wearing black
Posted in goth study with tags black clothes, goth, haute goth on September 21, 2008 by brutalberryyet again…..as per wikipedia
Gothic fashion is a clothing style worn by members of the Goth subculture. It is stereotyped as a dark, sometimes morbid, eroticized fashion and style of dress. Typical Gothic fashion includes black dyed hair and black clothes. Both male and female goths wear dark eyeliner and dark fingernails. Styles are often borrowed from the Elizabethans andVictorians. The extent to which goths hold to this stereotype varies, though virtually all goths wear some of these elements.
Goth fashion is often confused with heavy metal fashion, and uninformed outsiders often mistake heavy metal fans or musicians for goth,[1] particularly those who wear black trenchcoats or “corpse paint” (a term associated with the black metal music scene).
Cintra Wilson declares that “The origins of contemporary goth style are found in the Victorian cult of mourning.”[2]
Goth style’s rejection of mainstream values, emphasis on freedom of expression, and challenging taboos makes it difficult to define its aesthetic principles. Goth fashion emphasizes transformation of the body, elements of beauty, order, conscious eroticism and ‘otherness’ that flouts conventions.
Many goths are drawn to the fashion due to a sense of alienation, which may explain the style’s fascination with morbidity or vampire style. Wearing black eyeshadow and shroud-like clothing that refers to the dead may express grief, despair, or mourning. Some goth experience fashion as a transformation from alienation through self-expression and a sense of belonging to a community that shares the same sense of alienation.[2] Alternately, the fashion may reflect an attraction to the darker side of sexuality.[3]
gothic look.
Like the urban primitive movement, the goth subculture rejects mainstream conventions and encourages reinventing oneself by transformation or physical modification.[citation needed]Goth fashion is an “unnatural” response to the unattainable “natural” Barbie (or Ken) image.
Goth fashion can be recognized by its stark black clothing (or hair or makeup), often contrasted with boldly colored clothing, hair and makeup in shades of deep reds, purples, blues or emerald green. Fabrics and styles that evoke romantic eras as well as morbidity, and usually combine style elements that flow and drape, or restict and emphasize a body part (i.e. corsetry or tight sleeves or trousers). Goth fashion further emphasizes the personal power of an individual, as the juxtapositions of elements of rugged accessories (metal and leather), to that of the vulnerable and sensual restriction of body parts (i.e. lace, silks, and high heels for either gender).
One famous female role model is Theda Bara, the 1910s femme fatale known for her dark eyeshadow, curves and smoldering on-screen presence.[citation needed] Musidora, Bettie Page, Morticia Addams, Robert Smith, Nico, and Siouxsie Sioux are also style icons.
Goth fashion has a reciprocal relationship with the fashion world. In the late 2000s, designers such as “Alexander McQueen, Rick Owens, Gareth Pugh and the spidery crochet webs of Rodarte (not to mention various darkly inclined Belgian designers)”, as well as John Galliano, brought elements of goth to runways.[2] This was described as “Haute Goth” by Cintra Wilson in the New York Times.[2]
The aesthetics of the goth subculture find their roots in Gothic Fiction and the Romanticist interpretation of the Gothic Art movement of the 11th to 14th century. Gothic aesthetics are difficult for many to appreciate due to their complexity, depth, and extensiveness and the fact that gothic aesthetics involve the conjunction of several factors which function concurrently.
These aesthetics are ubiquititous in goth music, gothic fashion and many aspects of the goth subculture.[1]
Nancy Kilpatrick’s book “The Goth Bible” states that “Romance is at the heart of what it means to be goth”.
my invitation to rimfrost magazine
Posted in goth study with tags email, goth on September 21, 2008 by brutalberrydear madam/sir
im running a blog on an international site. it is mainly ‘dark’ themed but i have lately investigated the goth scene which has boosted my following. in the last few days i have noticed an increase of 50 hits per day. small im sure in ur eyes but reassuring to me that im not alone in my quest. WHAT IS GOTH? and WHERE DO I FIT IN?
herewith then an invitation……
……please picture me grovelling at ur feet when i ask kindly and barely audible……….
….if it is at all possible, would u like to write a piece i can post on my blog?
im currently exploring the goth scene in norway and ur magazine seems to pop up everywhere.
this would be an opportunity to advertise urself to another goth community free of charge, but i would like to have an over view of the norwegian goth scene through ur eyes. what do goths do in norway? what seems to be popular trends in there? where does ur magazine fit in?
if u were to accept my invitation, u may feel free to add any information u like. snippets from previous articles u ran, pictures, etc.
u may also denounce any collaboration with me and a denial of association with my blog site.
im more interested with the information u have to offer us.
if u were to accept, pls reply to this email address with ur article and i will post it without any tampering to my blog.
here follows the address if u wish to check it our first.
http://brutalberry.wordpress.com/category/goth-study/
kind regards
brutalberry
fingers crossed everyone……
the norwegian goth scene
Posted in goth study with tags goth, norway on September 21, 2008 by brutalberry“…ARE YOU ALL SATANISTS, THEN..?”
digigoth tries to explain..
 |
What is goth?
For some it has become a lifestyle, for others it’s just wearing certain clothes,and listening to certain music. Many people get into it because of the clothes and the music, and then they find the clubs and the people, and get into it more and more. After a while, for some, it becomes a whole lifestyle. It’s black clothes, black eyeliner, pale faces, fishnet, velvet , lace and PVC, piercings and androgynity. It’s a darker kind of music, it’s vampire and fantasy, medieval architecture and history.. A more dramatic expression.. |
Originally a subculture going back to the 80’s and what happened after glam and punk, what music is concerned.* There are a lot of different kinds of goths though. Some listen to goth rock, industrial and metal, others to dark and atmospheric melancholic music, whilst other prefer more electronic futuristic synthpop/ techno and EBM.
