What is Gothic?

Goth, a specific word, originally meant Germanic tribe in western Europe. At the level of architectural culture and writing from18th century to19th century, the so-called "GothicRevival" excavated the gloomy mood of the Middle Ages from the grave of historical context. At the same time, some literary works since the end of 18 are classified as "Gothic novels" because of the same tone and style. For example, walpole's TheCastleofOtranto, Allardcliffe's The Mystery of Waldorf, Lewis's TheMonk and, of course, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. These works are dedicated to dealing with cruel passion and supernatural horror themes. The background of novels is usually set in desolate castles or secluded monasteries, in which the protagonists (usually young boys and girls) are trapped in an irresistible evil sex/gender. The abuser (usually actively) launches an encounter that ends in death. ................................................................................................'s extreme erotic climax comes from the moment of disillusionment (that is, the "completion" of the ceremony). The religious system symbolizing patriarchy and the dark (negative) forces trying to surpass it, in a certain unspeakable level, actually share the pleasure mode of "love mating to death" in a cool way. In the contemporary horror fiction camp, such as AnneRice's TheVampireChronicles, it reveals the complex interaction between homosexual desire and paternal mechanism.

Interestingly, this phenomenon of Gothic culture not only spread on the pages of novels, but also invaded the garden of non-mainstream music in the second half of the 20th century, becoming a completely different branch of alternative music. If you are familiar with the historical context of new music, you will know that from the late 1970s to the 1980s, some bands were branded as "PostPunkCool", "Neoclassicism" or "Neo-hippies" respectively, and gradually merged into the future Gothic Rock School.

The early representative bands were SiouxsieandtheBanshees, Bauhaus, JoyDivision and so on. Their characteristics are gloomy and world-weary, and the cold notes have a fine aesthetic feeling, but at the same time, they use a lot of discordant sounds that deviate from the melody line at the register level, interspersed with counter-measures to traditional music. On the concept level of lyrics and performance, we should deal with the desolation of life and love, the rejection of reality, and then pursue the bizarre pleasure of the soul abyss. On the stage, she/they appeared in a crazy costume, such as the slightly sadistic "Ice Queen" in Susie and Ghosts, or PeterMurphy, the lead singer of Bauhaus, dressed herself as a beautiful bisexual vampire. The strong quality of Gothic rock music is not only the subversion and reversal of gender, but also the obsession with theological (or demonic) concepts. "TheSistersofMercy" was founded in 198 1, which is a demonstration of musical ideology by several men who love medieval style. AndrewEldritch, the lead singer who is described as "laughing and watching Rome burn into a pile of rubble", speaks from the religious standpoint of Gothic rock-for us, cynicism is like the holy water of Catholics.

If the early PostPunkCool's interpretation of life is depression and despair (such as the suicide of ian curtis, the lead singer of Glee), then the Sisters of Charity and their fellow bands, such as "TheMission", "AllaboutEve", "FieldsoftheNephilem" and "TheCult", may be obsessed with various annoying customs in reality and try to overthrow them. In the "Church" album "God'sOwnMedicine", the first song "Wasteland" at the beginning of the story sarcastically sang "I still believe in God, but God no longer believes in me." This is a blasphemous declaration, which presents a shocking fact: for a long time, the power structure of God and man has been like the subject and object of sexual structure. After repeated scrutiny in this album, while overthrowing the belief, death is no longer a prop used by my father to intimidate, but an erotic utopia of traitors. Just like in the song "LoveMetoDeath", the peak of eroticism is beautifully laid out and is not fixed by the rigid "dominance-submission" relationship; In other words, in the field of death (scarcity), the deadly negative passion is uncontrolled and suppressed, and its own aesthetics are developed.

Undeniably, "death" is almost a key word in the cultural level of Gothic rock music. When some conservative voices or anti-frustration forces try to attack Gothic rock music and its secondary culture, we can see two kinds of responses: for example, the band "ChristianDeath" which deals with the feelings of darkness and pain. For them, the scenes of corruption, eschatology and destruction in death interpretation are enough to bring us close to the "ultimate climax". In some albums, such as On the Theatre of Pain, Anger of Angels, and TheIronMask, the focus of "Christian Death" is the beauty of this almost critical spasm. One of the songs "Death Wish", the lyrics at the end almost say "Satan is the kindest beast" with harsh music, which is tantamount to mocking the binary opposing values of religion/patriarchy system in various things.

