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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. 
 
        
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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