Goths usually have a huge interest in music, film and also literature. Vampirefilms, Sci-Fi, Horror, Fantasy, Anime etc. As with all other scenes you find many different kinds of people in the goth scene, but these are some of the things they might have an interest in. Many are creative, play in bands, write, design, draw or similar. Goths are generally interested in the aesthetic and darker sides of life. Apart from the odd elements of red and purple, and sometimes white, black clothes and hair is usually preferred. Silver jewellery of all kinds, (often with occult symbols, ankhs, pentagrams etc.) piercings are also something you often see on goths.
But when this is said, I believe that it is not about rules, and what you’re supposed to do, rather the opposite – the freedom to be able to choose for yourself. Although people in the scene want to be individualists, you see the same kind of clothes, boots, make up, jewellery etc. on people, which on the other hand makes people feel comfortable being together with people similar to themselves; the feeling of belonging to a community. It’s important to be with people who have the same interests as yourself and not always having to explain why you dress the way you do and like the things that you do.
There is no A-Z of Goth, no rules that tell you what to wear, what music to listen to, and what to think and mean. Goths are usually openminded, and have a deeper respect for people who are different. They also seem to share a dark an ironic sense of humour, and the common denominator is usually the fact that they pursue the dark and aestethic sides of life, dark andbeautiful, -not as many unfortunately choose to believe, dark and evil ones.
* The whole goth scene started in the late 70’s /early 80’s with bands like Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees and The Cult (Southern Death Cult back then) Sex Gang Children, The Cure and The Sisters of Mercy.
For more in debth information about the history of goth, and what Goth is all about , see links on the right, which I have kindly borrowed because they explain it very well, and more detailed.
FUN STUFF:
Top 10 ways of spotting a goth:
10. They wear bright clothes and plastic dayglo sunglasses.
9. They have deep tans and can often be found catching a few rays on the
beach.
8. They are great sport stars, often excelling at golf.
7. They keep up with the current trends in music and are always ready to
embrace new bands and stand by them once they have achieved mass
popularity and day-time airplay and never say accuse them of ’selling
out’ or any such.
6. They have no sense of humour and would like to commit suicide, but
instead they sit around and talk about it alot – usually while listening
to The Smiths or other such dirges.
5. They are short and fat and have blonde hair.
4. They are teetotal.
3. They are keen folk dancers, often specialising in obscure and complex
dance steps with brightly coloured costumes with bells on.
2. Many of them grow root vegetables for a living and collect Elvis
memorabilia.
1. The pope used to be a goth
Taken from Sexbat’s “Take a bite“
Parents are justly concerned that their children are being led into danger by the GOTH subculture. How can you tell if your child is a GOTH? Look for these warning signs.
and as per goth.no
For anyone who considers the Sisters of Mercy, Fields of the Nephilim and the Mission to be the archetypal goth bands, the early scene is a rather strange place. The early goth bands were, for the most part, much punkier and livelier, and at one stage were referred to as “Positive Punk“. A brief discussion on goth’s relation to punk can be found on thepunk page. In the early years the dominant goth bands were not the Sisters, but UK Decay, the Banshees and Bauhaus, and a discussion on their relative importance in the early scene can be found on the bands page.
Another common misconception about the early goth scene is that it was closely tied to New Romantic. Whilst it had very loose ties with the (nebulous) Futurist scene, the early goth scene had very little to do with New Romantic.
The wonderful UK magazine Devolution, reviewed Rimfrost Magazine in their latest issue. And here is what they had to say:
RIMFROST MAGAZINE, ISSUE 11
Ok, so let’s start with the obvious here – this is a beautiful Norwegian magazine written in erm.. Norwegian. But despite the fact that we have no idea what half the interview or CD reviews say in here that doesn’t take away the fact that this is still one of the most professional magazines that are in circulation on the maga(zine) scene. Editor Therese does a grand job in giving her readers a varied and wide range of bands to read about and have plenty of interviews some of the big guns too. In here you will find My Dying Bride, Mortiis, Combichrist, Dope Stars Inc. (who seem to be everywhere right now!) and a feature on one of the darkest most talented film directors ever – Mr. Tim Burton. Therese has also added a zine reviews section which is a fab way of exposing us in another country; the reviews are all for UK zines, and it’s a proud display of zine covers if I do say so. I’ve said it before and will again – this has a huge hint of Meltdown within it but in no way is that a bad thing! Go get a copy if you can read it!
————————————————
Thanks SO much to Nickie and the rest of Devolution Magazine! 
You’re a huge inspiration!
The wonderful UK magazine Devolution, reviewed Rimfrost Magazine in their latest issue. And here is what they had to say:
RIMFROST MAGAZINE, ISSUE 11
Ok, so let’s start with the obvious here – this is a beautiful Norwegian magazine written in erm.. Norwegian. But despite the fact that we have no idea what half the interview or CD reviews say in here that doesn’t take away the fact that this is still one of the most professional magazines that are in circulation on the maga(zine) scene. Editor Therese does a grand job in giving her readers a varied and wide range of bands to read about and have plenty of interviews some of the big guns too. In here you will find My Dying Bride, Mortiis, Combichrist, Dope Stars Inc. (who seem to be everywhere right now!) and a feature on one of the darkest most talented film directors ever – Mr. Tim Burton. Therese has also added a zine reviews section which is a fab way of exposing us in another country; the reviews are all for UK zines, and it’s a proud display of zine covers if I do say so. I’ve said it before and will again – this has a huge hint of Meltdown within it but in no way is that a bad thing! Go get a copy if you can read it!
————————————————
Thanks SO much to Nickie and the rest of Devolution Magazine!
