Let's talk about goth music!

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Does anyone here like goth music? Some of the first goth bands I ever listened to were Inkubus Sukkubus and Switchblade Symphony. Inkubus Sukkubus are awesome. :]

Can someone define to me 'goth'? I only say this as some people consider The Rasmus to be goth, which is probably about as offensive as the description can get.

Rasmus is another one of those pop-sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-genres [/exaggerates]

i havent really heard much goth music.

i dont know if you would consider Sopor Aeternus to be goth, but if they are then i don't like it =\

The only real 'goth' I think I've ever heard was when a friend played some Rosetta Stone for me. Other than that I've heard of Switchblade Symphony, I've heard of Nosferatu, but like Emo (real sorry for the comparison) its one of those styles where I know the title but really can't say I know what it is for sure. I used to think industrial was an element of goth but I stood corrected on that a while ago.

Dead Can Dance and Coil.....some of my favorite bands.

I know bands like Joy Division were supposedly at its roots and I had a punk friend telling me that, in the most original of original senses (ie. not todays meaning) that the Misfits were once classified as goth.

Okay, correct me if I'm wrong please. Doesn't the definition of goth music lie mainly in the lyrics and mood of the music? What I mean is...
What I'm trying to say is that I dunno what to categorize as goth music. ><i

My friend says AFI is goth, but I always leaned more toward punk rock for them. Some say Dir en grey is goth, but they don't like that at all. I can't say I've heard the bands of which you speak. You can send me some if you want, though ^__^

that is all for now. sayounara.

Alot of early Goth groups would deny to be 'Goth' as such. Alot of the best examples of Goth groups really are just usually British post-punk/art-rock outfits.
Things such as Bauhaus, Sisters Of Mercy, Fields Of Nephilm, The Cure, Siouxie Sioux And The Banshees, and The Cult.
Even 80's synth-pop has been considered 'goth'. Tubeway Armys' debut and Replicas have been considered 'goth'- though the whole 'Nu-Goths' of now wouldn't really consider it. Though Nu-Goth/Metal groups (which these poor excuses for Goths adore) have covered electro songs from the eighties. Such as Marilyn Manson has covered Depeche Modes' 'Personal Jesus', Soft Cells version of 'Tainted Love', and Tube way Armys 'Down In The Park'.
Nick Cave was considered to be the 'king of the Goths' in the eighties. When an NME journalist highlighted this salient nugget of knowledge the journalist was attacked.
Fields Of Nephilm was once detained by the police on tour once for suspected possession of copious amounts of cocaine- It was a bag of flower. As part of their act they would douse themselves in flour.
Also the whole 80s shoe gazing 'movement' (I use the term movement loosely, as it is hard to walk when you spend your time staring at your shoes) could be associated with Goth. Groups like the Cocteau Twins.

I guess in a way Goth was initially a term that could be applied to any apathetic hippy that listened to post-punk and had an androgynous image.

The Cure, HIM, Nick Cave, most of the 80's electronica

How can you mention Goth without mentioning Alien Sex Fiend, Christian Death, or the Superheroines? A lot of mid to late period SWANS is fairly Gothic. Laibach can also be looked upon as Goth as well a lot of stuff put out by Killing Joke. Death in June is a Goth band that I've never really cared for. The Legendary Pink Dots have Goth appeal also. Wumpskut have their Gothic moments as well.

i think AFI is what you would call 'mallgoth'.

I was going to mention Alien Sex Fiend and the Batcave- but I don't know alot about them.
I need to hear alot more things like the Coceatu Twins and stuff like that.
Would it be fair to state that like post-punk that Goth is another predominantly british orientated genre?
I really wouldn't consider alot of the new american acts to too 'gothic'- well perhaps in a camp and kitch sense. I think goth really was more equal parts introspection and anger, but now alot of goths I meet may as well be metalheads.
I think in a strange way some Brit-Pop groups sound very 80s goth- Suedes', 'Heroine' sounds highly remiscient of Bauhaus 'She's In Parties' with it's swirling texture, and who wouldn't agree that Damon Albarn often sounds akin to a mockney Robert Smith.
Other groups that wouldn't as such be considered goth I think would be Shakespears sister (primarily for their image), The Smiths (Shakespears Sister also happened to be a song by these happy fellows), Johnny Cash (songs about drugs, death and stealing cars in lunch boxes, very goth if you ask me), Gang Of Four (with their cynical observations on love and society is perfect for anyone who is defiant and angry, and Duran Duran for some reason(I knew a few goths over the internet who liked Duran Duran, and no it wasn'tt Duran Duran Duran that I was getting confused with).

I love Nick Cave (no surprises there), and adore much so-called Goth music as mentioned above.

However, I wouldn't say I'm a Goth at all.

What does that make me, self-denying Goth or a representative of the Half-arsed Goth fringe? Or maybe Nick Cave isn't Goth at all?

Can anyone come up with a definitive list of subject matter that is Gothic? If so I would suspect that you'd find many Goth artists have done at least some work which cannot be categorized into that neat sub-set of themes, and what would that make them within that context?
Is it about androgyny, depression, melodrama, nihilism, existentialism, Romanticism or simply just being genuinely pissed off with the world?

Therefore, I would argue that Goth as a label encompasses so much music and so many sub-cultures with varying focus on different cultures that it doesn't really mean all that much at all.

Is there a nice, simple label to apply to music originating from the Darker Side of Life that doesn't come with all the cultural baggage of Gothic?

Well there is this concept that Goth was a term first coined by lazy music journalists who couldn't explain certain groups.
That would probably be the best explanation.

That figures! LOL!