Teen Gothic

I want to introduce myself into this subculture but I would like to know what is more important, like what you think, what you look, what you read, things that I can know so I can be part of it. If you have any advice of how you started to be goth it would be amazing

What I'm about to write isn't just about recounting my memories, but about addressing the countless questions that so many young people ask themselves: "What does it mean to be goth?" and "Am I goth enough?"

I wouldn't say I'm an old goth, but I was goth at a time and in a place where it had a very strong meaning. By the 2000s, we were already far removed from the original movement, but there was a revival. I was lucky enough to experience it in a European capital at that time. There were parties, bars, bands, and artists. Since we didn't yet have smartphones, social media, etc., if you were part of that scene, it was truly because you wanted to be, because you'd been introduced to the right people. There was this network aspect that really gave it its underground feel. You didn't end up there by chance, but because you were looking for something unusual. All social classes mingled.

Naturally, it attracted all sorts of strange characters. We all came from completely messed-up families, many had experienced terrible things. And I think what united us psychologically was the desire to confront the darkness. We had experienced violence, perversion, things that were very traumatic for teenagers, and we drew our strength from a kind of revenge. Yes, we dressed in black, yes, we shocked people, yes, we listened to music that talked about death, that blasphemed and talked about sex and cemeteries, yes, people gave us dirty looks in the street, none of that scared us, we liked playing with fear, maybe because we were often very afraid in the development of our personalities. It was therapeutic, in a way.

I'm not judging the young people who want to rebuild this movement, which has already been alive and dead several times. But seriously, if you want to keep this going: don't worry about whether you fit in. Don't be afraid to be disruptive, to be the only one saying something, don't try to play it safe, but don't be mean either, but accept that it's a playground for what makes you uncomfortable. If you go there trying to please others, you'll miss out on what creates the energy and you won't experience anything worthwhile. What will connect you to others is breaking boundaries together, including your own. You're not there by chance, so go for it, and see what happens. Go on an adventure, don't be afraid, you're going to rock.

I believe that without using music theory and music production terminology, the whole "what is goth music" discussion goes nowhere. For me, 'goth music' is characterized by the following:

• repeated rhythms, often in simple time
• use of effects such as chorus, distortion, delay etc on electric guitars (and occasionally bass guitars) to create 'ambient' textures
• high use of reverb on all instruments
• less overdrive/distortion compared to industrial, punk and metal, more subdued electric guitar timbre
• use of noise and extraneous sounds alongside "musical" pitch (especially goth rock that leans more towards post-punk)
• use of synthesizers/keyboards to colour textures with ambience
• use of power chords (as in all rock genres)
• use of minor keys
• less emphasis on instrumental technical prowess and more on creating affect through texture and ambience
• clean vocals, often in a low tessitura

These are core attributes and by all means not exhaustive. All of these attributes create the "dark sound" that goth rock is known for. 'Ambience' is a very important word here when it comes to describing the sound of goth rock that I believe a lot of people tend to overlook. The 'ambient' and 'textual' characteristic of goth rock is shared by shoegaze and dream pop, with shoegaze emphasizing more use of distortion and less reverb and dream pop emphasizing more chorus and reverb and less distortion. The de-emphasis on showcasing instrumental technical prowess is an attribute shared with shoegaze, dream pop, EBM, industrial punk, post punk and post-rock but not with metal and progressive rock.

i understand that they aren’t too popular but they definitely deserve more recognition, they some of my favourite deathrock songs ever made and i’ve just never seen any discussion about them past a singular reddit comment where someone recommended them to a deadchovsky fan

Just looking for some super bitter and angry songs.Pretty much anything that gives off a feeling of being fed up and hating everything.

I have a condition called Muscular Dystrophy. I just want to talk to people like myself. One good thing about my wheelchair is that I can wear whatever shoes I want now. My ankles got too weak to wear heels years ago. That meant anything except flat shoes like Mary Janes/Baby Doll shoes were out of the question.

It was frustrating not being able to dress the way I wanted to but now I can wear whatever I want, yay! Something I laugh about is now I can't quite tell whether people are staring at me because of how I'm dressed or because of being disabled lol. I like to say maybe it's a little of both.

It's sad how people assume that we're different and treat us differently just because we're disabled. I've actually had people treat me like they were surprised that I'm goth. They treated me like I was mentally challenged just because of a physical disability. Their attitude seem to be that they couldn't figure out how I even knew what goth is.

There's nothing wrong with mentally challenged people, I'm just saying I wish people would stop assuming things. I guess you have to learn to laugh at yourself though. Anyway, I want to talk to people like myself.

The only goth youtubers I ever see are people that are goth, but they're content is unrelated. Do you know of of anyone that talks about the music and culture?

title. i was thinking about how i talk to people about my taste in music, and how it differs between normies and other goth/alternative people. personally, when someone not alternative asks me about music, i always just say something along the lines of ‘dark 80’s music.’ i try to dance around the ‘goth’ word just because i don’t want the immediate knee-jerk reaction of people who don’t really know what it is making incorrect assumptions. how about you all, though?

https://youtu.be/PIBIkZR988U

this song reminds me of the city I live in because we’re obsessed about talking about the weather, raining or not raining PNW