You’re a huge inspiration!
the toronto goth scene
Posted in goth study with tags goth, massacre, toronto on September 21, 2008 by brutalberryas per wikipedia
The Toronto goth scene, the cultural locus of the goth subculture in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and the associated music and fashion scene, has distinct origins from goth scenes of other goth subcultural centres, such as the UK or Germany. Originally known as the “freaks”, the term “goth” appeared only after 1988, when it was applied to the pre-existent subculture. Distinctive features included internationally recognized gothic and vampiric fashion store ‘Siren’[1], a goth-industrial bar named ‘Sanctuary: The Vampire Sex Bar’[2], and Forever Knight, a television series about an 800 year old vampire living in Toronto. In Toronto, the goths did not seek to reject mainstream status, and achieved partial acceptance throughout the mid to late 90’s, and in 1998 Toronto was reported to have a higher concentration of goths than any other city in the world.[3] The goth subculture faced public suspicion and the local goth scene declined[4] after allegedly goth-related acts of violence, the Columbine High School massacre[5] in particular.
The Columbine High School massacre occurred on Tuesday, April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine in unincorporated Jefferson County, Colorado, near Denver and Littleton. Two students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, embarked on a massacre, killing 12 students and a teacher, as well as wounding 23 others, before committing suicide. It is the fourth-deadliest school shooting in United States history, after the 1927 Bath School disaster, 2007 Virginia Tech massacre and the 1966 University of Texas massacre, the deadliest for a high school.
The massacre provoked debate regarding gun control laws, the availability of firearms in the United States, and gun violence involving youths. Much discussion also centered on the nature of high school cliques, subcultures and bullying, as well as the role of violent movies and video games in American society. The shooting also resulted in an increased emphasis on school security, and a moral panic aimed at goth culture, social pariahs, the gun culture, the use of pharmaceutical anti-depressants by teenagers, violent films and music, teenage internet use,[1] and violent video games.[2][3]
The Columbine High School massacre occurred on Tuesday, April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine in unincorporated Jefferson County, Colorado, near Denver and Littleton. Two students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, embarked on a massacre, killing 12 students and a teacher, as well as wounding 23 others, before committing suicide. It is the fourth-deadliest school shooting in United States history, after the 1927 Bath School disaster, 2007 Virginia Tech massacre and the 1966 University of Texas massacre, the deadliest for a high school.
The massacre provoked debate regarding gun control laws, the availability of firearms in the United States, and gun violence involving youths. Much discussion also centered on the nature of high school cliques, subcultures and bullying, as well as the role of violent movies and video games in American society. The shooting also resulted in an increased emphasis on school security, and a moral panic aimed at goth culture, social pariahs, the gun culture, the use of pharmaceutical anti-depressants by teenagers, violent films and music, teenage internet use,[1] and violent video games.[2][3]
The Columbine High School massacre occurred on Tuesday, April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine in unincorporated Jefferson County, Colorado, near Denver and Littleton. Two students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, embarked on a massacre, killing 12 students and a teacher, as well as wounding 23 others, before committing suicide. It is the fourth-deadliest school shooting in United States history, after the 1927 Bath School disaster, 2007 Virginia Tech massacre and the 1966 University of Texas massacre, the deadliest for a high school.
The massacre provoked debate regarding gun control laws, the availability of firearms in the United States, and gun violence involving youths. Much discussion also centered on the nature of high school cliques, subcultures and bullying, as well as the role of violent movies and video games in American society. The shooting also resulted in an increased emphasis on school security, and a moral panic aimed at goth culture, social pariahs, the gun culture, the use of pharmaceutical anti-depressants by teenagers, violent films and music, teenage internet use,[1] and violent video games.[2][3]
Frequently Asked Questions list for alt.gothic newsgroup
Posted in goth study with tags alt.gothic, faq, goth on September 16, 2008 by brutalberryArchive-name: gothic-faq
Last modified: 4 March 1995
Version: 2.1
Frequently Asked Questions list for alt.gothic newsgroup
This FAQ was created by Peter Wake (peterw@cs.man.ac.uk), and is currently maintained by Ryan Watkins (vamp@vamp.org). Please direct corrections and additions to vamp@vamp.org.
This list is posted on a monthly basis to the alt.gothic news group, and is also available via anonymous FTP at ftp.maths.tcd.ie:/pub/music/gothic/gothic-faq (mirrored at goth-ftp.acc.brad.ac.uk:/ftp.maths.tcd.ie/gothic/gothic-faq) and in HTML format at http://www.vamp.org/Gothic/Text/gothic-faq.html.
Special thanx to the following for information provided within :
Peter Wake (peterw@cs.man.ac.uk) John Mc Donagh (mcdonghj@unix2.tcd.ie) Digitar (digitar@io.org) Ian Grimstead (I.J.Grimstead@cm.cf.ac.uk) Jeff Harmon (harmon@elia.epfl.ch) The Great Grendel-Khan (argent@iastate.edu) Sexbat (sexbat@batt.demon.co.uk) Ace of Hearts (uaceohrt@mcl.mcl.ucsb.edu) Petro (petro@mcs.com) Austen Jackson (Ozric@tentacle.demon.co.uk) LadyRenee (michelle@dagda.ili.net)
and others to numerous to mention….
Contents
Section: 1 Basics
Subject: 1.1 What is a Goth?
Subject: 1.2 What the history of the goth movement?
Subject: 1.3 Is goth about religion?
Subject: 1.4 What does gothic music sound like?
Subject: 1.5 So what does the word ‘goth’ mean.
Section: 2 Resources
Subject: 2.1 What Gothic music lists exist?
Subject: 2.2 Where are the gothic FTP sites?
Subject: 2.3 Where can I find lyrics, pictures, etc for a goth band?
Subject: 2.4 What are some various Vampire related net resources?
Subject: 2.5 Where can I find this “Goth Test”?
Subject: 2.6 What are the mail addresses of some goth bands?
Subject: 2.7 What comics are Goth?
Subject: 2.8 Are there any good goth clubs in <fill in city?>
Section: 3 Various Trivia
Subject: 3.1 Is the Nefilim a spelling mistake?
Subject: 3.2 Where does the phrase Sisters of Mercy arise from?
Subject: 3.3 Are the Sisterhood the same as the Sisters of Mercy?
Subject: 3.4 What is the best black dye?
