Calling all Goths and Darksiders

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Sub cultures in general probably appeal more to people with aspergers as we are generally less willing/or able to conform to mainstream culture.

and yes the whole thing about goths and depression is a load of crock for the most part, most ive met are anything but depressed.

Yeah, they're semi, semi not...but then again, practically no music these days sounds anything like traditional gothic music. So I figure that Blutengel, The Cruxshadows, London After Midnight, etc. are pretty much as gothic as modern music gets, so we might as well call them gothic.

Most of the goths I've come across have been extremely depressed, some even suicidal, but they still know how to smile and party.

I probably have a closer affinity to the goth subculture than any other. More on the Batcave vein (cabaret, great literature and Nick Cave) than the modern Hot Topic pirate shirt + trench coat Marilyn Manson affair definitely, though I find people with gothic traits to be very well-spoken and intelligent either way. On top of that, although most of my clothes have consisted of t-shirts bought at gigs and the occasional rush for suitable pants for the last several years, I have recently been confronting my koumpounophobia (loathing of buttons) to dress with a sort-of goth aesthetic. I wouldn't say it's much of having an inclination towards misery either—more of a fascination of the macabre. The darker side of things does invigorate.

poor goths, everybody picks on you.

the jocks gave you wedgies
the stoners ignored you
the preppies waved their money in your face
and the nerds laughed at you for being so whiny and creepy.

Goths, I salute you.

slightly offtopic but I ADORE London After Midnight. I have met vocalist Sean Brennan and often talked to him via the web prior and after having met in person. One of the greatest people in the music world out there, someone who is genuine in the message he is trying to spread and who is not hiding behind his musical act. Fantastic music as well, Where Good Girls Go To Die is my favourite.
Sean strongly dislikes the gothic tag though, and rightfully so when you see how the subculture has evolved.

Hahah, that's way cool. I don't blame him for disliking the label...I'll refrain from calling LAM gothic from now on, then.

These days, "goth" has come to be associated with SO many different things that it's kind of ridiculous, but it's still the only term that can be used to describe them, because they don't fit in the other genres completely. You know? Everything's become hybridized. You might as well refer to "goth" as an audience just like "pop" has come to mean the mainstream audience. That's part of why there's so much miscommunication between people who are and are not deep into the subculture. To many people who listen to mainstream music, "pop" is a genre (i.e. Britney or Justin Timberlake) and "goth" is an audience (so anything that goths listen to, Marilyn Manson included, is considered "goth"); but to many goths, "goth" is a genre (Bauhaus, Siouxie or however you spell her name, etc.) and "pop" is an audience (so anything that gets on MTV, Marilyn Manson included, is considered "pop").

The whole thing's kinda ridiculous because the music itself is what matters, not what you call it. XD

I wear black clothes and dark make-up, but it doesn't make me a goth, I'm a BLACKER

I don't know from any scene, I am largely reclusive except for having 3 kids who must get out, and I must take them. I've moved past most of the drama of my college and teen years, in having to dress the part. I never really was made of the sort of stuff that would abide the huge amounts of attention, negative or positive, that dressing all in black would get me. I liked my natural hair color too much to dye it.

But I read volume after volume of "true" haunting anthologies, vampire tales and stories of the gruesome. I relished every Halloween as the night I could transform freely. I preferred to sleep well into the day and work into the night. But it was the ghost stories that were my flaw. Though they gave me chills, I kept wanting more. I was always the blonde creature peering deep into that darkness. And then the darkness bit back.

It was as if I had just had enough of the ghost stories. I suddenly realized I was more afraid than fascinated. I learned what Catherine learned in Northanger Abbey (Jane Austen), that reading the stories is fine but you can get too much of anything and start thinking it's real after a while.

I guess what I'm saying is, you can have the cool and soothing dark even without one unusual piercing, tattoo, or even black nail polish... and you can get too much of the cold, suffocating silence of the charnel house no matter how many friends you have there.

So I guess I'm not a Goth, whatever the heck they are, really. But I do love a good Poe tale, archaic terminology, and a well-appointed skull.

Yo, for a lot of goths, dressing-up has nothing to do with wanting to attract attention. Sure, some do, but for a lot of them, it's much more just an aesthetic that is extremely appealing, this appeal usually being coupled with a dislike for more mainstream fashion and clothing. Although I don't consider myself a 'goth', the least appealing thing I can think of to wear is a pair of jeans and plain t-shirt, or whatever else is the current 'safe' trend. Plus, I'm way too big a fan of neon and silver

I like certain techno, but i'm not that into 'dark' music. I never bothered to get a fully tricked-out wardrobe due to cost, and a slight fear of 'hot topic' type stores, or whatever they are. But if i had chosen to conform to a high school clique, i would've been a goth.

