The Goth subculture is
a subculture found in many
countries. It began
in England during the early
1980s in the gothic rock scene,
an offshoot of the postpunk genre. The Goth
subculture has survived much
longer than others of the same
era, and has continued to
diversify. Its imagery and
cultural proclivities indicate
influences from the 19th
century Gothic literature along
with horror films.
The name of Goths and gothic music genre appeared in 1980s. The author of it
is unknown.
The first group called as ‘Gothic’ was Joy Division. According to another
version, their name came from Andy MacCaliot, who was a vocalist of
gothic-rock group Sex Gang Children and he got a nickname «Graf
Visigoth» from Ian Astbury from Southern Death Cult, and his fans were
called ‘Goths’. In October 1983 Tom Vague referred to ‘Hordes of Goths’ in
‘Zig Zag’ magazine and when, their name and subculture surely stayed in
our history. That time this epithet meant barbarian, not gothic, but soon
this meanings became similar.
Joy Division
Sex Gang Children
The Goth subculture has
associated tastes in music,
aesthetics, and fashion. The
music of the Goth
subculture encompasses a
number of different styles
including Gothic
rock, Deathrock, post-punk,
darkwave, Ethereal,
and Neoclassical. Styles of
dress within the subculture
range from death
rock, punk and Victorian st
yle attire, or combinations
of the above, most often
with dark
attire, makeup and hair.
Gothic fashion is a clothing style worn by members of
the Goth subculture; a dark, sometimes morbid,
eroticized fashion and style of dress. Typical Gothic
fashion includes dyed black hair, black lips and black
clothes. Both male and female Goths wear
dark eyeliner and dark fingernails. Styles are often
borrowed from the Punks, Victorians and Elizabethans.
Goths subculture was
forming above the genre of
gothic rock, which was
one of the new wave
branches. The main groups
of this genre had emerged
in the late 70s and early
80s. After that, the
influence of gothic rock
spread to other genres.
Now, different kinds of
music , deemed as gothic
by critics, are popular in
Goths subculture. But the
arguments about the music
which can be named
gothic and which can not
are still continue.
Groups of the
first wave
of gothic
rock: Sisters
of
Mercy, Bauha
us, Siouxsie &
the
Banshees, The
Cure, Joy
Division were
closely
connected
with punkrock, except
that they had
the slow
rhyme and
minor
melody.
The Cure are an
English rock band formed
in Crawley, West Sussex in
1976. The band has
experienced several line-up
changes, with front man,
vocalist, guitarist and
principal songwriter Robert
Smith being the only
constant member. The Cure
first began releasing music
in the late 1970s with its
debut album Three
Imaginary Boys (1979); this,
along with several early
singles, placed the band as
part of the postpunk and New
Wave movements that had
sprung up in the wake of
the punk rock revolution in
the United Kingdom. During
the early 1980s, the band's
increasingly dark and
tormented music helped form
the gothic rock genre.
Sex Gang Children are a postpunk or positive punk (the
precursory term for gothic
rock) group that formed in
the early 1980s in England.
Although the original group
only released one official
studio album, their singles
and various other tracks
have been packaged into
numerous collections, and
they remain one of the more
well-known bands of the
early Batcave scene and
have reformed for new
albums and touring at
various times since the early
1990s.
(born Brian Hugh
Warner; January 5, 1969) is an
American musician, artist and
former music journalist known for his
controversial stage persona and image
as the lead singer of
the eponymous band Marilyn Manson.
Marilyn Manson is of Polish-German
origin. His stage name was formed
from juxtaposing the names of two
1960s American cultural icons,
namely actress Marilyn Monroe and
convicted multiple
murder convict Charles Manson as a
critical and, simultaneously,
laudatory appraisal of America and
its peculiar culture. The seemingly
outrageous styles for which he models
and the controversy surrounding his
lyrics have led to his public appeal.
In conclusion, we can say that the Goths do
not have their own outlook. Everything
that forms this subculture is just parties,
music and clothing. Actually, some British
scientists say that belonging to Goths has
good influence to young people. In their
opinion, unlike other subcultures, gothic
subculture encourages intellectual selfdevelopment and would like Goths to
receive classic education. Very often Goths
become wed-master, programmers and
journalists.