The “Goth will never die” piece in the NY Times the other day, besides offering the profoundly jarring mental picture of a NY Times fashion reporter joining “I’m a Goth!” Facebook groups to conduct research/interviews, did manage to get me thinking about the two or three poor souls in the extremely blue-collar town where I went to high school who bravely chose to go the goth route, or as close could be managed/assembled from the insanely limited resources available in western New York. ( Back in my day, we didn’t have any Hot Topic to buy our band t-shirts! We had SPENCER’S GIFT SHOP, dammit, and we were grateful for it!) In a town where even long hair was an invitation to fairly relentless mockery, it remains difficult for me to fathom how boys wearing black nail polish even made it through alive. Kudos to them; I hope they all went on to start fanzines and/or Internet startups.
I, obviously, was not one of those two or three kids: then as now, my “style” skews white-dude anonymous. I did, however, dig a lot of the same music these kids were listening to, which is usually the only element of a subculture I ever “get” anyway. Spurred on by the vague memories the article/pictures momentarily stirred, I went and redownloaded this and this, both of which still prove stellar accompaniments to bouts of morose staring.
So, to make this a little more all-inclusive than just “Goth,” what do we still listen to when we feel like contemplating the overwhelming emptiness of existence? (Cheery topic, no?) What album feels most like a warm blanket when we’re down/depressed? Elliott Smith, Galaxie 500, Nico’s The Marble Index all acceptable answers.
Also, I feel it would be remiss of me at this point not to mention Paul F. Tompkins, who astutely observes on this album how difficult it is to be “in a hurry and Goth.”
*For those wondering, this quote comes verbatim from a text message I received from Alex at 1am on a Thursday.
Grave. Yard. Girl.
I’m with you on the Bauhaus, Jayson. Bauhaus is an often overlooked and underappreciated band, perhpas partially because their inclusion in the Goth category. No doubt about it, they are certainly Goth, but their musical elcecticism, creativity, and even their occasional sense of humor make for some very enduring & unique music. By the way, Jayson, welcome to emusic.
I’ve got to go with Mazzy Star on this one.
Good one, Ptole.
And thanks Todd!
Heh you had me LOL with Spencer’s as the original Hot Topic. I forgot about that place.
I did that too, porieux! Spencer’s was my favorite place in the world as a kid because my parents banned me from it because they had dirty greeting cards (which of course was the reason I’d sneak in). These are the same parents who wouldn’t let me listen to the radio until 1987 because I heard (and loved) “Uptown Girl” in my uncle’s car in 1st grade…a song that my mother claimed was “filthy and satanic.”
This Mortal Coil absolutely, but I’m surprised you didn’t mention the rather good Emusic collection of The Dead can Dance.
http://www.emusic.com/artist/Dead-Can-Dance-MP3-Download/11530670.html
Toward the within is a great live album and a great live video set if you ever got to see it. The first track Rakim is still an alltime favorite.
And, of course, you cannot get more Goth than Into the Labyrinth! Can you name a goth club where you don’t here the Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegroove?
http://www.emusic.com/album/Into-The-Labyrinth-Remastered-Into-The-Labyrinth-Remastered-MP3-Download/11191934.html
And, then of course, Lisa Gerrard solo stuffs!
http://www.emusic.com/artist/Lisa-Gerrard-MP3-Download/11563253.html
You also failed to mention the good collection of Love and Rockets.
http://www.emusic.com/artist/Love-and-Rockets-MP3-Download/11530931.html
So, yeah, I’m goth.
ptolemyclark I think I’m going to have to listen to “Uptown Girl” again there must be more to it than I realized
The Creatures – Anima Animus
http://www.emusic.com/album/Anima-Animus-Anima-Animus-MP3-Download/10813287.html
I was going to say Legendary Pink Dots as well, but I don’t know how they fit into the genre.
I always count on Joy Division to cheer me up. Or Portishead. Or Tom Waits (Bone Machine in particular–Earth Died Screaming is the feel-good song of the ’90s).
SaraDevil,
Thanks so much for those great suggestions! All super-vital albums — I didn’t make even the slightest attempt at a list, mostly because I couldn’t wait to hear what you guys were going to offer up!
Tom Waits is good — I prefer “Everything Goes to Hell” for sheer unremitting bleakness (“Why be sweet? Why be careful? Why be kind? A man has only one thing on his mind” and “I don’t believe you go to heaven when you’re good/Everything goes to hell anyway” are particularly cheery couplets.)
All these years later I still like my music on the Darker side. It’s just how I am.
Since we are mentioning I’d also toss out that Emusic has a hands down amazing collection of Delirium.
http://www.emusic.com/artist/Delerium-MP3-Download/11597045.html
And the very nice collection of Cocteau Twins…
http://www.emusic.com/artist/Cocteau-Twins-MP3-Download/11530673.html
Also, if you don’t know them, check out the small but totally worthwhile collection of the Cranes.
http://www.emusic.com/artist/Cranes-MP3-Download/11563108.html
I actually joined emusic way back when because it was the one place I could get one of my favorite Goth artists at the time.
Cintra Wilson isn’t a NY Times fashion reporter, no more than David Foster Wallace was a columnist for Gourmet Magazine. She wrote a very funny article that the NYT chose to put in its fashion section. Check out her book, “A Massive Swelling”.
Jon,
Mea culpa — I had never heard of her before, and made an incorrect assumption. I will look into the book!
OK, great! And I will try this mea culpa thing you mentioned. It sounds delicious.