What Band Got You Into Goth/Post-Punk

[DJ Nocker]

Made a similar question about this with "Industrial" music, this is one of the only genre things I will be a total nazi about as there is a huge difference between most goth and industrial, although some bands blur the lines. And although most of the people seem to be more geared to the industrial stuff, I wanted to start this thread for the 3-5 people on this forum that still enjoy goth music.

So, what got you started? Listening to old "Alien Sex Fiend"? Maybe love "Siouxsie's" voice? Had your first kiss to "The Cure"? Maybe you are really cool and listened to some "Zola Jesus" and worked your way backwards? Or maybe you all hate the goth sub genre.

[Destroit]

There was ONE kid that listened to goth rock in our high school and I had a mad crush on him . That's how I began to get exposed to it. It wasn't one of those things where I forced myself to like it just because someone I was into dug it, I genuinely thought it was whimsically spooky kind of stuff. It fits a different mood than industrial does but is still dark and eerie. He was massively obsessed with Bauhaus, so I'm pretty sure that was the first actual band I can remember listening to.

There was ONE kid that listened to goth rock in our high school and I had a mad crush on him . That's how I began to get exposed to it. It wasn't one of those things where I forced myself to like it just because someone I was into dug it, I genuinely thought it was whimsically spooky kind of stuff. It fits a different mood than industrial does but is still dark and eerie. He was massively obsessed with Bauhaus, so I'm pretty sure that was the first actual band I can remember listening to.

[Simon Bar Sinister]

I'd heard Bauhaus, Joy Division, the Cure and Christian Death beforehand, and (other than the Cure) I thought they were OK, but it was the Sisters of Mercy's cover of "Gimme Shelter" that got me hooked. My friend Rob was in the Navy in the '80s, and he was stationed in Iceland. He came home on leave and brought some killer music with him, including the then-new 12" single with that song on it. :D

[Class-Punk]

I was a teenager when I was introduced to some of the Goth staple bands. I was already interested in the Gothic subculture I just didn't know anything about the music, and I was more into Ozzy and Maiden. The first bands that come to mind were Bauhaus, Alien Sex Fiend, Sisters of Mercy, and Christian Death.

I don't listen to "Goth staple bands" that much. The old post-punk bands I like and listen to most are more dream-like, like Sad Lovers and Giants, Asylum Party, For Against, The Names, The Chameleons, & The Sound.

Edited June 2, 2011 by Coffeenated

[Joey Deadcat]

Gargoyle Sox was at the root of it but 4AD artists really gave me a push.

[Nate Kriepp]

Sisters of Mercy with their song Temple of Love. Jeeezus, that was what, 1984? I suddenly feel a little older. WhooooO!~

[Troy Spiral (13)]

Since childhood in the proto-stage starting with Edgar Allen Poe in like 5th grade, and a Mickey Mouse (no we didn't have Harry Potter) cartoon/book were he goes to the haunted house before that, but specifically:

I met two girls at what was called The Gratzi (was a coffee shop, now a Starbucks in Ann Arbor) the week Kurt Cobain died...

We started talking about it (Cobian's Death). They asked me if I wanted to go to a club, I'd never been to one before, but I agreed. I was very nervous about going as I had no clue to expect at a dance club (little did I know it was also gay night). They led me to the basement of what was then called the Nectarine (Necto) in the "sludge club" , that particular night anyway, there were a TON of lets just say "appropriately attired for the music" people, and there was a variety of Sisters/Peter Murphy / Bauhaus / Siouxie. I didn't know what any of it was at the time. Not sure If I'd ever even heard the term "goth" before then, as it related to music. First goth song that I can remember sticking In my head was Bella, and that was the song that filled up the floor so I assumed it had some significance to it right away. It was more a combination of the atmosphere and the music together (the hot chicks dressed like lets call it "classy sluts" probably helped a lot more than I'd like to admit.... seeeexy. There was not a neon color to be found, was all pale skin and the sort of "classic" goth look all around. Around that same time I also met The Rocky Horror Picture show and got molested by one of the girls at the state theater in Ann Arbor (whos name i have no idea) on the stage in front of the packed crowd and well...

Its all been just a downward spiral leading to hell since then.

Heck I almost forgot about that until just now.

[phee]

Like Troy it was mostly what I was reading... then finding that Siouxie and The Cure seemed to have a similar feel to it.

[DeadBurgerKing (10)]

I was like 14, saw "Goth Rock Vol. 1" at a Hot Topic (back when it didn't suck). I heard Nosferatu "Inside The Devil", Specimen "Syria", Marionettes "Ave Dementia" and Alien Sex Fiend "Now I'm Feeling Zombified" (I think it was ASF) and fell in love with it!

Though, I'm still more of a punk guy.

