The first four artists listed in my ultimate goth list (see the Ultimate Goth mix) represent how it all started. When it started in the late seventies, it was really just an expansion of what punk was doing. The difference being that while punk wanted to take on and bring down a world gone wrong, goth seemed to want to lament the sorrows of a world gone wrong. Structurally, the sound was very stripped down and maintained the simple garage band structure of punk: 1 drum, 1 guitar, 1 bass, and 1 voice. The genre happened by accident when a bunch of British bands took this basic structure, attitude, and a flair for performance art and began experimenting and building from there. At its best, like any art, the most powerful works don’t come easy and often coincide with some other tragedy.
Joy Division – Stemmed out of Manchester. Their sound was very stripped down and almost mechanical. The singer, Ian Curtis, took his own life after releasing only two records. They were a band experiencing mounting success and were on the cusp of releasing their biggest single, “Love Will Tear Us Apart.” The starkness of their sound production, bleak and haunting lyrics, and reputation for erratic behavior during concerts created testament to the tragic and untimely deterioration of a young soul.
Bauhaus – The name. The Bauhaus’ music is sleek, stark and angular, like the style of German architecture they take their name from. As a band name, it already hints at a serious interest in art and creates a mystique by aligning with a culture that was still veiled in taboo. These were the days not long enough removed from WWII to forget the atrocities that took place within its borders and in the midst of the cold war. Germany and Berlin symbolized the divide between East and West, Democracy and Communism, good and evil. Therefore, before the needle even hits the vinyl the listener has the stage set and a head’s worth of context to place the music within. The voice. Peter Murphy’s voice is deep and passionate and can be sincere and sinister. Countless acts to follow would try to capture single aspects of his vocal delivery, but never match the intense theatrics he creates. The Bauhaus lived a short career, but packed a lot of music into their four to five year stint. During this time they would release “Bela Lugosi’s Dead,” a nine-minute meditation of vampire imagery that would become the unofficial anthem for goth music the world over.
Siouxsie and the Banshees – The Banshees brought tribal-esque rhythms to punk and helped form the scene with lyrics about voodoo dolls, the classic goth look, and songs that brought bass lines to the front and placed the guitars in the back. Siousxie Sioux’s stage presence and voice is larger than life. 1983’s live album “Nocturne” captures some of their finest moments. Their sound and lineup would grow and change in the years after, but their place in goth history would remain rooted in this era.
The Cure – Much like the Banshees, The Cure went on to enjoy a very successful career after this era. They did however come to an end of their own during this time, much like Joy Division and Bauhaus. Over the course of their first four albums, The Cure moved from a very haphazard pop band to a focused vision of despair. By the time they recorded Pornography in 82, The Cure’s mission was to create the heaviest and bleakest album ever made. Laurence Tolhurst keeps time with metronomic precision that is lifelessly haunting. Gallop and Smith twist their guitar and bass parts around slow plodding buildups that create an atmosphere that is dense and oppressive. On top of this Robert bursts forth lyrics that are connected more by their imagery of doom then a need to make sense. The album starter “100 Years” leads off with the line, “It doesn’t matter if we all die,” and sets the stage. The fact that Robert has a boyish cockney accent that can’t escape its facets of innocence, keeps the album from becoming just absurd in its own darkness. The process of creating such a piece of work took its toll. In the months that followed, as they played the songs on the road the band fell apart and scrapped the tour midway through in the midst of flying fists. They did reluctantly fulfill the rest of their performance commitments and called it quits on the last night. The Cure seemed to have ended. Of course, they would come back to redefine themselves many times over, but at the time it seemed that this was it.
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