Teen Gothic

As a gothic rock artist, it's nice for me in terms of networking if people do, but I don't see it as particularly negative if they don't. Especially here in Finland, which is quite dominated by metal music, it's common for people to associate the gothic adjective with metal bands like HIM and certain American bands, etc., without even having heard bands that I consider self-explanatory, like Sisters of Mercy.

I usually try to gently enlighten them by saying, "Did you know that goth music originated long before those bands, and they actually turned it into something else, something of their own?" However, I don't see the point in forcing the issue. We all have our individual music tastes and viewpoints about these movements. On the contrary, it's kind of cool when people outside the goth scene fall in love with my music and are amazed by it because they've never heard anything like it before, since they are unaware of my biggest influences.

Let me know what you think about the matter!

When I was younger, it was absolutely not cool to say that you’re goth. At all. It has become a label now with lots of hashtags. So, how important is it to you all? Do you tell people you’re goth? Is it important at all?

People today, it seems, love to have lots of micro labels, that form some type of curated identity. I know that using labels will garner likes and “engagement” online, but, what about real life? Personally, I rarely get asked and when I do, I will say something like, “Yeah, I do listen to goth music and support the scene.” I cringe a bit when I see someone wearing a shirt that says something like, “goth ghoul gang,” or something. I just wanted to see everyone else’s thoughts on the importance of the label.