Goth subculture

This article is about the late 20th / early 21st century subculture. For the Germanic tribes, see Goths. For other uses, see Gothic.

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Clan of Xymox - Goth band circa 2004

A German Goth with rosary beads and alchemical symbol on forehead.

The goth subculture is a contemporary subculture found in many countries. It began in the United Kingdom during the early 1980s in the gothic rock scene, an offshoot of the post-punk genre. The goth subculture has survived much longer than others of the same era, and has continued to diversify. Its imagery and cultural proclivities indicate influences from nineteenth century Gothic literature, mainly through horror movies.

The goth subculture has associated tastes in music and fashion, whether or not all individuals who share those tastes are, in fact, members of the goth subculture. Gothic music encompasses a number of different styles. Common to all is a tendency towards a lugubrious, mystical or fatalistic sound and outlook. Styles of dress within the subculture range from death rock, punk, androgynous, medieval, some Renaissance and Victorian style clothes, or combinations of the above, most often with black attire, makeup and hair.

Origins and development

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Siouxsie and the Banshees were a major contributor to the style of "goth" early on.

By the late 1970s, there were a few post-punk bands in the United Kingdom labeled "gothic." However, it was not until the early 1980s that gothic rock became its own subgenre within post-punk, and that followers of these bands started to come together as a distinctly recognizable movement. The scene appears to have taken its name from an article published in UK rock weekly Sounds: ‘The face of Punk Gothique’, written by Steve Keaton and published on February 21 1981. The opening of the Batcave in London's Soho in July 1982 provided a prominent meeting point for the emerging scene, which had briefly been labeled positive punk by the New Musical Express. The term "Batcaver" was later used to describe old-school goths.

Independent of the British scene, the late 1970s and early 1980s saw death rock branch off from American punk. In 1980s and early 1990s, members of the emerging gothic subculture in Germany were called Grufties (English "vault creatures" or "tomb creatures"). They generally represented a fusion of the goth subculture and the new wave movement with an influence of new romantic, and formed the early stage of the "dark culture" (formerly called "dark wave culture").

After post-punk

After the demise of post-punk, the subculture continued to evolve both musically and visually. This caused variations in style ("types" of goth). Usually, the appearance of each of the "types" of Goth reflects a certain mindset, although not necessarily. Local scenes also contributed to this variation. By the 1990s, Victorian fashion saw a renewed popularity in the goth scene, drawing on the mid-19th century gothic revival and the more morbid aspects of Victorian culture.

Current subcultural boundaries

By the 1990s, the term "goth" and the boundaries of the associated subculture had become more contentious. New subcultures emerged, or became more popular, some of them being conflated with the goth subculture by the general public and the popular media. This conflation was primarily owing to similarities of appearance, social customs, and the fashions of the subcultures, rather than the musical genres of the bands associated with them. As time went on, the term was extended further in popular usage, sometimes to define groups that had neither musical nor fashion similarities to the original gothic subculture.

This has led to the introduction of goth slang terms that some goths and others use to sort and label members of loosely related subcultures. These include neogoths in Western Europe and North America, mallgoths in the US, cucarachas in Spain, dark in Latin America and Italy, hackians in New Zealand and spooky kids, moshers or mini moshers in the UK. More positive terms, such as mini-goths or baby bats, are also used by some older goths to refer to youths whom they see as exhibiting potential for growth into mature goths later on. The prevalence of internet-based information regarding goth has resulted in a distorted and overstated perception of varying slang terms as used in reality and offline, particularly with regard to those terms allegedly used outside of the UK and US.

The response of these newer groups to the older subculture varies. Some, being secure in a separate subcultural identity, express offense at being called "goth" in the first place, while others choose to join the existing subculture on its own terms. Still others have simply ignored its existence, and decided to appropriate the term "goth" themselves, and redefine the idea in their own image. Even within the original subculture, changing trends have added to the complexity of attempting to define precise boundaries.

