Early representatives of Gothic music include Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bauhaus and so on. They are full of gloomy and world-weary sentiments. The music is often cold and biting, with a delicate sense of beauty, but at the same time, it uses a large number of dissonant sounds that deviate from the melody line at the level of the range, showing extreme contempt for all traditional music. At the level of lyrics and performance concept, it shows the desolation of life and love. From the rejection of the real state, to the pursuit of strange pleasures in the abyss of the soul. On the stage, she/they appeared in extreme and crazy costumes, such as Su Kexi's "ice queen" look with a slightly sadistic and masochistic mood, and Bauhaus lead singer Peter Murphy put himself Dressed up as a capricious androgynous vampire? This subversion and reversal of gender is also manifested in a fanatical obsession with theological (or demonological) concepts. The Sisters of Mercy, founded in 1981, was a reaction to the musical consciousness of a few men who loved medieval style. At one time, lead singer Atli was described as "laughing wildly as he watched the city of Rome burn to a pile of rubble." Andrew Eldritch made clear the religious stance of the Goethe rock band - for us, cynicism is like holy water for Catholics. Early post-punk's interpretation of life was often full of frustration and despair. For example, Ian Curtis, the lead singer of Joy Division, hanged himself in 1980. Those life-consuming notes have become the immortal classic of Joy Division and bear witness to the entire low-key culture. His gloomy and lonely outlook on life hides a gloomy genetic factor, dyeing the entire post-punk culture into deep gray and darkness. In the 1980s, a pessimistic era was constructed in degenerate music, at least at the level of underground culture in England and Europe. In the independent music circle at that time, a large number of dark, morbid, and weird bands emerged. Their music originated from endless depression and the curse of life. Such as The Mission, All about Eve, Fields of the Nephilem, The Cult, etc. These bands/musicians, who were regarded as desperate, evil, and decadent, escaped from the excessive destructive consciousness of punk into a restrained and dark world - this is the low-key music that occupied most of rock music in the 1980s. time and space. The shape and evolution of gothic rock in the British underground music scene is like a cult coming to the earth and extending the palm of a troll. It delights the audience through unimaginable and unconstrained evil materials. This not only includes the unprecedented creativity of the Holy Spirit in the field of music, but also includes the unprecedented stimulating visual experience given to people in terms of visual modeling. Neutral identity styles and heavy makeup are not exclusive to the New Romantics. Goth seems to be the opposite twin brother of New Romance, the dark and morbid side behind the gorgeousness. Now let's take a look at the improved style of Gothic music and other related music schools. EBM (Electronic Body Music), which was born in Belgium, is a kind of electronic, cold and black music. It was produced under the influence of electronic bands such as Kraftwerk in the German Krautrock movement. Front242, one of the founding bands of EBM, is known for its minimalist beats, depressive sounds and militaristic commando attire. The Klinik, Insekt, Dive, Click Click, A Split Second and later Suicide Commando are some of the important bands of BM. Dive and Klinik used sonar noise to create an icy outer space atmosphere. Suicide Commando incorporates more dance music elements.
