"What is Goth?"

  








Jillian Venters, (a.k.a. The Lady of The Manners), the author of Gothic Charm School and site author of the website gothic-charm-school.com ( <3 ) has said that there is no real definitive answer, and that it's difficult to describe what goth is exactly.  While I adore The Lady of the Manners and love everything she has to say, I'd have to disagree.  Goth has a definitive answer, it's a long answer, but it's an answer.

   In the first post I gave a brief description of what goth is, a subculture that formed from the music, and I named some bands that were classified as goth rock (Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division, The Cure, etc...).  Let's break it down even further. 
        Goth rock is in off-shoot of punk rock/post-punk that began in the late 1970's and early 1980's.

• (Punk rock:  The Sex Pistols, The Ramones, The Clash, etc...)
• (Post-Punk: many goth rock bands are also classified as post-punk). 

So, it began with music in England.  Most goth rock bands you encounter will be from England.  At this time in the 1980's, goth was at it's peak.  There were many goth clubs, such as the very famous Batcave in London (founded by two members of the band Specimen - very influential).  The Batcave featured many bands from Alien Sex Fiend to Siouxsie and the Banshees.

A Tangent:  Why do we mention this Batcave?  It's very important, often described as the birthplace of goth.  Old-school goths have sometimes been called Batcavers. Not to be confused with the term ElderGoth to describe old goths.

    SO...as goth rock began to separate itself from post-punk, the followers of the bands began to become recognizable.  And there you go, goth was born.  In the same style as the somber music, so the goths styled themselves.  In black clothes, in black make-up.  It was more than just a musical movement, it was a lifestyle.
    The goth style began to branch out, it didn't change, it was just borrowing pieces from history.  There are Victorian goths, Gypsy goths (like me ;D ), Flapper goths, and on and on.  There are still more styles that aren't historical, such as the Fetish goths, who incorporate BDSM into their wardrobes.
  Now here's what's important:  There are no sub-sub-cultures in the goth subculture.  There is no specific Victorian Goth subculture.  There are only goths who dress differently...yet still gothy, amirite? 
   What's sad is that as time went on goth began to become a term that was loosely thrown around to describe anyone who looked sad/wore black.  And then moreover, anyone that was violent to themselves or others and wore black.  So that now, goth is thought to be no more than a teenage phase, something that is temporary and has no meaning behind it, no history.  Dare I say that goth is not a superficial subculture!  While it is about dressing up and looking pretty, the goths tend to have a certain mindset that is unafraid to delve into the dark secrets and is fascinated by the ethereal and spooky - acknowleding the darker aspects of life, not wallowing in our err..."pain".
   Even if goth is just a teenage phase, for god's sakes, why does it matter if they're actual goths?  Honest-to-goth Bauhaus fans?  It shouldn't matter.  But since goth has gotten such a bad reputation over the years and so few people have even the slightest idea what goth really is, it's difficult to accept young goths.  The term "babybat" has been used to describe any goth that either: a) doesn't know what goth is and uses it as a way to shock their parents/friends/teachers or b) is simply a younger goth.  The term can be quite degrading when used on a young goth that actually knows what they're talking about.
   Now, I'm not very involved in the local goth scene, I'm a babybat!  So I don't know what's it's like here, but I side with Jillian Venters on this one; goth is going to have it's day again.  The style is too involved in the mainstream - even with all the misconceptions.  It's always going to be around, we'll just hope that when it does get bigger it's for the 30-year history as a musical movement that doesn't involved popular metal bands.


THE ESSENTIALS:

So what have we learned...

Goth is a musical movement that began in the 80's that gave rise to the goth subculture.  Goths aren't interested in harming themselves or others and they aren't depressed.  They also wear black.

That's the very-VERY-short version.  See everything I told you up there, too?  Yea, that's the short version. :)

So now some misconceptions that I didn't mention.


Misconceptions:

1. Goth is a cult - goth is not a cult.
2. You have to be a certain religion to be a goth - no way.
3. Goth is a religion - nope.
4. Goths self-harm - lies.
5. Goths are depressed - still a lie.
6. Goths want to hurt other people - not at all.
7. Goth is only a phase - heck. no.  It would never have survived this long.
8. Goths listen to metal - no, we listen to goth rock, often synonymous with post-punk
9. Goths are looking for attention - no, actually we don't need people staring at us all the time, if anything it's actually a bit disconcerting
10. Goths are whores - NO.  Maybe this idea comes from the slutty gothy halloween costumes?  But no, no, no Goths are not whores.

There are probably even more that I missed, but I tried to put everything under a umbrella that would pretty much get all the tiny details that were easily classifiable.

Make sense?

 -- G. Andromeda

P.S.  If you want to know more, you can always visit gothic-charm-school.com which features lessons on being a friendly goth, there are TONS of other internet resources as well, for god's sake you can wikipedia it. :D