What it takes to be a goth?

So recently I’ve seen a rise of popularity of the goth subculture. Mainly bc of the wednesday netflix series. Many prople think taht its just the style and clothes you wear and ignore all the history behind it. I’ve seen a lot o pozers and so called goths who just wear long black skirts and corsets proudly. And man im tired of that. So heres some basics you should know about this subculture.

1. You must listen to goth music

Goths are listening mostly to post-punk, waves that came after (new wave, dark wave, cold wave etc.), goth-rock (which is very controversial to mention bc many goths dont agree that such thing exists), ebm. Of course if you are goth you can listen to other genres such as punk, metal and rock, but to call yourself a goth you should enjoy mentioned earlier genres the most. The most popular bands that are goth are: bauhaus, alien sex fiend, horror vacui, sisters of mercy (they werent identifying as a goth band and didint wanted to be seen as one, but the music is perfect example of what goths listen to), the cure, joy division, voodoo church, specimen, christian death, new order, scarlets remains, death cult, depeche mode, siouxsie and the banshees, clan of xymox etc. Personaly i dont take people who tell me that they are listening to post punk and kpop for example seriously. Mixing genres is ok, but things like kpop arent related to what goths listen at all. Mixing it with punk music is resonable bc it is from what it all came, but it depends of person.

2. Clothes

Many people will tell you that you dont need to dress as a goth to be one, wich i dont find true. Clothes are a big part of this subculture. You dont have to look like trad goth everyday, band shirts, some black pants, maybe ankh jewlery and you are good to go. There are many different type of goths and thier clothes that you will for sure find something for you. Some people are mixing goth subculture with metal for example. And thats okay. You can look more gothly one day and one day more like a metalhead, you dont have to close yourself for only one and can enjoy whatever you like!

3. Concerts

Concerts and events are a big part of goth subculture and to be a real goth you should attend these. Of course it can be kind of hard at the beginning, these can be expensive sometimes or happen not frequently, but if you search good enough you will find something eventually. You dont need of course to rush to the castle party at the beggining of your goth journey but try to attend as much as you can to the local concerts, and events.

4. Literature and movies

There are a lot of goth movies with this specific dark atmosphere. You should watch some of them to really sink in that subculture. The most popular are of course tim burtons movies, „the crow”, „the craft”, „only lovers left alive”, „let the right one in”, „the addams family” etc. It is really easy to find them so i wont write down all. It would be nice if you watch some of bands documentaries as well. For the literature edgar allan poe is the most basic and popular goth author, besides him you can also read mary shelley, lovecraft, bictor hugo. These are only some of the most popular, as before there are a lot of more authors you can find. I recommend also to get to know about goth athors from your country or more local community. Its nice to know them.

5. History

To really call yourself a goth you should know from where the whole subculture came from. Read about this or watch some videos, it is a really interesting topic and its important to know.

Of course these are some basics i will be talking more about these things in the next posts. This is to get a bit of a view what it takes to be a real goth. If you have any questions i will answear to them happily.

#goth #gothic #post punk #new wave #baby bat #cold wave #goth rock #gothgoth #goth girl #dark wave #goth metal