Associated music

The goth subculture developed very closely with certain forms of music:

• post punk
• death rock
• gothic rock
• dark wave
• ethereal wave

The goth scene

The bands that began the gothic rock and death rock scene were limited in number, and included Bauhaus, Specimen, Siouxsie & the Banshees,The Damned, Southern Death Cult, Ausgang, Sex Gang Children, 45 Grave, UK Decay, The Virgin Prunes, Alien Sex Fiend and Christian Death. Joy Division, The Cure, Dead Can Dance, early Adam and the Ants and Killing Joke have also been associated.

By the mid-eighties, the number of bands began proliferating and became increasingly popular, including The Sisters of Mercy, The Mission UK, Xmal Deutschland, The Bolshoi and Fields of the Nephilim. The nineties saw the further growth of eighties bands and emergence of many new bands. Factory Records, 4AD Records, and Beggars Banquet Records released much of this music in Europe, while Cleopatra Records amongst others released much of this music in the United States, where the subculture grew especially in New York, Los Angeles, and Orange County, California, with many nightclubs featuring "gothic/industrial" nights. The popularity of 4AD bands resulted in the creation of a similar US label called Projekt Records. This produces what is colloquially termed ethereal wave, a subgenre of dark wave music.

By the mid-1990s, styles of music that were heard in venues that goths attended ranged from gothic rock, death rock, industrial music, EBM, ambient, experimental, synthpop, shoegazing, punk rock, 1970s glam rock, indie rock, to 1980s dance music. This variety was a result of a need to maximize attendance from everyone across the alternative music scene, particularly in smaller towns, and due to the eclectic tastes of the members of the subculture.

The Crüxshadows

Recent years have seen a resurgence in the early positive punk and death rock sound, in reaction to aggrotech, futurepop, and synthpop, which had taken over many goth clubs. Bands with an earlier goth sound like Cinema Strange, Bloody Dead And Sexy, Black Ice, and Antiworld are becoming very popular. Nights like Ghoul School and Release The Bats promote death rock heavily, and the Drop Dead Festival brings in death rock fans from all over the world. Goth and death rock magazines like Drop Dead Magazine (a companion to Drop Dead Festival) also help spread its popularity.

Today, the goth music scene thrives most actively in Western Europe, especially Germany, with large festivals such as Wave-Gotik-Treffen, Zillo (which ceased to be active after 2004), M'era Luna and others draw tens of thousands of fans from all over the world. However, the U.S. has seen its fair share of large scale events, most recently, Chamber's Dark Art & Music Festival [1].

Some localities have goth scenes and local subcultural customs which notably differ from the international goth scene or may be affected by local events in different ways and are documented seperately rather than in this article:

• Toronto Goth Scene

Confusion with Gothic Metal

Many people outside the goth music scene believe that certain forms of heavy metal music such as black metal and Gothic Metal are an influence on the goth scene. The former because it is very dark, as some people infer goth would be, and the later because of the word "gothic" forming part of the name. This is a common misconception. Individual goths will listen to any music they like, but as a subculture, heavy metal music is not an associated musical style. However heavy metal is popular amongst the metalhead subculture.

Historical and cultural influences

Origins of the term

The original Goths were an Eastern Germanic tribe who played an important role in the fall of the western Roman Empire. In some circles, the name "goth" later became pejorative: synonymous with "barbarian" and the uncultured due to the then-contemporary view of the fall of Rome and historically inaccurate depictions of the pagan Gothic tribes during and after the process of Christianization of Europe. During the Renaissance period in Europe, medieval architecture was retroactively labeled gothic architecture, and was considered unfashionable in contrast to the then-modern lines of classical architecture.

In the United Kingdom, by the late 1700s, however, nostalgia for the medieval period led people to become fascinated with medieval gothic ruins. This fascination was often combined with an interest in medieval romances, Roman Catholic religion and the supernatural. Enthusiasts for gothic revival architecture in the United Kingdom were led by Horace Walpole, and were sometimes nicknamed "goths", the first positive use of the term in the modern period.

