Calling all Goths and Darksiders

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nice words'o wisdom
i thought almost anyone could be "goth" dispite race, religion, sexual orientation, social status, ect...

Correct, or at least that is how it should be. Unfortunately the gothic scene or whatever is left of it, is now seeing a rise of right wing politics and racism, and especially the latter is very contradictional to the original values gothic has stood for. I don't see how you can be goth and racist, but goth bars are nowadays attracting a growing number of people who do judge based upon race and ethnicity (somehow religion is not often discussed while orientation still is not an issue, it is mostly racism which begins to grow in the scene)

One of the proves that the gothscene is in a comatose state. It lives on in the minority that still has the original values of the goth scene, but then there is the growing group of people who have no clue what gothic is really about and still think they are goth. Most of them are teens or youngsters without a single clue of what gothic really stands for. But the growing amount of such people is a sure sign of how the gothic scene is slowly dying

"Goth" isn't a religion. You can believe in anything (or nothing) and still enjoy gothic culture.

Actualy I like the Goth look on a woman and I find them vary attractive,
but then again I also like hippiesh and tomboy girls as well.
hell their all good

the way i see it is because we're Autistic/Aspies who are misunderstood by the world. normal people see us as freaks of nature so they've harassed us since childhood and later on in life. i tried to fit in w/ the normal, preppy folks but it wasn't doing me any good, it just made things worse. so i'd figured, "f**k those b*****s and a**holes! why conform with how they think, act, or look?". i decided to deal w/ the fact i'm an aspie whose preferences are different from others. i wanted to be part of the goth-emo-punk-hipster cultures 'cos they're more free, creative, & expressive than anybody else, and could care less what others think. the majority of us/them have been outcasts because we're/they're not normal, which can make anyone feel...dark. it can be a blessing and a curse 'cos it makes you unique and can leave you lonely. the answer to your question is that anyone can be 'Gothic' depending how f**ked-up life can be. that's what i think.

A fool's brain digests philosophy into folly, science into superstition, and art into pedantry. Hence University education.

But does being part of a scene and applying its unwritten rools not imply that you are not as free as you think you are? You want to be more free - which is great, but in the end if you adapt to the goth scene and its stereotypes you are conforming as well, maybe to a smaller group of people but it is still conforming. The original spirit of the goth scene was to not conform and be whoever you want to be, regardless how you dress etc. So make sure to keep that in mind and not blindly adapt the stereotypical goth standards as they are pushed by many young goths who in fact have no clue what they are about.

While I do wander around in the goth scene as in going to concerts and enjoying the music, I try to no longer tag myself as part of the scene because I learnt that tags are restrictive per definition. Just not conform, not to any majority nor to any minority, that is the best advise applicable in my humble opinion.

And as I wrote, the gothscene is heavily corrupted and not at all as good anymore as it once used to be. In a way it has died out and all what is left are remainders in terms of dress and music, but those by themselves do not make a subculture.

Just had to dig up this thread.

Before I knew goth existed I loved horror movies and any music with drum machines and punchy guitars. Loved AFOS when they were new. Listened to a bunch of early 80s underground rap, mainly for the drumboxes and synths.. I never pay much attention to words/lyrics themselves, I like the vocals as another instrument.

Eventually discovered punk and became obsessed. Spent days and days in the UGA library studying and learning all I could. I've watched Suburbia more times than I can remember. Still hadn't discovered gothic music yet, but started wearing dark makeup to go with whatever colored hair I had at the time. A roommate sat me down to watch a video he loved of a band called Bauhaus. I didn't get the lyrics, didn't care.. the music was incredible. He then pulled out a 45 Grave lp (Autopsy) which I absolutely LOVED. Christian Death was next (Only Theatre of Pain), and soon I was finding my own music.. the sisters, siouxsie, danse society, joy division, ect.

Took a while to get the look and I guess I never really pulled off one certain style very well.. just wore a lot of black, dresses, leather jackets, boots, ect. whatever I had.

Later I played in a couple gothic /deathrock bands but the shutdowns/meltdowns were a bit much for people to deal with. I was especially bad before shows or during recordings. Ugh.

Still love gothic music, darkwave, deathrock, ect. I don't go out much because I don't like crowds and it's just too much to deal with. The SWANS are coming to my area soon though, I'll suffer the crowds to see them perform.

Some of my more recent musical obsessions include Cinema Strange and Deine Lakiene. If you know the latter, there's a song on White Lies that I have become infatuated with.. Prayer. I turn it up loud and can listen to it over and over. I don't know what it is about it but it's just so interesting to me.

