The Strays of Goth Music

Once and for all, I'd really like to move my butt and post about something that I've been itching to talk about for awhile.  It may also be worth noting that this post is entirely my own opinion -- you can leave your input if you wish.  I'm interested to see what you guys think about this.

A lot of people talk about how truu g0ffickz peoplz listen to only Goth music.

Wait, let's pause there.

There is a multitude of reasons as to why this can be proven wrong.

-- If you ONLY listen to the "truest" Goth music, you might get bored.  While this doesn't seem likely to the h4rdcore x g0ffickalz 4 lyfe, most people with a regular brain will eventually get bored of hearing the same things.  There are a lot of classic Goth and deathrock bands that are favorites among Goth, but if someone were to make you hear "Bela Lugosi's Dead" a million times over and over, surely you would beg them to stop?

-- Even if there is such a thing as "true" Goth music, keep in mind that it probably came from our punk grandparents.  And they took that from rock.  And rock took that from blues.  And so forth.  Think of music as a disease.  Goth is just a strain of it.  It came from mutations, and you might get exposed to other strains every so often.  (I think you all get the point ..)

-- It's a bit impossible to listen to the same genre all the time.  A lot of people claim to love country, but they might also delve into hip-hop.   I won't believe that you are the truest motherfuckin' Goth out there unless you were born in some Goth cult in which you have ONLY heard Goth music and nothing else!  There is nothing wrong with enjoying other types of music.  It's about diversity, baby, and getting comfortable with other genres is something we all do.

-- You might come across as "picky" or choosy.  I don't know about you, but whenever I'm at a party, I like to give all the music a chance (since most of my friends are not your average teenagers) in the case my ears will open up to something I like.  I don't want to be the grouch who covers their ears all the time.  And I like knowing "trivia" and facts about other kinds of music.  I dislike most country (especially new country ..) but I really like me some Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline.

Now that we have cleared that, I now want to talk about genres that Goths tend to like .. beside Goth.

Grunge.  I decided to talk about grunge first for the same that I know that this is the genre that I listen to the most, next to Goth.  Let's face it: it's hard to find a piece of the rock world full of dark, angst-filled lyrics, or lyrics of painful truths, or lyrics of similar themes.  I usually don't give lyrics and themes a second chance, but grunge is a haven of noise and realization, of growing up (too fast, or not wanting to), of despair, of simple pleasures.  That's all I really have to say about it before rambling on.  Some favorite grunge bands of mine includes Animal Bag, Mother Love Bone, Alice In Chains, Green River, and even some Mudhoney.  Some might already be familiar with the larger names like Nirvana and Pearl Jam.

Metal.  Oh, saviour of all things heavy and dark and extreme.  Now, I can definitely see why a lot of metal bands are mistaken as Goth: maybe it's the corpse paint, maybe it's the skeleton props, or the dark lyrics about witchcraft?  By all means, there isn't really such a thing as a Goth metal band, but there are some bands with Goth influences. I know a whole lot of Goths who like metal, and I'm still wondering why this genre can sometimes be a magnet for Goths.  But either way, nothing beats jamming out to the occasional death metal song about snowstorms.  Hehe.  Some of my favorite metal bands are Agalloch, Katatonia, Opeth, Moonspell, and Novembre to name a few.

Punk.  Certainly there should be nothing wrong with this one!  Goth got its little bat wings from this genre (and post punk and horror punk if you want to be specific).  Now, if you also are a fan of first wave, post punk, horror punk, batcave, or deathrock, you can definitely tell that there are punk influences.  Hmmm .. I wonder where the leather jackets and safety pins and studs came from?  Or fun hair?  Let's have a look at some bands: The Sex Pistols, The Clash,  The Dead Kennedys, Sid Vicious (bassist from The Sex Pistols),  The Ramones, and Social Distortion.

There are other genres that I didn't bother to write a bit about, so I'll just throw them out there:
shoegazer (Jesus & Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine, Medicine, Slowdive)
new wave (Depeche Mode, New Order, Duran Duran, The Smiths)
post punk (Joy Division, Killing Joke, Echo & The Bunnymen)
industrial rock (Nine Inch Nails, KMFDM, Marilyn Manson, Puscifer, Machines of Loving Grace)
darkwave  (Diary of Dreams, Blutengel, Dead Can Dance, Otto Dix, London After Midnight, Collide)
witch house (Salem or S4LEM, White Ring, oOoOO, Ritualz)