The gothic novel of the late eighteenth century, a genre founded by Horace Walpole with the 1764 publication of The Castle of Otranto, was responsible for the more modern connotations of the term gothic. He originally claimed that the book was a real medieval romance he had discovered and republished. Thus was born the gothic novel's association with fake documentation to increase its effect. Henceforth, the term was associated with a mood of horror, morbidity, darkness and the supernatural as well as camp and self-parody. The gothic novel established much of the iconography of later horror literature and cinema, such as graveyards, ruined castles or churches, ghosts, vampires, nightmares, cursed families, being buried alive and melodramatic plots. Another notable element was the brooding figure of the gothic villain, which developed into the Byronic hero. The most famous gothic villain is the vampire, Dracula, originally depicted in a novel by Bram Stoker, then made more famous through the medium of horror movies.

The powerful imagery of horror movies began in German expressionist cinema in the twenties then passed onto the Universal Studios films of the thirties, then to camp horror B films such as Plan 9 From Outer Space and then to Hammer Horror films. By the 1960s, TV series, such as The Addams Family and The Munsters, used these stereotypes for camp comedy.

Certain elements in the dark, atmospheric music and dress of the post punk scene were clearly gothic in this sense. The use of gothic as an adjective in describing this music and its followers led to the term goth.

20th century influences

The influence of the gothic novel on the goth subculture can be seen in numerous examples of the subculture's poetry and music, though this influence sometimes came second hand, through the popular imagery of horror films and television. The Byronic hero, in particular, was a key precursor to the male goth image, while Dracula's iconic portrayal by Bela Lugosi appealed powerfully to early goths. They were attracted by Lugosi's aura of camp menace, elegance and mystique. Some people even credit the band Bauhaus' first single "Bela Lugosi's Dead", released August 1979, with the start of the goth subculture, though many prior art house movements also influenced gothic fashion and style. Notable early examples include Siouxsie Sioux of the musical group Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Dave Vanian of the band The Damned. Some members of Bauhaus were, themselves, fine art students and/or active artists.

Film poster for The Hunger, a key influence in the early days of the goth subculture.

Some of the early gothic rock and death rock artists adopted traditional horror movie images, and also drew on horror movie soundtracks for inspiration. Their audiences responded in kind by further adopting appropriate dress and props. Use of standard horror film props like swirling smoke, rubber bats, and cobwebs were used as gothic club décor from the beginning in The Batcave. Such references in their music and image were originally tongue-in-cheek, but as time went on, bands and members of the subculture took the connection more seriously. As a result, morbid, supernatural, and occult themes became a more noticeably serious element in the subculture. The interconnection between horror and goth was highlighted in its early days by The Hunger, a 1983 vampire film, which starred David Bowie, Catherine Deneuve, and Susan Sarandon. The movie featured gothic rock group Bauhaus performing "Bela Lugosi's Dead" in a nightclub. In 1993, Whitby became the location for what became the UK's biggest goth festival as a direct result of being featured in Bram Stoker's Dracula.

Throughout the evolution of the goth subculture, familiarity with gothic literature became significant for many goths. Keats, Poe, Baudelaire and other romantic writers became just as symbolic of the subculture as dressing all in black.

A newer literary influence on the gothic scene was Anne Rice's re-imagining of the idea of the vampire. Rice's characters were depicted as struggling with eternity and loneliness, this with their ambivalent or tragic sexuality had deep attractions for many goth readers, making her works very popular in the eighties through the nineties. Movies based on her books have been filmed in recent years — notably Interview with the Vampire, which starred Tom Cruise, and the more recent Queen of the Damned, in which goths appear directly and indirectly. The first film, in particular, helped further encourage the spread of the more "romantic" style fashions in the subculture (although period inspired clothing has been a recurrent trend in the gothic subculture).

Later media influences

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Winona Ryder portrays goth Lydia Deetz in Beetlejuice.

As the subculture became well-established, the connection between goth and horror fiction became almost a cliché, with Goths quite likely to appear as characters in horror novels and film. For example, The Crow drew directly on goth music and style. Neil Gaiman's acclaimed graphic novel series The Sandman influenced Goths with characters like the dark, brooding Dream and his sister Death. Anne Rice's book series The Vampire Chronicles and the popular World of Darkness roleplaying games, especially Vampire: The Masquerade, also referred directly to gothic music and culture and encouraged an interest in the scene. Influences from anime, cyberpunk fiction such as The Matrix and Shadowrun have increased interest in the goth scene, adding to Cyber subculture, or the Industrial/goth offshoot, cybergoth; and the popularity of Industrial music.

