Kinda like Rick from The Young Ones?


Blasphemers, the lot o' ye!

I guess taste is a huge player here, but as for actually taking time to explore the roots of the culture, speaking from a music lover's stance, I think you should do that with all music.... explore first, then decide what you like/don't like.
I really can't stand people who only put forth the effort to skim the surface and only pick out a few of the most mainstream/known bands, then stick to that because that's their comfort zone. One shouldn't limit themselves.

Hell, even among old school goths, people hate the Sisters, and wonder why they got so much fame while The Danse Society or other better bands of that era faded into obscurity.
There are also those who prefer Theatre of Hate or The March Violets over Bauhaus or the Cure.

Personally, I love the old school goth scene for it's adventurous air of experimentation and raw dark energy that seems to have faded from today's scene. I think a lot of bands today have started to sound comfortable and commercial, and rather than that dark, obscure atmosphere older bands had, with deep throbbing bass, eerie guitar noise, and experimental soundscapes, it's more about bright, polished production, danceable beats, and loads upon loads of promo photos in order to get your picture on magazines like Orkus.
I still love some newer bands, but more popular/polished-sounding ones like Emilie Autumn, Zeraphine, or Unheilig, I really have to be in the right mood for.

The "golden age of goth" was obviously the early 80s for the anglophonic bands, and the early 90s for German bands, where bands also really started embracing dark symphonic/neoclassical textures and building a closer bond with neofolk.

Because goth has become treated like a clique these days, it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you have to like what I've heard been called the "Top 5": Bauhaus, The Sisters of Mercy, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cure, and Joy Division.

Like it's been said by many here and everyone else on the net: Goth has no definite meaning and can mean different things to people, but there are two factors that's always there no matter who you ask: music or asthetics. Personally, I on the side of the fence that believes goth is about having a taste in the darker side of life. Music can apart of that, but it doesn't have to be one of the Top 5.

However, they are the ones who found the goth genre(officially that is. Goth has technically been around way longer than that.) so if a person wants to call themselves a fan of goth music, they should be at least aware of who they are.

Also, just because they're the founders doesn't mean they're automatically the best. This applies to others genres too. To this day, I still prefer The Cruxshadows and Switchblade Symphony to The Cure and Siouxsie and the Banshees.



Very true. I like The Cure's "Burn" after hearing it on The Crow Soundtrack.

Even before I joined these forums I would occasionally come here to just read and learn more about goth. This was a few years ago, but I remember getting a "Top 5" clique feeling from one person, and that drove me further into actually getting an album from Bauhaus (I already had a few songs from them that I liked). I did it out of a sense of insecurity, and because I didn't know any other goths where I lived, I placed much more value on the opinions of those of the forums than I should have. Even still, I grew to actually like Bauhaus very much, though I'm not a rabid fan - that is what I was talking about earlier when I mentioned darker music.

That's what i do because my interests lie in other directions than music and I'd rather spend my time on my other pursuits than chasing down music. The last album i bought unheard was by Lacuna Coil and it was a total waste of my money. I am open minded enough to listen to stuff if somone plays it to me- I have no idea how to listen to stuff for free on the net- I'll happily give something a go if a freind makes me a mixed CD - but as far as spending time seeking out new music- I'd rather do a million other things.

I think that's fine, OP. I'm not a huge fan of Sisters of Mercy myself, but there are other alternative artists that could be considered to fall under the Goth umbrella. =)

As long as you understand the real roots of the culture and how it all started, I think that's all you really need. ^_^ [Besides, it's not like anyone can take your Goth card away from you if you don't get googly-eyed over Peter Murphy. ]

Tish: Either Youtube or Amazon. Youtube usually has at least a sample of the music [even if there's no video] and Amazon lets you preview the music for free if they sell it [and they sell almost anything].

*cough*

Uh-oh... I see someone's goth card about to be taken and torn to shreds...

Coming from me, all you need is to know the basics and know the foundations of goth rock and the subculture altogether. I personally don't listen to much first generation goth rock; I'm more into second and third generation goth rock going onto darkwave and ethereal wave, like Fields of the Nephilim, Faith and the Muse, Alien Sex Fiend, Miranda Sex Garden, etc.

Mirroring what Centurion and BlueRose said, I don't give into that "you have to have all of these albums/listen to these certain bands in order to call yourself a goth" mumbo jumbo. As much as I appreciate Siouxsie and the Banshees and The Cure, they're really some of the overrated mainstream bands of the gothic realm. This doesn't mean I don't listen to any of these bands - rather, I don't listen to them excessively as artists. I listen to the songs that I like from them but I don't have their entire discographies. I think of myself as a very eclectic individual, and I even listen to the more controversial stuff in the scene like gothic doom metal (because traditionalists don't link anything that wasn't influenced by post-punk as "goth") and neofolk bands like Death in June and Sol Invictus (because of their supposed white supremacist, neo-Nazi ideology which I continue to investigate further).

Anyway, don't just stop at the outershell of trad goth: never stop expanding your music library into new ventures. If it's gloomy enough, give it a go.

Muse is goth? I never tought that before... If yes, I listened to goth music before being here!

Faith and the Muse..... quite a different bird

And Death in June and Sol Invictus aren't neo-nazis, quite the opposite. The imagery is a form of irony.

Oh, *feel kinda stupid -_-* So I'll need to youtube it ^^
So back to the topic, I listened to Bauhaus a little. Not my genre but I think goth is not about having all the same musical tastes, so you do need to know them even listened but it do not need to be on replay all the time...

Goth comes in many different flavors. A lot of us who were into the punk and post-punk movements (which later became known as goth) will listen to many of these artists...even still to this day. Others will listen to industrial, some are more along the lines of metal...there are so many sub-genres! I don't really think there is any genre more goth than another...though on some sites you will run into "elitists" who will beg to differ.

I think also old school bands like Bauhaus or Virgin Prunes are MUCH more diverse due to being so experimental, so just because you love/hate one song doesn't necessarily mean you will love/hate the rest....

For example, ven with Bauhaus I tend to skip over their "in Fear of Fear" type songs to get to the "hollow Hills" type ones.

Clubs tend to play all the upbeat ones, which is misleading in my opinion. What MAKES them goth, IMO, is the slow, dark, haunting numbers, because darkness is what it's all about in a nutshell..... That's what attracts me to the scene anyways.....

I've never cared for the "In Fear of Fear" type songs either, although there are a few that I'll listen to once in a while. There are a few songs that are so bad (in my opinion, of course) that I can't believe that the same band produced such a masterpieces as "Stigmata Martyr" and "Mask". Those are rare, though, but I think all of them fall uner the "In Fear of Fear" category.