Subject: 3.5 What should I use to paint my jacket?
Subject: 3.6 How do I identify a net goth?
Subject: 3.7 What has Anne Rice written?
Subject: 3.8 Who is Storm Constantine?
Subject: 3.9 Any other interesting goth authors?
Subject: 3.10 Any interesting goth movies?
Subject: 3.11 Who is Andrew Eldritch, Carl McCoy, Wayne Hussey, …?
Subject: 3.12 What do Pre-Raphaelites have to do with goth?
Subject: 3.13 What is ‘Snakebite’?
Subject: 3.14 Whats the best way to dye my hair?
Section: 1 Basics
The term ‘Goth’ was used by Ian Astbury who described Andi Sex Gang as a ‘gothic pixie’ and popularised by the UK music magazines New Musical Express and Sounds (NME) and was used to describe a class of music. For some people that music became the basis for a ‘way of life’. They brought their own backgrounds and interests along and a sub-culture was formed and it took for itself the name Gothic.
NME and Sounds reputedly took the term Gothic from Siouxsie Sioux (of the Banshees) who used it to describe the new direction for her band. However the earliest significant usage of the term (as applied to music) was by Anthony H. Wilson who was overcome by a rare moment of lucidity on a 1978 BBC TV program when he described Joy Division as Gothic compared with the pop mainstream. Perhaps Joy Division (who he was managing) are not what we now think of as Goth but it is possible that they are at the source of the term. Bauhaus were labelled as Gothic as early as 1979 when they released Bela Lugosi’s Dead.
The pop journalists were quick to latch onto the term and they applied it in a nasty sort of pigeonholing way to a number of bands that were around in the early 80s – most of which did not sound much like the Banshees (or anyone else for that matter), the journalists were more concerned with looks. The (Southern Death) Cult was foremost amongst these bands, like the Banshees they wore lots of black and silver and had extreme black hair. The Sisters of Mercy were also so labelled and when they split and Wayne Hussey founded the Mission they carried their label with them, despite being different musically. Finally The Fields of the Nephilim appeared and they (perhaps) consciously and deliberately got themselves labelled as Gothic despite looking and sounding quite different to what had previously been labelled Goth.
The fans of bands like the Sisters, Bauhaus and Siouxsie liked to dress up in lots of black. The music they liked was something of a backlash against the colourful disco music of the seventies. The Banshees were a punk band before they mellowed and punk was brathing its last as Gothdom gathered speed, and the so one could claim Gothdom grew out of punk. The music of Joy Division, the Sisters and Bauhaus was angst ridden but all the hatred was turned inwards and the music was typified by introspective lyrics. Many of the new Goth followers were introspective too. Some were a bit confused by the label and started to think that the label Goth was in some way connected with the Victorian Gothic revival and Gothic horror and because enough of them thought that eventually it became true.
NME and Sounds were not oblivious to this and produced many hilarious articles poking fun at the Goths amongst their readers. They said that being Goth was about sitting around in circles on the floor of pubs (bars) smoking a lot and talking about being a bat. Some readers of this list get angry at this. Luckily most Goths have a good enough sense of humour to laugh at themselves once in a while. The first generation Goths complain that second and third generation Goths often seem to think that Gothdom is about wearing the blackest black, with a lot of silver jewellery and looking as thin and pale as possible. In common with their older bretheren they avoid the crass comercialism of mainstream rock and gather together to share their woes They read Bram Stoker and Anne Rice and talk about being vampires. They read H.P. Lovecraft and talk about the end of the world.
The sounds that were described as Gothic were appearing in other countries besides the UK in the late seventies, but I have yet to see any evidence that they were using the word. (If you have any…) Currently Germany is the bastion of Goth, where they are called Grufties. If German people are doing a write up on the Goth scene there, please send me a copy. So that’s how we got where we are today. Today Goth is about music, literature, art and about clothes.
Gothdom embraces all religions, all denominations and all races. Many Goths are atheists and a sizable minority are new age spiritualists, Wiccans and members of other alternative religious groups. There are Christian Goths. Basically Goth is not about religion, but with the imagery of religion. May goths wear crosses or ankhs, and there are many religious references in goth songs, but it is not a religious movement.
Goth uses religous imagery in some songs. Christian Death are big on this. Bauhaus did a couple of tracks with religious imagery. The Sisters have a quasi-religious name but this is ironic, their music shows that religion is not Andrew Eldritch’s main concern – he prefers politics. The Mission (UK) were fairly ‘new age’. Carl McCoy favoured shamanistic traditions and gnostic revelation. Religious jewellery is often worn, particularly crucifixes and ankhs. These are strong symbols with powerful subconscious effects. Sometimes they are worn as an satirical statement, sometimes not. For some it is just fashion.
Thanks to John Mc Donagh aka Nascent Virion for a list of what bands he though typified the Gothic sound. Some may disagree, but this is a rather decent representaion of GENERAL catagories.
Original Goth:
- Bauhaus
- Christian Death
- Southern Death Cult*
- Joy Division (Sometimes had a Goth sound, didn’t look very Goth)
- Sisters of Mercy
- Siouxsie and the Banshees
Miscellaneous Goth:
- The Fields of The Nephilim**(Too new to be original, too old to be new)
- The Mission (UK) (Early stuff was considered Goth by the music press)
- Sex Gang Children
Mellow Goth:
- Dead Can Dance
- Xmal Deutschland
- Danielle Dax (more poppy)
Metal/Industrial Goth:
- Creaming Jesus (Metalish)
- James Rays Gangwar (Goth w/samples)
(A lot of Goths listen to Ministry but they aren’t really Goth)
Experimental/Folky/Occult Goth:
- Current 93
- Death In June
- Sol Invictus
New Goth:
- Nosferatu, Rosetta Stone (Sisters/Mission sounding bands)
- Shadow Project (Off shoot of Christian Death)
- Clan of Xymox (Synth, almost dancey)
* Southern Death Cult (SDC) later split in all directions. Only SDC are condsidered properly Gothic. However many of Southern Death Cult’s Goth followers remained true even when they entered their ‘The Cult’ glam metal phase.** Fields of the Nephilim were so unlike previous Goth it is amazing that they were ever considered Goth at all. Nonetheless they are one of the definitive Goth bands and most Goths took to them instantly because of their originality and talent.