A regular goth character is portrayed positively on the American television series NCIS. Abby Sciuto, played by Pauley Perrette, is uniquely goth, but works firmly on the side of the protagonists as a highly skilled forensic scientist.

Visual art influences

Viona Ielegems at Wave-Gotik-Treffen in 2005

The Goth subculture has influenced different artists - not only musicians - but also painters and photographers. In particular their work is based on mystic, morbid and romantic motives. In photography and painting the spectrum varies from erotic artwork to romantic images of vampires or ghosts. To be present is a marked preference for dark colours and sentiments, similar to Gothic fiction, Pre-Raphaelites or Art Nouveau.

The subculture was an influence on photographers such as Viona Ielegems from Belgium, Anni Bertram from Germany, Stéphane Lord from Canada, Simon Marsden from England and Nadja Lev from the USA. Famous graphic artists close to Goth are Rachel Huntington, Gerald Brom, Nene Thomas, Luis Royo, Dave McKean, Jhonen Vasquez, Myka Jelina as well as the American comic artist James O'Barr. H R Giger of Switzerland and is one of the first graphic artists to make serious contributions to the Gothic look of much of modern cinema with his work on the film "Alien" by Ridley Scott. His album cover for Emerson, Lake and Palmer's "Brain Salad Surgery" is an important bridge to post 80's Goth aesthetics.

Ideology

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Camp theatricality and dramatization is goth.

Defining an explicit ideology for the gothic subculture is difficult for several reasons. First is the overwhelming importance of mood and aesthetic for those involved. This is, in part, inspired by romanticism and neoromanticism. The allure for goths of dark, mysterious, and morbid imagery and mood lies in the same tradition of Romanticism's gothic novel. During the 19th century, feelings of horror, and supernatural dread were commercially exploited by gothic writers as a form of mass entertainment; The process continues in the modern horror film. Balancing this emphasis on mood and aesthetics, another central element of the gothic is a deliberate sense of camp theatricality and self-dramatization; present both in gothic literature as well as in the gothic subculture itself.

Goths as a subculture are non-violent, pacifistic, passive and tolerant of others. Many in the media have incorrectly associated the Goth subculture with violence, hatred of minorities, white supremacy, and others acts of hate. However violence and hate do not form a part of goth idealogy; rather, recognition, identification and grief over societal and personal evils that the mainstream culture wishes to ignore or forget does. These are the prevalent themes in goth music.

The second impediment to explicitly defining a gothic ideology is goth's generally apolitical nature. While individual defiance of social norms was a very risky business in the nineteenth century, today it is far less socially radical. Thus, the significance of goth's subcultural rebellion is limited, and it draws on imagery at the heart of Western culture. Unlike the hippie or punk movements, the goth subculture has no pronounced political messages or cries for social activism. The subculture is marked by its emphasis on individualism, tolerance for diversity, a strong emphasis on creativity, tendency toward intellectualism, a dislike of social conservatism and a strong tendency towards cynicism, but even these ideas are not universal to all goths. Goth ideology is based far more on aesthetics than ethics or politics.

Goths may, indeed, have political leanings ranging from left-liberal to anarchist, but they do not express them specifically as part of a cultural identity. Instead, political affiliation, like religion, is seen as a matter of personal conscience. Unlike punk, there are few clashes between political affiliation and being "goth".

For the individual goth, involvement with the subculture can be extremely valuable and personally fulfilling, especially in creative terms. However, it also can be risky, especially for the young, because of the negative attention it can attract due to public misconceptions of goth subculture. The value that young people find in the movement is evidenced by its continuing existence after other subcultures of the eighties (such as the New Romantics) have long since died out.

Individualism and consumerism

Paul Hodkinson's book, Goth: Identity, Style and Subculture, explores how the Western cult of individualism, usually expressed via consumerism, is drawn on by goths and other subcultural groups. Many who are drawn to the culture have already failed to conform to the norms of existing society, and for its participants the gothic subculture provides an important way of experiencing a sense of community and validation not found in the outside world. Hodkinson shows how inside the gothic subculture status can be gained via enthusiastic participation and creativity, in creating a band, DJ-ing, making clothes, designing, creating art, or writing a fanzine. He suggests that the self-conscious artificiality of a subculture is a valid alternative choice in a post-modern world, compared to submitting to the invisible manipulations of popular consumerism and the mass media. Hot topic does NOT make you goth.

