Gothic Charm School (28 page)

The never-ending debate about music vs. fashion (part 2)

“Goth is
really
about music. Anyone can slap on some eyeliner and throw on some black clothes, but if you're a
Real Goth
, you know it's really about the music.” This statement represents the other side of the great Goth argument that is always going on somewhere. As the Lady of the Manners pointed out in the previous chapter about fashion, it's an argument that, in addition to being never-ending, gets very heated.

“Waitaminute!” The Lady of the Manners just knows you're saying. “You talked about this in the previous chapter, and you were all, “Well, duh, it's about fashion!” Are you changing your
mind?” No, not quite. While it's true that the Lady of the Manners is a devotee of dark frills and jet-beaded mourning attire, she very much believes you cannot separate the music from the fashion. No, you can't, not really, so stop giving her that funny look.

Goth crept out from the long shadow thrown by the punk movement. If it hadn't been for bands such as Joy Division, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bauhaus, and The Cure, Goth would not be what it is today. Would the Goth subculture still be around? Oh, the Lady of the Manners is certain of it. But it wouldn't be the same pale creature swaying in a darkened nightclub to sonorous rhythms punctuating a melody in a minor key.

“So what is Goth music, then?” Oh…dear. The Lady of the Manners has been asked this question time and time again and still doesn't really have a comprehensive answer to it. There are bands (such as the four named in the previous paragraph) that are widely acknowledged as being the progenitors of the Gothic musical genre (even if all of them have denied it, at one point or another). But not all Goth music sounds even remotely like those bands. Some sounds like morbid carnival and cabaret music and other music straddles the sometimes very fuzzy border between Goth and metal. There are splinter genres for every potential offshoot of Goth music you could possibly imagine: gothabilly, dark folk, se
piachord, ethereal, synthpop and ebm, deathrock, post-punk, dark orchestral music, goth-industrial…the list goes on and on. That isn't even taking into consideration the wide range of performers usually popular with Goths who wouldn't really fall under the black parasol of the Goth label. (Tom Waits, anyone?) Even those bands considered to be the roots from which the Goth movement sprang aren't always universally adored by all Goths. (The Lady of the Manners thinks fondly of Joy Division as charming-if-moody ancestors of Goth but really would rather listen to something else, if you don't mind.)

In the Lady of the Manners's experience, just about any band that could be labeled Goth will at some point be the topic of a “Are you kidding? They're not Goth, they're———!” debate. No matter if a band sets out to be the spookiest collection of musicians this side of the grave, somewhere some other Goth will be busily posting on the Internet about how that band isn't
really
Goth, and if people wanted to hear
Real Goth
music, they should listen to———band instead. Which is all good fun, if you can distance yourself from the inevitable flame wars and name-calling that always surround such posts. Personally, the Lady of the Manners feels that people should listen to whatever music happens to catch their fancy. Yes, if you've decided to be part of the Goth subculture, you should know your musical history and be aware of what bands you are likely to hear at a Goth club, but don't feel you can't listen to a band that doesn't have a bat-shaped stamp of approval from that nonexistent
Goth Cabal
. Also, don't feel ashamed of whatever music you might have listened to before you wandered over to the dark side. It doesn't matter if you listened to country, classical, disco, or the most sugar-coated boybands ever to saturate the airwaves. Very few Goths went through childhood with a soundtrack of dark and atmospheric music.
While the Lady of the Manners knows some
babybats
who are, in effect, second-generation Goths who
have
been raised on a steady musical diet of The Cure and Danny Elfman, most Goths have at least a few Top 40 musical skeletons hiding in their darkened closets.

For that matter, don't feel that you must only listen to Goth-approved music and nothing else. It would be silly for a subculture based on finding beauty and interest in different and sometimes dark places to be deliberately closed-minded about music. And while the Lady of the Manners herself has been the target of gentle teasing about some of the bands she listens to, she refuses to let anyone tell her that she
can't
enjoy them. (The Lady of the Manners would like to take this opportunity to mention, as a tangent about music
and
fashion, that attending something like a My Chemical Romance
or Rob Zombie concert while dressed in full Victorian Gothic regalia provides vast entertainment.) Besides, DJs at Goth clubs seem fond of experimenting with which “mainstream” pop hit will still pack the dance floor. The Lady of the Manners has heard reports from trustworthy friends about every black-clad creature of the night charging to the dance floor with glee when the opening strains of “Baby Got Back” or “Beat It” come throbbing out of the speakers.

Why the ElderGoths are always so cranky about the mainstream eyeliner-wearing band du jour

Every few years or so, it seems, a musical act emerges, and the mainstream media tags it with the Goth moniker. Maybe it's because they sing about scary or depressing subjects, maybe it's because their music videos have a dark and spooky tone, or maybe it's because they're photographed wearing black clothes and heavy eyeliner. And when the mainstream media starts throwing the Goth label around, you can be sure that the older members of the Goth community will be rolling their eyes and denouncing the newly labeled musical act. (Sometimes without even listening to anything by the band. That's how ingrained this response is.)

But why? Isn't it possible that this new band is indeed Goth? Or at least related to Goth and should be given a chance? Well, yes. But
ElderGoths
are set in their ways and have something of a knee-jerk reaction to anything from the mainstream barging in to our precious and dark little corner of the world. We are too
unique, too special, too (to again quote Lydia from
Beetlejuice
) “strange and unusual” to have anything to do with mainstream culture.