See “The Gothlist” by Corey for a much more complete list of goth bands. See ‘Subject: 2.2 Where are the gothic FTP sites?‘ for more detail on how to get a copy.
The word ‘Goth’ does indeed refer to a tribe of the indo-european kind. The Goths slowly integrated into the melting pot of Europe and basically disappeared.
The word ‘gothic’ is first found in common usage in 1611, referring mainly to an ‘uncivilized lack of taste or education’. The people who built in the ‘gothic’ style would have never used this term. These people were monks or artisans who worked for the church to build a land of Cathedrals from the 11th century on. They also built castles and other edifices. The 16th century saw a large amount of turmoil with the reform and all. This opened up the architecture field quite a bit. This new wave of artists looked back on what they saw as a bland repetitive style of architecture as ‘gothic’. Unfortunatly, because of the shallowness of the learned men at that time, it stuck. It was also referred to as Ogive – or the characteristic arch of this style – this word is usually used by most politically correct historians.
The fact is: Ogive architecture today is extremely inspiring and beautiful. The nameless men who designed and built these works of grandor were very talented and inspired. One merely has to look at the Cathedral of Chartres, Paris, Amiens, Canterbury or any of the other edifices of this age to realize irony of using ‘gothic’. In fact, to augment the irony, the popular opinion today is that much of the baroque architecture of the 17th and 18th centuries is gaudy and flamboyant.
Section: 2 Internet Resources
The Sisters of Mercy Electronic mailing list run by Pete French (-bat). Send mail to dominion-request@ohm.york.ac.uk to ask to be added to the list. Send postings to dominion@ohm.york.ac.uk.
There is also a Fields of the Nephilim Electronic mailing list. Mail to neph-request@wave.cerf.net to ask be added to the mailing list. The address to post to the list is neph@wave.cerf.net
ftp.maths.tcd.ie:/pub/music/gothic. This site is maintained by Nascent Virion <mcdonghj@unix2.tcd.ie>, who will be graduating and leaving the net in June. A mirror site at goth-ftp.acc.brad.ac.uk (143.53.1.4) has been set up to contain all the info at ftp.maths.tcd.ie:/pub/music, as well as a number of other goth resources, including various gothic lyrics, discographies, faqs, images, and Corey’s Goth List, etc can be found. Get the README and INDEX files from the pub/music directory for the full contents of the music area, which included guitar tabs, and other music resources. When you FTP use ‘anonymous’ as the username and your email address as the password. If you don’t have FTP access mail to ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com.
There is also another gothic archive site in the United States by Peter Stone (bat@cyberden.com) at cyberden.com. It contains much of the original gothic archive site as of 12/93, as well as other new material.
There is a huge music archive available via anonymous FTP at ftp.uwp.edu:/pub/music. If a band isnt at the goth archive, it might very well be at the main music archive.
There are also a number of goth World Wide Web servers out there, and the following should get you started, and most have links to other sites.
- The Dark Side by VampLestat (vamp@vamp.org) is at
- http://www.vamp.org/Gothic/
- Rob’s Gothic Section is at
- http://web.cs.nott.ac.uk/~rji/index.html
Go ask in alt.vampyres and check out the alt.vampyres FAQ file posted there.
Its available via anonymous FTP at ftp.maths.tcd.ie in /pub/music/gothic/ as ‘the_goth_test’. It can also be found in Take a Bite 1.0 – jokingly subtitled ‘the net.goth handbook’, which is also available at the same site.
Sisters of Mercy Information Service:
The Reptile House Ltd.
PO Box HP29
Leeds LS6 1LS
West Yourshire
England
The Nefilim Information Service:
The WatchmanP.O. Box 17
Stevenage
Herts
SG2 0QX
England
Rosetta Stone Information Service:
Rosetta Stone31 Ivanhoe Road
Aigburth
Liverpool
L17 8FX
England
Phone: +44 051 728 8998
Sandman – written by Neil Gaiman and published by Vertigo. Also various offshoot projects: Books of magic, High Cost of Living (about his sister, Death) etc.
The Crow:
- 4 issue mini series published in 1989 by Caliber
- 3 issue mini series published in 1992 by Tundra
- The Crow TPB (Trade Paperback) reprints ALL Crow stories/art published in 1993 by Kitchen Sink Press ($15.95 US coverprice)
Love and Rockets – (sort of punk/goth) by Los Bros Hernandez, published by Fantagraphics. This is where the band name came from by the way.
The Vampire Chronicles – Three different series – one for each of the first three Anne Rice vampire books, adapted by hacks, published by Innovation. OK only if you’ve already read the books. Anne Rice doesn’t like them at all.
Stray Toasters – four issue mini series by Bill Sienkiewicz (pronounced as Sin-KEV-itch) published by Epic. Inspiration for a Creaming Jesus song.
Grendel – by Matt Wagner, published by Dark Horse (was published by Comico). Some stories are fairly Gothic others are not.
Sandman Mystery Theatre – by Matt Wagner, published by Vertigo. An old golden age DC character revived. Full of atmosphere.
Cerebus – by Dave Sim and Gerhard. Not strictly Gothic, but black and white. Flight and Women have a great Sandman satire.
There is a full list of internation clubs maintained by digitar (digitar@io.org). Email him for a copy, or FTP ‘GothClubs’ from the goth archive at ftp.maths.tcd.ie:/pub/music/gothic. There is also a hypertext version at http://www.vamp.org/Gothic/clublist.html. Please email in any additions you might have to digitar’s list.