Similar music style is called Industrial in the United States and Canada, such as Front Line Assembly, Skinny Puppy and other bands. The synthesized music and multi-layered sounds they create are perfect for listening to with headphones. Front Line Assembly's classic albums Classical Bumsare Caustic Grip (1990) and Tactical Neural Implant (1992) are worth collecting by everyone who likes EMB. So far we haven’t talked about Germany, which is now the center of goth music. Many German bands are used to the music label DARKWAVE. Project Pitchfork was the first German band to be involved in the field of Gothic music. Although their music style has changed, they have always been a popular group. The first album "Dhyani" is also a classic, consisting of typical black music and critical lyrics. The members of the Deine Lakaien band have a strong musical foundation, and they have made romantic songs like "Love me to the end". The work has a certain medieval feel to it. A large number of groups in Germany maintain their native language when singing, such as Goethes Erben, and the name of the band says it all. Their first three albums are like a trilogy, independent yet interrelated. Bands such as Lacrimosa and Tilo Wolf continue to experiment with musical expressions by adding elements of metal music. Of course we must know the group Das Ich. Their classic album is "Die Propheten". The songs in the album have complex lyrics and are full of wisdom. Calvay Nada, a representative group of dark electronic music, sings in German and Spanish. Their most distinctive feature is the bass of the lead singer Brenal, and the lyrics mostly involve political, social and other topics. From this aspect, this band is a gothic band. It is unique in the music kingdom. Generally speaking, due to the romantic plot, most bands in Germany are the product of a combination of romantic songs and dark electronics. Nowadays, the music within the Gothic category is becoming more and more diversified. For example, dark folk (darkfolk), representatives of this style of music are Current93, Deathin June, Sol Invictus and Fire Ice. The early works of C93 were relatively experimental and difficult to understand. Later, David Tibet used his personal thinking to explore the direction of acoustic folk music. Deathin June, the predecessor band of C93, has been quite controversial since the release of their first album Nada. They have even been accused of extreme right-wing tendencies. But what impressed us most deeply about DIJ was its pagan ritual music. If you want to listen to this kind of music, I recommend you to go to World Serpent, an excellent music label. The bands mentioned above have all released works under its label. By the way, there is another Italian group Ordo Equitum Solis that should also be worthy of our attention. Many goth bands have some kind of medieval plot, combining medieval music with modern creative techniques. There are many such medieval groups in Germany. The music creators generally have a good classical music education background. Well-known orchestras include Qntal, Estampie, Freiburger Spielleyt, etc. This kind of music is even more influential in Italy, where Ataraxia and Camerata Mediolanense have produced many outstanding musical works. This type of combination not only attracts goth listeners but also attracts some classical music admirers. The music of The Moonlay Hidden Beneath a Cloud and Rosa Crux absorbed elements of festival music.
Of course, the styles of many bands are very difficult to define. For example, Take Kirlian Camera in Italy, the band's style has changed every year in the past 20 years. The French eroticism dark electronic band Die FORM's music themes mostly involve S/M (sexual abuse), and each of their works brings us new surprises. Another band from France, Collectiond'Arnell Andrea's piano sound is very distinctive and has become its own unique signature. The works of In the Nursery, a band that is good at composing orchestral music, are very suitable as accompaniments in movies. In Sweden, the Nordic country, the Cold Meat Industry label has launched many unique music works through years of hard work. The bands under its umbrella have diverse styles, such as the bloody experimental bands Brighter Death Now and Deutsch Nepal, the ambient music group Raison d'Etre, the neoclassical The Protagonist, the celestial music group Arcana, etc. Speaking of Tianyin, if you want to know better, I suggest you listen to representative bands like Love is Colder than Death, Black Tape for a Blue Girl, and Stoa. In the text of Gothic music, we can savor some nihilistic statements involving religion, sex, death, despair, Christ and even incredible things. These are an indispensable part of Gothic music, Gothic Rock, which covers Everything about the music beneath the blurry, ethereal outer shell is so mysterious. The style of gothic rock can be said to be inherited from Joy Division, especially the habit of elevating the bass to the position of the lead. To this day, the post-gothic dynasty still cannot completely get rid of it. Those suppressing low voices or distorted vocals, heavy bass as heavy as depression, psychedelic guitar sounds, drumming full of accusations, and occasionally screaming like ghosts and gods, as heavy as stone grinding or It is a wild and disintegrating music form, and there are also pale faces of Rock Music: when you feel helpless and helpless about life, do you think about what is hidden behind it? Is it the isolation of the soul? Is it the shadow of death? Or is it a human tragedy? Gothic Rock is a subversive act of music based more on unconscious abstract expression than on intentionality. Just like facing a season of gloomy winter weather, we are invaded by Gothic culture, chasing an experience of living and dying in the dehumanized post-industrial modern society. Barry's musical foresight also exists. In addition to Rock Music, which has always been true to itself, in the pessimistic 1980s, the influence of Gothic, a subculture that lives in the shadow of mainstream culture, has long transcended the boundaries of music and has become a way of life. A way, an attitude towards life, a black kingdom pursued by Gothic believers. After the blurry nineties, today's Gothic rock in the next century has been deconstructed into fragments and incomplete. The Sisters of Mercy and The Mission, the former patron saints of Goth, have long since abandoned their believers. But in today’s Dark-Wave movement, formalisms such as Death Folk, Post-Industrial, Dark Ambient and even Neo-Classical Underneath the style shell, we are still delighted to find that Gothic is still the most vital and influential gene in these underground cultures. In this revolution that broke through and overcame lust and gender, Goethe's subculture pursued the so-called ideal model "hermaphrodite" and became a beautiful weapon to smash the confinement. Look, the aliens who used to be regarded as monsters bravely escape from the pale heaven, crush the faces of angels, and reach the eternal and ruthless desire. In the second half of the 20th century, it invaded the garden of alternative music and became a very unique branch of alternative music.
