@MaullySterling I have loved everything G forever—goth, grunge, glam and girl groups. Anything that combines all of the above has my heart. But in Goth I do love Siouxie and Bauhaus.
I love the Goth kids—my favorite characters from that show.
@MaullySterling Here you go:
@FunCartel TRUTH We watched a recent cure performance last night and I declared that it just isn't right that Robert Smith didn't stay beautiful, young, and androgynous forever. I had to look away 😫 He still sounds great though.
@FunCartel Have you checked out her side project, The Creatures? I sometimes watch the opening scene for The Hunger, just for Bauhaus
@biancalovecraft Before (and during) the Cure, he briefly joined Siouxsie. She was pissed when he quit a week before they were starting tour, calling him a lightweight. You can hear his influence on Hyena, which came out just as Lovecats broke, and Cure was suddenly borderline mainstream.
Don't worry about it
@MaullySterling I had no idea they ever worked together, I will definitely investigate! I think the cure is super underrated and ignored because they wore lipstick. Apparently there are a lot of goths here, were just mostly under cover.
im glad that the goth community feels so comfortable joining us here on CC! I'd totally cuddle listening to NIN hehe
Goth people don't usually refer to ourselves as "goth", as it's a counter-culture. We're just who we are.
And we're just wearing black temporarily, until they make a darker color.
As far as musical selection, there's a very broad range. I highly recommend Wolfsheim, VNV Nation, Echo and the Bunnymen and Bauhaus once you're through The Cure, Siouxie, Depeche Mode and the other low-hanging fruit.
Ooh. Hey, @Torin... have I got some good news for you.
@DarrenWalker
I have two shirts in Vantablack made by Shrine! Good stuff. Only problem is the lint really shows badly...
@Torin: Yeah, this is the price you pay for wearing pure blacks (or whites). Everything shows. Alas.
@Torin I already mentioned Bauhaus and back in the day (late 70s) I was there and at that time we did call it Goth to differentiate ourselves from punk. I know this label was rejected by many bands in the 80s but at one time it was a thing and it has stuck around. Echo and the Bunnymen, if you are talking low hanging fruit, weren’t even considered Goth at the time they were big in the 80s. The nomenclature fits them, but they were more mainstream at the time even though some of their themes were considered Goth. They were more akin in many respects to The Smiths. But really, I do not see the point in classifying bands as good or bad—gave that up years ago. If it sounds good to you then it is good. No need to bash those you disdain.
@FunCartel
Hi Fun, nothing in what I posted was meant as disparagement. I'm sorry if "low hanging fruit" as a description seemed like any sort of slight.
Most of the bands mentioned in the thread before were sort of "mainstream" goth bands, what most people listened to. So I added a few of the older (and newer) bands that a cursory review might miss, as I felt that those bands were integral to the Dark Wave movement, even after the fact.
As far as The Cure, Depeche Mode and Siouxie, I have nothing but respect for their music, and own much of their discography on vinyl. These bands (along with about five others) are probably some of the best introduction to the Gothic music scene.
I do like mentioning what I consider "level 2" dark wave, stuff you might not find in a casual google search or youtube recommendation, to be invaluable to those who seek more of the same (and might miss it because web algos really suck for many Gothic genres).
Sorry I missed your early recommendation; I wholeheartedly approve.
@Torin Fields of Nephilim are a very underrated band that rarely get mentioned as well.
@Torin , and here I never knew those groups were Goth. I just thought Echo and the Bunnymen, Souxie and the Banshees, and the others were 1980s New Wave.
As for the original question - I agree it must be regional because it doesn’t show up here but even if it did, it wouldn’t matter. That’s just who is showing up.
Fields of the Nephilim were awesome. More of a UK thing, so I generally reserve for "level 3", but still one of my favorites. Moonchild and Reanimator were great jams.
