Gothic Rock
Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. The genre itself was defined as a separate movement from punk rock during the early 1980s largely due to the significant stylistic divergences of the movement; gothic rock, as opposed to punk, combines dark, often keyboard-heavy music with introspective, dark and mostly romantic lyrics. The most notable artists of gothic rock are Bauhaus, The Cure, Siouxsie & the Banshees, The Sisters of Mercy, and The Mission. Gothich rock then gave rise to a broader subculture.
Birth: 1982 Bloom: 1987
The founders of this style were inspired by Velvet Underground and Bowie, among them attention should be paid to Joy Division, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Bauhaus, Virgin Prunes, and UK Decay. The first Banshees` album («The Scream» 1978) and the first album by Joy Division («Unknown Pleasures» 1979) are considered to be gothic music standards with the lack of loud punk guitars, but with the emphasis on the rhythm section and the cutting empty sound.
However, Bauhaus was the first gothic group and released the debut single «Bela Lugosi`s Dead» in the September of 1979. The Banshees can be attributed to punk, The Cure to new wave, Joy Division to post punk, but Bauhaus was certainly gothic in music, appearance, lyrics, art and style from the very first single.
In the 1980s-1981s there was a wave of new gothic groups – Dance Society, Play Dead, The Sisters of Mercy, and The Cure rejected their new wave sound and created the unique gothic sound. In 1981 Abbo from UK Decay defined a new music movement gothics, but only after a year the style was completely formed.
Gothic rock thrived in the early 1980s. In London, the Batcave club opened in July 1982 to provide a venue for the goth scene. Batcave became the center of London gothic scene and attracted mass media attention.
That same year, Ian Astbury of the band Southern Death Cult used the term «gothic goblins» to describe Sex Gang Children`s fans.
In 1983 Tom Vague used the term «goth» in the Zig Zag magazine, and after that the name and subculture became popular with youth.
Umbrellate style: Rock
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