What is Gothele? What is Gothic Metal Music?

Why do we have to live a happy life? You can certainly live a different life by listening to different music.

Decoding Chinese Characters: Gothic Style

It is a good habit for a writer to consult a dictionary frequently. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the following two explanations: 1, a rock-and-roll style, intensely mixed with guitar and bass drum, with apocalyptic or mystical lyrics; Performers or followers of this kind of music often wear black clothes and make-up in black. However, just as masters don't go to department stores to buy electric guitars, we can't completely trust outsiders like Oxford Dictionary.

The origin of the word "Goth" comes from a tribe named Siegert in early Europe, which enjoys destruction and plunder and is famous for its ignorance and lack of artistic taste. In the Middle Ages, an architectural style characterized by spire cathedral was popular, which was called "Gothic" architecture. In Victorian England, horror novels written by writers such as edgar allan poe, mary shelley and bram stoker were also called Gothic novels.

But in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when the punk movement ended and post-punk appeared, it was used to describe music and culture. First of all, Ian Astbury used the word "Gothic Elf" when describing the band Sex Gang Children. Later, Siouxsie Sioux (the core figure of Siouxsie and the Banshees) used "Goth" when describing the new direction of his band; Later, Joy Division's agent used the word "Goth" when comparing the band with mainstream pop bands in the BBC TV program of 1978.

The Death of Bela Lugosi by Bauhaus, published in 1979, is the first work labeled as "Gothic", at least everyone agrees with it.

Gothic music, as the successor of punk (death rock), has since developed from a set of aesthetics and ideas composed of visual art, literature, music and clothing into an underground culture, from which countless underground communities have been derived. Although these communities have undergone great changes in all aspects, there are two things that all Goths have: the color of clothes and music.

Of course, the Gothic band list needs music first!

Early prototype Gothic band:

Bauhaus, Christian Death (the death of Christ), Southern Death Cult (the cult of death in the south, later renamed as cult), Joy Division (Joy Division, but their appearance is not very gothic), Sisters of Mercy (Siouxsie), Siouxsie and Banshee (Sukesi and goblins);

Quasi-prototype Gothic Band:

Nephilim's field (a little younger than the band above, but too old than the new band), missionary group (Britain) (their early works were considered gothic by the media), Sexgon children;

A soft Gothic band:

Dance of Death, Xmal Deutschland, Danielle Dax; ;

Metal/Industrial Gothic Band:

Creaming Jesus (a band with a metal tendency) and James Rays Gangwar (a band that relies on samplers) (many Goths like to listen to the Ministry, but the Ministry is not a real Gothic band);

Experimental/Folk/Mysterious Gothic Band:

Current death in March and June, Sol Invictus

Neo-Gothic Band:

Northferrato, Rosetta Stone, Shadow Project (a branch of Christian Death), Xymox clan (a band relying on synthesizers, very dance music).

The rise and fall of Gothic culture

In the 1980s, the Gothic band achieved a series of commercial successes. Sisters of Charity, Mission, Everything About Eve, Healing, Siouxsie and Banshee, nephilim's Fields and Christian Death Band all have songs on the list. Their definition of "classic Gothic" sound is: crisp mandolin semi-acoustic guitar, steady single-note bass line, simple but fast rhythm, strong synthesizer effect and deep singing. Although some "classic" Gothic bands persist to this day and are still loved by Goths, they are no longer the protagonists of Gothic culture today.

In 1980s, Gothic clothing fashion developed from this musical style, with long dyed hair, pale skin, tight black clothes, pointed leather boots and a lot of silver ornaments (mostly designed by early European and Egyptian religions). Black motorcycle leather jacket, black skinny jeans, black mesh stockings and black flying sunglasses have become registered trademarks of Goths.