Section: 3 Various Trivia
This is the name for Carl McCoy’s new (yet to appear) band. The rest of the original Fields are now called Rubicon and have a new singer. They are no longer considered Goth.
Andrew Eldritch chose the phrase as the name of this band from a Leonard Cohen song of that name. The song may be referring to prostitutes as ‘Sisters of Mercy’. There is also a religious order who are sometimes known by that name.
The Sisterhood was a one shot band created by Andrew Eldritch to stop Wayne Hussey using the name when Hussey left the Sisters of Mercy. By the way, 25000 pounds was not granted in a court case – it is merely the advance budget that the Mission didn’t get.
Synthetic dyes are best. The ‘Ritt’ dye rarely works well and tends to be coloured, though it isnt available in the UK. There is a japanese semi-natural dye (Ginsa?) which is not bad if you can get it. As for tips on how to actually dye clothes with this:
Don’t use a Washing machine. Get a big pot (no, not that one, I said a BIG POT. Put the object in that you wish to die, and fill it with enough water to cover the object and then some. Remove the object. This is done to make sure that when you put the article of clothing back in, you don’t die the stove.
Put the pot on the stove and boil the water. The hotter the better. Unfortunately it is difficult to get the water much above 212f (100c). Add the Dye. Approxametly twice what the package says and stir (no, not with your arm, and don’t use the spoon that you stir spaghetti with either) add the garment. Boil for a while, turn off the heat and let cool. When the BIG POT is cool enough, put in a corner overnight. The next day rinse the garment out with cold water as well as the pot. put the garment back in the pot and fill with vinegar. Let set a day or two, and wash in cold water with about half the amount of laundry soap you normally use.
Acrylics are best. Clean the jacket with warm soapy water. Use a ‘flexible medium’ if possible. If using Liquitex brand you may get away without. You can varnish with with clear acryclic coating to protect further.
T-Shirts can be done above but the flexible medium is essential. This way is better than buying fabric paints.
The words net.goth in lower case should be written on them somewhere. The jacket arm just below the shoulder is recommended by Sexbat (but he may be teasing you – be warned
For the best answer, you should read the newsgroup alt.books.anne-rice. Anne Rice is alive and well and writes supernatural romance. Interview With a Vampire is her mort artistic work but other books are all good readable stuff with strong themes.
- The Vampire Chronicles:
- Interview With a Vampire
- The Vampire Lestat
- Queen of the Damned
- The Tale of the Body Thief
- She has also written:
- The Mummy or Rameses the Damned
- The Witching Hour
As well as a trilogy of bondage stories under the name of A.N. Roquelaire – which are not gothic. Two ‘romance’ novels as Anne Rampling, called Exit to Eden and Belinda, as well as a short story: Master of Rampling Gate.
Anne Rice’s Vampire LeStat Fan Club
Vampire LeStat
P.O. Box 58277
New Orleans, Lousiana 70158-8277
Another Gothic author. Storm is more Gothic and less mainstream than Anne Rice. She has a series of books which have a lot in common with Anne Rice’s vampire chronicles. She is interested in the occult and in very ancient mythology, biblical connections et cetera. Some of her ideas are very controversial, often in total contradiction with most well known academic research. She is published by Headline in the UK.
Inception: Storm Constantine Information Service
c/o Vikki Lee France & Steve Jeffery
44 White Way
Kidlington, Oxon OX5 2XA
England
There are plenty, including Bram Stoker and H.P. Lovecraft. Bram Stoker wrote Dracula and Lair of the White Worm amongst others. He died of syphilis and was quite mad at the end. H.P. Lovecraft wrote many short stories, most of which involved the Cthulhu mythos which he invented. He died after a tragically short career. He had a phobia of cold and was quite reclusive. He wrote a classic paper on Gothic Horror which is a must read.
The German Expressionists are quite Gothic and the film Nosferatu (the B&W version) is considered very Gothic. The remake: Nosferatu the Vampyre is also Gothic despite being in colour. The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari is probably the most Gothic film of all.
And of course there are the common ones, “Dracula” (in its many remakes) and The Hunger staring David Bowie, and “Interview with a Vampire”
Andrew Eldritch and Carl McCoy are the singers from The Sisters of Mercy and The Fields of the Nephilim respectively. They are pillars of the Goth community. Wayne Hussey was guitarist in the Sisters but he left in a bad mood. He then failed to get a slice of record company money allocated to the Sisters despite a court battle. He and Eldritch are now reconciled personally if not musically.
The Pre-Raphaelites were an artistic movement in Victorian England. They were part of the revival of Gothic architecture. Their art is stunning – try and see the originals if you can.
Half a lager and half a cider. Lager is what americans would call “beer” and cider is the same sort of thing made from apples basically. The combination is somewhat lethal. A lot of pubs will refuse to serve it. Variations: “snakebite black” – the same drink with a splash of blackcurrant in it, also known as a “purple nasty” up north and is the cliche goth drink (also can be prepared as snakebite and black with a pernod and a vodka in it). “red witch” – a snakebite with pernod and black in – not to be taken lightly under any circumstances. “Anaconda” – made with half a pint of Theakstons Old Peculiar (or another real ale) and a bottle of Diamond White or 1080 (or other strong dry cider), a dash of black and two straws. It can also be *real beer* and cider (i.e. ale) e.g. Theakston’s Old Peculier (~5.5%) + Scrumpy Jack (erm, ~5%ish), a rather entertaining mix
Note: all of the products below should and will need to be purchased at a beauty supply place, substitute equivalents as needed
Start with healthy hair. In order to do this I recommend using good products. ie Nexxuss etc. Seeing we cant all afford that kind of stuff, the generics usually work well.
If you are dying your hair just like a standard color try Wella – blue black, Black Cherry, Loreal- Aurelle Cherry Plum, Clairol- 70R Plum brown. TRY AND AVOID TORRIDS. It is death to your hair. They look cool but you pay a price in the end. Put a high intensity conditioner right in the mixture of dye. Use 20 volume developer but not any higher.
