Gothic rock

Gothic rock
Stylistic origins	Punk rock, post-punk, glam rock, psychedelic rock, proto-punk
Cultural origins	Late 1970s England
Typical instruments	Guitar - Bass - Drums (or, quite often, Drum Machine) -Synthesizers
Fusion genres
Dark Cabaret - Gothabilly - Deathrock
Other topics
Literature - Culture - Architecture - Fashion - Film

Gothic rock (sometimes called goth rock or simply goth) is a genre of rock music that originated during the late 1970s. Originally bands from the genre were referred to as positive-punk by the music press and had strong ties to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk styles.

The genre itself was defined as a separate movement from punk rock during the early 1980s. Some gothic rock bands were more art and introspectively based than punk rock. Gothic rock dealt with dark themes and intellectual movements such as gothic horror, Romanticism, existential philosophy, and nihilism. Notable gothic rock bands include Bauhaus, The Cure, Siouxsie & the Banshees, The Sisters of Mercy and The Mission.

Largely separate from other genres of alternative rock of the 1980s, gothic rock gave rise to a broader goth subculture that includes goth clubs, goth fashions, and goth-oriented magazines.

Pre-history

1960s: psychedelic rock

File:JimMorrisonBlack.jpg

The Doors front man Jim Morrison.

Some of gothic rock's earliest influences emerged in the 1960s, the most significant of which was psychedelic rock act The Doors. In fact the Doors are the first known band to have been referred to as "gothic rock" by the music media in 1967.

Front man Jim Morrison's dark and enigmatic aura would be a particularly strong influence on later front men such as Ian Astbury, Rozz Williams and Wayne Hussey. The album "Strange Days" in particular helped influence the sound of post-punk bands such as Joy Division and Echo and the Bunnymen which were highly important to the emergence of gothic rock.

By the late 60s, more important acts had come into being in the United States; amongst them were The Velvet Underground with their 1967 debut "The Velvet Underground and Nico", which had had a dark sound and gloomy themes. Siouxsie & the Banshees were one of the post-punk bands to be influenced by the austerity of their sound.

Along with The Velvets' psychedelic-tinged garage rock, acts from Detroit had started to gain attention for their live shows and nihilistic-themed music, such as The Stooges and Alice Cooper Group. The Stooges in particular followed on from the ground work set by The Doors and The Velvet Underground and would prove to be influential on later prominent acts associated with gothic rock, such as The Birthday Party, The Sisters of Mercy and Killing Joke.

The gothic aesthetic, as well as references to gothic writers and symbolism (such as the colour black, death, and insanity) and minor chord progressions, were widely utilized in 1960s music. Popular songs that contain such references include The Beatles' "I Am the Walrus", which mentions Edgar Allan Poe, and The Rolling Stones' "Paint It, Black", which describes the significance of this colour. Some artists at times intentionally sang in a way depicting themselves as a sinister character, as Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane did in "Somebody to Love".

1970s: glam rock, punk rock and post-punk

Into the 1970s and musicians produced very strong foundations for gothic rock, which would begin to come to life at the end of the decade. Glam rock became popular during the early part of the '70s; Marc Bolan and T.Rex (whose songs were later played at The Batcave and covered by Bauhaus) were at the forefront of the movement.

David Bowie's 1974 effort - "Diamond Dogs".

Perhaps the most influential of all was David Bowie, both musically and visually. With his character "Ziggy Stardust", Bowie brought in an androgynous look which would later be adopted by many bands. His music around this period was particularly melodramatic and had some dark themes. Bowie described his 1974 album "Diamond Dogs" as "gothic" , and the album "Low" has many similarities to the genre. He also produced some albums which would have an effect on the genre such as Lou Reed's Transformer and Iggy Pop's The Idiot and Lust for Life.

In the mid to late 1970s, the genre which gothic rock was directly descended from began to occur: the London punk rock movement, with the Sex Pistols as its most prominent exponent. This was where the first wave of gothic rock musicians who would become associated with the gothic rock genre began to emerge; Siouxsie and the Banshees members were part of the infamous Bromley Contingent and, in fact, the band featured Sid Vicious early on. The Damned also first came to light here, with their frontman Dave Vanian who is largely credited with bringing the gothic image to pop culture.

