I've got to admit I'm a newbie to Goth music, so I was hoping some of you would give me a few recommendations!

I love The Cure and I've got loads of their albums, but apart from that the only Goth music I have is Bauhaus's "Crackle" and a couple of 80s compilations. Oh, and some Nick Cave and TBS, but I'm not sure if that's Goth or not!?

So I've been reading the 15 essential Goth albums thread, and from that and from bands I've heard and liked on comps, the albums I want are:

Bauhaus - In the Flat Field
- Mask
- The Sky's Gone Out
The Sisters of Mercy - Floodland
- First and Last and Always
- Some Girls Wander By Mistake
Joy Division - Closer
- Unknown Pleasures
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Juju
Fields of the Nephilim - Dawnrazor
Switchblade Symphony - Serpentine Gallery
Christian Death - Only Theatre of Pain
KMFDM - Angst
The Cruxshadows - Telemetry of a Fallen Angel
Dead Can Dance - Into the Labyrinth
- Dead Can Dance
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - From Her to Eternity
Peter Murphy - Wild Birds
Cocteau Twins - Garlands
Clan of Xymox - Medusa

But since I don't have anywhere near enough money to get all these, I'd like to know which ones people think are the most essential, or the best ones for a kindergoth like me!
Also if anyone loves anything that's not on my wishlist, and wants to recommend it, that'd be great too
Thank you!

Doesn't really look like you need much advice. You got the essential albums there. What you could do is if you have an mp3 sharing program (limewire, bearshare, etc) is preview some artists before going out and buying an album. As for money wise you don't have to buy all those albums all at once. Also another idea if you can't find the albums you need at say Best Buy or Circuit City you could always hit a local underground music shop.

That's mostly from reading lots of old threads here!
I'm so glad I found this message forum - almost all of the other Goth ones I've found seem to be filled with Linkin Park/Slipknot fans, for some reason!!


I don't at the moment, but hopefully I'll be on broadband soon so I'll probably look into it


Alas, I live in a small town in England, and the only place to buy music here is a section in Woolworths I'm planning on buying them from Amazon!

Seems to me like you know what you want already - I don't think you need us to tell you which ones are most essential. This thread would probably turn into another 'top essential goth albums' thread again.

Depending on your tastes, some of those albums you might not like, for example, do you know you're going to like deathrock (Christian Death) or Ethereal (Dead Can Dance)?

The Cure, Bauhaus and Nick Cave are a different genre all together, so I'd suggest listening to some samples first. There's no point spending money on albums that you think you should have because they're goth, then realising that actually you don't like them.

You could probably download the albums much cheaper than you could buying them from a shop. I agree with what Dr_Mortuus has said, you don't have to buy all of these albums all at once.

I'm not going to recommend any other albums. You seem to have got your list pretty much sorted, and I also don't know what genres you like and dislike.

Do a little more research and listen to a few songs before you go out and spend your money.



~Hell's Angel~

Point taken. It's pretty easy to get carried away when you discover something you like, but there's no point spending lots of money blindly...


Yeah, that's why I've bought some compilations I found out I really love SOM, Cocteau Twins and Joy Division, and loads of other bands sound interesting too. I've been trying to pump my boyfriend for info too, as he's 10 years older than me and loves The Cure, but when I mentioned Peter Murphy the other day he just asked "who?" so I'm not so sure about his Gothy cred now! :p

Thanks both for your input

I have a few albums from lots of different genres. If you would like me to send you a few songs, send me a PM asking for any particular bands you'd like to hear, and perhaps I could send you a few via IM. That way, you don't need to spend money, and you can decide what albums you definately want to get.


You're welcome!



~Hell's Angel~

Thanks, Hell's Angel
I'm not really sure how IMs work though, it does mean Instant Messenger, right? I've only been online for a few weeks, so it's all still a bit confusing ???
If I can get myself one, I'll definitely be in touch, thanks again!

IM = Instant Messenger. I use MSN messenger.

Glad I could help.



~Hell's Angel~

If you want to "try before you buy" the CDs, you can always check the artist's LAUNCHcast page. Usually they have a few songs from which you can hear samples. That way you can make at least a semi-educated guess about which CDs you would like over others.

You might want to consider getting used CDs from Amazon as well. I've done it a couple of times from different sellers without any problems, and some times the disks are significantly cheaper that way.

You can also try Napster ( http://www.napster.com/ ). They don't have everything, but they do have a lot of Goth music. You can get samples of all sorts of bands for a buck per song.

I'd also recommend Peter Murphy's "Deep."

You look like you're missing some Batcave and Deathrock in there. Personally I recommend checking out some Alien Sex Fiend, Specimen, Sex Gang Children, 45 Grave, Voodoo Church and Cinema Strange. I too am willing to share some of the music I have if you'd like to sample the bands.

By the way, in terms of file sharing programs, I prefer Soulseek. Pretty reliable, and you can find most of the underground music from there.

Internet radio is a decent way to try out new music without paying for it. Like regular radio, you have to put up with the DJ's taste, but it'll give you some exposure and it's something to listen to until you have the money to buy the CDs you want. I use Live365 and I like it pretty well.

I can't seem to get launchcast and live365 to work, I think maybe my connection's too slow (56k dial-up) but I'll be on broadband in a week or two so I'll try again then. Thanks for the ideas though - live365 looks like it's got some cool stations!


Yeah I was looking at those, I may give it a try as they're cheaper than Amazon's prices (and Amazon's pretty cheap anyway! )

I've downloaded napster now, took about an hour on my ancient technology! Going to have a play with it and see what I can find I'll try soulseek if I don't get on with it though, thanks Broken.
Thanks again everyone for the suggestions and recommendations!

If you're looking on Amazon for anything, sometimes they put track samples with their albums. You could always have a listen to them if there's any available with any goth bands, or anything else you're curious about.

You can also try the webcast at http://www.radiofreeabattoir.com/ . It works on dialup.