Teen Gothic

I posted this last year and thought I'd share it again, with a minor edit: "Christine" is about Dissociative Identity Disorder, not schizophrenia.

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I recall an interview where Siouxsie remarked that if she weren't a musician, she might like to be a psychologist. (Or a gardener.) I think she understands human psychology incredibly well. A few songs off the top of my head:

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Eve White/Eve Black (Dissociative Identity Disorder) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLhJm_87kQc

The Ghost In You (posttraumatic stress disorder) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etutVZoOHts

Burn Up (obsession with fire) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww4awxmDWwA

Carcass (amputation fetish) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEbq05H_gaY

Voodoo Dolly (alcoholism) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Whu8m97ytUY

Happy House (society's obsession with appearing normal and perfect) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amR6-neQBPE

Christine (Dissociative Identity Disorder) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rtt_0OKzRek

Background info: Originally recorded in 1987. Released as the second single from Floodland in 1988. First of all, a link to the video. Here's yet another opportunity to watch Patricia Morrison rocking her glam look. Lyrics – Extended Version.

You've heard this song five hundred times. You might have idly wondered what Andrew Eldritch is rambling about. So I did a little bit of sleuthing. Oh my, this song did not age well at all. Once again, Eldritch proves to be insufferable. From this article on Songfacts.com:

Written by Sisters of Mercy lead singer Andrew Eldritch, this apocalyptic track was inspired by Percy Bysshe Shelley's 1818 sonnet Ozymandias. Eldritch told MTV: "The song is about erecting monuments in outrageous places to one's own personal power and then crumbling away."

The 7-minute album version was remixed and released as "Dominion" in the UK.

The "Mother Russia" segment was influenced by the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, in which an explosion at the Ukrainian nuclear facility sent dangerous levels of radioactive particles into the atmosphere, endangering the [former] western USSR and Europe.

Eldritch told The Melody Maker in 1987: "I made the mistake of getting caught in central Europe when Chernobyl started sprinkling it's residue over the land. It's sort of a carry on (and 'Carry On') from 'Black Planet' – part of my hate/hate relationship with America. I just had this idea of all them huddled in their mobile homes while Mother Russia rained down on them. They deserve it. I suppose the song is really about the prostitution of Europe by the Americans." The music video depicts a tale of intrigue with Eldritch passing information to bass player Patricia Morrison. But what does it all mean? "It means absolutely nothing," director David Hogan laughed. "Just the impression of a story."

It was Eldritch's idea to shoot the clip in Petra, Jordan – not the safest idea considering Iran and Iraq were warring on the Gaza Strip. Hogan told Songfacts in a 2015 interview: "We were told by the State Department that they never recommend Americans going over there at the time because it's a war and because of all the stuff going on in Israel. So we said, 'Okay, well, tough titty, we're going.'" Luckily, the location manager was friends with the king's brother. "So they hooked us up with the king, and they said, Well, if they're coming, we're going to supply them with bodyguards. So I had an armed bodyguard with me with a machine gun at his side the entire time following me everywhere, even into the bathroom."

He added: "And the helicopter shot, we didn't have a helicopter budgeted, and I said, 'Man, it would be great to get a helicopter shot of this place.' And the location manager said, 'Well, I'll call the king's brother.' He called the king, and he sent a gigantic helicopter for us, just landed in the middle of Petra, and I thought oh, this is cool."

Hi, I mostly listen to a lot of 90’s alternative rock, post-punk (most recently have liked the Manic Street Preachers, it would take me a while to list all the other 90’s stuff I listen to so I won’t bore you with it unless you ask)… I am definitely ‘darkly inclined’ and have always been curious about goth subculture. I guess what I’m saying is do I have permission to just kinda lurk here, and maybe find out if being goth is for me? If I’m not welcome then I’ll get out of here. I feel like I don’t really fit in with punk though I like music that leans toward it sometimes, but I’m not goth either unless I find that goth music is for me, and I’d like to explore that right now. I would love suggestions for goth bands to check out if you have any….in particular stuff that might lean closer to post punk and the kind of music I am already listening to, and definitely if you know of anything 90’s or 90’s inspired I’m sure I’d be into it.

i really enjoy goth music and bands, specifically (but not limited to) sisters of mercy, joy division, siouxsie and the banshees, killing joke, specimen, bauhaus, and the march violets. however, i don't wear trad goth clothes nor makeup, and i never have. am i considered goth?