Heartland

Fields of the Heffalump still play to packed houses of devoted fans. It just goes to show that once you're a goth, you're always a goth

as it should be. growing old disgothfully.

A goth zumba class? Call me weird but that's something I would pay to see.

it's funny to see a lemon sucking pix of Eldritch on the front page of the print version as The Guardian poster boy for goth! I wouldn't like to be in the corner shop when he swoops down for his 20 malboro and a litre of milk, and spies that accusatory headline! There will be no calming that particular black storm, at least not before 'Loose Women' starts...

Rightfully it has Rosetta Stone's 'Adrenaline' at the top of the 'top goth' list!

deadagain wrote:Rightfully it has Rosetta Stone's 'Adrenaline' at the top of the 'top goth' list!

Carl McCoy wrote: a) I don't want to make a twit of meself
b) There's a bit more to it than some band parading around in Stetsons
c) It's knowing. I know

a) Bit late for that, Carl. About twenty-five years late TBH.
b) Really
c) All I know for sure, all I know for real, is knowing doesn't mean so much. As someone else once said (but all of my words are second-hand - a bit like Mr McCoy's choons).

Great find Mr EvilB Not surprised that it's the most viewed item on the Grauniad's music section (always thought their "g" logo was a suspiciously goff font).

Some great comments from readers below the article too, especially those from old goffs who remember when they first emerged and were treated as a bit of a joke. People were openly laughing when I first saw them at the Boardwalk in early 87 (The Rose of Avalanche used to get the same reaction).
The first comment is most intriguing - anyone shed any light on the Rick Parfitt/ story ? Lemmy is one thing, but Rick Parfitt ??

Really rather tops article. I was always a Sisters girl, but the Nephs were good in the middle of winter, in a storm, late at night, from time to time.
'Once a goth...'
There is no denying it, as someone who is staring 40 in the face... I may not club til dawn all through the week anymore, but little else has changed. Not that I would EVER call myself the g-word, natch.

Nikolas Vitus Lagartija wrote:

Carl McCoy wrote: a) I don't want to make a twit of meself
b) There's a bit more to it than some band parading around in Stetsons
c) It's knowing. I know

a) Bit late for that, Carl. About twenty-five years late TBH.
b) Really
c) All I know for sure, all I know for real, is knowing doesn't mean so much. As someone else once said (but all of my words are second-hand - a bit like Mr McCoy's choons).

Oh come now! Sisters fans shouldn't throw stones from their glass houses. I don't think you can make yourself look a twit in any better way than doing a MOR ballad with the bird who did the soundtrack to "Top Gun".
And true, the Neffs were derivative at first, but by "Elyzium" they were pooping from a great height on what had become Von Bon Jovi and his "Visionary When Wet" cock-rock act.

DeWinter wrote:Oh come now! Sisters fans shouldn't throw stones from their glass houses. I don't think you can make yourself look a twit in any better way than doing a MOR ballad with the bird who did the soundtrack to "Top Gun".

Ah, you see - when does it it's done ironically

I have a weird thing about goths (or goffs).

We went to Whitby for a day-trip with some friends and their kids yesterday, not knowing it was the tail-end of some goff weekend thing. (I was quite proud of the fact that I'd never been to a Whitby goff weekend, now I don't know if I can honestly claim that, even if it was by mistake.)

Anyway...

Now when people start slagging off goths, I get very defensive very quickly. But when I see a load of goths (for example yesterday) I just think "for fuck's sake look at yourselves". There were some right horrorshows on display.

*sigh*

markfiend wrote:I have a weird thing about goths (or goffs).

We went to Whitby for a day-trip with some friends and their kids yesterday, not knowing it was the tail-end of some goff weekend thing. (I was quite proud of the fact that I'd never been to a Whitby goff weekend, now I don't know if I can honestly claim that, even if it was by mistake.)

Anyway...

Now when people start slagging off goths, I get very defensive very quickly. But when I see a load of goths (for example yesterday) I just think "for fuck's sake look at yourselves". There were some right horrorshows on display.

