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GOTHIC

                                                           October 1995

"Gothic" music:
music that incorporates
medieval influences, often
with vocals reminicent of
Gregorian chants.

The original "gothic" music was               The term "gothic" was
an off-shoot of punk, and these               originally used as a dig
days tends to get called "gothic              at the band Joy Division
rock".                                        by some music journalist.

For me, the original, classic
gothic group is Bauhaus.             Many people have different
                                     cannonical goth bands...
More recent gothic music works       Sisters of Mercy?
harder at a dark, moody sound,       Siouxie and the Banshees ?
Often with post-Cocteau Twins
ethereal female vocals.              These people would
                                     probably give you a      (Can't stand
   Dead Can Dance                    different defintion      Siouxie,
   The Sky Crys Mary                 of Gothic.               myself.  Nice
   Love Spirals Downwards                                     makeup, though.)
   Miranda Sex Garden
   The Switchblade Symphony



Gothic can be thought up as a kind
of flip side to Industrial... where               Possibly:
Industrial is harsh, angry, and                   Feminine vs. Masculine?
pragmatic, Goth is softer, more
contemplative, more spiritual.

      This can be compared to the
      situation with the literary
      genres Science Fiction and
      Fantasy...  at first glance,
      these are two distinct,
      totally opposed literatures.
      But they're often written and         There are a number of
      read by the same people... and        bands that could be
      many games have been played           called Industrial/Goth
      intentionally combining the           cross-overs... e.g.
      two, blurring any easy                "Sleeping Dogs Wake".
      distinction between them.

Unlike the industrial music
scene, the goth scene has a
distinct culture all of it's
own, a style of dress, a style
of dancing, a set of attitudes    Logically, I should
that goes beyond a preference     expand on what kind
for a kind of music.              dress, dance style,
                                  and attitudes I'm
                                  talking about here,
                                  but since I started to    There's a lot less
                                  write this (a) the web    need to document
                                  happened, (b) "goths"     trivia now...
                                  turned into a pop
                                  sterotype as universally
                                  recognized as beatniks.

                                  UNIVERSAL_GOTH

The etymology of the term
is really funny:

   The historical goths, the Visigoths, Ostogoths
                                                    (Just meaning
           =>                                        east and west,
                                                     yes?)
   Regarded as barbarians, their name
   used as a slur against a style of
   architecture

           =>

   So it became the standard name for that
   architecture, then highly regarded

           =>

   Used as a slur against a kind of music
                                                      Having trouble naming
           =>                                         your scene?  Maybe you
                                                      should let your
   So it became the adopted name of                   enemies do it...
   a sub-culture surrounding the music.
                                                                 IMP_PERVERSE




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