Your views on Goths

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I am someone who wears all black all the time, it has been a way for me to feel more comfortable about my image since middle school. Personally I find the term "goth" offensive because of its current definition: "Insecure teenager who will do anything for the meer purpose of being quote on quote different".. First off, they look rediculous 90 percent of the time, and secondly they are WAY too trendy.. They claim to just be themselves when in fact all they are is a trend.. A rediculous and childish trend, not themselves. Its ironic as well, because they wouldnt have their little scene if it werent for genres like black metal, yet the most "extreme" their music goes is something like "HIM" or "Slipknot".. Just pathetic.

username88:

a) black metal had nothing to do with the emergence of gothic. goth stems from several roots which kind of mangled together. namely, 80s post punk/new wave, industrial and its derivatives (not nine inch nails and the like... actual industrial), the middle ages scene plus some bumping off the fetish scene. metal sneaked up close afterwards, through bands labelled gothic metal. black metal is a phenomenon completely independent from gothic.

b) see industrial acts for music that reaches far beyond black metal in terms of aural extremeness. brighter death now, genocide organ, basically the whole noise/ industrial/ death industrial backcatalog of cold meat.
i actually dont see where the need for extremeness in terms of a certain harsh aural quality comes from.

i agree with lots of gothic being a trendy thing nowadays, though. but then, almost every subculture gets in media focus at some time, and is kind of "diluted", boiled down into something digestible for larger numbers. just look how some batcave elements sneak into almost everything you can buy these days.

Keep in mind the birth of BM occured in 1980.. For example, see the way Mayhem used to look and compare it to what gothic kids wear nowadays. Yes, punk rock does have something to do with it as well, but "goth" nowadays is something entirely of its own, and I dont agree with it. The overall nature of something "gothic" is essentially darkness.. Which isnt even understood by much of anyone anymore. So what I mean is that its a weed that grew upon something that was great. It is nothing more than a joke in my eyes.

Here's the thing...actual black metal like Mayhem is in no way associated with the gothic subculture, but the bands Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir ARE. They're not really black metal but they're called black metal by many, and at the very least have black metal elements, even though they combine that with symphonic metal and gothic metal elements. Because many goths, myself included, like such "pseudo black metal" bands, black metal gets associated with goths.

Plus, some black metal fans hang out around goths.

I gotta agree, though, that some industrial is WAY more intense than black metal.

I know it has nothing to do with it, that was my point. I was just saying that it was partly responsible for its "becomming". When I went to highschool, "gothic" kids didnt listen to industrial music like that. I may be out of circulation right now but what I say is just from what I observe. I still find it to be a mockery..

My boyfriend said people at his school think he's a goth.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTTEjMU8NA4[/youtube]

Hell yeah, black metal!

A true Emperor fan? Lets be pals lol

nvm

I'm ok with Goths, just not stupid 12-18 year-old mall-goths who think they are so non-conformist/different/hated by society/being judged by everyone all the time (while they relentlessly judge anyone who's not a mall-goth) and that somehow gives them the right to look down on us.

I cant stand mall goths aswell....... with their baggy trousers..... with so many chains it makes it hard for them to walk...... with HIM and Marilyn Manson playing...... yuck

When I think gothic music I think of bands like

Bauhaus
Siouxsie & the Banshees
The Sisters of Mercy
Sex Gang Children
Fields of the Nephilim
NFD

My tastes in Industrial metal/rock maybe abit lacking but this is what I like from that type of music

Rammstein
Static-X
Fear Factory
Mushroomhead
Deathstars
Crossbreed

And for Black Metal

Venom
Celtic Frost
Emperor
Darkthrone
Immortal
Mayhem

tho im more of a Death Metal fan then Black Metal and well....... im Christian and when someone yells at me to piss on the face of God...... well I just think to myself..... no thats just wrong

Even tho I might not agree with whats been said...... I still like the sound of Black metal

Im not an over the top Christian........ im not gonna run up to a black metal band with a Bible and try to banish them or anything

It depends.

When I see people are into goth because it just fits their mood and they do the hairstyle/makeup and clothes.. thats fine with me.


but those that take it too far and behave like vampires and other idiocies ... those I feel sorry for.

dantac: good point.
but also, it made me think that its a really fine line you suggest.

okay, behaving like vampires and the like, we dont need to talk about that, but there are several things that could be taken very ambigously:
i know a share of goths who are very obsessive about proper, educated speech. in itself, id say that is not a bad thing, but can make them look like victorian era reenactors at times (especially because its really not uncommun for girls to wear corsets). the same can be said about manner - wheres the dividing line between acting idiotic and making a solid counterstatement against todays lack of behavior?
also, excessive vanity isnt unheard among goths (no wonder, its a predominantly aesthetic thing after all, unlike, for example, punk) and you say you like when the style works well with them. that, however, may include not staying in the sun for prolonged periods of time - so yeah, thats right between "uuuh- im a vampire" and just keeping a reasonable eye on ones looks.

I don't really understand goths, but I am fine with them, they are actually the people who treat me fairest and seem to understand me the most. I do not talk to them often, but I do not really talk to anyone else often, either.

I've been a Goth for 20+ years

- have always found them to be interesting, broadminded and non-aggressive, on the whole.