Goth in forgotten placesm_glowMarch 23 2006, 07:08:30 UTC
i'm not sure if you can define goth though...
I probably shouldn't attempt to , but I've given this some thought over the years. I always think of goth not in terms of the subculture, but in terms of the original literary movement. Goth is an offshoot of Romanticism. To me, Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë is the most "goth" thing you'll ever find. To me, Goth is about the memory of the past that reflects on the present, sometimes in not so good ways.
I think this influence of Romanticism and Gothic is everywhere in art and literature. It's in places people forget to look. I think the first "goth", in a music and subculture sort of way, was Screaming Jay Hawkins, who appeared in a coffin, had a skulls and stuff like that. His song I Put A Spell On You has been covered endlessly.
Look in your mom and dad's record collection and pull out those Creedence Clearwater Revival albums. Most of it is happy-happy-joy-joy!, and that's a great thing. However...they have several songs that are the darkest, most spooky things I've ever heard. I remember driving in a thunderstorm late at night on an empty country road and Born on the Bayou and Bad Moon Rising came on the radio. Just thinking about that is making my hair stand on end. I'm sure the lead singer, John Fogerty probably never consciously thought of himself as a goth, but the poor man can't help it. His solo work includes Eye of the Zombie and perhaps his scariest song The Old Man Down the Road.
I probably shouldn't attempt to , but I've given this some thought over the years. I always think of goth not in terms of the subculture, but in terms of the original literary movement. Goth is an offshoot of Romanticism. To me, Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë is the most "goth" thing you'll ever find. To me, Goth is about the memory of the past that reflects on the present, sometimes in not so good ways.
I think this influence of Romanticism and Gothic is everywhere in art and literature. It's in places people forget to look. I think the first "goth", in a music and subculture sort of way, was Screaming Jay Hawkins, who appeared in a coffin, had a skulls and stuff like that. His song I Put A Spell On You has been covered endlessly.
Look in your mom and dad's record collection and pull out those Creedence Clearwater Revival albums. Most of it is happy-happy-joy-joy!, and that's a great thing. However...they have several songs that are the darkest, most spooky things I've ever heard. I remember driving in a thunderstorm late at night on an empty country road and Born on the Bayou and Bad Moon Rising came on the radio. Just thinking about that is making my hair stand on end. I'm sure the lead singer, John Fogerty probably never consciously thought of himself as a goth, but the poor man can't help it. His solo work includes Eye of the Zombie and perhaps his scariest song The Old Man Down the Road.
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