What makes music goth?

Zakyath · 04-19-2011, 02:15 PM

There has been similar threads. But similar is nothing more than similar.

What makes music (not an artist) goth?

I've always really, really loved Fields of the Nephilim and the Sisters. I also like many other artists associated with goth.

But on the other hand, I don't really like the rawer sound of e.g. Sex Gang Children. I don't really know what makes SGC and SoM fall under the same category.

But this isn't about me and what I like. This is about what gothic music has in common. What makes gothic music? Have we fans just gone nuts and said that everything we like is goth, and there really is nothing common anymore?

Tell me what you think. And don't be a bitch if someone disagrees. Geez.

Shikenkan · 04-19-2011, 02:24 PM

The Glove is a prime example that "some" Goth music is just what we love.
Robert Smith + that drummer from Siouxie and others doesn't quite create a Goth rock sound though it yet generates a mainly Goth fan base.

*I damn typed all that then my connection cut when I tried posting it, note to self, copy text before posting.

Sinjob · 04-27-2011, 08:58 PM

Goth really died in the late eighties/early nineties. Bands like Corpus Delicti and Nosferatu were just kidding themselves, and really nothing that hadn't bene done a million fucking times before. Nowadays it's all about the over usage of synths and programming mixed in with doom and gloom that defines the vast majority of 'goth music'.

There's no more Batcave, no Bauhaus, no Rozz, Robs a fat sellout and Siouxsies been MIA since Dreamshow-so you really can't have what was truly gothic rock anymore if you ask me. But why try and rip-off these greats when you can simply be inspired them but WITHOUT BEING A FUCKING CHEESEBALLS WHO THINK IT'S 1983.

This also includes the sad clowns trying to ressurect the deathrock scene with their uniform rendition of DiY (there are many execptions I admire but at the end of the day it's just a black jacket with some spooky shit) and don't get me wrong I love the music and I love you all...but it's been over. So why stress the question?

Grausamkeit · 05-21-2011, 06:31 PM

I believe that the 'goth' in music has moved onto genres like dark wave/dark ambient. I really haven't heard much newer stuff that I would term such. I have been enjoying Oneroid Psychosis, lately. I would consider them a 'goth' band. There are still bands that produce nice, Dark music, but they take more searching than people are willing to do.

Grausamkeit · 05-23-2011, 08:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DoubleK

Probably just music with a kind of swagger.

I always thought of Deathrock as a mix of punk with horror elements and glam influence.

Goth rock... well... kind of like Deathrock only a bit more introspective in lyric I would imagine.

But I've heard a lot of bands that are considered goth by legitimate DJs of the scene and they don't really fit that description in my book.

It's very much what I would say about the deathrock revivalists. I mean, good for them for trying to legitimize the shit, but at the end of the day, they're just being deathrock. They're not really doing anything remotely relevant artistically.

And there's the rub, eh? How do you do something relevant or new in a genre that has an established look and feel already; a formula? They could add something new and risk the 'wrath' of the purists or they could make a slightly different genre. I guess that's where all of these sub-sub-sub-genres come from.

Sinjob · 05-23-2011, 04:30 PM

..Which is all just bullshit because they equal the same thing at the end of the day. I'm really fond of Cinema Strange/Deadfly Ensemble (if those guys are still even around) and what they bring to the table but that's the closest you'll get nowadays. The rest are just cheap, generic copycats.

Llyallowyn · 05-24-2011, 06:00 PM

A lot of fans of older music tout that a genre or band has lost its edge, but the reality is that music follows the culture of whatever demographic and subculture it follows. Either a few people have suddenly decided everything that sounds synthy and dark is "goth", or that that type of music has simply drawn the majority of that crowd. One could argue they aren't purists, and one might be right, but ultimately either the voices of many have spoken louder than the few, or the voices of few are talking loud into the crowd and they are agreeing.

Hydrodyssodia · 05-24-2011, 09:50 PM

Prominent bass, athmospheric, cold guitar, tribalistic drumming, very grave or androgimous singing. That's it, any attempt to talk about some sense of darkness in the music lends to people calling Salem gothic.

Grausamkeit · 05-25-2011, 10:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sinjob

..Which is all just bullshit because they equal the same thing at the end of the day. I'm really fond of Cinema Strange/Deadfly Ensemble (if those guys are still even around) and what they bring to the table but that's the closest you'll get nowadays. The rest are just cheap, generic copycats.

I agree. I think that over-categorization is one of the things that takes enjoyment from music. As long as I like it I couldn't care less what they pigeonhole it into. Or to put it another way:

Fuck being put into a pigeonhole. I mean, I have always been a wanker. I don't need to have that affirmed. ~ Nik Fiend

Hydrodyssodia · 05-25-2011, 10:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shikenkan

The Glove is a prime example that "some" Goth music is just what we love.
Robert Smith + that drummer from Siouxie and others doesn't quite create a Goth rock sound though it yet generates a mainly Goth fan base.

*I damn typed all that then my connection cut when I tried posting it, note to self, copy text before posting.

Just noticed this, the Glove was Robert + Severin, the bass player, Budgie was off recording for the Creatures/fucking Siouxsie.