Encyclopedia Gothica (7 page)

CRAMPS, THE
American garage rock band, formed in New York in 1976 by kooky power couple Lux Interior (vocals) and Poison Ivy (guitar). Originators of the
GOTHABILLY
sound and style, combining American blues, R&B, surf and punk rock with B-movie monsters and junk pop culture into a sexed-up, swampy cocktail of swagger and spook. With rotating membership and record company woes, they never broke through to the mainstream, but they sure knew how to write a pop hit: “Human Fly,” “Garbageman,” “Goo Goo Muck” and “Can Your Pussy Do the Dog?” to name just a few. They did get a song (“Surfin’ Dead”) onto the soundtrack of
The Return of the Living Dead
in 1985 and crashed onto network TV for
Beverly Hills 90210
’s 1995
HALLOWEEN
episode. And damn if they didn’t look cool doing it: Lux’s black
PVC
pants painted on, Poison Ivy’s flame hair and go-go boots. The band’s end came suddenly on February 4, 2009, when Interior died of aortic dissection. Perhaps The Cramps were too much fun for some Goths, but the world is a lot less interesting without them in it. R.I.P.

CREATURES, THE
Musical side-project for singer
SIOUXSIE SIOUX
and drummer Budgie, of British superstars
SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES
, formed in 1981. By 1991, the two had married; by 1997 The Banshees were dead and The Creatures became the duo’s priority, but by 2007 the couple was divorced and the musical collaborations had come to an end. Despite several critically acclaimed albums, some cheeky covers (Mel Tormé’s “Right Now,” The Troggs’ “Wild Thing”) and the pedigree of its members, The Creatures are often forgotten.

CREEPERS
Men’s shoe with thick corrugated-like soles and pointed toe and uppers of leather or suede often in a two-tone black/white or leopard print, more accurately known as a “Brothel creeper.” Originally popularized in
ENGLAND
in the 1950s, taken up by the punks in the 1970s, adopted by Goths in the 1980s and now seen primarily on
psychobillies
and other cool retro cats. Well-known manufacturers include Underground (traditional, unisex styles) and T.U.K. (branching out to girlie creepers and creeper/sneaker hybrids).

CREEPY CUTE
Something a little bit scary, a little bit soft and cuddly. Think crocheted
ZOMBIE
dolls. The idea started in Japan. Of course.

CRIMPER
Hair styling tool used to wave or “crimp” hair in a jagged pattern by pressing it between two heated sawtooth-shaped plates. Legend has it the crimper was invented in 1972 to style Barbra Streisand. This didn’t stop it from becoming widespread in the counterculture throughout the 1980s. Goths are some of the only folks who still own crimpers today, if only for the few times a year they try to make their hair look like
ROBERT SMITH
’s.

CRIMSON GHOST
1. Skull logo used by horror punkers
THE MISFITS
, so named for the 1940s TV serial whose poster inspired the creepy black-and-white image. First used on 1979 single “Horror Business” and appearing on Misfits’ releases and merch (plus plenty of fan
TATTOOS
) ever since. It’s kind of like the Goth equivalent of a picture of Che: kids wear it to look cool even if they have no idea what it is. 2. Song on the 1997 Misfits album
American Psycho
. 3. A number of horror punk bands who would be obvious Misfits rip-offs even if they weren’t named after their favourite group’s logo.

CROW, THE
Comic created by American James O’Barr, originally published in 1989 by Caliber Comics, about protagonist
ERIC DRAVEN
, a victim of a random attacker who kills his fiancée and leaves him for dead until he is resurrected by a supernatural crow. Using newfound special powers, Eric sets out to systematically kill those responsible. The story of pain, love lost and revenge hit a chord, and was made into a feature film in 1994 starring Brandon Lee. Tragedy struck the set and Lee was killed during filming. There are many reasons Goths love
The Crow
: O’Barr allegedly based Eric’s character on
IAN CURTIS
,
PETER MURPHY
and
IGGY POP
; the soundtrack for the movie included a new song, “Burn,” by
THE CURE
and a cover of
JOY DIVISION
’s “Dead Souls” by
NINE INCH NAILS
. Also, Eric’s costume for the film — tight black leather pants, trenchcoat, make-up — has been resurrected countless times by Goth Boys whether they’ve read the comic or not.

