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Goth as we know it today was born at the end of the punk era in a small part of London that had previously sporned the Punk rock movement. Many trad goths still dance the way those early proto-goths did (these guys danced like that because of structural limits in the night club in question). The birth happened when the media used the term Goth. It caught and became a name for something that was un-named.
For this reason we have the goth "fashion" of calling oneself not-a-goth and generally denying any goth connection. It was has been and always shall be a media label.
At this stage there was no difference between punk, goth, (new romantics (UK) and Beatniks (us) were still getting going). These new youths now called goths were effectively second and third gen punk. As with all true art movements the lines are never truly defined and the edges blur easily. Thus we add to the mix:
Beatnik, New Romantic, Teddy Boys, n-th gen hippie, Religious imagery, Wild West (Field of the nephilim), Third and forth gen punk, Mods (of mods and rockers fame), pop-rock, fetish, BDSM, Retro Fashion, The Retrospectives (Victorian Obsessed types), Body pop, Heavy metal, EBM, Dance & House etc, Dark Metal, Death Metal, Shock Rock, media stereotypes, culture stereotypes, inter-culture bickering, labelling, misunderstanding and self analysis.
and then stir it up with a sprinkle of: trying to figure it all out.
Every time some-one tried to sort it all out they muddy the waters further and add new ideas to the mix. Effectively if you name it so then it becomes so.
This is further exacerbated by Alchemy Gothic, Black Rose ltd, Gothic Martha Stewart and the likes.
Then you get Whitby and Gotham Festivals held in the UK that further re-enforce the first gen fiction. The first generation goth is in fact a lie call it Goth.Generation(1.5) if you like (as some do) and place it just before 2nd generation up to third and this is what "trad goth" is (or is now). Does that make it wrong? No, it makes it changes nothing but it would be foolish to point to the new trad goth and call them first gen.
In the evolutionary pool of alt.culture True First Gen goths would be totally unrecognisable do to almost total lack of black.
What we as the sub-cultures analysts need is an agreed word (invented perhaps) that identifies what we have tried to call goth.
: --feel free to have a different opinion and express it here--
# posted by Matt the Hat at Monday, August 30, 2004 | |
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