Teen Gothic

There's a lot of fixation on how a lot of first wave bands have denounced the name, some more than others, while this has been true in many cases for quite some time and in some cases remains, there have been some instances of the bands or members running with the word, not denouncing it, or admitting to it in some ways/at certain points. Post quotes or interviews that reflect this.

Here are a few:

Andrew Eldritch, Brazilian Interview 2006:

Q: Here in Brazil, the most people who hear sisters of mercy are goths, and have a peculiar clothes, what you think about it?Eldritch: Actually, it's pretty hot here, so I had a another vision of the brazillian people, I think the brazillian people use bikinis, panties, and others swim-suit all the time. Anyway we make musics for everyone, we like to know who the brazillian goths like us, but we make music for the pop-listeners too and for family mothers too! Source

Andrew Eldritch, Cutting Edge, 1993:

"I don’t feel any sense of malicious glee, but I can’t be displeased that whatever constituted a goth movement doesn’t exist anymore. I’m confident of the bands ability to be judged in the same way as, say, REM are, and to judged against them, The Cure, Nirvana, whatever." Source

Peter Murphy, Unknown Source:

"The goths are beautiful, a vast depth of subcultural, aesthetic and poetic ideas, and we would identify with that as we did back in 1979. But not the post modern distortion…the costume without the brain." Source

Peter Murphy, SF Gate 2011:

"He doesn't particularly embrace his title as Godfather of Goth: …I'm aware of it. I'm not anti-Goth. I don't want to denigrate any people who make music. But you know what happens – you get people who you've influenced but who have nothing to do with you. It's their own work. That goes down to the perennial labeling we have to put on each other. Kids are being called ADD and it creates itself. So suddenly we have all these mentally ill people in the world? Since when? Labels. So I'm a Goth. That's fine by me." Source

Peter Murphy, Drowed in Sound, 2011

DiS: It's not strictly true though is it in a pedantic sense, as Bauhaus had already been and gone by the time the whole Goth phenomenon blew up.

PM: You're right, although I do think there is a validity to it. But, it has to be looked at from the root rather than present day definition. I would say the whole Gothic culture is very significant. It's totally unique, and it embodies and holds more than just music. It reaches into fine art, poetry, painting, theatre, all sorts of elements from the ground up. I liken it from a musical point view to that of a punk who's becoming more self-aware; wiping snot off his nose and dressing up a bit!

DiS: It was a very original sound at the time though wasn't it?

PM: Bauhaus were a bit like that….We came out at a time when everyone was navel-gazing just after punk. No image, no ego. The Cure were like that as well, then suddenly there was this black high hair and really badly applied make-up! But that's OK. It's very British isn't it? We were very radical in that sense. We came and said we're beautiful, we're male and we're very dangerous. Where you get John Lydon's rants, which to me were very irrelevant even back then, Bauhaus weren't anti anything. We were about celebrating both the beauty and the ugly in a not obviously beautiful sense. That is quintessentially a Gothic notion. The original Gothic notion wasn't just about architecture it was about finding beauty or transcendence in the most unlikely places. Even looking at Gothic architecture itself it's quite spinal.." Source

Daniel Ash, Uncut 2020:

“It’s funny, because I sometimes say that we weren’t goth,” says guitarist Daniel Ash. “But I was in Bauhaus and our first single was ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’. Well of course we were goth! But that term was a bit of an insult in England back then. We were lumped in with Alien Sex Fiend, Sex Gang Children and Specimen, who we all thought were really crap.” Source

Robert Smith, Female First 2008:

"When I joined Siouxsie And The Banshees I was aware that I was stepping into a goth band, in that Siouxie was a goth icon. I became a de facto goth icon around that time. When I was with the Banshees I made the point of wearing pyjamas – I wore a blue stripey pyjama top. I wanted to make a point I was not part of this world…When we did the 'Faith' album in 1981, goth hadn't been invented then, we were actually a raincoat band. We were inventing goth with that album and 'Pornography'. But we weren't, we were just playing emotional music. I was feeling a bit desperate at the time…The record label had given up on us and the crowds were pretty much non-existent…And we were taking vast amounts of very strong drugs and actually didn't really give a shit. And that, somehow, gave rise to goth." Source

Robert Smith, Post-Punk/Rolling Stone, 2019:

"I’m aware we played a part in it, and I think that we’re part of the history of goth, without question, but like a footnote." Source