Teen Gothic

I'm a big fan of earlier Goth Rock that was generally darker and more experimental (Pornography by The Cure, Juju by Siouxsie and the Banshees, Unknown Pleasures by Joy Division). I feel like during the 80s and 90s, the genre was full of different sounds, and there was a lot more variation. Tender Prey by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and The Great Annihilator by Swans are both great Gothic Rock albums, but they're very different in mood and sound.

I love certain modern Goth music (Have a Nice Life, Chelsea Wolfe), but most of what I've heard sounds way too much specifically like The Sisters of Mercy to me. The programmed drums, the deep vocals, the production. And don't get me wrong, The Sisters of Mercy are awesome (First and Last and Always is a great album), but it's almost like this became the expected sound for Goth Rock at some point, and many people stopped playing around with what could be done in the genre. Does anyone have any weirder, darker, or just different sounding modern Goth recommendations?

Like, I know people when I was a kid who liked Vision Thing or All About Eve's eponymous LP because they were into metal or folk and it was close enough.

Not trying to impinge Rule #2.

** Please note that i'm merely speaking about my own personal experience and not trying to diminish other people's experience within the community *\*

As someone with Iranian heritage who has been in the scene for a long time, i've never felt unwelcomed at all. I never got racist or ignorant comments thrown at me. Not in real ife, nor online. I honestly never felt like my ethnicity ever mattered. It didn't cross my mind once. And i also never felt like making my ethnicity a part of my goth identity. I was in the goth scene because i loved the music and loved the fashion and lifestyle that came with it. I have also found that out of all the alt scenes, goths were the kindest and chillest people.

I don't know if my appearance played a part in this, as i'm someone who is already naturally quite pale and have natural dark hair. For instance, when i stopped dressing goth, some people still thought that i was a goth.

I'm honestly shocked and also saddened hearing of poc goths who don't feel confident enough in joining the community. And what makes me even more sad and especially angry is when poc goths face scrutiny from other pocs and how they're being accused of acting ''white'', these kinds of ignorant remarks seems to be specifically thrown at black goths and it makes me so sad.

Goth is universal and for everyone. From the dark and ancient mysticism, folklore and sounds coming from the Middle East, to the spooky and eerie tales and aesthetics hailing from New Orleans. Goth has found inspiration from many corners of the world.

I always wondered this ever since I started to get into the goth scene. As a black goth, I get called shit like whitewashed, wanna-be white, school shooter, satan worshipper, etc. Plus, I go to a catholic school so the insults are like times ten. Some of my aunties even call me "fast" for wearing black & red (idek why…)

I wanted to know what was the goth experience like for a POC during 70s to 90s, maybe even the 2000s (even though the 2000s really isn't that old). I'm curious lol.

Please correct me if I am wrong about this and I am fully open to criticism:

For a while now I have seen a rise in berating others, especially baby bats, for interpreting a band or song as goth that another person disagrees with it/makes fun of them for thinking it is goth. I have seen legitimate harassment level messages such as death threats due to someone interpreting something as goth that another person deems incorrect. Music genres, especially this one with so many genres and subgenres, get incredibly blurry in some areas with other music (such as new wave and non-goth postpunk) and it feels wrong to say that there is an exact hard line everyone has to agree on between what is and isn’t be considered goth. Obviously not saying that BTS or Arianna Grande are goth due to interpretation as that would be straight up wrong, but for example the debates on Molchat Doma and similar seem to go wayyyy further than should. Why can’t we just “I interpret this song/band as goth” “I interpret this song differently and not as goth” “that is okay”?. The subculture is very important to me so I know that keeping the genres meanings are important, but the recent rise has kind of concerned me and a lot of the “protecting the meaning” has gone way off the rail. Has anyone noticed a similar trend? Is this a common sentiment and I’m just late to the party? How can we better approach this issue and help prevent toxicity?

Thank you!

show me playlists, songs, etc! any goth song with a foreign language, preferably languages that arent JUST european (though that’s perfectly fine!) any genre is fine btw

Of course I've found the obvious Russian and Belarusian post-punk and a few Hispanic. But other than that none. If anyone of you come from a non-English speaking countary or just know of any gothic/post-punk/new wave bands or artists in a different language I'd love to see.