Nope, its London slang for man. the word guiser is sottish and basically means either someone in a disguise or a very untrustworthy person. the geezer variant is a well know London variant.

From London Slang Site

geezer - a very common term for a man. There are many disproved origins of the word. Used respectfully and for a person of unknown name, i.e.. "some geezer" or to say that someone is a bit of a laddish rogue "he's a bit of a geezer". Also 'dodgy geezer' can be used to describe a man of bad character.

Like me hes an American.

Here "geezer" means "an old guy". The only way the word is ever used here.

When I was kid in the sixties you did used to hear the phrase "old geezer", and now the "old" is implied and usually unsaid.

You might argue that the fact that decades ago americans put "old" in front of "geezer" means it must've at one time had the more general meaning of "any stranger of the male persuasion" ( some geezer on the street)- as you say it still means in London.

But "geezer" was rarely used at all before being coupled with "old". You dont hear it used at all in classic hollywood movies the way that other american slang of yesteryear is used.

Even Mom, and others of her generation use "geezer" to mean an old guy.
In fact she described herself as a "geezette".

I admit it is a bit redundant when you think about it. We already have the phrase "old codger". So we dont really need "geezer".

[quote="Confused-Fish"][quote="Fnord"]According the [url=http://w

Like me hes an American.

Here "geezer" means "an old guy". The only way the word is ever used here.

When I was kid in the sixties you did used to hear the phrase "old geezer", and now the "old" is implied and usually unsaid.

Last edited by naturalplastic on 26 Aug 2011, 12:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.

So I guess this is why I don't go to clubs anymore. I go and am ignored, even after trying to make conversation.

This f*****g sucks. I guess WP is no different from anywhere else. I am f*****g cursed.

What instruments do you play?

Its great that you are able to play infront of people, but its too bad that you have meltdowns and shutdowns.

It's not so hard. I don't look at anyone while on stage.. look at my instrument or the monitors or out at the back wall. The people don't exist to me.

I play guitar, bass, sing (scream/talk/whatever) and can play simple keyboard and drum parts. Also program drum machines. Out of all of these I like the bass guitar best.

Do you play anything?

Me too! That's one of the things I always liked about Goth, was that the singers tended to put a lot of texture into their voices (well, maybe not in Joy Division, but hey...)

I was definitely a darksider in the 80s ... town in Iowa I lived in was too small to have an actual scene. I remember falling asleep in chemistry class next to my two girl goth friends, and going to the bathroom between classes to find out they had tricked my hair out like Robert Smith while I was naping.

I kind of lost interest in the scene when Marilyn Manson and the Hot Topic stores happened in the 90s. Still love the 80s stuff though, Does "Killing Joke" count as goth? idk.

When I started playing guitar, i ended up buying a roland space echo before I even had my own amp. I was only interested in playing the goth sort of lead guitar, the bauhaus / cure sort where it's one note melodies slurred with cascading echoes and some flanging. Didn't bother to learn how to play chords until 5 years later...then I discovered how much fun it is to scream while thrashing chords out and got into punk. Darksider punk, that is.

Now I mostly play country music. Darksider country, hehe.

No.
Wish I did.
Actually I did teach myself to play "Love Me Tender" on a keyboard from a book once. Maybe I can build on that to become a virtuoso. Lol!

Im a party disc jockey, and volunter as an unpaid host of a public access radio show. So I am a music lover,and am used to dealing with crowds. In fact Im expected to emcee at weddings: lets welcome to the dance floor for their first dance as husband and wife- mr and mrs Joe blow!"

Killing Joke? Hm. I wouldn't call them goth exactly, but they were pretty popular in the scene. I still love them. I've heard them classified as post-punk most often.

Mick Mercer (author of many books about the UK goth scene in the late 70s/early80s) has also said that the Cure were not gothic, but appealed to goths anyway.

I sort of lost enthusiasm for the scene when Manson,ect came along. Lots of us did. After manson I've found that the EBM crowd filled their void. Most of the club events in my city are techno dipped in black. Kinda icky.

Like before I went from punk to gothic rock. Still love both, but listen to more goth & deathrock now. Deathrock is very different from death metal. Deathrock (one word) describes a scene and style of music made popular in the early 80s with bands like early Christian Death, 45 Grave and Super Heroines. It has it's own feel.. kind of like dark punk, but weirder. Putting deathrock and death metal together is like holding two magnets together but turned the wrong way so they never touch.