[DJ Nocker]

I was like 14, saw "Goth Rock Vol. 1" at a Hot Topic (back when it didn't suck). I heard Nosferatu "Inside The Devil", Specimen "Syria", Marionettes "Ave Dementia" and Alien Sex Fiend "Now I'm Feeling Zombified" (I think it was ASF) and fell in love with it!

Though, I'm still more of a punk guy.

Marionettes "Ave Dementia" :wub:

Also love Specimen and Alien Sex Fiend....

[DarkVampire]

Siouxsie and the Banshees Face to Face from the Batman Returns soundtrack. Siouxsie is hot.

[DJ Nocker]

Siouxsie and the Banshees Face to Face from the Batman Returns soundtrack. Siouxsie is hot.

I agree

[deadcoldgothgirl]

This is the part where everyone starts to hate me....

I never heard any songs from a goth band. I've heard the sex pistols and rancid, but that's about it. What got me into the goth scene was more of the ideology and the things I liked wearing. Heck if any of you asked me I wouldn't even know who to listen to. I listen to pretty much anything. I tend to listen to alternative rock the most. though.

[DJ Nocker]

This is the part where everyone starts to hate me....

I never heard any songs from a goth band. I've heard the sex pistols and rancid, but that's about it. What got me into the goth scene was more of the ideology and the things I liked wearing. Heck if any of you asked me I wouldn't even know who to listen to. I listen to pretty much anything. I tend to listen to alternative rock the most. though.

That is not surprising. It seems more and more, especially with women, that the fashion is what they are really into, Not the music. I will see a girl sporting a great deathrock look with an awesome hawk and they wont know who "Specimen" is...Its depressing but im starting to come to terms with it. And for the record, sex pistols and rancid are more straight punk than gothy. Still memorable bands though.

PS, I hate when people say they listen to almost anything because its usually never true, lol.

[deadcoldgothgirl]

That is not surprising. It seems more and more, especially with women, that the fashion is what they are really into, Not the music. I will see a girl sporting a great deathrock look with an awesome hawk and they wont know who "Specimen" is...Its depressing but im starting to come to terms with it. And for the record, sex pistols and rancid are more straight punk than gothy. Still memorable bands though.

PS, I hate when people say they listen to almost anything because its usually never true, lol.

I just need someone to point out that music scene to me I guess. I had my brothers show me alternative rock, so that is where my roots went. I like all music, but some of it gets on my nerves. My big things are I can't listen to all rap, hip hop, or r&b. I can take some of it, but not all of it. Besides that I'm open to new things and try to appreciate music as much as I can. That is my planned future feild so I try to listen to it all.

[DJ Nocker]

I just need someone to point out that music scene to me I guess. I had my brothers show me alternative rock, so that is where my roots went. I like all music, but some of it gets on my nerves. My big things are I can't listen to all rap, hip hop, or r&b. I can take some of it, but not all of it. Besides that I'm open to new things and try to appreciate music as much as I can. That is my planned future feild so I try to listen to it all.

Feel free to Private Message me, ill give ya some starters.

[Troy Spiral (13)]

Was thinking about this one a bit more. Never really answered the question as it was asked, if forced to just "name a band" ... Love & Rockets, which I knew about before knowing about Bauhaus, which lead me to Bauhaus after finding out more about how that band was formed.

Even though I was already familiar with much of the music and the names of various bands. I guess the first time I "realized" there was a distinction between "goth-esque" music and "real goth rock" was in this same article that I cannot seem to find, where they were talking to reznor about his influences and he listed off a few different things, drawing a distinction between Industrial and Gothic and that "crossover" was happening. So I wondered what do you mean "crossover"? You mean its not all just "goth - rock" "goth-industrial" "goth-punk" etc.? I just assumed right from the start that there were various "flavors" of music and goth was just one part of the puzzle, not whole unto itself. So I never really developed a huge annoyance at people that "think they know what goth is". But right away I could tell what they meant, that is the guitar & drums / punky and also the "new wave" sounding stuff (Souxsie) was (by their definition) "traditional goth" so I thought, yeah I like that stuff more than I like the "crossover" stuff they are talking about.

The way I looked at it at the time was the same way I look at the blurred lines between Science Fiction and Fantasy. Say a movie has dragons and wizards in it: Fantasy. Then say a different movie is about the future with robots: Sci Fi. Lets say a third movie has Robots AND Dragons: its both Fantasy and Sci Fi its not that it isn't Fantasy or isn't Sci Fi, its both. Its just not lets call it "pure fantasy" or "pure sci fi" , which, I never felt the need to draw the distinction. (although I do prefer "hard" sci fi, to the fantasy/sci fi hybrids) so preferring say "pure oldschool style goth" (however its defined) made sense to me, just didn't really feel any lets call it "Threat" from the "non purists" so to speak.

