[Ophelia's Snorkel]

Lots of good points in there, especially about how labels are invented and parameters for those labels are set. You're right that most musicians aren't consulted about it and many can't be blamed for the general population's perception of them (and god, yes, they are a misinformed bunch - which is a tanget for some other post). However, in my nauseating masochism, I've watched some of MM's videos and interviews; I wanted to be informed before I formed an opinion. As an example, the Tainted Love video is especially cringe-worthy, even if it was meant (giving all the benefit of the doubt I can muster) as parody or camp. A hearse with "goth thug" on the license plate? Fuck whoever's idea that was, and damn him for going along with it. The thing goes downhill from there, and it's only one instance. His work's misogynistic strain is another.

But, my real problem with him as an artist is that he had opportunities to link himself to stage traditions like the kind of shock rock Alice Cooper excelled at, which would have been more accurate and might have led to a bigger following for him, and instead he rode along on the misapplied "goth" label and that's been no end of frustration for actual fans of goth rock.

Your post is so reasonable and I do wish I could share your equanimous attitude. I tend to get a bit over-protective of the subculture, and MM is one of those things that sets me off. I'm not exactly sure why some things get under my skin more than others, or why he should be one of them.