Another reaction may be to quote PoppyZ. Britt in the preface of the anthology of vampire erotic novels LoveinVein: "Gothic subculture does not praise or love death, but just refuses to fear death. In the process of exploring death, slowly approach it and approach it. " This passage just explains why bands like Nepali Forest Land, AndAlsotheTrees, Will, Lycia and TheMorendoes are immersed in the image of Macabrez who is "making love with the dead king". In addition, death is not necessarily the lack of life. Following the clues of these creators, as well as the symbols and fables found in many pagan myths or evil spirits, death may be an exit close to the supernatural and non-human fields.

In the middle and late 1990s, Gothic subculture not only bloomed in literature and music creation, but also influenced the cultural ecology and identity of this "mixed ethnic group" (including women, gays and erotic border elements). In the revolution of lust and gender, the Gothic subculture's pursuit of the so-called ideal model "androgyny" is worthy of in-depth study, but it is also a beautiful weapon that helps to forcibly ban it, so that dissidents (others) who were once regarded as demons can get rid of a single paradise and taste their own desires and the bodies of angels.

How to identify Gothic bands?

1, the music atmosphere of this band is grotesque and surreal.

2. The lyrics of this band contain Gothic theme.

The appearance of the band members is very gothic.

4. The band called themselves Gothic Band, performed together with other Gothic bands, and appeared in Gothic Collection.

5. Bands from four Gothic record companies: Cleopatra, Projector, Tess and Anubis.

How to identify a Goth?

Personality: shy and unsociable.

Artistic tendency: art, especially music, photography and painting. Humanities, especially literature, history and philosophy.

Dress: Always black or dark. Obviously religious ornaments, but they change their beliefs almost every day and never wear gold jewelry.

What is Gothic?

Musically, nouns such as darkwave, gott-echno, dark-alternative and ambiente are all "Gothic Style".

Describe it in detail: fear of darkness, sadness about death, forbidden love, and aesthetic feeling brought by complete pain are all the dark sides of human spiritual world.

Vampire culture?

Devil worship?

Goth is not religion, politics, race or gender. Most Gothic bands are secular, even actively anti-religious bands. The visual signals of vampires, Catholicism, ancient Egypt and paganism are only transmitting the "dark power" to connect the feeling of Gothic music.

Goths have the same social tendency as other social groups of their time. You will find that the greatest tendency among Goths is actually extreme indifference to politics, because almost all parties' views sound the same and useless.

The reason why Goth exists.

Many people are dominated by a life without happiness and sense of accomplishment, which is unfortunate. But Goth turned this depressed feeling into a way of life, in other words: pain is my life choice-this is an art.

Goth may also be a kind of psychotherapy. If you talk to a white-collar worker who belongs to the mainstream society about your last attempted suicide, he may give you a different look and stay away from you. On sunny days, you may get cheap companions and never feel sorry for you. The scar on your wrist will be seriously respected. You're cool! All people who feel out of place in society will find their place among the Goths, because everyone here is unique.

What is Gothic Fashion?

Any black, or other dark colors, such as navy blue and crimson. Permeable (thin nylon or fishnet fabric) but not exposed. Silver ornaments. Pale skin. This could be? It reflects the Victorian aesthetic view that "pale skin is a symbol of nobility", and may also violate the health theory that "the bronzed sun is beautiful" in beach culture.

Black hair, bleached blonde hair, red hair or purple hair Black and white makeup. White foundation. Black lipstick, black eye shadow and thin eyebrows.

Self-made decoration and fetish clothing. Leather, PVC, rubber and latex are all essential fabrics. Girdling was also common in the Middle Ages. A wide tie or nail collar or a velvet rope tied tightly around the neck.

T-shaped cross (symbol of eternal life in ancient Egypt) Five-pointed star This is a pagan symbol about fire, land, air, water and soul. The cross (the symbol of Christianity).

Opera-style shawls, cloaks and long gloves. Goth is generally not as extreme as punk, and can speak some flavors.

Moonlight fills the earth, and all the darkness belongs to the Gothic dynasty.

Countless dark nights, the moonlight coldly surrounded everything. The sharp lines in the air seem to be exploring the deepest evil in the world. Life and death are closely linked, rendering darkness and despair. Goth was named after the German Goth tribe that invaded Italy and overthrew the Roman Empire. /kloc-in the 0 th and 5 th centuries, people generally had the idea of Renaissance and hoped to return to the classical era. The period between the classical era and the Renaissance is called the Middle Ages. Because Italy hated the Goths for destroying their Roman empire, people in the Renaissance always had a negative name for the Middle Ages. They called this period "Goth". It means barbarism and rudeness. Of course, we should see both sides of things. The Middle Ages left many precious cultural heritages and excellent works of art to the world. During this period, there was a breakthrough in architectural technology, and a Gothic cathedral like Notre Dame de PAME appeared. Gothic art is not only embodied in architecture. From the12nd century to the early16th century, sculptures, glass products and decorations were labeled as Gothic art, and religion played an important role in Gothic art works. Painters and sculptors use religious feelings more than realistic methods to express their themes. In any case, it is obvious that people in the Renaissance implicitly denied the word "Gothic".