Members of The Lords of the New Church, fronted by Stiv Bators, played with notable punk rock groups during the 1970s including The Dead Boys, The Damned and Sham 69. Joy Division, themselves largely influenced by the punk rock movement, also appeared during the later part of the 1970s; their two albums, Unknown Pleasures and Closer anticipated gothic rock of the 1980s (though Joy Division themselves were a post-punk band). The Psychedelic Furs, in a similar sense to Joy Division, were a post-punk act who significantly influenced and anticipated bands (especially The Sisters of Mercy) who were a part of this genre in the '80s.

First generation (c. 1979–c. 1985)

The first generation of gothic rock bands were not all associated with the goth subculture. Fans of bands in the genre were also associated with styles such as punk rock, post-punk, and new wave. Some of the late-1970s and 1980s gothic rock bands created their own record labels or released their material through independent record labels (such as Beggars Banquet Records); however, like punk rock, this was not a general rule, as some bands in the movement also appeared on major labels.

Most of the early gothic rock groups were from England, although some bands were from other countries; Christian Death came from Los Angeles, The Virgin Prunes from Ireland, and Xmal Deutschland was from Germany.

United Kingdom

Two early post-punk groups labeled "gothic" were Joy Division and Siouxsie & the Banshees in 1979. Between 1978 and 1979 these bands developed a haunting sound and dark-themed lyrics. Killing Joke and John Lydon's Public Image Ltd also influenced the development of the goth sound.

Siouxsie & the Banshees' output from their debut album The Scream (1978) to Nocturne (1983) were influential on the goth sound. Joy Division was short-lived, due to vocalist Ian Curtis' suicide. Nevertheless their two albums Unknown Pleasures (1979) and Closer (1980) were influential in the gothic scene. The remaining members of Joy Division became New Order, whose first album Movement (1981) continued Joy Division's gothic style; this early New Order sound was influential to some gothic bands (for example, Danse Society and Clan of Xymox). New Order subsequently moved in a more dance oriented direction.

As the gothic label began to stick to Joy Division and Siouxsie & the Banshees in 1979, Bauhaus (originally called Bauhaus 1919) then came along. They started out wearing plain jeans and t-shirts, but after appearing on the same bill as Gloria Mundi (who looked and sounded gothic yet remained unknown since nobody ever saw them), Bauhaus ended up having a make over, dressing in all black and wearing make up. Strongly influenced by English Glam rock such as David Bowie and T. Rex, Bauhaus's debut single "Bela Lugosi's Dead" (released in late 1979) is considered to be the beginning of gothic rock proper. Despite their legacy as progenitors of gothic rock, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division, and the The Cure chiefly self-identified as punk acts at the time.

In 1980 and 1981, Danse Society, Theatre of Hate, March Violets, Play Dead, and The Sisters of Mercy were formed. UK Decay, a late-1970s punk band, influenced the emerging gothic movement of the early 1980s. The first written reference to Goth, as a derivation of the punk scene, was by Steve Keaton in an article about UK Decay, entitled 'The face of punk gothique', for UK rock weekly Sounds. Published on February 21, 1981, Keaton writes that the band’s vocalist, Abbo “once told me that they had a fascination with death (it’s OK he was laughing at the time.) Even so, their imagery is striking and the music is thick with Victorian menace – and Banshee/Antz spice. Could this be the coming of Punk Gothique? With Bauhaus flying in on similar wings could it be the next big thing?” Keaton concludes: “Punk Gothique? It’s looking just fine.” In February 1981, Abbo from UK Decay used the term gothic to describe the style of bands such as Danse Society and Play Dead. A year later, Ian Astbury of the band Southern Death Cult used the term "gothic goblins" to describe Sex Gang Children's fans. However, the term "goth" did not become a label for a movement or "scene" until 1983[1]. The emerging scene was described as "positive punk" in a February 1983 article in the NME magazine. Journalist Richard North described Bauhaus and Theatre of Hate as "the immediate forerunners of today's flood" (which included Southern Death Cult, Sex Gang Children, and Blood & Roses) and declared, "So here it is: the new positive punk, with no empty promises of revolution, either in the rock'n'roll sense or the wider political sphere. Here is only a chance of self awareness, of personal revolution, of colourful perception and galvanisation of the imagination that startles the slumbering mind and body from their sloth."