“But I want to manic panic my hair! and its already black.. or another color!” First, bleach your hair. This is a must unless you are a blond. Products that work include Effasol by loreal (use developer not water), Torrids Platinum Lightening (its death but it works. its a high power tint), SpeedLighT by Wella.
This can take several tries. It took Lady Renee 8 bleaches over 6 weeks to get my pretty purple hair, often bleaching her hair 3 times in day for several hours. Leave it in for up to an hour a process and when the bleach dries it quits working so mist it lightly with warm water. (It reactivates it) Condition between each process! Or watch your hair fall out.
For the actual Manic Panic, (you can also use Punky Colors or Krazy Colors):
- Apply, Wear gloves, it stains.
- For even application use a bottle not plop it on and when you think your are done. Slick it back and use a toothbrush to do your roots.
- Leave it in as long as possible and apply heat if you can.
andrew eldritch’s reply to being called the “godfather of goth”
Posted in goth study with tags andrew eldritch, goth, GOTHIC, the sisters of mercy on September 16, 2008 by brutalberryas per wikipedia
Though Andrew Eldritch is often called the “Godfather of Goth” [5], The Sisters of Mercy (the main artistic vehicle of Andrew Eldritch), despite being formed in 1980, were originally not very popular in the post punk sub-genre that the British press, in the early 1980s, had labelled, both the artists and their audience, Goth. The Sisters of Mercy were, however, accused by the press of plagiarizing Joy Division, who were marketed by their management as “gothic” in the late ’70s. [6]
The Sisters of Mercy would have a big impact on the second wave of Goth that came in the late 1980s and early 1990s: the use of drum machines and the atonal, deep vocal style used by many second generation Goth bands were inspired by the Sisters of Mercy and were not that common among the first generation.
Since the early ’90s, Eldritch has publicly rejected associations with the Goth subculture. He describes The Sisters of Mercy as humanist, modernist, and implies he wants nothing to do with Goth, stating “it’s disappointing that so many people have in all seriousness adopted just one of our many one-week-of-stupid-clothes benders”. He also notes that, “I’m constantly confronted by representatives of popular culture who are far more goth than we, yet I have only to wear black socks to be stigmatised as the demon overlord.”
pictures from the ukraine goth scene
Posted in goth study with tags goth, ukraine on September 15, 2008 by brutalberryfor those interested, here is the website of the ukrainean goth website. the following pictures r posted on this site. there r much more but i selected a few that would give the general feel of the gallery.
http://www.gothic.com.ua/english/about/gothic.html
goths – style, phylosophy and history
Posted in goth study with tags goth, GOTHIC, HISTORY on September 15, 2008 by brutalberry
(I GOT THIS ARTICLE FROM A GOTH ORIENTATED WEBSITE IN THE UKRAINE)
gothic. absolute individualism. “you should be strong by heart and soul- if you don’t – what is the reason to live?”
Goths take power and energy from those music and art which make other people to feel depression and confusion. Gothic music and lifestyle is for those who want more from life, emotions, music, art, etc..
The goal of this article – to explain in a short way who are goths ( nowadays this is one of most progressive and widening subcultures on in the world and the one and only subculture of INDIVIDUALISM ) .
While being for some time in Europe I have noticed a regularity- here the only two subcultures are distinctly distinguished – pop-rave-commercially-color culture- as a temporary today’s culture. And the goths ( as a formation which 
developped in 1980-81 in gloomy England and slowly though confidently carries more and more progressive people ( and not only youth ) around). As you can differentiate the Goths among the crowd right away by something unusual in a look, by their definitely black or leather clothes and as to the women-goths – by underlined elegental erotic vamp style in their image and clothes…
The Goths are above all an lifestyle, ideology, which is based on some definite principles of life and has its own midpoints, they are: obscure energy and philosophically- mystic texts of gothic music (The Sisters Of Mercy, In Strict Confidence, KINO (Victor Tsoy), HIM, KOMU VNYZ, etc) + black color and image 
(women have definite cosmetics and vamp style) by means of that we can distinguish one 
another in a crowd + literature that gives us desire for thinking and a possibility to understand ourselves and our instincts + movies that give us a start and then think (Tharkowsky, Cubrik, Paradzhanow etc – “The Crow”, “Odyssey 2000”) + art which doesn’t allow us to be the users ( + all that that everyone see in gothic…As every goth has his own determinations as to the goths and gothic. And everyone is a goth in one’s own way. May be this IS gothic…
HISTORY
Goths exist from the beginning of the 80’s. Gothic and goths have harmonically appeared from the mix of obscure power and aggression of dying post punk ( Joy Division, Virgin Prunes, Siouxsie and the Banshees etc) and aesthetic and energy of nascent new wave 
At the time when the youth had been full with post punk and there were no alternative to commercial rock and pop, then for all those who had some definite tastes to music and life there was no way to get some other music besides simple one.
Then in 1980-81 bands appeared that played quite gloomy music with philosophic- mystic texts (The Sisters of Mercy, The Cure, Depeche Mode, The Mission, Nick Cave, Bauhaus, Fields of the Nephilim, the Cult, etc) and that bands also wore almost exceptionally black color and silver. Every band had its own beginning – rock, post punk or
electro but stylistics were equally gloomy, melancholic, some times energetic, sometimes decadence or depressive. But that was energy. The energy for those who doesn’t like that simple and jolly tinsel of art. They were listened to by people who also started to wear black ( the color became a characteristic feature for goths ) and by those who found their principles of life in that music and who needed the energy of that sorrowful, dreary, depressive music with wicked ironic texts…Unlike the others – GOTHS TAKE AND HAVE TAKEN THE STRENTH from this very music, which others took as suicidal or too gloomy… At that time papers and magazines (‘Melody Maker’, ‘New Music Express’, ‘Sounds’ etc) and society called those bands gothic, the music was called GOTHIC or gothic rock , and those who liked the music and started to live the particular lifestyle- GOTHS.
