If I am going to focus a month’s worth of entries on a single genre of music, I’d better set the stage for those of you who are not well acquainted with it’s music. “Goth” music generally formed in the post punk music scene in the late 70’s and grew and changed from there through today. Broadly, it consists of dark themed music that can be as beautiful as it is crushingly depressing. Most of it has been built around rock song structures, but does not limit itself to that. Like any other genre of music, there are a few noteworthy pioneers that define and expand the genre and many, many mediocre followers that drag down the integrity of the movement. The best Goth bands were those that never set out to be part of the genre to begin with. Here is a starter kit of songs by such pioneers to check out. I would post mp3s of them, but I’m not that capable yet with the blog thing. All of the songs should be downloadable from iTunes, emusic, or other legal music sites (I wouldn’t endorse searching free music sites, like say limewire). 26 songs can get expensive though. You can give them the free 30 second listen on iTunes or Amazon, but the impact is far better if you let yourself hear the whole thing. For example, Bela Lugosi’s Dead is a nine minute opus that slowly builds to a haunting end. I can’t imagine that the 30 second snippet would capture that. Please let me know if you feel that any essential tunes were skipped.
Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart, Dead Souls
Bauhaus – Bela Lugosi’s Dead, Fear of Fear
Siouxsies and the Banshees – Cascade, Israel
The Cure – A Forest, 100 Years
The Sisters of Mercy – This Corrosion, Ribbons
Dead Can Dance – Host of Seraphim, Don’t Fade Away
Cranes – Jewell, Lilies
Swans – Mother/Father, The Love of Life
Nine Inch Nails – Hurt, Closer
Marilyn Manson – The Beautiful People, Lunchbox
Faith and the Muse – Annwyn Beneath the Waves, Heal
Lycia – Pray, Frozen
Voltaire – Ex-lover’s Lover, The Vampire Club
It’s always nice to have a story to go along with the music. I’ll group these by era and give some context to listen to them within in the weeks to come.
4 comments:
Hey Brad! Yes, people actually read this. Well, Greg and I anyway. OK, I'll get Old School on you since I am, in fact, old.
Christian Death!
45 Grave!
Cramps? Are they goth or pre-goth? Oh well, you get the idea...
Unhappy listening!
Dee
Ah yes. It is a hard task to dwindle an entire genre down to a few representative moments. I couldn't even do it with the artists. I do plan on giving props to the cramps and christian death later in the month. 45 grave however, I am not familiar with them. I'll have to check it out.
You may have heard 'Evil', and just not known it was them. Or maybe they're an LA thing. I have to try to find the publisher of that old compilation tape I had in high school ...it was a great one, and featured all the above, and lots of good punk rock too. Good times, good times.
Found it!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell_Comes_to_Your_House
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