The lead singer of the punk band The Damned, Dave Vanian (a former grave digger), sometimes dressed up as a vampire, which may have influenced the gothic fashion stylings of Siouxsie & the Banshees, Bauhaus and The Cure. Siouxsie & the Banshees and The Cure have retained the goth imagery in their on-stage appearance and albums throughout most of their careers, but their music has explored other related genres. After the Nocturne album, Siouxsie's songs became more synthesizer-based and alternative. Bauhaus were more consistently gothic in their on-stage appearance and musical styles until their break-up in 1983. Some members of Bauhaus had a side project called Tones on Tail which continued during the mid 1980s, releasing gothic-styled music influenced by The Beach Boys experimental Pet Sounds album and 1970s drug subculture psychedelic music.

By 1982, gothic rock had become a broader sub-culture, with the emergence of bands such as Sex Gang Children, Southern Death Cult, Skeletal Family, Specimen, and Alien Sex Fiend. Clubs such as the Batcave in London contributed to gothic rock's broader scope by providing a venue for the goth scene. The Batcave aimed at reinventing David Bowie's vision of glam rock, but with a darker, horror-influenced twist. Gothic rock band members, hangers-on, and fans socialized at the Batcave, which became the prototype goth club environment. By 1984, Batcave DJs were playing Siouxsie, The Cramps, Sweet, Specimen, Eddie Cochran, and Death Cult. By 1983, the British press began commenting on the gothic rock scene gaining at the Batcave and similar venues. Batcave proved to be the most famous Gothic nightclub in the general history of Gothic Rock.

US and Canada

The US Deathrock scene, centred in Los Angeles, California, began in the late seventies with bands such as Christian Death, 45 Grave, T.S.O.L, Voodoo Church, Kommunity FK, Burning Image, and Theatre of Ice. When Christian Death were recording their debut album Only Theatre of Pain in 1982, frontman Rozz Williams had acknowledged and been influenced by the UK goth scene, and been influenced by some of the bands. Christian Death attracted listeners in Europe (especially in France) and started touring Europe and England in 1984. The band's subsequent albums Catastrophe Ballet and Ashes were more goth-influenced, and also showed borrowings from surrealism and the dada movement. US Punk blues pioneers the Gun Club also started playing in Europe and England, often as the opening act for the Sisters of Mercy.

Europe and Australia

Goth was as much a continental European phenomenon as it was British or American. At the same time bands like Bauhaus and Christian Death were forming in those countries, bands with dark, gothic musical styles, such as Geisterfahrer (1979), Xmal Deutschland (1980), Leningrad Sandwich (1980), Malaria! (1981), Belfegore (1982), Girls Under Glass (1986) and Pink Turns Blue (1986), were being formed in Germany. Belgium's Siglo XX released a number of albums since 1980. Amsterdam-based Clan of Xymox formed in 1983, and The Essence from Rotterdam followed in 1984. By 1992, Germany developed a large wave and gothic festival, the yearly Wave-Gotik-Treffen in Leipzig. In Finland, the first, the most influential and most popular gothic rock band were Musta Paraati (Black Parade in English), which was active in 1982-84. The first Finnish band to release a gothic rock album in English was Russian Love, founded in 1986.

In Australia and New Zealand, Nick Cave's second band, The Birthday Party (c. 1979 and later moving to London), and other post-punk collectives like Foetus Productions (also called The Features/The Foetals, c.1979) influenced the development of gothic music, fashion, and aesthetics. New Zealand's film archive New Zealand Film Archive site states that Foetus Productions operated "...as an audio-visual company from 1980-1989,...part of a small global 'industrial' culture network, which included Throbbing Gristle in Britain, and Survival Research Laboratories on the West Coast of America. They released seven albums, designed clothing, wrote manifestos, made films, and challenged the parameters of music and art, blending pop, industrial and philosophical methodologies. Their music attacked advertising's promulgation of perfect images and lithe bodies using images of medical misadventure and mutation." In 2004, Foetus Productions were still exhibiting their controversial depictions of deformed human beings in museums.