*sigh*

It can look great when done by someone with a bit of taste. The whole "Victoriana with a dash of fetish" kind of goth, anyway. But when I see a nineteen stone girl with neon dreads, piercings, and a stomach bulging out of each end of a corset I tend to have similar feelings! And I dont see whats so "individual" about spending £200 on platform boots, either.

I think we all know the feeling.

DeWinter wrote:It can look great when done by someone with a bit of taste. The whole "Victoriana with a dash of fetish" kind of goth, anyway. But when I see a nineteen stone girl with neon dreads, piercings, and a stomach bulging out of each end of a corset I tend to have similar feelings! And I dont see whats so "individual" about spending £200 on platform boots, either.

Also, for a guy, the black-jeans-and-leather-jacket look is pretty impossible to do wrong.

But white pancake make-up and black eyeliner halfway down your cheeks and up your forehead don't really go when you're fat, over 40, and balding. (Not that they really go with skinny, 20, and a full head of hair, but anyway.)

Oh and when the hell did Jack Sparrow become a goth style-icon?

I found a handy guide to identify varieties of goff here


Under Great Gothic Kings:

Andarek Eldritch, or as he is known by the enlightened "The Abdicated".

Pista wrote:I found a handy guide to identify varieties of goff here


Under Great Gothic Kings:

Andarek Eldritch, or as he is known by the enlightened "The Abdicated".

excellent article! I wrote an alternative definition for gothic rock on wikipedia many years ago, along the lines of 'a long thin sugary sweet or 'stick of rock', generally black or purple in colour, with 'Whitby' written through the middle'. Funnily enough some chimp without a sense of humour deleted it.

markfiend wrote:Oh and when the hell did Jack Sparrow become a goth style-icon?

Blame the sepos, I'm afraid. Jack Sparrow took over from the girls/guys from Twilight, Marilyn Manson, and Brandon Lee as style gurus for self-identified American "goths".

But I'm with you on the "gallon-in-a-pint-pot" look. Some people just look silly, but I'm sure they're happy with their self-image. Weirdos.

deadagain wrote:

Pista wrote:I found a handy guide to identify varieties of goff here


Under Great Gothic Kings:

Andarek Eldritch, or as he is known by the enlightened "The Abdicated".

excellent article! I wrote an alternative definition for gothic rock on wikipedia many years ago, along the lines of 'a long thin sugary sweet or 'stick of rock', generally black or purple in colour, with 'Whitby' written through the middle'. Funnily enough some chimp without a sense of humour deleted it.

Actually, their Sisters page needs updating.

Maybe Being645 could do the honours??

EvilBastard wrote:

markfiend wrote:Oh and when the hell did Jack Sparrow become a goth style-icon?

Blame the sepos, I'm afraid. Jack Sparrow took over from the girls/guys from Twilight, Marilyn Manson, and Brandon Lee as style gurus for self-identified American "goths".

Twilight? Well there's the self-pitying whining I suppose, which looks a bit goffic from a certain angle. When I were a lad, vampires stood for all sorts of sexual depravity, not f**king abstinence!

EvilBastard wrote:But I'm with you on the "gallon-in-a-pint-pot" look. Some people just look silly, but I'm sure they're happy with their self-image. Weirdos.

Pista wrote: Actually, their Sisters page needs updating.

Maybe Being645 could do the honours??

... oh no, it's just too funny. Also the page about Eldritch himself ...

Being645 wrote:

Pista wrote: Actually, their Sisters page needs updating.

Maybe Being645 could do the honours??

... oh no, it's just too funny. Also the page about Eldritch himself ...

The strictly (non) goth vocalist for the (not at all) gothic rock band known as The Sisters Of Mercy

markfiend wrote:IWe went to Whitby for a day-trip with some friends and their kids yesterday, not knowing it was the tail-end of some goff weekend thing

...

There were some right horrorshows on display.

Hope I wasn't involved in that

Actually I am pretty sure when we crossed paths I was in leathers and a Sisters shirt.

And a disapproving expression. Bloody photo-fodder everywhere.



Still, they're happy, the cameramen are happy, the locals are happy, and I'd be cashiered if I said I was happy.

No Timothy, you're not a horrorshow. (Isn't it darling when they need reassurance?)

Get Bent! (TM Blaaast)