Gothtober -The Importance of Gatekeeping Goth

 The first posting I kick off Gothtober with addresses what "goth" is. In this, we discuss how it is not fashion, but what you are celebrating as fashion is a reflection of the music. Most genres of music have subcultures that reflect this metal, punk, and Hip-hop being two of the most notable,  though the modern EDM scene took rave culture and made it more Tiktok. Social media plays a huge influence in how we express ourselves, creating the illusion you can be whatever you want to be and just try on other cultures like cosplay outfits, why be bound to definitions? 

I am a huge proponent of not being boxed in, as growing up I was too goth for the metal kids and too metal for the goth kids, but I sold drugs so found a place to have a foot in both worlds, as they were expressions of who I was as a person, and aside from being more dedicated to fitness, and not dealing drugs, not much has changed in my embrace of darkness which takes on a natural outward expression and is reflected in what I listen to which has also not changed much since I was 13 as my favorite artist be they goth metal or falling somewhere in between create music with a dark minor key frequency that is the vibration I resonate with. Regular readers could name off bands like the Cure, Type 0 Negative, David Bowie, King Diamond, Ozzy, Watain,. Christian Death, Swans, Kate Bush, Chelsea Wolfe, Converge...al different genres or subgenres that touch on similar themes. 

This is why what "goth' is remains relevant as it is something that can be defined by measurable data, musical keys, chord progression, and sonic signatures., the artists have plenty of wiggle room, the Cure, Bauhaus, Cocteau Twins, Nine Inch Nails, Death In June, Zola Jesus, the Damned, and Nick Cave, all explore various sounds and emotions, not just depression, or a sense romanticized loss, and are all very different from each other but can be categorized by things like elegance, atmosphere, longing, otherworldly, eerie, surreal, tense, to the outright adoration of the macabre and creepy,  but even those things can be captured in different manners  for example let us use film, since it has inspired goth culture

Tim Butron and David Lynch are two directors who create art that resonates with a similar shadow that goth music casts over its dark heart., they do not make horror movies, which I would once we get into the 70s would be more due to the violence of them, but they do capture creepy. In different ways. "Lost Highway' does it in a different manner than "Ed Wood" but at the same party just wearing a different costume. What they are not is twerking while doing shots of Ciroc to Cardi B, that is a different club altogether and you can't get into it with the same wristband band you have to get back to the line and pay that club its own cover. Music has roots and traditions, Americans like to take the looks they can but online to feel cool without having any of the soul to it. 

It also bears saying just because it is from the 80s does not mean it's "goth". I am not saying things have to be only "old guard" and if it is not Siouxsie or Sisters of Mercy it's not goth, I think there needs to be new music from younger artists, and I embrace it,  I will be posting a top 10 Goth Albums of 2024 soon, which has maybe half or more new acts on it. But clube culture diluted the goth scene as the same crowd who went to "goth nite' went to the 80s dance party because they might get to hear 5 songs from goth artists for the night who had hits in the 80s, I am looking at your direction Siouxsie, Peter Murphy, and Mr. Gahan. But Cyndi Lauper does not belong at "Goth Nite" however Oingo Boingo does, even with their almost ska-like sound at times, as Elfman had Halloween running through his veins when he wrote the lyrics. 

 Of course, there are going to be those who want to argue this point to feel relevant in the eyes of younger people and to feel they are keeping up with the narratives of the day.  Few are stupid enough to ask what I know about goth, but some might say something like "Why does your opinion matter" to which I will refer them to you, as you are one of the 1,060,978 readers of this blog not to mention the those who have thought my opinion on the subject mattered to read my work on it n Cvlt Nation,  Treblezine, No Clean Singing or Ghost Cult Magazine, then there is the other outlets I have appeared in like ReGen, Gothic and Amazing, NPR, and more. It's at least paying to keep the lights on and me well supplied in Diet Coke. This is more than anyone can say of these idiots who want to call music whatever they feel at the moment as they have no idea about the bounds of culture and even less how music theory defines them. As Rozz Williams used to say goth is punk for kids who like Halloween, No Halloween, No Punk, No Goth, think we are in agreement then. It's all about the music keep it spooky, thanks for reading, I love you guys \

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The Top 40 Female Artists of All Time : 10 to 1

It's 2020 we are making a bigger deal out of how wet the nether regions are rather than the quaity of music being made. Granted the people doing this must have never heard of Lil Kim. This also gives me the chance to take  break from the lists of androgynous guys and  makes this one.The top 40 hottest female artists, might come one day  I am bored at some point but right now we are just focusing on the music. After all if you are writing good songs that stick in my head I do not care what you look like. You are not going to see artists here that I feel are covered by those who do what they do better or are such originators in their genre why listen to imitators. Not only does this list give commonly under rated artists their proper place, but I dig into as expected from me both harder and darker artists not mentioned in the same breath as pop artists. Speaking of that is covered by a handful of ladies as more would be redundant. There is one big one here in particular that takes care of everything . Only one rapper, and they are unique , and this is about their impact on music as a whole so iconoclasts not strippers with prodiucers or entertainers alone. Since this the Abysmal Hymns list there will of course be a darker slant and singer's with any gospel leanings that are blasphemous are obviously disqualified. So here we go...