CROW MAKE-UP
Style of make-up featured in the 1994 movie
THE CROW
, in which star Brandon Lee as
ERIC DRAVEN
puts on white face with black eyes modeled after a masquerade mask. An easy
HALLOWEEN
costume that suffers from overuse. Frankly, as the
GOTHIC CHARM SCHOOL
guide suggests, friends don’t let friends dress like the Crow.

CRÜXSHADOWS, THE
American
SYNTHPOP
band formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1992 by lead singer Rogue, he of the
CYBERLOX
hair and suspicious British accent. Frankly, quite a curious beast: cyber/fetish aesthetic, mythological lyrics, perky dance beats, *NSync-style headsets, violin player, the motto of “Live Love Be Believe.” Could it be true they are consciously satirizing Goth itself? How then to explain the earnestness? To their credit, have managed more than a dozen releases independently, cracked Billboard dance singles charts and developed an ever-growing global fanbase, particularly in
GERMANY
. But despite appearances, there’s something not quite Goth about them. The fact that they eagerly identify themselves as Goth might be the first clue.

CULT, THE
British rock band formed in 1983 by singer
IAN ASTBURY
and guitarist Billy Duffy by altering the name of their previous band, Death Cult, in order to sound less Goth. They hadn’t really been Goth since the original Astbury project, the
POST-PUNK
y Southern Death Cult (1981–1983), but therein lies one of the many paradoxes of this outfit: they’ve always been more of a psychedelic rock band, a heavy metal band, a stadium rock band, and yet . . . Goth icons. Blame it on the 1984 debut
Dreamtime
, a sonic ritual of shamanism and shoegazing before there was a name for that. Or 1985’s breakthrough opus
Love
, with its seductive hit singles “She Sells Sanctuary” and “Rain.” Not even 1987’s rock reinvention
Electric
could strip them of their
GOTH CARD
s. Okay, perhaps their oldest U.K. fans had had enough of the AC/DC riffs and bloated rock star antics (not to mention touring with Guns N’ Roses and Aerosmith) by the time that the U.S. chart-topper
Sonic Temple
came in 1988. But some of us held out all the way to the dreadful
Ceremony
record in 1991. A series of member changes, hiatuses, hits compilations and unremarkable reunions has plagued the band since, but damn if it wasn’t great to hear the
Love
album in its entirety on the 2009 tour.

CURE, THE
British alternative rock/
GOTHIC ROCK
/
NEW WAVE
/
POST-PUNK
band formed in 1978 by singer/guitarist
ROBERT SMITH
, drummer Lol Tolhurst and bassist Michael Dempsey, who went through a “Goth phase” from 1980–1982. Rather, that’s what Wikipedia has to say about The Cure, in what could surely be called one of the online encyclopedia’s great fails. The Cure, more than any other popular music group, has never had a “Goth phase.” Rather, since its introductory single “Killing an Arab” (which has done more to keep Albert Camus’
The Stranger
, upon which it was based, on the bookshelves of young people than most universities), The Cure has epitomized Goth in all its forms, defining it, transforming it. While it can certainly said that the band’s early triptych of melancholy —
Seventeen Seconds
(1980),
Faith
(1981) and
Pornography
(1983) — with their stark, bass-heavy rhythms and nihilistic worldview, are the most typically Goth, there is as much romancing of death throughout its catalogue. Well, except for when they’re happy: “The Lovecats” and “Let’s Go to Bed” may have been the start of
PERKY GOTH
. For three decades, Robert Smith and various mates (arguably, none nearly as important as the singer himself) have continued to lead the Goth nation, with new music and epic live shows.
See also:
Disintegration

CURIOSA
Concert tour organized by
ROBERT SMITH
in 2004, headlined by
THE CURE
and featuring
POST-PUNK
revivalists
INTERPOL
and The Rapture as well as noisemakers Mogwai and Muse. Played twenty shows in very un-Goth–like amphitheatres across North America.