If you are familiar with the history of new music, you will know that from about the late 1970s to the 1980s, some bands were called "Post Punk Cool", "Neo-Classical" or "Neo-Classical". "Neo-Hippies", and gradually blended into the later gothic rock school. If early PostPunkCool's interpretation of life was depression and despair (such as the suicide of Ian Curtis, the lead singer of Joy Division), then "Sisters of Mercy" and similar bands such as "The Mission", "All Bands such as "All About Eve", "Fields of the Nephilem" and "The Cult" may be looking down on the vulgarities of reality in an attempt to overthrow hypocrisy. The dogma extracts the spirit of opposition and dissatisfaction and turns it into the "negative preaching" of music. In the "Church" album "God's Own Medicine" (God's Own Medicine), the first song "Wasteland" (Wasteland) mockingly sings, "I still believe in God, but God no longer believes in me. " Such blasphemous declarations present a shocking fact: It turns out that for a long time, the power structure between gods and humans has been just like the subject and object of the sexual structure. In this album, it is repeatedly considered that while overthrowing faith, death is no longer a tool used by God the Father to coerce, but an erotic utopia for traitors. As in "Love Me to Death," it is beautifully laid out that the peak of eroticism is not fixed by a rigid relationship of "dominance-submission"; that is, in death In the realm of (kuangque), the fatal feminine passion is not controlled and suppressed, and develops its own aesthetics. It is undeniable that "death" is almost a keyword in the cultural level of gothic rock music. When some conservative voices or counter-forces attempt to use this point to criticize gothic rock music and subculture, we can see two responses: such as "Christian Death", a group that deals with dark and painful emotions. For the band, for them, the corruption, apocalypse, destruction and other situations performed/diffused by death are enough to bring us close to the "ultimate climax" (ultimateorgasm). This is what Christian Death explores on albums such as Only Theater of Pain, The Rage of Angels, and The Iron Mask. A kind of convulsive beauty that is close to the critical point. In one of the songs, "Death Wish," the closing lyrics almost ecstatically state that "Satan is the most merciful beast." Together with the sad music, it is nothing more than a mockery of the brutal norms of the religious/patriarchal system. Dual opposing values ??on various things. Another reaction may be to quote what Poppy Z. Brite said in the preface to the anthology of vampire erotic novels "Love in Vein": "Gothic subculture" does not Not praising or loving death, just simply refusing to fear it. In the process of exploring death, I slowly get close to it and get close to it. "This passage just explains why words like "Nirvana", "And Also the Trees", "Will", "Lycia", "The Morendoes", etc. The band will be inextricably immersed in the macabre image of "making love with the dead king", and at the same time, a delicate tension will emerge from such heretical lust.
In addition, death is not necessarily a lack of life. Following the lines of these creators and the symbols and allegories found in many pagan myths or demonology, death may be an outlet to the supernatural and non-human realm. In the mid-to-late 1990s, Gothic subculture not only blossomed in literature and music creation, but also affected the cultural ecology and identity of this "mixed ethnic group" (including women, queers, and erotic border elements). In the revolution of lust and gender, Gothic subculture pursues the so-called ideal model "hermaphrodite". Although it deserves further examination, it is also a beautiful weapon that helps to push against the prohibition and make aliens who were regarded as monsters in the past ( Others) break away from a single paradise and savor their own desires and the corpses of angels. The ones I think sound good are: lt; lt; Bring me to life; gt;. Singer: the corrs lt; lt; abschied gt; Lacrimosa (wash your face with tears)