In 1990s, Gothic music gradually fell out of favor in the media, but Gothic culture became stronger and stronger. The rapidly expanding nightclub industry has formed a huge network of Gothic organizations. The new simple and cheap desktop publishing system and home recording technology have helped to produce a large number of Gothic magazines and samples of different quality, making Gothic culture look full of vitality. The revival of Victorian horror movies in Hollywood is just at this time. A series of blockbusters such as The Crow (Brandon Lee, the son of Bruce Lee, died mysteriously while filming this film), Edward Scissorhands, Night Interview with Vampires and so on have injected new excitement into Gothic culture. Gothic fashion has undergone subtle changes. Curly hair, high ponytail and combat pants are a fashion, so are long straight hair, Victorian velvet and lace, and leather and plastic clothes have also become a fashion, but the difference is that this style has nothing in common with anything popular in North America. Only black skinny jeans are always popular in Gothic fashion.

In the 1990s, some Gothic bands made charts or independent charts, including garbage, Rosetta Stone, sheep taking drugs, nick cave, Northferrato and curves. Their music styles are not exactly the same as those of the previous generation of Gothic bands, but they all have Gothic singing styles, dark music themes and dark effects of synthesizers. Although most people don't admit that they are Goths, they look like Goths out and out.

Although their influence is obviously not as good as that of the Gothic band in the 1980s, the significance of Gothic culture has been greatly deepened in the 1990s. At this time, it no longer only means a musical style, but also means a fashion, an attitude towards life and a social landscape-fashion is all black, attitude is all black and scenery is all fuzzy.

At the same time, there are many Goths who have never heard of Gothic music, but dress and think in a Gothic way. They like listening to industrial music, heavy metal, high-tech music and non-mainstream music. These Gothic favorite pop bands include Superband, Front 242, Cubanate, Men's Wear, White Zombie, Pop Will Eat Itself, Front Line Assembly and Nine Inch Nails.

Goth as a kind of counterculture

1969: hippies discovered the ugliness of the world and vowed to change it with love.

1979: The punk found that the world was still ugly, so he raised his middle finger to show his contempt.

198 1 year: Goths see through the world of mortals.

Identify a Gothic band

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

2. The lyrics of this band contain Gothic themes (strange and mysterious, miserable and desolate).

3. The members of the band look gothic and the water is black.

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

Four Gothic Record Companies

Cleopatra, Projector, Tess, Anubis.

Identify a Goth

Shy and unsociable

Artistic tendency.

Always black or dark clothes.

Outstanding religious ornaments, but they change their beliefs almost every day.

Never wear gold jewelry.

Pale, even in summer

Reject all interesting social activities.

Gothic taste?

Anything with a strange dark atmosphere is a bit gothic.

About music, there are hundreds of nouns such as dark wave, Gothic techno, dark alternative, and ethereal environment, all of which have Gothic flavor.

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

Vampire culture demonism? Cult?

Goth is not a religion, not a politics, and has nothing to do with 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 the same age. You will find young conservative Goths, productive Goths, fascist Goths and anarchic Goths, but this is really a small group of people. In fact, the greatest tendency of Goths in the 1990s was their extreme indifference to politics, because almost all parties' views sounded the same and were useless. This is the favorite theme of the Rosetta Stone.

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 suicide attempt, he may avoid you with strange eyes, and you may get cheap sympathy on a sunny day. But in sharp contrast, your Gothic companions will never sympathize with you, and 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.

Gete 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 may be because they need to look like a living dead person, or because they want to embody the Victorian aesthetic of "pale skin is a symbol of nobility", or because they oppose the health theory of "the bronze 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 fine 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 a collar with nails or a velvet rope tied tightly around the neck.

T-shaped cross (symbol of eternal life in ancient Egypt)

Eye of the sun god. The Sisters of Charity's record "Visual Things" has made this sign widely circulated, and some people will tattoo it on their bodies.

Five-pointed star This is a pagan symbol about fire, land, air, water and soul.

The cross (symbol of Christ).

Opera-style shawls, cloaks and long gloves.

Chains and nails

Body piercing. Goth is generally not as extreme as punk, and can speak some flavors. In Utah, the tongue is the first choice, followed by the nose and then the nipple.

Gothic hobby

Art, especially music, photography and painting.

Humanities, especially literature, history and philosophy.

H.R. Giger's fantasy biological art Alien and Dali's surreal visual works.

Lilac cigarette, a more durable, thicker and more harmful cigarette to human body.