Second generation (c. 1985–c. 1995)

In the UK, goth bands became more popular and the subculture grew and broadened. Throughout the 1980s, 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 alternative rock music in the mid-1980s 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), a new version of Christian Death (1985), The Mission (1986), and Mephisto Walz (c.1987) founded by former Christian Death composer / guitarist Barry Galvin (alias Bari Bari). Galvin defined the dark, droning style of Christian Death on the album Atrocities, the songs of which he composed and later transferred to the Mephisto Walz repertoire.

By 1985, the post-punk era was giving way to new musical styles, and many of the first generation gothic groups disbanded or changed their style. The Sisters of Mercy's debut album First and Last and Always (1985) cracked the British top ten, which showed the important influence that this 'first generation' goth band was having on the second generation. Vocalist Andrew Eldritch's voice earned him the moniker "the Godfather of Goth", and the bands' use of a drum machine (along with fellow Leeds residents March Violets) was innovative for the goth scene. The Three Johns and Red Lorry Yellow Lorry (also Leeds-based bands) used drum machines as well, which became much more common during the second generation (drum machines continued to be common in goth music in the 2000s).

During the second wave of goth, the term and the style became noticed in mainstream British publications like The Face and the NME. Goth fans developed fanzines, and goth clubs began to spring up in imitation of London's Batcave. The 1983 vampire-genre film "The Hunger", starring David Bowie, featured an appearance by Bauhaus, which helped to cement the relationship between glam, horror, goth and mainstream. 4AD recording artists such as Clan of Xymox (who had a mainstream hit with "Imagination"), Dead Can Dance, and the Cocteau Twins got US college radio airplay, and 'first generation' acts such as Siouxsie and the Banshees became the goth scene's de facto spokespeople to the mainstream press. Others, such as Southern Death Cult and Death Cult evolved (see The Cult).

Goth zines split their direction in much the same way that the scene itself did. Earlier magazines such as Permission were allied to the punk roots of goth and tended to veer towards industrial music, while later magazines such as Carpe Noctem focused more on the lace-and-poetry romantic sound.

By 1987, gothic groups started to emerge in Canadian cities such as Toronto and Montreal, such as Masochistic Religion, which included the singer from Armed and Hammered. Toronto band Exovedate signed with German record label Pandaimonium Records, and their album Seduced by Illusions received airplay in Australia, Russia, the US, Brazil, Guam, Germany, and Canada.

By this time, a cross-pollination with the growing global post-industrial scene was developing. The blending of goth and 'industrial' music scenes and subcultures can be heard in the music of industrial bands such as Skinny Puppy. Depeche Mode's blend of goth, industrial, and pop and synthesized sounds influenced many goth musicians. Synthpop acts such as Camouflage, Secession, Celebrate the Nun, and Red Flag followed Depeche Mode's lead, and eventually gothic music found its way into club music, and synthpop began appearing in goth rock.

Third generation (c. 1995 to the present)

In the 1990s, some of the influential 1980s "first generation" bands were still performing. At the same time, North American bands such as Switchblade Symphony (released by the Cleopatra label) and London After Midnight (released by Metropolis Records label in the USA) began releasing material. New English bands Included Children on Stun, All Living Fear, Vendemmian and Rosetta Stone. Other popular goth acts to emerge in the 1990s included The Crüxshadows, The Last Dance, Sunshine Blind and The Shroud.

In Germany, many labels such as Apocalyptic Vision, Apollyon Rekordings, Deathwish Office, Dion Fortune, Glasnost Records, Hyperium Records, Sounds Of Delight, and Talitha Records released Gothic compilations and recordings from bands such as Love Like Blood, Mephisto Walz, The Merry Thoughts, and Two Witches. France produced some new goth bands such as Corpus Delicti and Dead Souls Rising. Thanks to internet communities and broader CD distribution through such a plethora of record companies, fans of these labels and bands were no longer regionally based; the music was becoming more globalized than before.