Eh, Rogue, I was only thinking that I would gladly wear more interesting things that my Wal-mart jeans and Target t-shirts, some days anyway, but the Goth gear would tend to draw too much attention, especially over at the grade school. If I could I would dress like a parade of past Doctor Who's, some sort of historically inspired gear with loud colors. Sometimes... sometimes black and silver. But I'm trying to practice not embarrassing my kids... the oldest is almost 11 and starting to get moody.

I guess I wouldn't consider myself "true" "goth" anymore.. I was for a short time in highschool but really got into it after graduating. Then I worked at Hot Topic for 2 and a half years, and got tired of being ridiculed for being a "hot topic kid" even though.. I totally worked there and had every right to dress like I shopped there all the time. 40% discount, duh! Now I want to dress more.. fancy, I guess, but keep the goth in me. Like, corporate goth, seeing as I have an office job now. I like to go to a gothy nightclub around here(Orpheus), and do some serious dressing up for that, including thick black eye makeup and full black regalia. I still love all things dark and spooky and creepy and leather. Oh, and kinky.

As for music, I love industrial but that would make me more of a rivethead than a goth. I even have the huge, sexy boots to be a rivethead.. but anyway, I like all the gothy, electronicy, metaly, dancey music out there. Anything with a heavy beat(or, as KMFDM like to call it, an ultra-heavy beat) and a great melody I'm into it. It's too bad I can't dance. Between being obsessed with music and rhythm, and having to do almost everything to the beat of music, I'd be a great dancer if I had the body.

It's a personality choice and probably has nothing to do with having AS.

I personally enjoy the Gothic culture from music to art to video games (e.g. The Witcher). I've even created more than a few gothic/darkside music tracks.

http://www.imeem.com/people/Kz4q3iZ/mus ... lot_remix/
http://www.imeem.com/people/Kz4q3iZ/mus ... t_horizon/
http://www.imeem.com/people/Kz4q3iZ/mus ... lldweller/

On the inside I consider myself a gothic but on the outside I look like a normal person... because isn't that what matters most?

I love all music that points to the "dark side" although I don't limit myself to it. It shows in my clothing as well, but the term "goth" has been warped by society to be associated with immature highschoolers, so I don't really like using it to describe me.

Most goths dont listen to solely gothic music. Hence why so many goth clubs in Europe play a lot of industrial, EBM, new wave and metal as well (sometimes more than real goth music). Heck, in one Berlin goth club the DJ would throw Culture Club, Erasure, Nena and such in between the songs from Bauhaus, The Cure and other goth icons Most goths I know listen to a variety of styles, sometimes going as far as pure pop music or hiphop which compared to gothic are like the other end of the world.

Personally, I have a collection with mainly gothic, indie rock, prog rock, metal and new wave, but I admit to also not be bothered by some eighties pop or even Tokio Hotel

Hey, all! I'm back!

I'm reading this great book right now (for the second time) called Gothic: 400 years of evil, excess, horror and ruin. It talks about the history of the Gothic movement starting with the paintings of Salvatore Rosa, continuing into gothic revival architecture, discusses the "black-romantic" literary movement, et cetera. I don't like the last two chapters at all, and I think the chapter on vampires focuses too much on the sexual, but it is an awesome book, imho, for starting to understand what Gothic is "all about."

I started classifying myself as a "black-romantic" when I was fourteen, but I think my interest in dark things goes much further back. I wasn't exposed to much gothic media as a child, but I was obsessed with tragedy and the theatrical.

Only recently have I started calling myself a goth, but it isn't as much of a subculture thing as a general aesthetic/worldview. I am friends with one other girl who is sorta-goth, but I've never heard her say the word. I've never been to a goth club, am fairly religious, do not participate in BDSM or any other type of sexual activity, and don't do a lot of things that goths are "supposed" to do. I am interested in the subculture, but more, I think, as a result of my interest in the older stuff. I'm afraid, based on what CP said, that I will find it shallower than I hoped.

Wow. That was a mouthful. *stretches cramped typing fingers* Anyways, the real reason I got on WP tonight was to tell someone that I dyed my hair for the first time. (Given the thread I'm in, can you guess what color?)