Goth Rock

[nybergh]

What is it, who did it and when?
I'm supposed to have a presentation @school about the gothic age, and my teacher told me to include how the goth-age has influenced our time (gothic revival etc), and to my enourmous surprise he also told me to include Goth Rock.

Help me. What An I supposed to know about this style? What song should I play a sample of?

[Cylob]

From AMG:

"Frequently misunderstood in its aesthetics and misapplied as a term, goth rock is an offshoot of post-punk that existed primarily during the early to mid-'80s. Its reputation as the darkest and gloomiest form of underground rock is largely deserved, though today that reputation stems more from the visual theatricality of its bands and black-clad followers. Sonically, goth rock took the cold synthesizers and processed guitars of post-punk and used them to construct foreboding, sorrowful, often epic soundscapes. Early on, its lyrics were usually introspective and intensely personal, but its poetic sensibilities soon led to a taste for literary romanticism, morbidity, religious symbolism, and/or supernatural mysticism. Goth rock was generally not a critically acclaimed style, given its penchant for florid poetry, relentlessly mournful dirges, and melodramatic excess. However, it spawned a devoted, still-thriving subculture that kept its aesthetics alive long after the music's initial heyday had passed. The godfathers of goth-rock were British post-punkers Joy Division, whose bleak, remote, obsessively introspective music and lyrics laid the initial foundation for goth. But for all intents and purposes, the true birth of goth rock was "Bela Lugosi's Dead," the 1979 debut single by Bauhaus. Already chilly post-punk outfits like the Cure and Siouxsie & the Banshees became full-on goth bands around the same time, and their heavy, menacing makeup and dark clothes became an important part of their fans' expression. As goth rock's popularity spread among a certain segment of sensitive, alienated youth (first in the U.K., where most of its bands came from, then in the U.S.), its fashion sense grew more and more outlandish, and the original sound evolved somewhat. The Cure, Siouxsie & the Banshees, and the Mission UK incorporated more pop and alternative elements in their music, while the Sisters of Mercy, Fields of the Nephilim, and the American band Christian Death took a heavier, sometimes metal-influenced approach. By the end of the '80s, the original goth-rock movement had ceased to exist, but the music mutated into new forms and continued to influence many of rock's darker subgenres. During the '90s, the goth sound began to cross-pollinate with industrial music, producing hybrids that appealed to both sides, as well as the darkwave subgenre (which also incorporated '80s synth-pop and dream-pop). The latter half of the '90s also saw goth rock's influence cropping up all over heavy metal; a new breed of progressive black metal bands drew heavily from goth's sound and style, while some alternative metal bands also borrowed from goth rock's visual imagery (including Marilyn Manson, who — despite countless news reports to the contrary — is not a goth-rock artist)."

I would present: Bauhaus - Double Dare as an example...

[NJK]

track called "mother earth" should make a nice example for your project.

[Spazz333]

Might I also suggest...


Especially the track "Mouth"

[Fickle]

There is no Gothic Revival. It's all bullshit made by some wannabe vampires who wanted to dress in all black, be cool for appearing and being suicidal, and look down on people who have something to live for.

Anyway, That's how I feel, and you can quote me.
As Gothic Music goes, the closet I ever came to attempting to listen to it was the end of Smashing Pumpkins when Billy Corigan went insane.

[White Raven]

Originally posted by nybergh
What is it, who did it and when?
I'm supposed to have a presentation @school about the gothic age, and my teacher told me to include how the goth-age has influenced our time (gothic revival etc), and to my enourmous surprise he also told me to include Goth Rock.

Help me. What An I supposed to know about this style? What song should I play a sample of?

The gothic age was when huge cathedrals of stone were erected, and gargoyles carved and placed to be ever watchful on the corners of these medeival skyscrapers.

It has nothing to do with the black leather wearing, so called 'dark' people we see floating around today. 'Wannabe vampires' as Fickle so eloquently put it. (Thank you, Fickle.)

Please read 'Johnny the Homicidal Maniac' by Jhonen Vasquez. Especially "Anne Gwish." This is exactly how I feel and think about goths, except for I don't go so far as to kill people.

'Goth' is nothing more than an aesthetic label.

Please, tell your teacher how Gothic Rock has nothing to do with being influential in our culture now. It's just a word that they liked, and stole. It's a colloquialism for nought more than yet another group of people wishing to be classified and accepted for their 'originality.' It's got nothing to do with the churches, the Dark Ages, oppression, or anything else. All that has to do with the church basically barring knowledge. Read a history book.

So the gothic age is churches and oppression of knowledge, not vampires, weird people sucking blood, or heavy dog-like growling voices with a beat to music.

The actual gothic age has influenced our culture by allowing us in its own little way, to become more aware of the world that surrounds us. How people who assume power can become corrupt and afraid.
It's also set us back, too. The riots and revolts burned down buildings, including libraries, with the then rare books written out by hand by monks and scholars.

Goth Rock. Bah.
Pisses me off all these people calling themselves 'Gothic.'

/edit
Scanning the Anne Gwish comic I want to show you to express this...
//edit

[Cylob]

Words have more than one meaning WR.........

The word 'goth' is as valid as 'punk'. I don't think any 'goth' would pretend to be 'gothic'.

Put your book away.... stop reading stuff!