It’s World Goth Day again, and I can’t help but want to write something. Although as I’ve noted before, I find May 22 as a marker for Gothdom completely arbitrary—it’s now the established day where all things Goth are celebrated. Would that Whan That Aprille Day enjoyed the same kind of success, but that’s a story for another day or . . . not.
Scroll any social media platform around the time of World Goth Day and you’ll invariably find memes of the Cure’s Robert Smith, a little Bela Lugosi (undead, undead, undead), cool make-up & outfits, all manner of things that go bump in the night (looking at you Uncle Al), Wednesday Addams (all versions) and Siouxsie, lots of Siouxsie. Nothing unexpected here, nothing shocking, just your standard Goth fare.
But, this year, I saw a few posts from different Instagram accounts which gave me pause for thought and that is what prompted me to flex my piss-poor typing fingers. Two of the posts came from the account @childrenofthenight9 https://www.instagram.com/childrenofthenight9/ and the other from @darknesscalling. https://www.instagram.com/darknesscallingofficial/ Although these posts aren’t fully related, taken together, they highlight something which is worthy of discussing—the Goth scene, past and present.
Having lived through and participated in the first strains of what we know as Goth in the 1980s, I have an especial fondness for the music, clothes, and melancholy vibes of Goth. I am by no means an expert, nor do I live a Goth lifestyle twenty-four/seven, but, then again, I didn’t even when Goth was just beginning to flourish. I was just your typical suburban American teen with an attitude problem who was obsessed with MTV and the entire Punk/Post-Punk music scene.
I wanted to belong to that music scene so badly that I engineered every opportunity I could to participate in it, whether that was hanging out at Skinz on South Street in Philly, loitering in record shops in the Village in NYC, going to as many concerts as possible, or convincing my mom to let me head off to London with a friend (without supervision) in 1984. Being part of that scene meant everything to me.
But there were limits. Nightclubs were mostly impossible to enter except in London (no real age requirement) or NYC (where I had enough connections to get past the doormen), and even when I could get in, the music didn’t always match up with my expectations. In fact, a lot of the club music I encountered at clubs like NYC’s Danceteria or Area was more akin to Disco than anything Goth or New Wave. It’s just the way it was. The only Goth night I ever encountered was at the legendary Batcave in London in 1984, and I don’t remember hearing anything by the Alien Sex Fiend, the Sex Gang Children, Siouxise, or even club hosts, the Specimen, when I was there. I do remember speaking with Olli and Jon of the Specimen and Nina Hagen, so perhaps my memory is faulty. But I also remember hearing Soft Cell and Frankie Goes to Hollywood at a different London nightclub during that same trip though. Shrug.
I say this because it’s easy to get caught up in nostalgia, to look back at video footage of the 80s and think of it differently than it really was. This is exactly what I thought about after seeing a recent reel by @childrenofthenight9. https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7JxHi3ANau/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== It featured a bunch of 80s’ New Wavey/Goth kids dancing. And yes, there kind of were specific dance moves involving wraith-like arm movements we might now call Goth in that reel. But, in my experience, those moves weren’t picked by going to clubs. Instead, they were copied after scrupulously studying music videos or watching shows like London Calling or 120 Minutes. Same for crafting a great Goth look. Those videos plus imported British teen /music magazines provided the lookbook any aspiring Goth kid might need. There was no Goth cottage industry at that point. Hot Topic hadn’t happened. Marilyn Manson hadn’t been heralded as a Goth icon and Avril Lavigne certainly wasn’t “punk.” It’s just the way it was.
And you know what else was just the way it was—getting shit for being different, for dressing in clothes and wearing makeup/accessories that “normies” didn’t like or were afraid to wear themselves or whatever. Nothing felt more special than having your own father be uncomfortable with your killer outfit and be embarrassed to sit next to you on the train because it clashed with his Brooks Brothers businessman vibe. Or being punched in the face as a fifteen-year-old girl by some random guy while walking on South Street in Philly because “punk sucks.” Or, as happened to one of my friends, getting kicked out of your own home during your senior year of high school because you were gay. All of that was the way it was. And, quite frankly, it sucked. The music, the clothes, the dance moves—none of that sucked but being treated as a pariah because you didn’t follow the status quo didn’t always feel that great. For some, it left life-long scars.
Which is why as I’m sitting here now in 2024, forty years after I was that little Goth girl getting shit from parents, school officials, and randos on the street, I’m wondering why some of these sucky things are still happening. I don’t mean the Goth scene—I’m beyond grateful that’s it’s going strong, that young bands are creating beautiful, dark, ethereal music, that there’s amazingly creative Gothy fashion available (and home accessories too!), and that there are Goth days and Goth nights at venues where younger Goths can wear their finest, stroll about, chill out, or dance to their favorite tunes. No, I’m talking about the horrible things that older Goths endured. Why are we still dealing with this shit? Why did some beautiful girl have to make a reel about how older people stared at her or gave her shit for her attire as I saw on a post from @childrenofthenight9 https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7EprJTAchK/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
How old were the people who harassed her? Have they been living under a rock for the past forty-plus years? I mean, seriously, Goth attire isn’t exactly a new thing. And why do we still need to be told not to be fucking assholes to each other as I saw in a post from @darknesscalling. Are people seriously still going after people because they’re different? And in the Goth scene, no less. https://www.instagram.com/p/C7Rm8rGS5IP/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
How seriously screwy is that after all the social, political, and cultural strife we’ve seen over the past hundred or so years? Because it’s just the way it is. Sorry but that’s just not good enough.
Is it so damn difficult to be kind? To refrain from being a judgmental prick? To see the face of God in another human being? The makeup and clothes people wear, the music they listen to, their political or religious beliefs, their sexual preferences, etc. etc. are only facets of their entire being. Why do people continually feel the need to reduce others down, to make them small or feel unworthy? Why? Why? Why?
I know I’m not perfect and I’ve certainly done my fair share of shitty things. Mea culpa. Maxima mea culpa. But I’m always striving to be more understanding, to withhold judgment, to learn from my mistakes, and to realize that there’s always room for improvement. So, as an elderish Goth, here’s my wish for this year’s World Goth Day (and every day for that matter)—respect the past and learn from it, but don’t cling to it, and be a better version of yourself. Just be better. And listen to some great fucking music while you’re at it.
Gen X Calling 