Teen Gothic

I follow several music/subculture reddits and almost none of them have people asking if they truly fit the title or not, absolutely none have near as many people asking this as I constantly see here in r/goth.

As far as I've always been concerned, the only opinion that should matter is your own when it comes to self image and applying labels is futile, you're allowed to enjoy something without being boxed in by the eyes of others. That's kind of a major point of punk/goth/metal's foundation as far as I understand it.

I'm not trying to disparage, but I am genuinely curious why this seems so consistant here. Any speculation as to why this particular subreddit seems so desperate for the approval of others and some silly sense of permission to consider themselves a part of the culture?

This is a question that has plagued me for a while. I know that The Cure has said that they’re technically not goth, but I still find them on playlists all the time and I’ve talked to many goths that consider some of their earlier music to be goth. I feel like the Smiths has a very similar vibe to the Cure, a lot of their music is in the same genre of music so that makes sense lmao. Is there a history to the scene that differentiates the two? Anyways, thanks to anyone who can answer lol

As far as I’ve seen, bands like Faith and the Muse and Dead Can Dance are also considered among darkwave genre although they are mentioned much more in ethereal wave genre. But why these bands are also considered darkwave? What are some example songs? And do you think this darkwave lebel is true?

I just started listening to Echo and The Bunnymen and they sound gothic but I don't know if they are. I tryed searching it but it didn't give me any answers.

I'm new to goth music, I've seen some people call them goth and some refuse to do so, I'm just confused issall

I'm tryna diversify my goth playlist, that's why I'm asking.

Asking because to me personnally, theres a few 'off' things that i can't put my finger on that make it sound a little different from typical music of the genre, but what that specifically is, I can't pin.
(Also, I'm not SUPER knowledgeable, I only got into this genre after hearing Bauhaus at a waterpark about a year ago. Out of all the places to hear Bauhaus, a waterpark. My point is, I'm a newbie.)