Teen Gothic

like… no? gothic rock has existed a long time, and is pretty clearly definied with a relatively destinct sound. i could see some arguments being made for lumping in some adjacent genres, but saying any music goths like is goth music is a dumb argument since not only, like i said, does goth have a pretty clear musical definition, but also goths can like non goth music. i like hyperpop, that doesn't suddenly make 100 gecs a goth band.

plus, if you get rid of a definition for what goth music is other than stuff that goths like, then you also end up getting rid of a definition for goth

sorry for posting a lot of discussion posts, i'm a bit high and by extension wired/chatty lol. i didn't see anything in rules about repeat posts other than posting music, but i can take down some discussion posts if need be

I'm curious about the claims I've seen that the goth subculture is a home to social misfits like myself. (I'm autistic and I have ADHD.) Discussion is welcome, if you feel like sharing.

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I want to get many people involved such as bands, artists, small businesses, babybats, elder goths, just anyone with an appreciation for goth involved. Things such as interviews, fashion discussion, monthly releases and music reviews, concert photography and art, and general discussion about the subculture throughout the years will be present. I am only 18 and from California so I would need assistance from fellow goths of all ages, locations, and identities in order to represent the goth community as completely as I can. Much help is appreciated !

Idk if anyone else has seen these posts but theres a big rise in people asking 'how to be goth' and if they are goth enough to call themselves goth and all this anxiety around simply the word goth.

I find it somewhat odd, how rather than first discover the bands, fashion, people, culture ect, they discover the label. With how social media works today there is so much disconnect between who we are and how we present ourselves online.

Thus all the anxiety, imposter syndrome, panic and focus on labels. Kids today hearing about wanting a "BtGGF" before hearing their first sisters of mercy song, or meeting their first goth.

Rather than come at this problem with hate which i feel many on the internet do, I think empathy with these identity confused teenagers will always help. Please don't feel like you are or aren't goth enough, its not a measurement. That's not how passions and interests work. You look for music, what you think you might like and if you love a song you love it. If you don't like a song you don't like it. Please don't feel like goth is a membership with a test you have to pass to be in the goth club. Goths are simply people with similar music based interests. If you listened to that a lot of that music and enjoyed it, then you're pretty goth.

Please don't feel like you have to be 1 thing, listen to what you love and have no shame. Get out there and explore as much interesting music you can find. And think to yourself do you actually like this song or is it just cool or goth enough to ease your anxiety around weather your a real goth

Your aim shouldn't be to become a goth, your aim should be to find music you genuinely love and enjoy.

Anyways just love yourself and love what you love

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I want to understand the subculture and what it means to be goth I know I have to listen to the music but I remember seeing somewhere there's an ideology to it aswell? I also might want to try and start dressing goth not sure I know that's not needed to be goth but it's for funsies, I love the whole "alt" (in quotation marks cuz not sure if I'll get attacked for it or not) fashion from emo to punk etc I would also like music suggestions but I could also just scroll through the subreddit

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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The USA has been host to a great many subcultures, however, these subcultures are usually short-lived. The Greasers lasted around 10 years and the Hippies lasted around 15 years but the Goth subculture has, for some reason, persisted for over 40 years and counting re-inventing itself each decade but remaining largely consistent in its foundational principles. I'm wondering how exactly Goth has managed to exist for so long while all the other Subcultures had remarkably short lifespans?

i (f20) have only recently started listening to goth music and becoming interested in the fashion… is it too late for me to be a baby bat? I study in a fairly small city with next to no alternative subculture, so I don't really have any irl spaces to turn to about this stuff