Cats are favored by Goths because of their unique gloomy temperament.

Candles and Christmas trees, full of Gothic lighting.

Demons, weirdos, spiders, cobwebs, graves, coffins and other things related to ghosts.

Are you a Goth?

Do you often feel like a devil? Do you often wish that you would not appear during the day? You always like black T-shirts?

Maybe you are Goth, but you don't know it.

Do you often indulge in the feeling of depression and get a strange pleasure in painful meditation? Then you really have gothic tendencies. However, if you like to get this feeling by violence, then you are not a Goth at all, it is just a mental illness.

Your closet is full of black clothes? Then you may be a Goth.

Do you think so?

Start with the basics: hair, face, skin and clothes. Please refer to the six Gothic models and deal with them according to your own situation. Be careful not to wear Marilyn Manson's black T-shirt. This is shock rock, not gothic rock.

After that, look and look. It is extremely necessary to show extreme despair and pain-how can you be indifferent to the world and society? Remember: you must restrain your joy! Never, never, never laugh! There is nothing to be happy about! To the Goths, smiling is equivalent to letting a cool guy like Robert De Niro play Donald Duck.

Furthermore, you can consider piercing a hole in a certain part of your body and adding some metal ornaments.

Of course, you should know that Goth is not only a fashion, but also a way of life. No matter what you need, you must show extraordinary darkness in all aspects of life.

You can also keep a small pet of a rodent, such as a mouse. Rodents are essentially Goths, so you should always exchange philosophical questions with them.

There is another unique skill. You can buy a coffin as a bed for the weekend. That's really a Goth home.

Then you can check it and ask yourself a few questions: Do I look like a ghost? Are my friends and family always scared by me? Do I dress like the scary night of Halloween every day? If the answer is yes, then congratulations, you are gothic enough!

The band said.

London after midnight:

"We are not vampires, and we have never said that we are. I won't call myself a vampire like those fools. All stories about vampires are boring. "

The dead can dance:

"The name of our band reflects a reflection on the process of life change. Life is born by death, and death will be reincarnated for a living. "

"Unfortunately, many people misunderstand the symbols we want to convey and simply attribute us to the harmless dead rock frame of reference. However, on the contrary, our music is about creating life, not depriving it. I know that record companies and the media like to classify bands, but we have been struggling with it. From the new century to gothic to classical music, nothing is suitable for us. Our music evolved naturally. What we do is different from most contemporary bands. What we are moving is the spiritual territory that others have not touched. "

Human drama:

"I think the music we are doing is completely original. Goths like our music, perhaps because they are more receptive to art and emotional music. They will accept different music, from the dead can dance to the shadow project. We are not on a Gothic road, but we can see Gothic people walking on our road. "

The death of Christians:

"Because of our lyrics and names, many people say that we are anti-Christ demons. However, we are not against the teachings of Christ. We are only opposed to using the name and teachings of Christ to deceive the world and steal people's names and fish. The clergy have no right to judge others, only God can. Our name actually refers to Jesus, who died for those who believed in him. We have no intention to defile him. "

Rosetta stone:

"I want gotham city to be as accessible as possible. We write songs for people on the dance floor. We don't praise serial killers or romanticize vampires. "

goth metal

Gothic metal can be said to be a rising music genre in the European rock metal music scene in recent years. Although compared with the mainstream status of music schools such as speed metal, progress metal and melody death metal, their influence is not huge, it is conceivable that these emerging Gothic groups will certainly form a force that cannot be ignored in the future. In this article, I will make a detailed introduction from the origin and development of Gothic art and culture, its influence on heavy metal music and the development of Gothic metal music.

What is "Goth"? First of all, literally, it has three meanings. First of all, Gothic buildings, such as cathedrals, are characterized by their tall beams and columns and pointed arched ceilings and structures. Secondly, Goth is used to describe strange and mysterious adventure stories set in dark and lonely places, such as abandoned castles. Third, Gothic also represents a printing or writing style, and the font is quite gorgeous.

