(ominous guitar music) - [Nahre] Goth is an entire subculture which inspired not only decades of music, but fashion and films.
(ominous guitar music) - In fact, the unique look associated with goth culture is as much a part of the brand as is melancholy music.
Where country has its belt buckles and boots, goth has its tripp pants and chains, but we wanna know what came first.
Was it the moody fashion or was it the music?
(upbeat techno music) - So we're not talking about the Hot Topic mall goths.
This was something that came straight out of the late '70s post-punk scene.
It was the dark, moody black lipstick wearing specter known as goth rock.
- Goth's influence can be seen everywhere, from Tim Burton movies to Billie Eilish.
There's even an annual goth cruise.
(foghorn blowing) (seagulls cawing) - Today, LA and I are going to embrace our inner goths, put on the black mascara and lipstick, and create an appropriately moody song, but first we're going to talk about where this sub-culture really started.
So, aside from the silver jewelry and black jeans, what exactly is goth?
Firstly, we need to get into the vibe by reading Edgar Allan Poe.
Sorry.
Let's look it up now.
"No doubt I now grew very pale, "but I talked more fluently and with a heightened voice."
- "Villians, I shrieked.
"Dissemble no more, I admit the deed.
"Tear the planks here, "here is the beating of this hideous heart."
Oh my goodness.
- That's dark.
- [LA] While the term Gothic originally came about to describe European architecture of the Middle Ages, from roughly the 12th Century through the 16th, the term was later used to describe romantic and spooky literature from the 1700s and 1800s.
- So what does that have to do with the moody musical style?
Most give credit to music critic John Stickney for connecting the term with the music.
After meeting Jim Morrison of The Doors in a gloomy wine cellar in 1967, he wrote that it was the perfect room to honor the gothic rock of The Doors, referencing the somber lyrics and dark musical stylings of the band.
♪ This is the end ♪ But by the late '70s and early '80s, goth rock was a genre.
- Where did goth rock come from?
It's considered to be an offshoot of the late '70s British punk rock scene called post-punk.
Post-punk took the energy and the do-it-yourself spirit of punk in bold, experimental new directions, blending punk with influences from other genres like disco, funk, and electronic music.
While punk was considered an angry rebel yell at the establishment, goth became the opposite, a fatalistic, romantic resignation to the inevitable.
(clock bell ringing) - During this time, three bands really came to the forefront of the emerging genre to become the pioneers of the goth rock movement, Joy Division, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Bauhaus.
So what made these goth bands so gothic?
- Goth music is often identified by its dark themes and is considered nihilistic and poetic.
A recurring heavy bass, a moody synthesizer, and the use of echo doesn't hurt either.
Perhaps what can be considered as the archetype for all goth music was Bauhaus' single, Bela Lugosi's Dead, which came out, and in 1979 as considered by many to be the first truly gothic rock song.
♪ Bela Lugosi's dead ♪ ♪ The bats have left the bell tower ♪ Bela Lugosi was an actor who played the title character in Universal's 1931 film, Dracula, and whose real life was almost as tragic as his fictional one.
The band's bassist, David J, said he came up with the idea for the song and wrote it after binge watching vampire movies on television.
The band's front man, Peter Murphy, said the sound of the song was in part also inspired by dub reggae.
You can hear the influence.
Listen to The Revolutionaries' Reaction in Dub from 1978, (dub reggae music) and here's Bela Lugosi's Dead.
(punk reggae music) Bauhaus' song may be considered goth's first anthem, but it was just the beginning for the musical genre.
The English band Siouxsie and the Banshees formed in 1976, taking their name from the horror movie Cry of the Banshee, which starred another classic of horror, Vincent Price.
Some argue Siouxsie and the Banshees was originally a punk band that transitioned to post-punk goth with their fourth album, Juju, in 1981.
♪ We are entranced, we are entranced ♪ ♪ Spellbound ♪ But there's no debate that lead singer Siouxsie Sioux heavily influenced goth fashion, but more on that later.
- Other bands such as Joy Division, the Sisters of Mercy, The Cure, The Damned, Dead Can Dance, Type O Negative, and many more put on their capes and came out of the shadows with their dark messages of loneliness and rebellion.
So what exactly are we getting ourselves into?
(giggling) - Listen, when I thought about goth, initially, I thought it was gonna be super similar to the metal thing.
I'm like, okay, it's gonna be a lot of work.
Okay, gotta dig in, but then hearing actually goth rock music, it puts me in an era.
Early '80s, it sounds exactly like that, where the synths were long-y.
- I don't know if this is a thing throughout, but a lot of open intervals.
Even if we're not dealing with unstable harmony, like an augmented chord, (plays piano notes) but still just, something about this open sound, it feels like it doesn't really need to resolve anywhere or go anywhere, but it also doesn't feel like it's settled.
(playing piano) - If you had to resolve that, if you had to resolve that, where would you go?
(playing piano notes) (laughing) - You don't need to go anywhere.
- Okay, so we know where the music started.
Can we assume that the fashion and style began about the same time?
- It may have begun much earlier.
Goth was directly inspired by the romanticism of both the Romantic and Victorian era, drawing some of its earliest inspirations from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the writings of Edgar Allan Poe and Bram Stoker, but oddly enough, the beginnings of the goth style may have actually had its roots in the Victorian tuberculosis epidemic.
The gaunt and pale look of those affected by the fatal disease was often romanticized, influencing the mid-1800s perceptions of beauty, which were later adopted by the emerging goth culture.
- Horror cinema also inspired gothic style.
Silent film star Theda Bara was nicknamed the Vamp, and French actress Sarah Bernhardt was known for sleeping in a coffin.
Later, there was pinup model Bettie Page, Vampira actress Maila Nurmi, and of course, TV's Elvira.
- [Nahre] Goth was further cemented in popular culture in 1976 with Anne Rice's Interview With the Vampire, a novel believed to have also heavily influenced the genre.
- But now, back to Siouxsie Sioux, the godmother of goth.
Her raven hair and signature eye makeup was more influenced by ancient Egyptians than the Victorians, but once the style was out the gate, it took on an afterlife of its own.
- The goth culture as we know it today further developed in 1982 with the opening of the London goth club, The Batcave.
The club inspired the spooky scene with regular performances from Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees, as well as many others.
Soon, goth spread across the globe, infecting many with its dark music and fashion.
Are you ready to embrace your inner goth?
- Let's get it.
I'm with it.
- Like this?
(snorting) - I got a bass at the crib, and so I could definitely lay down.
- Okay.
(clapping) Yes, I'm all for LA playing bass guitar.
- Tempo-wise, even if we have, (ticking) going up top, we could have, boom, boom, cah.
- Yes!
- It's still driving, it's still marching, but it's like you're walking, you're not walking down a sunny street.
You're walkin' in the woods.
- That kinda has to just sound like we're getting in a dark crevasse in our head.
- [LA] In the mind, okay.
- I want to add some textures.
There has to be that fuzz.
- They twisted it up, some way some how.
There's a lot of sound design with those synths.
- Okay, I think we have a plan.
(heavy bass music) - Wanna know more about creatures of the night?
Well head over to Monstrum, a PBS show all about monsters, myths, and folkore hosted by our friend Dr. Z, an expert of all things gothic.
(clicking) (shimmering)