[Troy Spiral (13)]

I just need someone to point out that music scene to me I guess. I had my brothers show me alternative rock, so that is where my roots went. I like all music, but some of it gets on my nerves. My big things are I can't listen to all rap, hip hop, or r&b. I can take some of it, but not all of it. Besides that I'm open to new things and try to appreciate music as much as I can. That is my planned future feild so I try to listen to it all.

Try not to get turned off by the music-elitist types. Having been around music fanatics my whole life, for whatever reason a small sub-set of "us" tend to be mildly rude to the less knowledgeable, I'm not sure why that is, but I know its turned away many people from getting more into different types of (more obscure to them) music.

[Troy Spiral (13)]

PS, I hate when people say they listen to almost anything because its usually never true, lol.

Yeah that tends to annoy me too. Or better yet "I like everything except <insert something here> (usually Rap or Country)" Well I'm sure its not everything except that ONE genre, and beside that, you mean the entire decades long body of work has nothing worth liking?

Even being a music nerd, there are some types of music I've still not even heard, or have herd so little of it as to not be able to make the "everything" statement, even though i try , and probably have been caught saying it in the past. I got force-fed some genre's having to fill in for several dozen formats for djs that couldnt make it that week.

Giving myself crash-courses in Big Band, Avant Jazz, << 18th century Chamber music>>, Beatbox, Powernoise , Spacerock, Death Metal, Bluegrass, Ragtime... (ill stop typing now) sorta widened my perspective , which I thought was already pretty wide, but I don't think i can claim "I like everything".

[DJ Nocker]

Try not to get turned off by the music-elitist types. Having been around music fanatics my whole life, for whatever reason a small sub-set of "us" tend to be mildly rude to the less knowledgeable, I'm not sure why that is, but I know its turned away many people from getting more into different types of (more obscure to them) music.

I hope you arent being passive aggressive and reffering me in that statement, as several members can tell you, I am more than willing to show people music and explain different aspects. I just like people to be "in the know" because the whole mixing of genres is causing a lot of people to think that certain stuff is no longer being made or that it has just completely changed, which if you know where to look, it hasnt. As was mentioned in the thread by joey deadcat about "goth being back".

[phee]

Knowing music and ripping on people for their tastes are very different things.... Elitism for example: "I like Gothicblood band X and I have been into them forever... the fact that you are into Nugothblood band Y shows that you know nothing n00b!" Verses knowledgeable: "Oh you like Nugothblood band Y? If you like them I recommend Gothicblood band X because Nugothblood band Y got a lot of their influence from from Gothicblood band X..."

[Troy Spiral (13)]

I hope you arent being passive aggressive and reffering me in that statement, as several members can tell you, I am more than willing to show people music and explain different aspects. I just like people to be "in the know" because the whole mixing of genres is causing a lot of people to think that certain stuff is no longer being made or that it has just completely changed, which if you know where to look, it hasnt. As was mentioned in the thread by joey deadcat about "goth being back".

Wasn't intentional if it seemed that way. If i really had some problem with someone I'd PM them. Just really like everyone has their pet concerns, one of mine is how easy it is to scare people away, even unintentionally. Wasn't directed at anyone in particular was just a statement I have on mental hotkey (or some varation of it).

I like your presence on the board. True sometimes I think the anti-ABC Genre thing is a bit extreme (although its not you doing it in particular, and BELIVE ME i understand the feeling/urge, like I've mentioned before I got fired from 89.3 FM for partly being overly outspoken about particular venues musical choices (and the DJs themselves even, by name) although I've sort of went to my happy place about that and (usually) have focused my rage elsewhere , hah.

[FarrIL]

For me, it was a mixture. There was no real "first" that I recall. But being the one youngin' in a car full of teenagers, being driven to school every morning, we'd listen to the radio and I'd become familiar with whatever was playing on 89x and being given suggestions from everyone around me. I believe Ministry's "Every day is Hallowe'en" was a familiar one... something I knew of, just didnt know the who/what of it. This was the same case for metal bands like Mushroomhead... knew them before I knew it was them.

I listened to more EBM and Futurepop before I got into Goth music but I do have a friend that force-fed me Siouxsie like it was going out of style. Wasnt complaining about that either.

[Joey Deadcat]

Also, I have to say that Sex Gang Children made me realize long ago where it could have gone and how it could have been.

Edited June 25, 2011 by Joey Deadcat

[deadcoldgothgirl]

I just think it is all a little funny. I've never had the problem of meeting up with people that are elitist about music, but then again I never get out of my little bubble. That should get changed soon. I kinda think it's silly to lower someone in your own subculture unless they really are just that repulsively poserish.