Religious elements

Many Goths reflect the religious trends of popular culture and are usually nominal or devout Christians. Atheism, Agnosticism, the New Age, Gnosticism, Shamanism, Wicca, other Neopagan traditions, and other minority faith groups are generally represented more frequently amongst goths than in the general population. Though only a few Satanists or Luciferians are goth, and this is rare, there is a public perception that goth is frequently associated with Satanism due to an incorrect association between Marilyn Manson, his fans, and the goth movement. There is no one common religious tie that binds together the goth movement itself.

Spiritual, supernatural, and religious imagery has frequently played an important part in gothic fashion, song lyrics, and visual art. In particular, aesthetic elements from Catholicism play a major role in goth culture. Reasons for donning such imagery vary between individuals, and range from expression of religious affiliation, satire, or simply decorative effect..

Fashion

Main article: Gothic fashion

Goth fashion is stereotyped as a dark, sometimes morbid, eroticized fashion and style of dress. Typical gothic fashion includes dyed black hair, dark eyeliner, black fingernails, black period styled clothing; goths may or may not have piercings. Styles are often borrowed from the Elizabethan, Victorian or medieval period and often express catholic or other religious imagery such as crucifixes or ankhs. The extent to which goths hold to this style varies amongst individuals as well as geographical locality, though virtually all Goths wear some of these elements.

Confusion with heavy metal Fashion

Goth fashion is often confused with heavy metal fashion, and uninformed outsiders often mistake fans of heavy metal for goth, particularily those who wear black trenchcoats or wear "corpse paint" (a term associated with the black metal music scene).

This has, unfortunately, contributed to the goth subculture being blamed for the actions of individuals with no involvement in the goth scene whatsoever (See: Controversy below).

Controversy

The gothic fascination with the macabre has raised public concerns regarding the well-being of goths. The mass media has made reports that have influenced the public view that goths or people associated with the subculture, are malicious. Some individuals who have either identified themselves or been identified by others as goth, whether correctly or incorrectly, have committed high profile violent crimes, including several school shootings. These incidents and their attribution to the goth scene have helped to propagate a wary perception of Goth in the public eye.

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A compilation of three photos of Scott Dyleski, run on the cover of the San Francisco Chronicle. The picture on the right, of Dyleski in the ninth grade, which shows him in makeup and long hair, was criticized by his defense attorney as unfair and misleading, because by fall 2006 Dyleski's appearance had become more conservative and mainstream. The Dyleski trial sparked controversy over the goth scene.

Public concern with the goth subculture reached a high point in the fallout of the Columbine High School massacre that was carried out by two students, incorrectly associated with the goth subculture. This misreporting of the roots of the massacre caused a widespread public backlash against the North American goth scene. Investigators of the incident, 5 months later, stated that where was no involvement between the goth subculture and the killers, who held the music in contempt.

The Dawson College shooting, in Canada, also raised public concern with the goth scene. Kimveer Gill, who killed one and injured nineteen, maintained an online journal at a web site, VampireFreaks.com, in which he "portrayed himself as a gun-loving Goth." The day after the shooting it was reported that "it are rough times for industrial / goth music fans these days as a result of yet another trench coat killing", implicating that Gill was involved in the goth subculture. During a search of Gill's home, police found a letter praising the actions of Columbine shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold and a CD titled "Shooting sprees ain't no fun without Ozzy and friends LOL". Although the shooter claimed an obsession for "Goth", his favorite music list was described, by the media, as a "who's who of heavy metal".

Mick Mercer, author, noted music journalist, and world's leading historian of Goth music stated, of Kimveer Gill, that he was "not a Goth. Never a Goth. The bands he listed as his chosen form of ear-bashing were relentlessly Metal and standard Grunge, Rock and Goth Metal, with some Industrial presence.", "Kimveer Gill listened to metal", "He had nothing whatsoever to do with Goth" and further commented "I realise that like many Neos this idiot may even have believed he somehow was a Goth, because they're only really noted for spectacularly missing the point." Mercer emphasized that he was not blaming heavy metal music for Gill's actions and added "It doesn’t matter actually what music he liked."..

