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This article is about the late 20th century goth subculture. For the Germanic tribes, see Goths . For other uses of Gothic, see Gothic (disambiguation).

New York City goth band The Naked and the Dead (1985).

The goth subculture is a contemporary subculture prevalent in many countries. It began in the United Kingdom during the late 1970s to early 1980s in the gothic rock scene, an offshoot of the post-punk genre. The goth subculture has survived much longer than others of the same era. Its imagery and cultural proclivities indicate influences from nineteenth century Gothic literature, mainly through horror movies.

The goth subculture has associated gothic tastes in music and fashion. Gothic music encompasses a number of different styles. Common to all is a tendency towards a “dark” sound and outlook. Styles of dress within the subculture range from death rock, punk, androgynous, some Renaissance style clothes, or combinations of the above, most often with black attire, makeup and hair.

By the late 1970s, there were a few post-punk bands in the United Kingdom labeled "gothic." However, it was not until the early 1980s that gothic rock became its own subgenre within post-punk, and that followers of these bands started to come together as a distinctly recognizable movement. The opening of the Batcave in London's Soho in July 1982 provided a prominent meeting point for the emerging scene, which had briefly been labeled positive punk by the New Musical Express.^[1] The term "Batcaver" was later used to describe old-school goths.

Independent of the British scene, the late 1970s and early 1980s saw death rock branch off from American punk.^[2] In 1980s and early 1990s, members of the emerging goth subculture in Germany were called Grufties (engl. "vault creatures" or "tomb creatures"). They generally represented a fusion of the goth subculture and the new wave movement with an influence of new romantic, and formed the early stage of the "dark culture" (formerly called "dark wave culture").

Goth after post-punk

After the demise of post-punk, gothic continued to evolve both musically and visually. This caused variations in style ("types" of goth). Local scenes also contributed to this variation. By the 1990s, Victorian fashion saw a renewed popularity in the goth scene, drawing on the mid-19th century gothic revival and the more morbid aspects of Victorian culture.

Current subcultural boundaries

By the 1990s, the term "goth" and the boundaries of the associated subculture had become more contentious. New youth subcultures emerged, or became more popular, some of them being conflated with the goth subculture by the general public and the popular media. This conflation was primarily owing to similarities of appearance, and the fashions of the subcultures, rather than the musical genres of the bands associated with them. As time went on, the term was extended further in popular usage, sometimes to define groups that had neither musical nor fashion similarities to the original gothic subculture.

This has led to the introduction of slang terms that some goths and others use to sort and label associated trends and members of loosely related subcultures. These include mallgoths or Neo-Goths in the US, Cucarachas in Spain, Dark in Latin America and Italy, gogans in Australia, and FjortisGoth in Norway, and spooky kids, moshers or mini moshers in the UK. More positive terms, such as mini-goths or baby bats, are also used by some older goths to refer to youths whom they see as exhibiting potential for growth into older goths later on.

The response of these younger groups to the older subculture varies. Some, being secure in a separate subcultural identity, express offense at being called "goths" in the first place, while others choose to join the existing subculture on its own terms. Still others have simply ignored its existence, and decided to appropriate the term "goth" themselves, and redefine the idea in their own image. Even within the original subculture, changing trends have added to the complexity of attempting to define precise boundaries.

Gothic music

Bauhaus are widely recognised as the first Goth band.

The bands that began the gothic rock and death rock scene were limited in number, and included Bauhaus, Siouxsie & the Banshees, The Cure, Southern Death Cult, Sex Gang Children, 45 Grave, UK Decay, The Virgin Prunes, Alien Sex Fiend and Christian Death. Joy Division, Dead Can Dance and Killing Joke have also been linked, but there is debate over their influence.

By the mid-eighties, the number of bands began proliferating and became increasingly popular, including The Sisters of Mercy, The Mission UK, Xmal Deutschland, The Bolshoi and Fields of the Nephilim. The nineties saw the further growth of eighties bands and emergence of many new bands. Factory Records, 4AD Records, and Beggars Banquet Records released much of this music in Europe, while Cleopatra Records amongst others released much of this music in the United States, where the subculture grew especially in New York, Los Angeles, & Orange County, California, with many nightclubs featuring "gothic/industrial" nights. The popularity of 4AD bands resulted in the creation of a similar US label called Projekt Records. This produces what is colloquially termed Ethereal Wave, a subgenre of Darkwave music.

By the mid-1990s, styles of music that were heard in venues that goths attended ranged from gothic rock, death rock, Industrial music, EBM, ambient, experimental, synthpop, shoegazing, punk rock, 1970s glam rock (not to be confused with later glam rock), indie rock, to 1980s dance music. This variety was a result of a need to maximize attendance from everyone across the alternative music scene, particularly in smaller towns, and due to the eclectic tastes of the members of the subculture; but it also signaled new shifts in attitude.

Gothic rock was originally clearly differentiated from industrial and heavy metal by older participants in the alternative scene, but newcomers and media misconceptions blurred the boundaries in the nineties as gothic rock became significantly less popular in the US and UK. Thus while Industrial metal-influenced or heavy metal bands such as Marilyn Manson, Jack Off Jill, Type O Negative, Lacuna Coil, Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth and Slipknot were often labeled as "goth" by the media, this categorization was strongly resisted by longstanding goths. Even more confusion was added with the rise of gothic metal, with such bands consciously using gothic imagery from the dark ages in their own music and appearance and started even following fashion trends indistinguishable from older goth ones. Arguments about which music is and is not goth became an ever more significant part of how the subculture tried to define itself.

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Notice the band Bauhaus is listed just like your dream; it's been announced that police did find a poster of this group in this child's room.