Gothic is defined in English-Chinese dictionaries as follows:

(a) 1 Gothic; Gothic 2 (architecture) Gothic 3 Middle Ages; 4 (India) Gothic; (British) 5 Gothic novels in black (characterized by horror, desolation and decay) (n) 1 Gothic 2 Gothic architecture, pointed arch architecture.

Then, if Gothic and music get married, Gothic is written casually. Gothic music has another explanation in the dictionary: it is a passionate mixture of various musical instruments, upholds the ultimate values of pessimism and despair, and reveals the mysterious and empty lyrics of the apocalypse. In the romantic movement around 1800, medieval culture gradually became the fashion in some people's eyes. Romanticism became the center of this cultural movement. Romanticists hope to transcend historical boundaries, some hope to return to the Middle Ages, some seek ideals from religion or mysticism, and some try to get answers from nature. They achieve their goals in different ways. In the whole romantic movement, Goth began to be associated with darkness, strangeness and ghosts. Romantic and Gothic writers such as Byron, Shelley, Baudelaire and Wei Erlun are keen to show the dark side of human beings. Gothic sentiment is also clearly reflected in visual art, and painters like CasparDavidFriedrich show darkness and desolation. In architecture, the neo-Gothic style has gradually become fashionable.

Many Gothic novelists emerged in this period. They not only showed the dark side of human beings, but also challenged the orthodox thinking mode of society at that time. They were a mixture of horror and mystery. Typical characters in Gothic novels are vampires, such as Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and brian stock's Dracula. It is also described in Edgar Lalan's poems. The description of vampire incarnation in Stoke's works has entered an opposite angle compared with the past. (Contemporary writers Annalis' works such as Interview with The ampire and PoppyZ. Britt's LostSouls is also a continuation of Stoke style. ) In 1970s, punk, as a subculture, invaded the mainstream culture. Primitive punk comes from violence and powerful subversion. The appearance of JoyDivision (formerly known as Warsaw) undoubtedly brought this punk movement full of destruction and anarchy into the post-punk era.

The early representatives were SiouxsieandtheBanshees (Sucosian banshees and monsters) and Bauhaus. They are full of melancholy and world-weariness. Music is often cold and has a fine aesthetic feeling, but at the same time, a large number of discordant sounds that deviate from the melody line are used at the register level, which is an extreme contempt for all traditional music. At the level of lyrics and performance concept, it shows the desolation of life and love. From the rejection of the real state, and then pursue the strange pleasure of the soul abyss. On the stage, she/they appeared in extremely crazy costumes, such as dairy queen by Su Kexi, who was slightly sadistic, and peter murphy, the lead singer of Bauhaus, dressed herself as a glamorous bisexual vampire? This subversion and reversal of gender is also manifested in the fanatical obsession with the concept of theology (or devil). TheSistersofMercy Charity, founded in 198 1, is a rebellion against music consciousness by several men who love medieval style. AndrewEldritch, the lead singer who was once described as "laughing and watching Rome burn into a pile of rubble", completely broke the religious stance of the Goethe rock band-for us, cynicism is like Catholicism.

The early post-punk interpretation of life is often full of frustration and despair. For example, IanCurtis, the lead singer of JoyDivision, hanged himself in 1980. Those life-consuming notes have made JoyDivision an immortal classic and witnessed the whole low-key culture. His gloomy and isolated outlook on life hides gloomy genetic factors, which makes the whole post-punk culture dark gray and gloomy. In the 1980s, a pessimistic era was established in pedantic music, at least in the underground culture of Britain and Europe. In the independent music circle at that time, a large number of dark, morbid and strange bands emerged, and their music originated from the endless suppression and curse of life. Such as Mission (church), AllaboutEve (all Eve), FieldsoftheNephilem (land of the Laiwu forest), TheCult (ceremony) and so on. These bands/musicians, regarded as desperate, evil and decadent, escaped from the excessive destruction consciousness of punk to an introverted and dark world-that is, they occupied the low-key music time and space of rock music for most of the 1980s. The form and evolution of Gothic Rock in the British underground music circle is like a cult reaching out to a troll's palm when it comes to the earth. It attracts the audience through unimaginable and imaginative materials, including the unprecedented creativity of the Holy Spirit in the field of music and the unprecedented stimulating visual experience brought by visual modeling. Neutral identity modeling and heavy makeup are not the patent of neo-romantics. Goth seems to be the twin brother of neo-romantic personality, and it is the dark and morbid side behind gorgeousness. Now let's learn about the improved style of Gothic music and other related music genres. EBM(ElectronicBodyMusic), which originated in Belgium, is an electronic, cold and black music. Influenced by electronic bands, such as the power plant band in the Klotlock movement in Germany.