10-Bjork

We have already cover a vast array of artists she has influenced going back to her days in the sugar cubes . One of the most unique creative forces making music.


 




9-Tori Amos

While sh takes a great deal of influence from the artists in our number one spot , so much that when I played the number one artist for my ex wife she could never listen to Tori again. Despite that she is an incredible musician and song writers

 




8-Tracy Chapman


She is more than a fast car. She has incredible depth to her song writing a roch voice. She not only deserves this place on the list , but eliminates the need for many other artists who try to do similar.


 





7-Madonna


If We are going to have any pop singer on this list it has to be here. She has done more than this from her campy performance on the Dick Tracy soundtrack to Evita. At her peak she had a great voice as well




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6-Sade


The smoothest voice in jazz, she add so many level of other styles to it while being true to what she does. Live it is obvious she hold back in the studio



 




5-Joni Mitchell

I can't have Tracy Chapman or any female singer even influenced by folk with her on this list. Her phrashing is fucking unreal. She weaves her melodies like a jazz player.

 


4-Siouxsie

I would say she is the best goth singer of all time, but the next two artists on this list have been embraced by that community, she is however the best of the more punk influenced artists and almost any female fronted goth band these days tries to replicate what she does.


 





3- Lisa Gerrard Dead Can Dance

The most powerful voice I have ever heard live, she would very well be number , but the two top spots edged her out more for their song wirting ability.


 




2-Cocteau Twins


Um she has her own language and just uses her voice as an instrument...this is how a fairy would if fused with the vocal chords of an angel.


 


1-Kate Bush


 I am not sure what is in question here ? SHe came out in 1978 and the world never had a chance to catch up. She is untouchable.


 

Goth 101 ( in 666 words)

Listen to them — children of the night. What music they make

 Dracula might have been referring to the howl of wolves, but those words also describe goth. Nocturnal music for nocturnal people. In the Metal 101 article, I explained how metal needs to be dark and evil. Goth fits the darkness side of that equation and the other half is elegance. This can come in many flavors. The music was named after 12th century European architecture which has a dark elegance to it. There is a often a morose longing but most importantly it is the music of the night. The Velvet Underground and the Doors both touched on elements that would influence goth, but the one artist all musicians who have been labeled as goth will agree as being a mutual influence is David Bowie. This makes sense because goth is a black umbrella which covers many different kinds of music, making the darker ethereal qualities of the music the common thread. Over the span of his career Bowie touches on all of these. Always ahead of his time, the darkness to Bowie’s music is an undercurrent reflecting his struggles with drug abuse. His 1977 album “Low” offered a stark look at his cocaine fueled nights in Berlin. The perfect stage for goth.

 

 What we think of as goth today came from the British Punk scene of the mid-seventies. Out of West Sussex came the Cure. The band’s first single “Killing an Arab” was based on absurdist philosopher Albert Camus’ book “the Stranger”, which was deeper abstraction than other punk bands at the time. Robert Smith’s vocals and reverb heavy guitar conveyed more melancholy. By 1982 the band was fully immersed in darkness with their album “Pornography” making Smith the poster child for goth.

 

 From South London came the Cure’s kindred cousins Siouxsie and the Banshees. Lead by front woman Siouxsie Sioux, they came from a similar punk upbringing as the Cure. Siouxsie has a more ethereal quirk to her voice. Her presence alone gave their music a more sensual undercurrent that the tension found in the Cure or Joy Division. Sometimes playful as a kitten and sometimes more brooding Siouxsie and her Banshees were emotive and wistful in the midnight hour.

 

 Taking a note of the vampiric sneer Bauhaus brought the darker wave of English punk, Los Angeles band Christian Death dragged goth through the gutter and shot it up with heroin. There 1982 album “Only Theatre of Pain” is a sleazy Daliesque soundtrack to a neon Sodom and Gomorrah that wavering plea of singer Rozz Williams offered as an ode to Lucifer. These guys started the sub-genre death rock giving goth an edgy offspring and the rare chance for evil to enter the room. While Marilyn Manson might have added more of an Alice Cooper like sense of theatrics, Christian Death possessed a real sense of danger that did not need the smoke and mirrors.

