Teen Gothic

I have two extra tickets to see The Cure tonight in Mansfield. My friends cannot make it and I refuse to let these go to waste. Anyone in the area? Show is at 7.

I recently got interested into goth, and I'm trying to make things clear to myself.

I kind of know what is considered goth music (post punk, gothic rock, dark wave, cold wave, ethereal wave, grey rock, etc…). I also know that gothic metal is not goth.

But I am wondering if goth as a subculture is just about goth music, or it encompasses kind of broader lifestyle and worldview that would encompass things like appreciating other kinds of alternative music like metal, industrial music, art rock, indy, then of course gothic literature, horror movies, or dark romantic psychological thrillers, like film noir and stuff like that like Mulholland drive for example, or stuff like Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker, or Kubrick's Clockwork Orange.

Is it also open to stuff like classical literature, like Dostoevsky's "Notes from Underground", existentialist literature like Jean Paul Sartre, absurdist stuff like Beckett's Waiting for Godot, stuff like Steppenwolf, or BDSM classics like Venus in Furs etc. Some forms of classical music like Wagner's operas, Beethoven's Late string quartets or "Grosse Fuge", stuff like Richard Strauss Also Sprach Zaratustra, Carmina Burana, etc. Or even Bach's "Toccata and Fugue".

I guess the answer I'll get is "You're welcome to appreciate all that stuff but it's not required to be a goth, nor is it a part of the subculture".

But I'm still kind of wondering… Limits of goth genre are well known to me. But I've always considered subculture to be more like a lifestyle kind of thing, certain attitude to life, certain sensibility. I mean if the this elusive thing that makes goth goth is important enough for goths to influence their fashion and style, wouldn't it then be be surprising if there was no broader effects on attitudes to life, lifestyle, and artistic / aesthetic tastes?

Is any of the things I listed close enough / adjacent enough to goth to be considered a part of it (even if it's kind of on periphery and not in the very core of the subculture).

Is there anything else goths have in common frequently enough to be considered a part of subculture (even in "sort of" kind of way) besides goth music, and a certain fashion style?

Is goth subculture broader than goth as a music genre?

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What happened this week that made you happy?

Maybe you found a great new album or just an album you hadn't heard about before? Maybe you found a new cuddly kitten that now is a part of your family?

Share it with us!

That's right, it is that time of the week again. When all the moody goths can get things off their chests and complain about life being unfair. Because life is unfair always and especially to you. We all have our own demons to battle (or kiss – you do you) and all our demons seem worse than everyone else's because everyone is me, me, me as we are all single entities in this big bad place we call the universe. But you didn't come here for a philosophical lecture – and a bad one at that. No, you are here to gripe, complain and tell stories about negative stuff that happened for catharsis and entertainment.

Or you can complain about a joke being made by me IRL on people who ironically are people who are complained about in this weekly thread by someone nearly every week because they did something to misrepresent goth. And the people in question I joked with IRL got the joke better than so many people in here did. But I don't blame you, you saw a chance to tear me down and went for it. Not the first time people have tried and won't be the last.

Enough about me, let's hear from you.

Hey what’s up everyone, Philadelphia’s Academy Order are doing an East Coast tour in July (full dates announced soon) and playing this mixed bill gig at the goth club QXT’s in Newark. This line up is right at the center of hardcore/punk and goth, I hope to see you all there 🖤🦇🦇