Front242, one of the founding bands of EBM, has a low beat and is famous for its depressing voice and the costumes of militaristic commandos. Klinik, Insekt, Dive, Click Click, Asplitsecond and later SuicideCommando are all important bands of BM. Dive and Klinik use sonar noise to create a cold atmosphere in outer space. Suicide Commando incorporates more dance elements. Similar music styles are called Industrial in the United States and Canada, such as FrontLineAssembly and SkinnyPuppy. Their synthetic music and multi-level sound are very suitable for listening with headphones. FrontLineAssembly's classic albums Classic Bumsaareusticgrip (1990) and Tactical Neuropulant (1992) are worth collecting by everyone who likes EMB.

Having said that, we haven't talked about Germany yet, but it is now a major town of Gothic music. Many German bands are used to the music label DARKWAVE. ProjectPitchfork was the first German band to participate in Gothic music. Although their musical style has changed, they have always been a popular group. The first album "Dhyani" is also a classic, typical black music and critical lyrics. The members of DeineLakaien band have profound musical skills, and they have produced romantic songs such as Lovemetotheend. These works have a certain sense of the Middle Ages. There are a large number of groups in Germany that keep their mother tongue when singing, such as GoethesErben, and the name of the band speaks for itself. Their first three albums are like a trilogy, independent and interrelated. Lacrimosa, Tilovov and other bands constantly tried to express music by adding elements of metal music. Of course, we must know about the Daxi Group. Their classic album is Dieprophet. The songs in the album are complicated and the lyrics are full of wisdom. CalvayNada, a representative group of dark electronic music, sings alternately in German and Spanish. Their most distinctive feature is the bass of lead singer Breynaert, whose lyrics mostly involve political and social topics. From this point of view, this band is unique in the Gothic music kingdom.

Generally speaking, due to romantic plots, most bands in Germany are a combination of romantic songs and dark electronics. Nowadays, Gothic music is more and more diverse. For example, dark ballads are represented by Current 93, Death in June, Solivitis, Fire+Ice. Early C93 works were difficult to understand experimentally, and later DavidTibet explored the direction of acoustic folk songs with his personal thinking. DeathinJune, the predecessor band of C93, has been controversial since the release of its first album "Nada", and they have even been accused of having a right-wing tendency. But what impressed us most about DIJ was the pagan sacrificial music. If you want to listen to this kind of music, please go to WorldSerpent, an excellent music label, and several bands mentioned above have released their works. By the way, there is also an Italian group OrdoEquitumSolis that should also be worthy of our attention. Many gothic bands have some kind of medieval plot, and they combine medieval music with modern creative techniques. There are many such medieval groups in Germany, and music creators generally have a good background in classical music education. Famous orchestras include Qntal, Estampie, FreiburgerSpielleyt and so on. This kind of music is more influential in Italy, such as Ataraxia and CamerataMediolanense, who have made many excellent music works. This combination not only attracted the Gothic audience, but also attracted some classical music appreciators. The music of Moon Goddess and Rosaxophone absorbed the elements of festival music.

Of course, the styles of many bands are difficult to define and change. However, the music theme of the French erotic dark electronic band DieFORM mostly involves S/M (sexual abuse), and each of their works brings us new surprises. The piano sound of another band from France, Collectiond'ArnellAndrea, is very distinctive and has become its own unique symbol. The works of IntheNursery band, which is good at composing orchestral music, are very suitable for accompaniment in movies. In northern Europe, Sweden, the brand ColdMeatIndustry has created many unique music works through years of efforts. Its bands have various styles, such as bloody experimental bands BrighterDeathNow and DeutschNepal, atmosphere music group Raisond'Etre, neoclassical propagandist, Yin Tian group Arcana and so on. Speaking of auditions, if you want to know more about auditions, I suggest you listen to the representative bands like Likelovescolderthandeath, BlacktapeForBlueGirl and Stoa.

In the text of Gothic music, we can taste some imaginary sentences, involving religion, sex, death, despair, Christ and even unimaginable. These are all indispensable parts of Gothic music. GothicRock covers music under a vague and ethereal outer body, and everything is so mysterious. The style of Gothic rock can be said to be inherited from JoyDivision, especially the hobby of raising the bass to the tonic position, which can not be completely shaken off until today's post-Gothic dynasty. Those muffled or distorted voices, heavy bass, psychedelic guitar sounds, drums full of accusations, occasionally screaming like a ghost crying god, as heavy as a stone mill or as wild as falling apart.