But! That sort of stance (which is indeed prevalent amongst a lot of
ElderGoths
) oh-so-conveniently ignores the fact that many bands beloved by Goths were
also
beloved by the mainstream. The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bauhaus, The Sisters of Mercy, Love and Rockets, Peter Murphy, The Smiths—all of these artists had songs that did well in the charts. (The pop music history of the U.K. includes even more bands of Goth interest that cracked the charts.) Does this mean those
ElderGoths
are being elitist hypocrites? Er, not quite. As the Lady of the Manners sees it, the knee-jerk
ElderGoth
dismissal of new, possibly Goth-ish but certainly mainstream bands is laced with an unhealthy dose of defensiveness about the “age-appropriateness” of Goth. The average person associates Goth with teenagers and their fads and phases. (If the Lady of the Manners never again hears the statement, “Oh, I used to be a Goth, but I
grew out of it
,” it still will be too soon.) In the Lady of the Manners's experience, most mainstream-ish bands being labeled as Goth tend to have a rather large fan base amongst the, well, younger crowd. When that fact is combined with the ridiculous notion that Goth is a teen trend marketed by Hot Topic, is it any wonder the
ElderGoth
crowd is quick to roll its eyes and deride any new band labeled “Goth”?

Speaking of Hot Topic and other chain-store marketing, another reason that
ElderGoths
are usually so cranky about that Goth label is that while the musicians may be well aware of the musical history their sound references (or pays homage to), the younger fans of the band frequently have little to no idea about the musical roots. They just see their idols wearing some sort
of cool shirt, and hey, they can buy one just like it at the mall! (One of the Lady of the Manners's friends has frequently stated that she wants to go up to any of the
babybats
or other alternateens wearing Misfits shirts and demand that they name at least five songs by the band.) Or the younger fans hear a really cool song and have no idea it is a cover of a previous musician's work. When an
ElderGoth
mentions the original musician, the younger
gothlings
stare with no recognition in their eyes; worse, the Lady of the Manners has heard of the younger
gothling
vigorously arguing that the cover is actually the original version of the song and that any other version must be a rip-off. None of this is going to make the
ElderGoths
feel kindly toward newer, possibly more mainstream musical acts.

While the Lady of the Manners understands and sympathizes with all the reasons behind her fellow
ElderGoths
' derision toward whatever eyeliner be-smeared band is currently on heavy rotation on MTV, she at times wishes they weren't quite so vehement and venomous in their dismissal. No, the majority of those bands aren't Goth. But they have Goth influences, and maybe, just maybe, might be worth investigating.

Why Marilyn Manson is not a Goth

Let's get one thing clear, right at the start: Marilyn Manson's music is not Goth. It is more properly categorized as metal. Fun concerts full of over-the-top spectacle, but not Goth. Yes, the Lady of the Manners just knows some people from the metal subculture are, at this very instant, growling with rage at the notion of Marilyn Manson's music being called “metal.” The Lady of the Manners is well aware that there are as many different
subgenres of metal as there are of Goth, and that droves and droves of metal fans can't agree as to whether or not they should consider Mr. Manson's musical efforts part of their subculture. But from an outside-the-faithful point of view, Marilyn Manson's shock-rock musical theatrics with loud guitars fit the metal label quite tidily. He's a direct musical descendant of Alice Cooper and Kiss, with a few dashes of David Bowie and Ozzy Osbourne thrown in for good measure.

Now, what about Mr. Manson himself? Even though many people dismiss Mr. Manson as being no longer relevant to anything going on in music or pop culture, he is, for whatever reason, still referred to as a Goth by members of the mainstream media and people outside the subculture. So is he a Goth? Well, the Lady of the Manners doesn't have a definitive answer to that, nor should she claim to. No one can really answer that question other than Mr. Manson himself. However, based on interviews with Mr. Manson that the Lady of the Manners has read, the evidence does seem to be mounting. He has a striking, decadent, and dark personal style. He's espoused an interest in decaying and (again) decadent ideas and themes and prefers to present a highly stylized image whenever he is in the public eye. And, according to interviews with his friends and romantic partners, he is a perfect gentleman; courteous, considerate, and well-mannered. All of which, in the Lady of the Manners's book, means that, yes, Wednesday and Pugsley, Marilyn Manson
is
a Goth.

(The Lady of the Manners is sure that Mr. Manson has been waiting with bated breath for the Lady of the Manners's validation of his gothness. Sure of it, she tells you, and don't you try to convince her differently.)

Now, do the above-mentioned reasons explain why the mainstream media and others always mention Marilyn Manson in con
nection with Goth? To a degree (that striking and dark personal style certainly helps), but the Lady of the Manners suspects the real reason is that Mr. Manson unnerves a lot of people. He's perceived as extremely dark, very spooky (weren't his legions of young fans referred to as “spooky kids”? They certainly were where the Lady of the Manners lives), and, to many people, unsettlingly creepy. And like it or not, to the average person out there, those same traits apply to the Goth subculture. Which means that whenever the shadow of Goth surfaces in the mainstream (especially in the U.S.), someone is sure to dig up a picture of Marilyn Manson in order to make a point. So what should the rest of us in the Goth subculture do when that happens? Well, not throw a complete hissy fit about Marilyn Manson not being a
Real Goth
, for one thing. Starting flame wars and arguments about it won't help matters and will only reinforce the idea that Goths are immature and argumentative. If someone asks you directly, then of course you should share your views on the matter. But don't get defensive every time the media equates Marilyn Manson (or other dark shock-rock bands, for that matter) with Goth. Instead, try changing people's minds by being an example of what you think a Goth should be.