 

 Neoclassical folksters Dead Can Dance came from Melbourne. The duo of Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard carried complementary ends of the musical spectrum. With Perry’s rustic baritone crooning out Irish murder ballads, to Gerrard's more middle eastern wail. There music carries an exotic ritualistic sense of timelessness. They whisked you up in a cloud of opium to far away lands never dreamed of by the more punk driven goth.

 

 The roots of industrial might go back to Killing Joke who got their start as a punk band, though it’s New York's Swans, who were darker and louder than Killing Joke. They flirted with noise and through feedback created sonic waves that were crushing. Frontman Michael Gira chose the name of the band because swans are beautiful and elegant creatures with nasty temperaments serving as a perfect metaphor for their sound. Bands like Ministry would attempt to replicate the heaviness Gira and friends create with more metallic results but never as heavy. Gira never embraced vampiric pagentry, proving that goth can be many things both sacred and profane.


 

Gothtober -the Top 10 Goth Albums... of All Time

With 10 days til Halloween, it's as good of a time as any for this one. What made me rank the albums you ask? How did I determine this ? Well the first thing was to say darkness is a quality they must possess and often weighed in here eliminating certain albums and certain artists, who might be beautifully sublime and have a goth fan base, but not dark...sorry Cocteau Twins. Solid song for the duration of the album is also a must, so no random bursts of just shrieking...sorry Diamanda Galas.I have also limited to just one album by each artist. So here our my top 10 goth albums of all time.

 10-Chelsea Wolfe-"Pain is Beauty"

 She has released heavier albums since this one , but not darker. This one finds her at the deepest depths and is filled with chilling atmosphere.

 

 9-My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult - "I See Good Spirits and I See Bad Spirits"

 This band's darkest album still might be one of the most upbeat on this list. It has still stood the test of time and finds me returning to it after all these years

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 8-Siouxsie & the Banshees -"Tinderbox"

 Before you say "What about Switchblade Symphony" or "what about...insert name of any female fronted goth band" the question that needs to be poised is why do we need them if we have Siouxsie? Sure she has more popular albums, but this finds her ins a darker place and "Cities in Dust" seals the deal. End of Story.
 

 7- Type O Negative-" October Rust"

 Here is where it almost immediately came down to tough choices as this could have been in the top ten , as I probably have listened to it more than a couple of albums ranked higher, but the fact that this album was influenced by those albums puts it here.

 

6-Fields of the Nephilim -"Elizium"

This one is pretty much a no brainer. These guys can get so heavy they are almost metal. This album has a very tribal and ritualistic feel to it.I think this is what gives it an edge over "Dawnrazor".



5-Christian Death- "Only Theater of Pain" 

 This album defined death rock, end of story.


 

 4-Bauhaus- "In the Flat Field"

 This was hard. This album has more punk energy to it. Though It lacks a song like "Shes in Parties" or "Silent Hedges" , I think overall this one is more focused as a whole.


 

 3-Dead Can Dance- "the Serpent's Egg"

 Another difficult choice, I feel like one is more passionate in what it is than "Into the Labyrinth" .


 

2-Swans -"White Light From the Mouth of Infinity"

 First I eliminated the proto-industrial albums and then their more jam band newer material before asking the question which album is the darkest. They have some really dismal moments on other albums , but I think this is the overall darkest where the focus is on the songs and not noise or abrasion...sorry "Filth".

 

 1- the Cure- "Pornography"

 Of course it came down in the end to this album slugging it out with "Disintegration" and it came down to this album without question being darker where "Disintegration" was beginning to develop pop aspirations.

 

This Was 2016 ....My Year In Music

2016 was a hard year, it came to a crushing conclusion that is opening a frightening new chapter, and I have hinted and mentioned certain events in various posts and social media, those closest to me in real life know the details, others might just have clues, I have shared my life in writing and pictures with you on this blog so here is my 2016 month by month paired up with the most fitting song. Some of these fit more neatly than others. In OCD like fashion I debated with the committee of one in my head how to do this. At first this was going to be all songs from 2016, and while there are some I think the songs gathered here provide the most fitting soundtrack to describe what the past year of my life has been like. There are multiple layers and emotions connected to various events in certain places in time, so I am trying to depict the shifting perspective of the years events in a manner than not as cryptic as it could have been. I'll let the music do the talking from here.

January -the Talking Heads - " This Must Be the Place"


February- The Decemberists - "Of Angels and Angles"


March- The National - " I Should Live In Salt"




April- Black Foxxes - "Slow Jams Forever"



May - Peter Murphy "Keep Me From Harm"



June- Cold War Kids- " All of This Could be Yours"


July- Siouxsie and the Banshees - "Happy Home"


August - The Weeknd - "Attention"


September- Pallbearer- "the Sound and the Fury"


October - Sia- " Elastic Heart"


November Planes Mistaken For Stars - "Clean Up Mean"


December Taylor Swift-"Back To December"