Gothic ? Introduction...

When people speak about Gothic they probably mean the Gothic Lifestyle. There are many different kind of Goth's out there, and they have almost only one thing in common. Namely, they all say they aren't Goth !

When you are new to 'the scene' you are on your own. Following article isn't meant to be a guideline for you as a newbie on subjects like 'how to act' or 'what do I wear'. But it is first of all, a personal opinion of me (AnaXaGoRaS) how I see the Gothic scene in general. And me also want to be carefully in my word choices, however, it is my idea of a Goth Life, and if there should be a lesson, screw what others think about you...

The Beginning !

When you look for the term 'Goth' or 'Gothic' on the net, you will find thousands of descriptions about the scene. But not really what it means. You will find a lot of explanations about Gothic as a music genre, starting with most likely Bauhaus, Siouxsie And The Banshees and some will speak of Joy Division as the real first Gothic Band.  There is however not really a beginning defined on whenever the term 'Goth' is used for the first time. I found an article on the net about the description of the music from 'The Doors' in the RollingStone Magazine of 1968. The reported used the term 'Gothic Rock', but this was his personal idea and not used by anyone of the band. The first band, or performer who used the term to describe the type of music was probably Ian Astbury [front man of The Cult -- first called the Southern Death Cult when formed in 1981] who described Andi Sex Gang [of Sex Gang Children] as a 'Gothic pixie.'

I want to point out that music is used to identify a group of people who had the same kind of thoughts about the society and politics. After all, the movement is born out of the Punk subculture, and which is today, very strangely, more and more again visible inside the scene as if they where looking for a new home. You see it in the play lists of parties, you see it at Gothic events like festivals. Of course, punk of the late 70ties is not the same as these day's. But you can say it of all sub genres there are within the Gothic scene.

We use the term 'Gothic' whenever we speak of the scene. We use the term 'Goth' when we speak of a person. I'm Goth, they are Goth's and  this is a Gothic Band or those people are going to a Gothic Festival...

So, the beginning can be put somewhere in the beginning of the 80ties, where some punk movements started with wearing black, and where music turned out a little bit softer with some basic analogue electro music. The basic idea behind the movement was still a little bit of protest, with fashion as a tool to track attention, to shock mainstream, to make a statement.

The 80ties !

During the early 80ties the punk culture was suffering with a kind of identity crisis. They were rebels inside the global society, they were related to Anarchy and Protest movements. As there became more bands and music available with a more soft sound, all kind of little movements were created, but with one general common unwritten rule; wear black. Some relate the colour black as it was a sad protest against the political powers and their policy in general.  It was still not called Gothic, some people spoke about wave, new wave, dark wave. But there was one new fact, you had a certain look, and the look should be a bit shocking against mainstream as a left over from the early protest movement.  During the mid 80ties you had 2 major worlds, those who went to mainstream parties, and those who went to dark, wave or punk parties...

By the end of the 80ties the people, or lets say the audience got older, they went to work instead of school, and all kind of non-dark sub genres were created, starting with New-Beat, House, Techno as a commercial spin-off. Many Dark-wave DJ's tried several things to be or stay unique in their sound. But it became all to much mainstream and many people tried to forget those days. During the 90ties you probably won't find many releases which could be catalogued within the scene, the movement was dead, or nearly dead. In the USA a new move was detected after 1995 where punk also was wondering round without a home, and influences from Europe created for the first time bands which called themselves 'Gothic', but also the the fans and audience. By the end of the 90ties several bands from the past were claimed to be 'Goth' and since people start to talk about a real Gothic movement.

It went very fast since. All kind of old school bands started again, some with bringing their plain old music, some with remixes, and some with new releases. New bands got formed, clubs rising, parties and festivals getting bigger. Those who had forgotten the past, they quickly heard somehow about the new black dressed culture and it's music. The term 'Gothic' became more and more a name for a collection of several music genres within the dark music scene. Of course the Wave variants, Gothic Rock itself, but also the more electronic music like E.B.M. and Industrial, Noise, Minimal, Electro, ... Unique is that all these different genres finded eachother. The music was not always the same, but the idea of being different, dark and looking for a kind of escape from reality, it was provided by the silence of the darkness within the scene.

The Current !

It is very hard to tell how big the scene actually is worldwide. It is a small group comparing with other mainstream genres, but larger then some other streams with more public awareness. Goth's wear in most cases black. In some cases they use bright colours to create an accent in their outfit. These bright colours are purple, blue, red, green or yellow. It is for most Goth's 'Not done' to combine these colours within one outfit, when they do you are looking to a ColorGoth or a MyLittlePonygoth. During the years there are many names given to certain kind of outfit's and way they behave.You can find a list of more then 150 different names standing for a certain outfit or attitude. Under the FAQ question: 'What kind of Goth's are out there?' you get the complete list I've heard about all these years...

But, if you're asking me, what do 'Goth's' stand for, we have a problem. All Goth's are individuals. The attitude could look like an attitude of 'leave me alone', or 'I'm better then the rest', but less is much more the truth. The first rule is that there isn't any rule. There is no dress-code, there is no rule how you should behave. But I want to risk my 'Goth-Ass' to put some statements here, what I experience about how a 'Goth' could act in life...

- There is no such thing as a Weekend Goth, many people don't understand what it means if you're speaking about Gothic, sometimes it is much easier to keep it for yourself, at work, school... So it is not wrong to only express your lifestyle in the weekends...
- A Goth always respects the opinion of someone else, even if it is not his. This doesn't mean he should keep his mouth shut, but speak or respond with respect...
- You never act as if it the last thing you could do in your life, there is plenty enough, you live your life with an attitude of 'ladies first' and if you accidental disturb or hurt someone you apologize politely !
- When you're awake and enjoying your day, you still respect those who have an off-day without trying to force your happiness into their day.
- You have respect for those who are suicidal, but you don't have to be suicidal to be a Goth. Nothing is worth dying for, a Goth does not hate life, he is only critical towards the society and the mainstream lifestyle...
- Being Goth has nothing to do with SM or other fetish sexuality. As long as you both people enjoy in what you do it is fine.
- Fashion is not the main reason for being Goth, you use fashion to express your lifestyle, not to be fancy...
- A Goth is somehow a relativist, they don't take things to seriously and they are aware that they are probably not the first in doing something weird...
- You can be religious, however the most are atheist we think
- Being Goth has also nothing to see with Satan. Satan Symbols can be used to shock, but you don't need to offer a virgin to be a Goth !
- Music is important, it is our escape from the mainstream world, but you don't need to be a fanatic fan and imitate an artist, just be yourself !
-