Deathrock/Batcave, Anyone?

Dawngreeter · 06-18-2006, 05:00 PM

I keep checking the music section of this forum and it seems that hardly any actual 'Gothic' bands are mentioned. This is not really my attempt to do the 'gother then thou' routine, partly because I don't even consider myself a Goth, but I do find it weird that Gothic crowds don't really listen to Gothic stuff anymore.

So. The olden days. Batcave music. Alien Sex Fiend, Specimen, Sex Gang Children. Virgin Prunes. Plus the Deathrock stuff, anything from Christian Death to Cinema Strange. There's got to be a bunchload of people on a forum like this who still listen to this stuff. Share your favorites! And in the name of everything spicy, share your exciting new finds!

Haunted House · 06-20-2006, 11:34 AM

HUGE fan of Deathrock. My favorites are Specimen and Alien Sex Fiend. Also a big fan of Christian Death. I've also found a band which could be considered Deathrock.

The Naked and the Dead: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...?bandID=129523

Dawngreeter · 06-20-2006, 02:07 PM

The Naked and the Dead are awesome. You gotta love a band that makes a couple of songs in the early '80s, then waits for 20 years and starts playing again

Haunted House · 06-20-2006, 04:00 PM

Haha. Yeah. I've e-mailed Greg who I think used to play in the band about info on ordering a CD of all of their '85 recordings.

Lady Victoria Pareesis · 06-20-2006, 04:56 PM

I love Cinema Strange ^^, but I can't get into Christian Death for some reason...
Actually, I have to admitt I have trouble to understand the music classmment.
Where do I put Sisters of Mercy? And Alice Cooper?
Why Goth and Batcave are not the same?
Why am I so lame that I can't understand basic music classification?

Haunted House · 06-20-2006, 05:10 PM

I understand where you're coming from. I don't tend to pidgeon-hole bands because when you really think about it, every single band can have its own genre and I bet there have been crazy people who have tried to come up with them. I usually just group all of the Batcave/Deathrock bands in with Gothic Rock.

Lady Victoria Pareesis · 06-20-2006, 05:21 PM

So, I can count Alice Cooper, the Sisters of Mercy and the Cure in?

Haunted House · 06-20-2006, 05:27 PM

I'm not so sure about Alice Cooper, but The Cure and The Sisters are in. I'm sure there is another genre that Alice Cooper's sound would hold more true to.

Lady Victoria Pareesis · 06-20-2006, 05:29 PM

Anyway, I made a discover thanks to you... I listen to batcave. Yay.
I should feel pathetic, but, I don't care ^^

Haunted House · 06-20-2006, 05:36 PM

Well, what I ment by "The Cure and The Sisters are in." is that they fall into the Gothic Rock catagory. They wouldnt be considered Batcave. Batcave/Deathrock is kind of like a sub-genre of certain Goth bands. Bands in this catagory would be Specimen, The Sex Gang Children, Christian Death, Alien Sex Fiend and similar acts.

Lady Victoria Pareesis · 06-20-2006, 05:45 PM

Against every rule of physic, my brain finally may have quite understand what you meant.
Thank you for the tips, I'll be less ignorant when I'll go to bed tonight. Yay me!

Haunted House · 06-20-2006, 05:51 PM

Not a problem, friend.

Dawngreeter · 06-20-2006, 06:54 PM

I see Haunted House already tackled the issue, but I'll chime in as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lady Victoria Pareesis

Where do I put Sisters of Mercy?

The Sisters of Mercy are what ended the first generation Gothic and started the second generation Gothic. Up until Andrew and Dr. Avalanche, Gothic was a lot punkier, happier, fun sort of music. In fact, it was first called Positive Punk, but the name didn't stick. After the Sisters everyone figured Gothic should have a drum machine and deep, melancholic lead vocals. Which, when Andrew started doing his thing, was pretty much unheard of.

So, the Sisters are Gothic Rock.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lady Victoria Pareesis

And Alice Cooper?

Early metal? Gloomy glam hard rock? Proto-eyeliner rock?

Ok, I joke. And I also have no idea how exactly Alice Cooper is classified, mostly because I have little interest in such music. But it is not Gothic nor any of the related genres. He belongs to the Black Sabbath timeline that metalheads love and base their plots to commit overture of the Gothic subculture on.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lady Victoria Pareesis

Why Goth and Batcave are not the same?

They actually are the same. I used to be vehemently opposed to using the term Batcave as if it was a genre category. It can mean pretty much anything from only the music that the Batcave club was most famous for back in the day (the spooky trinity - Alien Sex Fiend, Specimen and Sex Gang Children) or the entire first generation Gothic. Broader approach being much more common nowadays.

The reason Batcave as a genre category is starting to be used more and more is because these days Gothic doesn't really mean anything. Oontz-oontz music is called Gothic, metal is called Gothic, friggin' Placebo is called Gothic... And people who are into what Gothic originally was have no desire to associate themselves with what Gothic is assumed to represent in this day and age.

To paint my point with blatant stereotypes, it would go something like this. You say you listen to Gothic, people expect you to wear a crushed velvet dress and write crappy poetry about how much you want to die. You say you listen to Batcave, people expect you to wear a leather jacket with Alien Sex Fiend written across the back, have lots of pins and sport a mohawk.

Going off on a tangent slightly, myself and a friend of mine made a series of comics we lovably named Goth Wars in which we made a comedic overview of the history of the subculture. If you will forgive the shameless plug, you can check it out here (and the following 6 episodes after it): http://www.cheap-velvet.com/index.php?date=2006-03-31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lady Victoria Pareesis

Why am I so lame that I can't understand basic music classification?

The music industry and some of the bands do their best to confuse the people. Not your fault

Lady Victoria Pareesis · 06-20-2006, 07:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dawngreeter

Going off on a tangent slightly, myself and a friend of mine made a series of comics we lovably named Goth Wars in which we made a comedic overview of the history of the subculture. If you will forgive the shameless plug, you can check it out here (and the following 6 episodes after it): http://www.cheap-velvet.com/index.php?date=2006-03-31

Hehehe, I know this one, I'm becoming quite addictive to your comic these days.
So you are more than fully forgiven. *hall hail Cheap-Velvet Comics*
But even with your explications I felt a bit lost. I guess I don't really have a musical mind...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dawngreeter

The music industry and some of the bands do their best to confuse the people. Not your fault

I knew there was someone else I could blame! Thank you anyway for your explanation, it made things less confused actually ^^

Dawngreeter · 06-20-2006, 07:20 PM

My pleasure. I just /love/ rambling about genres

happy_dude · 06-20-2006, 11:48 PM

I'm a huge fan of Batcave, Deathrock and early Goth, it's so much 'funner' than newer Gothic Rock (With the exception of Voltaire).
New Gothic Rock gives me the gloomies, while Batcave and the early bands usually put a smile on my face.

Can you guess what song my "location" is a quote from?

Dawngreeter · 06-21-2006, 05:28 AM

Alien Sex Fiend - Here Come Germs perchance?

happy_dude · 06-21-2006, 11:27 PM

Well done.

Crimson_Terror · 06-23-2006, 03:57 AM

I'm also a fan of Deathrock/Batcave. But would Christian Death really be classified as a Deathrock band? Seeing that they only have one actual deathrock album.

cyberJade · 06-23-2006, 04:16 AM

This guy is also a big fan of Deathrock/ Batcave music! I love all the early goth bands.
Have you guys checked out www.deathrock.com ? That site has pretty good band reviews.
Yeah