Teen Gothic

We often talk about what bands we like, but how did you discover them? Back when music meant knowing someone who knew or special ordering something from overseas (and crossing your fingers), compilations were a quick way to discover bands and learn more. What compilations do you remember that opened your eyes to new artists, music, or even scene history hidden in the liner notes? The ones that stand out to me the most are:

Batcave – Young Limbs and Numb Hymns (1983) – *the* compilation of the Batcave club. Really, nothing more needs to be said.

Lonely Is An Eyesore (4AD, 1987) – A fantastic snapshot of 4AD records at the time. Dead Can Dance, Clan of Xymox, and Cocteau Twins. There's so much to love on this comp that it's no wonder it's a perpetual record collector's favorite.

Goth Rock, vol. 1 (Cleopatra Records, Jungle Records 1992) – Released in support of Mick Mercer's "Gothic Rock" book, this comp was the formal introduction to the goth scene for so many Americans. "Gothic Rock" wasn't even Mick's first book on Goth (little known fact: this wasn't even his first compilation!), but Goth Rock vol.1-3 was so popular that I knew people who even defined "what type of goth" they liked based on which compilation they liked the most!

Goth Box (Cleopatra Records, 1996) – Perhaps the best articulation of Cleopatra record's vision of goth ever created. 4 discs of music and full liner notes made this compilation a must-have at the time.

Beneath the Icy Floe, vol. 4 (Projekt Records, 1996) – Projekt's vision of Ethereal and related music at the time. Why volume 4? In 1996, Projekt Records held their first "Projektfest" and distribution for this compilation was far and wide. To me, other "Beneath the Icy Floe" comps feel like they're leading up to this one, or are updates to Projekt's existing catalog.

Bored..?? (Strobelight Records, 2005) – It is *really* hard to pick which Strobelight comp had the largest impact on the Deathrock Revival scene. I picked "Bored..??" because it was everywhere. This was a promo and they were literally giving it away, which is how I got my copy. The "New Dark Age" series had more artists and more volumes, but to me the "Bored..??" promo captures where Deathrock Revival was in 2005 most succinctly.

What compilations are memorable to everyone here? Any memories about the compilations above? Do you have a compilation that you listened to over and over again, or introduced you to a band you love?

This is kinda a music recommendation, but also a bit of a fun challenge for the people that use this sub to see how much goth music knowledge they have at their arsenal that would at least help individuals browsing to expand their music knowledge in general.

https://youtu.be/d7MQVtR97mI Can anybody help me ID the song/show the first clip from this interview is from? thanks 🙂

Context: a year ago I came across kerrang's list of the 50 most evil songs ever written, and I thought it was the most push over top whatever list ever written. To me it wasn't really the 50 most evil songs period, it was more like 'the list of 40 dad rock songs that have the word devil in the title and 10 that I agree with' and ever since then, out of spite, I have been trying to make MY OWN 50 most evil songs list with the intention to make a better list than kerrang's. I've already got 20/50 songs in it of various genres spanning from extreme metal, experimental/avant garde genres, blues/folk/country, dark ambient, horrorcore, and more, but no goth just yet, so I wanna see what kind of songs there are in a genre I haven't reviewed yet.

Which leads me to my question: what are the most evil goth songs you know of, they can be from obscure bands and from popular bands (as a diehard metalhead I don't know anything about the history of goth music 😅)

Hi everyone, long time goth fashion wearer but still a baby bat in terms of actual goth culture. I posted kind of a backstory under this thread which led me to wanting to ask this question.

The tl;dr version of it is that I only started listening to goth music about a couple months ago but because my tastes are both varied and oddly specific at the same time it’s been hard for me to find the type of goth music I enjoy listening to. I’m the kind of person who likes a handful of songs from different artists but said artists aren’t necessarily my favorite.

So far I really enjoy ACTORS’ sound. I’d like to find more artists similar sounding to them. But I’m an alt-pop singer myself so I tend to enjoy female vocals, especially ones that are very powerhouse-y and vocal acrobatics-y. Additionally I’m a freak for love songs. I love romantic melodies and lyrics. I haven’t found anything like those either, so if anyone has any recommendations for those as well I’d really appreciate it! Artists of any decade are welcome!

I feel like I’ve gone way too long having a complete misconception about what goth really is and it’s time for me to school myself and stop being a poser. I’m here to learn 🙂