One of the post uinteressting questions is from where the wolrd and definition gothic came. In my opinion and merging all the facts and ideas there can three reasons. It could be called “gothic” because of first – “gothic” (deep, powerful) vocals could be compared with ancient, powerful, gloomy and energetic appeal of tribe of goths and second – they had a-la ancient clothes on : old black clothes, boots, silver jewelry, long black chaotic hair (a lot of bands had a mixture of different styles, some of them looked like medieval cowboy-goths
, for instance Fields of the Nephilim and The Sisters of Mercy) nowadays goths unify black leather and simple black clothes), thirdly – there were philosophic and at the same time mental elements such as belief, other dark sides of life, despair, belief in oneself, contradictions of internal emotions, pain, god, mystics, fighting against social dogma etc. in the texts of those bands ( especially The Sisters of Mercy and The Mission). That means there were the texts owning to that gothic became popular among those people who needed everything real and difficult for understanding by the whole society, though worth to understand by an individual. Gothic became a style of intellectual egoists and a feature of a real taste, which can not be perceived by everybody
Then appeared a one of the first gothic symbols – a star which was a symbol of knowledge and burned skin on
a man as a symbol of his attempts to go through society and its principles to achieve his mental goal and come to himself…. This symbol was created by The Sisters of Mercy’s leader Andrew Eldritch who was considered to be a godfather of gothic, to be a man who created that style. Andrew Eldtritch was the person nobody knew a lot about, except for information about his speaking in 8 languages, the fact that he had traveled around the world, had lived in India, Saudi Arabia, none had ever seen his eyes as he always wore black sunglasses, he didn’t like journalists, made one album per 10 years, 8 video that considered to be the best in the sphere, all releases became ‘gold’, and his lyrics which could be the subject for books as they were so sophisticated and harmonic at the same time…
At that time another symbol of Goths – an ank – had appeared. Besides its ancient meaning which symbolized a combination of mystics and philosophy in gothic one of the meanings of ank is internal life. Though points of view differed, 1 – some considered gothic to be darker music and subculture, connected with mystics, dark sides of life and even Satanism . Though we should mark there are both Christian gothic and Satanic gothic… 2 – Other goths based the gothic lifestyle and music on philosophy, high psycho ideology, on another level of comprehension… Although lots of goths joins together these two opinions. With the time Ank became more and more popular. All kind of Goths wear it… Besides these symbols which are usually wore on bodies, there is a lot of symbolism of all kinds which is used by Goths, mainly of ancient origin : Egypt, Thracian, Medieval, etc
As to the clothes, from the beginning of 80’s besides simply black things and silver Goths began to wear leather. For today it is a characteristic feature of goths. From my point of view , black color was a kind of protest against a common public point of view that black is bad, black is Satanism, protest against common fool opinion of society based on TV and media. And also there is view that black is color which protects you , goth, from simple, colourful and stupid life around. It’s like a wall. Shield from society. But even nowadays goths are often mistakenly confused with Satanists in mass media and by some groups of people. Although goths are really wide-known right now. Goths are not just about clothes. Goths wear black but it’s just an expression of internal thoughts and attitudes outside, they also usually are suppose to have a deep soul and hidden wolrd inside…
t the end of 80th beginning of 90th gothic transformed and involved bordering spheres of 
art and life- literature, films, art , photo etc. At that time all those spheres got a corresponding definition- gothic.
Magazines devoted to gothic and near-gothic styles (synth pop, industrial, dark wave, EBM, dark electro, medieval, dark folk, new wave, neo classic etc) appeared. The first wave (‘Naked Truth’, ‘Propaganda’) of so called zines weeded out all useless editions. Among piles of various editions four leaders were distinguished – ‘Orkus’, ‘Zillo’, ‘Sonic Seducer’, ‘Gothic’ ( all magazines were from Germany). ‘явилися журнали, які були вже суцільно присвячені готиці (gothic) і близьким до неї стилям (synth pop, industrial, dark wave, EBM, dark electro, medieval, dark folk, new wave, neo classic, etc..)
Around 88-89 more and more bands which are strictly based on electronics come from Germany – Girls Under Glass, Deine Lakaien, In My Rosary, Love is Colder Than Death, etc… This current starts to grow more and more at the same time with general grow of fans of electronic gothic and style crossing with it – dark wave, EBM, dark electro, etc..
black eyeliner and tweezed brows
Posted in goth study with tags goth, theda bara on September 7, 2008 by brutalberrywikipedia, which is a not so new best friend says…….
Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000163 EndHTML:0000002673 StartFragment:0000000530 EndFragment:0000002656
|
Theda Bara |
|
|---|---|
| Born | Theodosia Burr Goodman July 29, 1885(1885-07-29) Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | April 13, 1955 (aged 69) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Other name(s) | The Vamp |
| Years active | 1908-1926 |
| Spouse(s) | Charles Brabin (1921-1955) |
Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000163 EndHTML:0000002393 StartFragment:0000000530 EndFragment:0000002376Theda Bara was the stage name of Theodosia Burr Goodman (July 29, 1885 – April 13, 1955), an American silent film actress. Movie executives made promotional claims that her stage name was chosen because it is an anagram for “Arab Death.” In reality, “Theda” was a childhood nickname for Theodosia. “Bara” was a shortened form of her maternal grandfather’s last name, Baranger.
Bara was one of the most popular screen actresses of her era, and was one of cinema’s earliest sex symbols. Her femme fatale roles earned her the nickname “The Vamp” (short for vampire). The term “vamp” soon became a popular slang term for a sexually predatory woman. Bara, along with the French film actress Musidora, popularized the vamp persona in the early years of silent film and was soon imitated by rival actresses such as Nita Naldi and Pola Negri.
At the height of Bara’s fame, her vamp image was notorious enough to be referred to in popular songs of the day.
she was said to be the first inspiration to the black eyeliner and tweezed brow look.
