With the world wide web absolutely saturated with all kinds of different opinions on what goth or gothic is, the only thing we can seem to agree on is that the definition is going to be different for each of us. What Is Gothic? What is gothic to you may not be goth to me, and so on. In a subculture such as this, where individuality is so highly prized, it isn’t surprising that opinions would differ so dramatically from person to person.
There have literally been books written on this topic and we could write a novel length text of our own, yet we’re going to step back a little from the social aspect of goth and focus instead on how the goth scene as we know it came to be.
Above all other definitions, to be gothic is to be a part of a sub-culture. A network of people who enjoy the same things and as such, have created a community of their own. Goths might enjoy dark humour and wearing black, but it all began with the music. Gothic Rock.
As one of the oldest subcultures for young people globally, the goth scene has needed to adapt and change in order to continue to thrive and while we have moved away from our early roots, we haven’t forgotten them.
The Gothic scene came from the UK in the late 1970s and early 1980s, with Gothic Rock music spawning from the evolution of punk. It’s believed that the first time the word Gothic was applied to music was when the pioneers of Gothic Rock, Joy Division, were referred to by their producer as “Gothic” compared to modern pop music. Not long after that, other bands with similar style such as Siouxie and the Banshees and Bauhaus began to take on the term.
In 1982, ‘The Batcave’, the very first club specifically for Goths was born in Londons underground scene, specifically as a place for individuals who enjoyed Gothic Rock music to congregate. Although they didn’t yet refer to themselves as Goths, thanks to these pioneers, we now have a thriving network of Gothic nightclubs in most major cities across the world.
One particular point that Goths like to argue on is whether we should be applying the terms Goth or Gothic to music, people or things that aren’t deeply and directly inspired by the greats of ‘old school’ gothic rock. At Gothed, we tend to take a more practical approach and simply say that if you’re an active member of the Goth scene and/or you choose to label yourself as Gothic, you’re likely Gothic and you’re probably going to like the sorts of things that most other goths tend to enjoy.