@Babichev
As far as regional, I think it generally depended. Most of those were dark wave in LA, there was a great club there named Scream. Also a vamp bar named Blood of the Lamb which was awesome for music.
Here in the east coast, it was The Castle and Barbarella. They had E&B, Siouxie and even Nick Cave on the regular Dark Wave night playlist since I've lived here in the mid-2000s.
When I was clubbing in Paris and Zurich, it was a whole different music scene, but E&B, Depeche Mode and The Cure were pretty prevalent from the late 80s well into the late 90s. Notably, those clubs never played Rammstein, which seems to be a mainstay in US clubs. You'd get laughed out for requesting them.
I really miss the heyday of goth music. Modern stuff seems lacking. Los of dubstep, which just isn't my cuppa. I just miss those haunting vocals ffrom the 90s, I guess.
I'm loving that this thread has basically turned into a goth party
I identify as a tame Viking.
@BuggleBear We do our dark bidding on the internet. Like say for a table.
super random - but if anyone is down to go to goth night in LA let me know haha
@Torin I know that Cruxshadows is still out there doing their thing, or rather would be if it weren't for the virus. I did recently mention to Rogue (online, of course) that when it's safe I hoped they'd through Texas, and he responded that he'd love to come to Texas. So hopefully when we are on the other side of all of this, they will be touring again. And if you know anything about how they would tour, then you know it's an intense tour schedule. I've been fortunate enough to see them a few times now.
@roomonfire I would be down if I were out in LA right now but I won’t be out there until July. Plus I don’t know if you want some first gen old goth guy attending with you. I no longer do the whole get up—I just enjoy the show these days.
@BrianL what about a couch? A red one?
Well..... It's red now
Have you seen the TV series too?
@BuggleBear I don't really have access to TV anymore, but I did watch some of the series, it was good from what I saw.
Just here for the wonderful comments from @BuggleBear @DarrenWalker @MaullySterling and @FunCartel lol 😂🤗
@Torin As @FunCartel said, yes, we did (and still do) call ourselves Goth.
Siouxsie and the Banshees was NOT mainstream in any sense. Many other alternative and goth bands at the time, were getting more traction, more attention. It just seems like they were mainstream, because they came out of the Bromley contingent, were there for the punk scene, were post punk warriors, and were part of the foundation of goth. Then, in the early 90s, with a very poppy song, on the soundtrack of one of the biggest grossing movies of the year, they finally got recognition beyond longevity and survival, when almost all the others had fallen. So, not low hanging fruit at all, but more the roots.
Depeche was not considered goth in the 80s. They were what was playing in every dance club. They were pop with a melancholy soul, (also a BDSM boudoir), and embraced by both audiences, selling out mid and larger venues in my city, when they came.
Fields of the Nephilim were NOT just a UK thing, and there was an audible gasp from the audience when movie goers saw Carl McCoy cross the screen for a cameo in Hardware. Ppl just there for the movie, recognized him. On the same level with Iggy Pop and Lemmy, when they were on screen, during that same showing. Here in Canada.
There are no "gothic genres". If you're talking about anything affiliated with the subculture, like the music, it's Goth (as an adjective). Gothic refers to the aesthetic in general, or to a specific style of literature or architecture. And no, I'm not gatekeeping a baby bat, by saying so.
@MaullySterling I love your core insights into all this.
Having been in charge of music policy at an underground college radio station, I learned that amongst such stations on the national scene there's a general rule of thumb regarding mainstream music. Any band that has ever hit Billboards Top 100 Singles chart is considered mainstream. Siouxsie and the Banshees hit the Top 40 in the U.S. However, in most instances, if someone were to play one of SatB's lesser-known tracks, I think most U.S. underground stations would have looked the other way back then, and most certainly they would now with the passing of time. So they were/are considered grey area for most underground stations which means you are partly right. (In the U.K. they had 18 Top 40 hits which in the U.S. does not count. I'm willing to bet they never charted in Canada where you are, but I could not confirm that).