The earliest word "Gothic" originated from the Renaissance and was used to distinguish the artistic styles of the Middle Ages (5th ~15th century). Its origin comes from the German Goths who invaded Italy and disintegrated the Roman Empire in the 3rd-5th century. /kloc-in the 0/5th century, Italians had the idea of reviving ancient Roman culture and set off a brilliant Renaissance movement. Because Italians can't let go of the historical hatred of the Goths who destroyed the Roman Empire, in order to distinguish it from this period, they called the artistic style of the Middle Ages Goth, which meant barbarism to them. Although the word Gothic originally had a negative meaning, in fact quite a few beautiful works of art were created at this time.

12 century, due to the improvement of architectural technology, a large number of Gothic churches were born, the most famous of which is Notre Dame de Paris. Of course, Gothic style is not limited to architecture, such as sculpture, glass products, decorations and colorful pictures. , deeply influenced by it. This artistic creation lasted from the middle of12nd century to the beginning of16th century. In fact, religion plays a very important role in Gothic art. Both painters and sculptors like to take religion as the theme in their works, but they are not very interested in realistic themes.

The Romantic Movement, which appeared around 1800 AD, revived Gothic and medieval cultures. Romanticism can be said to be a reaction to the rationalism of the Enlightenment, and perceptual and irrational attitudes are the center of this movement. During this period, Gothic began to be associated with darkness, strangeness and eccentricity. In fact, many symbols and themes of romanticism are quite similar to these Gothic subcultures. Some writers in this period were very keen to describe the darkness and emptiness in people's hearts, and sexual delusion, horror and mystery were widely used in literary works. In addition, in visual arts, romantic painters prefer dark and desolate scenery. Vampire is the most typical symbol in gothic novels. bram stoker's classic Dracula even added the image of vampire in the book, which can be described as the origin of gothic literature with vampire as the theme in the19th century.

In the1980s, the neo-Gothic movement began to be staged in Britain. The appearance of Gothic Movement may be regarded as a reaction to the previous punk culture. In any case, the Gothic spirit began to show its influence in music. Gothic music also likes to pay attention to the darkness and emptiness of human nature and has a strong interest in death. Slowness, sadness and even horror are the characteristics of its music, vampires again.

In addition to music performances, Gothic artists' groups also visually express the aesthetics of death, such as pale faces and black clothes, or ruffled clothes in Victorian England19th century. Medieval relics and Gothic architecture are also widely used. The Gothic movement in Britain reached its peak in the mid-1980s. The most representative bands are Sisters of Charity and nephilim's mission and field.

As far as musical style is concerned, British Gothic music in this period was called New Wave, and a large number of synthesizers (keyboards) were added to rock music, as well as the Gothic elements mentioned above and even an electronic flavor. After Gothic Rock/New Wave was introduced into the United States, it further developed into a branch of industrial, and the famous groups were Ministry and Nine Inch Nail. On the other hand, in Europe, it prefers electronic music.

Although Gothic music is developing towards electronic music all over Europe, there are also some other variations. In fact, Gothic metal music was also brewed in the early 1990s, and finally announced the arrival of Gothic metal era with the first album of 1995, the famous Norwegian group Tragedy Theatre.

However, before we start talking about Gothic Metal, we have to start with doom metal, which is a heavy, dark, slow, melancholy and sad music style. Some people think that the earliest origin of doom metal can be traced back to the first album of the same name on Black Sabbath and subsequent ones.

Destroying metals began to develop in many ways after the 1990s. The album Paradise Lost, a British heavyweight band, was released in 9 1 year; Inspired by Gothic rock, it became one of the pioneers who took the lead in applying female vocal music and keyboard string base to metal music. Subsequently, the Norwegian Tragedy Theatre completely integrated doom metal with Gothic elements, and then created and established a new school of Gothic doom metal, and T.O.T can also be said to be the primary contributor to the revival of Gothic style. The success of T.O.T made this Gothic metal trend spread rapidly from Northern Europe.

