave was coined in the eighties," or is it just a 1980s-published review of "Love Will Tear Us Apart" that calls it "dark wave"? If it's the latter, then that absolutely does constitute original research."

That's some kind of common knowledge. It's well known that the term was coined in the early/mid-80s. Three sources (!!!) prove the use of the term in German and Swiss magazines, including Germany's most popular music magazine SPEX (you can compare it to Sounds, SPIN, Option and others). And there are many more. In this case, primary sources prove that the term is not just a stupid neologism. And that's important, especially for users who spread their own ridiculous POV ("The term was originally used in obscure European circles" - yeah, sure, dark wave is a religious, occult sect) or feel the urge to destroy other people's work. --RivetHeadCulture (talk) 13:54, 23 February 2018 (UTC)

(Only gonna respond to two of those points)

re: "some kind fo common knowledge..." read WP:CK, if you haven't/can't cite a source that pinpoints when exactly the term was coined, then the article should not be presenting a case for what might be one of the earliest uses of the term.--Ilovetopaint (talk) 19:55, 29 March 2018 (UTC)

re: Your arguments don't make sense ... it's not really that big, because in fact there are thousands of dark wave bands worldwide that's exactly the problem, if you're going to arbitrarily fill the article with random bands without presenting significantly qualifying information, then this is not really an encyclopedic article, but more like your personal research paper. see WP:CHERRYPICK and WP:NOTGUIDE. --Ilovetopaint (talk) 19:55, 29 March 2018 (UTC)

This article doesn't have to explain everything. For details you have to read the articles of the subbranches, e.g. cold wave. And stop removing valid sources that support the use of the term in the '80s. --RivetHeadCulture (talk) 12:37, 30 March 2018 (UTC)

Seems like you're agreeing with me here? --Ilovetopaint (talk) 18:33, 31 March 2018 (UTC)

With what? Throwing templates around and removing sourced content? No. Surely not. --RivetHeadCulture (talk) 17:36, 1 April 2018 (UTC)

We agree that "the article doesn't have to explain everything." As in, it doesn't need to rattle off dozens of random bands. I wouldn't have to apply templates if you simply addressed this issue. The reason I had to nuke the article originally was because I had no way of verifying whether you were using Wikipedia as your personal dark wave recommendations blog. I still have a hard time verifying many of the claims because of the way you cherry picked your favorite bands into the article. For example: "The movement spread internationally, developing such strands as French cold wave" - does Mercer 1980 state this, or does SPEX? I'm guessing it's Mercer, but it'd be nice to double check first.--Ilovetopaint (talk) 06:24, 18 April 2018 (UTC)

• "The reason I had to nuke the article originally was because I had no way of verifying..."

Nobody really cares about your problem concerning verification. Again, YOU ARE NOT WIKIPEDIA. If you want to know what's written in these books and magazines, you have to BUY THEM. Or go to a library. If you can't read German texts, ask someone who translates the sources.

• "<!--- What "foundations"? Don't use random words like "dark" and "post-punk" and expect everyone to know what you're talking about. --->{{vague|date=February 2018}}"

Please, what? The dark wave article doesn't have to explain what the term post-punk means. The article post-punk already exists. And there you'll find a definition. New Wave and post-punk are the foundations. That's what the lead says. Short and straight to the point.

Furthermore, the citation by Isabella van Elferen supports the fact that dark wave is a term from the '80s. Your manipulation of the article content is what i call vandalism. If you continue, i'll report you to an admin.

• "For example: "The movement spread internationally, developing such strands as French cold wave"

I know exactly what you mean. But it is a simple fact that the music produced by seminal cold wave bands such as Clair Obscur has been described as dark wave. The sources underline this fact. It's not my personal opinion.

• "your favorite bands"

You are wrong. Many of those bands were not added by me. I'm not the only person who edited this article. --RivetHeadCulture (talk) 22:40, 19 April 2018 (UTC)

• I concur with Ilovetopaint, I also demand RivetHeadCulture to expand the in-line citations in the Dark Wave article so that they include direct quotes from the German texts translated in English. I'd like to see this for all the sources in the lead. Woovee (talk) 20:28, 22 April 2018 (UTC)

Subgenre sources

Ref 10

Source: Dark Wave ist ein ... Oberbegriff für düstere Spielarten des Wave, der auch Gothic darunter subsumiert. Cold Wave bezeichnet eine Untergattung experimenteller, minimalistischer Elektronikmusik aus Frankreich.

Google translate: Dark Wave is a ... generic term for dark varieties of the Wave, which also subsumes Gothic. Cold Wave is a subgenus of experimental, minimalist electronic music from France.

N I'm not sure what "subsumes gothic" means here, but this text definitely does not say dark wave is a cold wave subgenre. If "the Wave" means "new wave" then that would mean dark wave is a subgenre of new wave. This could also be saying that goth is a new wave subgenre, which sounds more accurate to me.

Ref 11

Source: Die Dark-Wave-Szene unterteilt sich unter anderem in den klassischen Dark Wave, den Gothic-Rock, elektronische Gruppen oder auch den Neofolk.

Google translate: The dark wave scene is divided among other things in the classic dark wave, gothic rock, electronic groups or even the neofolk.

N This seems to suggest that the dark wave scene contains overlap with goth rock, electronic, and neofolk. The inclusion of "electronic" should be enough to prove that the author does not consider goth and neofolk "subgenres" of dark wave.

Ref 12

Source: Genre der Dark-Wave-Musik, das durch verschiedene Stilmittel und Komponisten der Romantik, der Alten Musik oder der Neuen Musik inspiriert ist.

Google translate: A genre of dark-wave music inspired by various stylistic devices and composers of Romantic, Early Music or New Music.

N "Neoclassical dark wave" doesn't even appear in this quote.--Ilovetopaint (talk) 22:10, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

"I'm not sure what "subsumes gothic" means..."

That's exactly the problem. Thee old problem. You don't know anything about this topic, neither Goth nor Dark Wave. This is definitely not your field of expertise. Furthermore, if you don't speak German, whose problem is it? Surely not mine. Again. YOU are NOT Wikipedia. If you don't understand shit, don't edit the article. It's that easy. I don't talk about the same shit over and over again anymore. I simply revert your shit.

""Neoclassical dark wave" doesn't even appear in this quote."

There is an ISBN. Move your ass to the next library. I don't give a fuck. I'm not your gofer.--RivetHeadCulture (talk) 22:52, 17 September 2018 (UTC)