[Bete Noire]

This could probably have been put in Whining, but given that I wanted to start a discussion, rather than just rant, I thought it could go here.

EBM is nothing like goth. I'm interested in how it became so big in the goth scene that EBM is played more than goth rock in goth clubs.

I don't know how it came to be associated with it. Goth is a style of music that, whilst diverse, does have boundaries. You compare Dieche with Bela Lugosi's Dead with Nine While Nine with Moonchild. Big differences, but with recurring themes. Lyrically, goth seems to be introspective, sometimes morbid, sometimes dealing with the occult etc. Also jangly guitars are common, with delay/reverb/chorus/ light overdrive used a lot. The bass tends to be fairly prominent, as does the tribal drumming. Vocal styles are usually clean (ie no distortion) with the exception of a few. The delivery is also generally unusual (Think Andi Sexgang or Carl McCoy) but often band-specific. Although there are a lot of Eldritch-clones around.


EBM has very different characteristics. The lyrics are less subtle, less creative
("It's like a maggot

Digging in a rotten brain

It's like a leech

Suck my blood

Demented serpents

Coming to infact the brain")
The beats are processed, usually a drum machine. This was unusual in goth until SOM and March Violets started. There is a great deal of synth sounds used in place of real instruments. The overall sound is much more noise-for-the-sake-noise-ish.
Also, creativity seems to be very optional. Half the bands sound identical.

To be honest, I don't know half as much about EBM as I do about goth, but I thought this could be an interesting discussion.

Also, I do listen to some EBM, I just think it's a little odd that it's so associated with goth.

It doesn't seem any more related than Manson.