In the mid and late 1990s, major record labels, particularly in the United States and Germany, began marketing hard rock and metal acts as "gothic" or "industrial" bands. The formerly underground subcultural aesthetic of goth was incorporated into the sound and image of several popular mainstream bands such as HIM, Marilyn Manson, and more recently Evanescence although these bands did not produce goth rock. The term "goth" became associated in the public's mind with these mainstream bands, the Hot Topic chain, the "mallgoth" aesthetic, and the Columbine school shooting, which led to the US press' subsequent vilification and scrutiny of the goth culture [2]

Internally, the gothic subculture during this time had come to be dominated more and more by dance club attendance. Goth rock adapted in turn: contemporary dance club goth followed the footsteps of beat-driven industrial music, using many of the same production techniques and aesthetics, though danceable industrial music tended to be "harder" sounding while goth was "softer" sounding, with less distortion and minimal influence from techno and metal. Much modern goth often has the evolutionary feel of New Wave music or synth pop, though there are also "old school" or "first generation" gothic rock or faux-medieval acts.

Since 2000, some fans have embraced a Death Rock revival, returning to the 1980s music and fashions of the first generation of goth. Bands such as Cinema Strange, Quidam, and Black Ice, along with the website Deathrock.com, have contributed to the revitalization of the first generation-style goth, and Nina Hagen even headlined the 2005 Drop Dead Festival in New York City. The Cure and Bauhaus's high-profile performances since 2004 have also helped to promote the earlier goth sound, characterized by "jangly" guitars and less club-oriented arrangement.

Though the goth rock has diminished in popularity and its record sales have fallen off, there are still events, labels, and publications supporting it. Dancing Ferret Discs, Projekt Records, and Metropolis Records are releasing goth music in the American market, new Gothic Music is being produced by European labels like Strobelight Records, while the label Cherry Red has been reissuing early goth rock recordings in Europe.

Musical styles

As the genre of gothic rock contains sub-genres whose boundaries overlap, it is difficult to identify musical characteristics that are common to all gothic rock. Nonetheless, certain musical styles from early English gothic rock have remained common, such as the guitar tone. In gothic rock, the guitar tone is usually processed with electronic effects. A clean or warmly overdriven guitar sound is processed through chorusing, flanging, analog delay, and/or dense reverb, resulting in a timbre that resembles those used by Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and The Cure.

As well, gothic rock has a characteristic guitar playing style. Gothic rock guitar playing takes its downstroke playing style from punk, and emphasizes angular melodic lines instead of thick chords. Minor keys and minor mode melodies are prevalent, but major keys are also used. The Phrygian mode, with a flattened second scale degree contributes to the gothic sound with its "haunting" and dissonant mood. Gothic rock songs are typically mixed so that there is a heavy bass sound, which creates a moody and gloomy atmosphere.

Gothic rock often uses repetitive snare drum snap to propel the beat, either a real drum beat or, later on, usually a drum machine beat. The metronomic snare drum sound can be first heard on Iggy Pop's The Idiot. It continues on in Joy Division's songs, Gary Numan's early music, on early Cure CDs (beginning with Seventeen Seconds) and early Sisters of Mercy recordings. More sophisticated variations of the snare drum snap are used by Kevin Haskins in Bauhaus's music.

In the 1990s, some bands in the gothic genre wrote songs with a more hard rock feel, such as the Sisters of Mercy's Vision Thing album, and Fields of the Nephilim, Rosetta Stone, London After Midnight, and The Wake.

Literature

• Mick Mercer: Gothic Rock Black Book, Omnibus Press (30th January 1989), ISBN 0-71191-546-6
• Mick Mercer: All You Need to Know About Gothic Rock, Pegasus Publishing (21th October 1991), ISBN 1-87389-201-2
• Dave Thompson / Kirsten Borchardt: Schattenwelt - Helden und Legenden des Gothic Rock, Hannibal (March 2004), ISBN 3-85445-236-5

References

• Collins, Andrew. "Bluffer's Guide to Goth." NME. November 30, 1991.
• Reynolds, Simon. Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984. Penguin, 2005.

Related genres

• Coldwave
• Dark Cabaret
• Darkwave
• Deathrock/Deathpunk
• Gothabilly
• Post-punk
• Punk rock

See also

• List of Gothic rock bands
• Goth subculture
• Gothic fashion
• The Batcave

External links

• All Music Guide entry for Gothic Rock
• Rockdetector global Gothic Rock listing