Another school shooting that was wrongly attributed to the goth subculture is the Red Lake High School massacre,. Jeff Weise killed 7 people, and was believed by a fellow student to be into the goth culture: wearing "a big old black trench coat," and listening to heavy metal music. Weise was also found to participate in neo-nazi online forums.

Other murders which are attributed to people suspected of being part of the goth culture include the Scott Dyleski killing, and the Richardson family murders. Although neither of these cases raised the same amount of media attention as the school shootings.

In part because of public misunderstanding and ignorance surrounding gothic aesthetics, goths sometimes suffer prejudice, discrimination, and intolerance. As is the case with members of various other controversial subcultures and alternative lifestyles, outsiders sometimes marginalize goths, either by intention or by accident. Goths sometimes suffer intimidation, humiliation, and, in extreme cases, assault for their involvement with the subculture.

Criticism

Marta Weber, a clinical psychologist who profiles criminal behaviour, criticized the goth subculture, saying goth teens are not regular teenagers who flirt with rebellion, but rather "tend to be kids that already have a problem." According to Weber, the goths are dedicated to "nihilism, to negativity, to despair and hostile rejection of anything hopeful," and also that teens who become goths feel marginalized and alone.

Cartoonist Jhonen Vasquez has satirized the goth subculture in his comics Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, I Feel Sick, and Fillerbunny. Vasquez depicts it as showing tendencies towards backbiting, unoriginality, and conceit. At the same time, his work is also self-mocking, particularly when it touches on issues such as murder and depression (available ad nauseum in Johnny the Homicidal Maniac), which are topics of interest in Goth subculture.

References

Books

• Baddeley, Gavin: Goth Chic: A Connoisseur's Guide to Dark Culture (Plexus, US, August 2002, ISBN 0-85965-308-0)
• Davenport-Hines, Richard: Gothic: Four Hundred Years of Excess, Horror, Evil and Ruin (1999: North Port Press. ISBN 0-86547-590-3 (trade paperback) - A voluminous, if somewhat patchy, chronological/aesthetic history of Gothic covering the spectrum from Gothic architecture to The Cure.
• Hodkinson, Paul: Goth: Identity, Style and Subculture (Dress, Body, Culture Series) 2002: Berg. ISBN 1-85973-600-9 (hardcover); ISBN 1-85973-605-X (softcover)
• Kilpatrick, Nancy: The Goth Bible : A Compendium for the Darkly Inclined. 2004: St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 0-312-30696-2
• Voltaire: What is Goth? (WeiserBooks, US, 2004; ISBN 1-57863-322-2) — a view of the goth subculture
• Andrew C. Zinn: The Truth Behind The Eyes (IUniverse, US, 2005; ISBN 0-595-37103-5) — Dark Poetry

Notes

See also

• Darkwave
• Deathrock
• Electrogoth
• Gothic fashion
• Gothic Lolita
• Gothic fiction
• Gothic rock
• History of subcultures in the 20th century
• List of Gothic rock bands
• Goth slang

External links

General

• NewScientist An article on benefits of the Goth subculture.
• Religious tolerance.org: The Goth Culture: Its history, stereotypes, religious connections, etc
• Goth Help Us is a humanitarian organization of goths worldwide who have joined together to serve humanity "from the underground up". Rebecca Hohm is CEO and Founder.
• Gothic Babe of the Week
• Dark Asia The Gothic subculture in Asia.

Events

• Drop Dead Festival Largest US Deathrock & Goth Festival
• The International Gothic Club Listing — Worldwide Goth club directory that is sorted by region. Content is contributed by visitors and usually consists of club specifics such as location, music type, cover charge, drinks, dress code, directions and other miscellaneous club information
• Wave-Gotik-Treffen Annual Goth festival in Leipzig, Germany. While the event itself is hosted in Germany, the attendance is rather international, as gothic people from almost all countries of the world travel to gather there. (English version)
• Convergence, an annual US goth event
• Goth in Europe European Gothic Music Site