Goth Inside
Taking just a short break from the depressing insanity that is passing for 2016…
Goth’s not dead (heh). As this WaPo article points out, the music-based Goth subculture continues to endure decades after its appearance in the early 1980s and heyday in the mid-90’s. “Goth seems to stay in people’s souls, even when they grow up and get jobs and have kids and stop dressing quite as outrageously as they once did. It is an outlook, a refuge, a dark corner made friendly by the presence of others.”
Music is a very personal thing. The song that moves you to tears is unlikely to have the same effect on others, and for those who missed the subculture in their youth it’s hard to understand how this song pretty much stops Time for any goth regardless of their age. For many, especially those of us on this side of the Atlantic, it was our first exposure to true Goth, and we were bitten.
Siouxie Sioux, the queen of goth, had a voice that could freeze the blood in your veins and then seconds later melt your gothic heart. Rest assured that when I visit Pompeii soon it will be difficult for me to keep her song “Cities in Dust” out of my mind.
Unless you’ve been exposed to the Cure it’s difficult to understand their enduring popularity. The Cure is touring this summer and continues selling out venues, pulling in young and old alike. Well, if the Mick Jagger can do it at 72, why can’t Robert Smith at 57?
As a goth I grew up with Top 40, album rock, and funk and while I still enjoy the occasional Rush song (or two), and can even appreciate early Michael Jackson and the groundbreaking Grandmaster Flash, the music that flickered like a candle in my darkest moments in my teens and twenties remains my go-to music decades later, when the world is darkest and everything seems pointless. After all Andrew Eldritch, Sisters of Mercy lead singer, understands.
Music captures a moment in a way photographs cannot. A photo may capture a scene, the light on a loved one’s face or a smile in her eyes, but music? Music can capture an entire 3 dimensional world complete with emotions, smells and tastes. To you the following is just some nice ambient sounds, to me it is the sunrise breaking through the fog in the mountains of Northern California after an overnight trip with my new love asleep in the seat beside me as we drive, the woman who walks beside me 25 years later.
The hair is gone, and if you met me in a local Tractor Supply you would think I was just another redneck buying chicken feed. But the music that comes out of my truck with NRA and Hillary For Prison stickers as I leave is more likely to be this than Kenny Chesney:
Yes, everyday is Halloween for some of us and even though we don’t look goth, rest assured that in our young hearts our jackets are black leather, our boots are Doc Martens, our hair is long, black and smells of clove cigarettes, and our faces are just a shade too pale.
Jim O'Neil:
Your Siouxsie; “...a voice that could freeze the blood in your veins and then seconds later melt your gothic heart….” I wasn’t really aware of her and the Banshees (Shucky darn, there’s a lot I wasn’t aware of in the eighties.) did bring back great memories of the Airplane’s Grace Slick. Thanks!
I did just check Israel Live and a few more over at youtube & see what you mean.
& here’s what I mean about Slick: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WANNqr-vcx0
17 July 2016, 12:08 pmScott Kirwin:
Grace Slick is an apt comparison. But hey Jim, it’s never too late. Peruse her back catalog and don’t be disappointed if you don’t like every song. Her albums were spotty with some filler. But then there comes a track that simply knocks your socks off.
17 July 2016, 2:19 pmWatcher’s Council Nominations for 07-20-16 | Stately McDaniel Manor:
[…] The Razor – Goth Inside […]
20 July 2016, 3:17 amWatchers Council Nominations – If You're Left:
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20 July 2016, 5:04 pmThe Watcher’s Council Results for 07-22-16 | Stately McDaniel Manor:
[…] Fifth place with 2/3 vote –The Razor – Goth Inside […]
22 July 2016, 7:33 pmThe Watcher’s Council Results for 07-22-16 – If You're Left:
[…] Fifth place with 2/3 vote –The Razor – Goth Inside […]
22 July 2016, 9:09 pmWatcher’s Council winners for July 22, 2016:
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28 July 2016, 6:55 pmThe Razor » Blog Archive » Council Submissions: July 19, 2016:
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11 August 2016, 11:50 amThe Razor » Blog Archive » The Council Has Spoken: July 22, 2016:
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