# What is Goth Music? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 14, 2006, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-goth-music/348359 "2006-03-14T20:44:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-goth-music/348359/41 "2006-03-16T16:09:55Z")
A couple weeks ago I went to the Sisters of Mercy at House of Blues at Downtown Disney. Now, considering some people complain that the Sisters are watered-down Goth, and it was on Disney property, I wore the perfect T-Shirt – Pirates of the Caribbean! ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-goth-music/348359/42 "2006-03-16T16:20:29Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > For the life of me I can’t figure out why Concrete Blonde was never identified as Goth. They certainly deal with the same issues using the same language and much of the same music. Furthermore there isn’t any _other_ genre they fit in well with. Like others have said, I bet if I went to one of their shows it would have a high Goth quotient (if a bit older than some groups.) Concrete Blonde was a rock and roll band. They did do Bloodletting which had “goth” themes, but Still in Hollywood could never be classified as goth. And I didn’t see too many goth people at the Concrete Blonde show I went to. ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-goth-music/348359/43 "2006-03-16T16:58:13Z")
> [@hazel-rah](#): > > The Damned are goth because of one album, _Phantasmagoria_. If they didn’t want to be a goth band, they shouldn’t have used that picture on the cover. by that logic, REM is a country act by virtue of Fables of the Reconstruction ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-goth-music/348359/44 "2006-03-16T18:53:13Z")
> [@mrunlucky](#): > > You do know that New Order arose from the ashes of Joy Division right? I’m sure you do. But I bet plenty of people still don’t. (I feel like I’m in high school again pointing this out.) I’m a big New Order fan, so, yeah, I know they came from Joy Division. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-goth-music/348359/45 "2006-03-16T19:03:16Z")
> [@Indygrrl](#): > > Concrete Blonde was a rock and roll band. I guess I better tell the Cure and Fields to turn in their Goth cards, since they’re quite the rock bands, too. C’mon, you should get automatic Goth points for covering Cohen 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-goth-music/348359/46 "2006-03-16T20:37:44Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > I guess I better tell the Cure and Fields to turn in their Goth cards, since they’re quite the rock bands, too. > > C’mon, you should get automatic Goth points for covering Cohen 🙂 Oh noes. You are not calling Leonard Cohen goth! Concrete Blonde is rock, The Cure is “alternative,” and Leonard Cohen, well, he’s just a classic that defies categorization. No, I’m not sensitive about my music, not at all. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-goth-music/348359/47 "2006-03-16T20:53:31Z")
> [@Indygrrl](#): > > Oh noes. You are not calling Leonard Cohen goth! > > Concrete Blonde is rock, The Cure is “alternative,” and Leonard Cohen, well, he’s just a classic that defies categorization. > > No, I’m not sensitive about my music, not at all. 😉 Never heard of anyone in that genre covering Leonard. Okay, maybe once or twice. Now, if someone named themselves after a song of his, we’d be talking… ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-goth-music/348359/48 "2006-03-16T22:33:04Z")
My local goth club gave up and just started playing 80’s music (lots of Depeche Mode and The Cure) mixed with some electroclash (Fischerspooner, Ladytron). We all thanked them for it. ---
**Author:** ![Logan\_5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/fbc32d/32.png) [@Logan\_5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Logan_5)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-goth-music/348359/49 "2006-03-16T22:53:01Z")
Let’s all please try to remember labels are just that. They don’t mean much and serve mostly as descriptions. It’s all relative. To someone who has never heard anything darker than Sheryl Crow, Depeche Mode’s “Black Celebration” probably seems goth, but to someone who’s heard Birthday Party’s “Deep In The Woods” or Bauhaus’ “Stigmata Martyr”, Depeche Mode seems pretty bubblegum pop. And now there’s all these goth-metal acts, oy. Something about Slipknot fans calling themselves goth that really bugs me. Now if we’re talkin’ NIN versus Skinny Puppy in what is industrial or not… oh no that’s a thread I dare not start. BTW, Meatloaf = Uber Goth :rolleyes: he’s so dark and mysterious ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-goth-music/348359/50 "2006-03-16T23:37:47Z")
I cannot suppress the urge to point out that nowadays The cure is about as “alternative” as white bread. (Sniffle. They were once my favorite band.) ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-goth-music/348359/51 "2006-03-17T05:01:57Z")
> [@Lissla Lissar](#): > > that silly _Priests and cannibals_ song etc.). That’d be Shriekback. I love them 🙂 The goth club that I love to go dancing at (but sadly since I moved to Atlanta and it’s in DC I rarely get to go to anymore) posts their playlist on their website every week. You can browse if you want, it’s pretty diverse: [http://dcmidnight.com/setlist.php](http://dcmidnight.com/setlist.php) I’m not techically goth, but I love the clothes, makeup, music, and the dancing. Hey, where else do you get to wear your vinyl corset these days?? Side note: I just went to see Sisters of Mercy on March 3. Not the best stage show ever but highly satisfying just for the fact that…well…_I got to see Sisters of Mercy live!_ ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-goth-music/348359/52 "2006-03-17T05:06:31Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > A couple weeks ago I went to the Sisters of Mercy at House of Blues at Downtown Disney. Now, considering some people complain that the Sisters are watered-down Goth, and it was on Disney property, I wore the perfect T-Shirt – Pirates of the Caribbean! Oh my god THAT WAS THE SHOW I WAS AT! Think they used the smoke machine enough? Heh. (We were speculating that it was so you couldn’t tell how old they’ve gotten) ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-goth-music/348359/53 "2006-03-17T05:54:52Z")
Yeah. I can never remember if it’s _Nemesis_ by _Shriekback_, or _Shriekback_ by _Nemesis_. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-goth-music/348359/54 "2006-03-17T17:01:08Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > Oh my god THAT WAS THE SHOW I WAS AT! Think they used the smoke machine enough? Heh. (We were speculating that it was so you couldn’t tell how old they’ve gotten) Wow! That’s two people I knew might be into that band but didn’t know they went to the show. The smoke machine was pretty bad where I was, (third row, center!) And I couldn’t even tell if the backing guitarists were longtime band members or just kids Andy picked off the street so you may be right. And another effect that was sort of predictable but worked to a degree was the “cobalt red” and “cobalt blue” flashing lights when he sang that line. But like you said at least it was the Sisters, even if they didn’t play Marian (or anything off of F+L+A besides the title song :mad:,) and This Corrosion (but did play Mother Russia and Lucretia (and I hate to admit it, Vision Thing.)) But the Warlocks were _freakin awesome_. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-goth-music/348359/55 "2006-03-17T20:00:22Z")
I was sad that they didn’t play “More” ☹ I didn’t get to see the Warlocks. I was arriving at the Orlando airport at 7:30 and it took a while to meet up with my boyfriend, get our luggage, meet up with our ride, and then get over to the HOB. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-goth-music/348359.md?page=2)