CURTIS, IAN
British singer (1956–1980), lead voice of
POST-PUNK
pioneers
JOY DIVISION
, a romantic poet for the age of alienation. Curtis was known for his unique performance style, dancing frantically not unlike a man caught in an epileptic seizure, which he also suffered from. Committed suicide by hanging on May 18, 1980, just before the band’s first North American tour, which some may say makes for many
GOTH POINTS
but I say just makes for much sadness.
Control
, a film about his life based on the book
Touching from a Distance
(by his widow Deborah), was released in 2007. Buried at Macclesfield Cemetery in Cheshire,
ENGLAND
, beneath a stone bearing the title of his best-known work,
Love Will Tear Us Apart
.

CUSHING, PETER
British actor (1913–1994) best known for his roles in
HAMMER HORROR
films, most notably as Victor Frankenstein in 1957’s
The Curse of Frankenstein
and Van Helsing in 1958’s
Horror of Dracula
. Vegetarian, bird-watcher and best friend to iconic on-screen
DRACULA
Christopher Lee, Cushing never particularly embraced the dark side, nor reached the level of sainthood of his pal
VINCENT PRICE
, yet he remains a grand duke of Gothdom. Died of prostate cancer; the whereabouts of his cremated remains are unknown.

CUTTING
The act of intentionally cutting one’s own skin, usually the wrist or forearm, clinically referred as “self-harm.” Those who do it are called cutters, and they are not necessarily suicidal. A 2006 study of teenagers by Glasgow researchers found the practice more prevalent in those who identify as Goth, and anecdotal evidence suggests that to be true, leading to renewed media panic about the “dangers” of Gothdom. However, the practice seems to have become a somewhat socially acceptable act (or at least the displaying of scars and talking about it is), only since the emergence of
EMO
in the 2000s. (The crass but popular expression “remember,
EMO
kids, down the road, not across the street” makes a joke of the cutting of wrists for attention, since sideways is not an effective way to cause fatal bleeding.) Therefore, without making light of a serious and distressing psychological condition, I’m going to say there is nothing intrinsically Goth about cutting, and the word is listed here only to refute the stereotype.

CYBERDOG
British clothing company founded by Terry Davy and Spiros Vlahos in 1994, which defined the
CYBERGOTH
look and helped launch it into the mainstream. The clothing is meant for clubbing and features reflective stripes, secret pockets, bright neon colours, shiny material like
PVC
and at times even real electronics synching the graphics on a shirt to music’s BPM. Likewise, their retail shops (starting with the original stall in
CAMDEN
) have featured bouncy dance floors, loud techno music and perky staff ready to suit you up for a night out. How inspired are they by sci-fi and futurism? They claim their mascot dog Chichi was actually abducted by aliens and taken into outer space, where he gets all their great design ideas and brings them back to Earth. The future of fashion — today!

CYBERGOTH
Contemporary offshoot of Goth emerging at the turn of the millennium from out of the cyberpunk and rave scene, concerned with futurism in fashion,
FUTUREPOP
in music and flauting conventions of all-black attire and sourpuss faces. Rather, Cybergoths typically dress in shiny, bright neon colours, super high platform boots, outrageous synthetic hair extensions,
GOGGLES
and other exaggerated accessories ripped from anime or sci-fi, listen to electronic music and generally spend more time in clubs than
CEMETERIES
. And while some
TRAD GOTH
s find little in common with these club kids and their musical preferences, they have injected the scene with much creativity and taken it into new, exciting directions.

CYBERLOX
Artificial hair extension material made of ribbon sewn into a tube shape, also referred to as “tubular crin.” Stretchy and light, it is available in a variety of colours and sizes and is commonly sewn into hair
FALLS
, sometimes with metallic pieces, yarn or foam for temporary accessorizing. If the person dancing next to you has hair that looks like it’s straight out of a gothic sci-fi anime comic, it’s probably cyberlox.
See also:
Synthdreads