What is Gothic? Its a genre of music a kind of dark Postpunk that developed in the late 70s and early 80s. Its also a subculture, a group of people united by their love for this music called Goths.
What is Gothic music? As allready mentioned its a kind of dark Postpunk. Which means it developed from Punk. And indeed many Goth bands do still resemble Punk a lot in sound. Bauhaus, The Sisters Of Mercy, Christian Death, The Cure, Siouxsie And The Banshees, Alien Sex Fiend,... are some of the prominent Goth classics. But Goth didn't die after the 80s, it just went underground. There are plenty of popular newer Goth bands to like Cinema Strange, Bloody Dead And Sexy, Elusive, Frank The Baptist, All Gone Dead, Eat Your Make-Up,... There is a much longer list of Goth bands below.
Are there different kinds of Goth music? Yes, there are a handfull of Goth subgenres in existence. Goth comes in two big categories, bands with a first generation sound and bands with a second generation sound.
The first generation is the first Goth music and later bands with the same sound. This is all still fairly close to Punk. Under it fall three Goth subgenres; Deathrock, Batcave and 80s Popgoth. Deathrock was the first generation of Goth that developed in America. Of all the subgenres its closest to Goth. Famous Deathrock bands are Christian Death, Kommunity FK and 45 Grave. Batcave was the first generation of Goth that developed in Europe. It usually had a more gloomy and experimental sound to it, like Alien Sex Fiend, Specimen and Virgin Prunes. 80s Popgoth isn't really a subgenre. But some early Goth bands defied classification into a subgenre, like The Cure and Siouxsie And The Banshees.
The second generation of Goth broke through in the mid 80s. A new kind of Goth had evolved away from the Punk roots. It still sounded Goth but different. Two subgenres used to fall under it; Gothic Rock and Dark Wave. Gothic Rock is Goth with some Hard Rock influences, usually with deep male vocals. The most famous bands are The Sisters Of Mercy, Fields Of The Nephilim and The Mission. Dark Wave is Goth with some ethereal and electronic influences added. It doesn't exist anymore as a Goth subgenre. Dark Wave has for the most part moved away from its Goth roots and is now a seperate genre. Only a minority stay true to the Goth sound today. Examples of "Gothic Dark Wave" are Xymox, Frozen Autumn and Sopor Aeternus.
Isn't Metal and Rock like Nightwish, Cradle Of Filth, Evanescence, Marilyn Manson, Within Temptation,... Goth? No, I'm afraid not. Completly different kinds of music. Even Gothic Metal is in fact not Goth, its just a name. This music gets confused a lot cause its also very dark themed. And because a lot of its fans (usually Metalheads) wear black clothing to. Which makes them similar in look to Goths for the casual observer.
Isn't electronic music like Combichrist, VNV Nation, Grendel, Covenant, Front 242,... Goth? Again no, completly different kind of music. This music or its fans (Cybers usually) don't really resemble Goth anyway. With the exception of a minority of Cybers that sometimes dresses a bit Goth. This music gets confused with Goth cause it gets played side by side with Goth on a number of clubnights and festivals. Allthough this is getting more and more rare.
What other musical genres and prominent bands are wrongly confused with Goth? Genres: • Gothic Metal • Black Metal • Death Metal • Nu-Metal • Industrial • EBM • Synthpop • Futurepop • “Emo” • Pagan/Folk Metal • Symphonic Metal • Symphonic Power Metal • Dark Ambient • Visual Kei
Bands: HIM, A Perfect Circle, Dimmu Borgir, AFI, Combichrist, Lacuna Coil, Moonspell, Nightwish, Wumpscut, Evanescence, Marilyn Manson, Cradle of Filth, Slipknot, Korn, Emilie Autumn, Andrew W.K., Children of Bodom, Good Charlotte, Hatebreed, Jack Off Jill, In Flames, Kittie, KoRn, Linkin Park, Ministry, Morbid Angel, Mudvayne, Murderdolls, My Chemical Romance, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, Rammstein, Rasputina, Razed In Black, Skinny Puppy, Tool, VNV Nation, Wednesday 13, Deathstars,...
What is a Goth? A Goth is someone that loves Gothic music. He/she will probably also like other types of music. But he/she will certainly love Goth music. Many Goths express their love for this genre by dressing a certain way.
What does a Goth look like? Not everyone that loves Goth music dresses Goth. Regardless of music taste Goths are still individuals that can dress any possible way even in "normal" clothes. However there are two fashion styles that are closely associated with the subculture. Batcave/Deathrock is associated with first generation Goth. And just like the music its stay close to the Punk roots:
Victorian/Historical is the other style. A style more popular with Goths that prefer the second generation of Goth:
But wasn't Goth a way or life or even a religion? I'm afraid not, except for a preference for Goth music every Goth is different. They are all individuals that live in their own unique way. And Goth certainly isn't a religion. Their are no beliefs or ideals attached to the subculture. Many Goths are in fact part of a religion allready which has nothing to do with being a Goth.
Why didn't I know this yet? You have been lied to by the media who is mostly ignorant about the subject. In the 80s everyone knew perfectly well what Goth was, even the media. Cause the music and subculture was as good as mainstream for a period. In the 90s when Goth went back underground the trouble started. The media started to confuse Goth with other dark themed music. Or even with anything dark like Vampirism, Satanism and schoolshootings. Because of that most people today stay completly ignorant of what Goth is. Fortunately you stumbled across one of the few reliable sources here.
The Gothic List I finally leave you with a big list with almost every Goth band worth mentioning included. If you want to check a band out just click on its name. You should be taken to site where you can listen to them.
Related Music List There are a few kinds of music that are closely related to Goth and even overlap. In order to make sure that even bands that fall in the grey area between Goth and other music are mentioned I also added lists of related genres. In these lists you will find some Goth bands. They aren't in the above list cause they fitted beter in the lists below. But most bands below aren't Goth, just close.
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