Since then, several theatrical features of drama have become the basic elements of Gothic metal, especially Gothic death, which has become the mainstream style today. For example, the duet form of the brutal male voice of death metal (even the harsh black voice of black metal) with the soft female voice is the dark and romantic Gothic spirit, and this contrast style also symbolizes darkness (the dead hole and the metal music part) and light, life and love (the female voice, piano and symphony part), as well as the soft and out-of-touch beautiful singing of T.O.T soprano Liv Kristine Espe Nast, which has already conquered the hearts of many steel men. However, due to the cultural differences among European countries, Gothic metal has also developed and even extended into many different forms. In addition to Gothic doom, in the Netherlands, the party set up a pure Gothic metal, with a beautiful voice as the lead singer, focusing on spiritual feelings. The lead singer Anneke van Giersbergen's voice is ethereal and beautiful. It can be said to be a perfect example of Gothic metal. Later, two other Dutch Gothic metal groups "Within the Temptation" and "After Forever" are also famous for their female lead singers with similar timbre and singing skills, which shows the influence of the party on Dutch Gothic metal. However, the poly-cost-effective has gradually changed its style recently, and the metal composition is getting weaker and weaker.

In addition, the Nordic Orchestra further blended some black metal elements into Gothic and became Gothic Black. Famous orchestras, including Tristan and The Sins Of Thy Beloved, are from Norway. But in fact, the development of Goth in northern Europe, Goth, bad luck, death, black has been integrated, it is difficult to classify it as a single style. For example, Tristan even used clean male voices, black voices and chorus of opera hostess and choir in addition to the grand symphony momentum.

Of course, the Nordic Orchestra's musical thinking is not limited to this. Therion, Sweden has developed the symphonic opera metal, which includes both orchestral instruments (synthesizer sampling timbre) and metal instruments, and its singing part has recently adopted professional male and female opera choirs. Besides, as a divine grace, Finland gives people a feeling of seeing the prosperity of the world with its quiet and elegant atmosphere of Gothic.

When it comes to the traditional Gothic vampire culture, we can't help but mention Britain's Cradle of Dirty, which uses a large number of keyboards to create an extremely dark, evil and mysterious atmosphere, and successfully blends this Gothic atmosphere into the sadistic black metal, thus establishing the achievements of vampire black metal C.O.F and making it enjoy a very high position in the black metal world.

In Germany, classical folk Gothic folk songs have been developed, such as Lacrimosa and Haggard. In addition to synthesizers, these combinations also use real orchestral instruments, so they are quite classic. For example, Lacrimosa cooperated directly with the London Symphony Orchestra, and the members of Haggard even reached 18, which is quite classic.

In recent years, Italy is famous all over Europe for its avant-garde metal and symphony fast-acting metal, but its development in Gothic metal is not far behind. The Holy Land of the Heart and Macbeth are among the best. The former is desolate and sad, the latter is romantic and moving, and the melody is moving. In addition, there are some orchestras that pay attention to creating atmosphere, such as Dunwich and Autumn Crown, which are full of medieval feeling, among which Dunwich used medieval instruments and monks' choirs.

As for other European countries, there are also representative orchestras, such as Sirrah in Poland, Even Song in Hungary, Ontho in Romania and I Lay. , the two styles are completely different.

However, Gothic metals began to show a trend of polarization in the late 1990s. On the one hand, it continued the Gothic death route or increased the symphony sense, but on the other hand, it returned to the electronic sound, industrial flavor and even the early new wave route. This phenomenon is particularly obvious in some large groups. For example, in addition to the above-mentioned parties, even the album musique & gt almost faded the color of Gothic death and became an industrial electronic rock band. At the same time, some former doom metal bands have slowly added electronic music to their music.

From the above introduction, we can know that Gothic metal music has been fully developed and is no longer limited to a single style. Goth is not only a musical style, but also an attitude towards life. Goth is a fantasy world that people can escape from reality and enter, a dark and romantic world. Gothic spirit can be manifested not only in music, but also in clothing, art and literature. There are a lot of lace clothes, roses symbolizing romance and graves. Of course, as far as music is concerned, metal fans who generally strongly and directly like it may find it difficult to accept Gothic metal with slow speed and emphasis on atmosphere. However, if we can fundamentally understand the background and artistic conception of this music genre and adjust our mentality appropriately, we may be able to experience a different kind of listening experience and fun.