I was never a Goth and most of the groups I was seeing live and signing to my Criminal Damage label in the early eighties weren’t Goth either. At least they never admitted to be. But then who did? Not that Criminal Damage was my first experience of that intense style of music because it wasn’t. That came via The Stills, whose twelve inch EP Chorus Of Blows I put out on Open Door Records in 1982. A bunch of enthusiastic, eighteen year old, proto Goths from the villages surrounding North Reading, heavily influenced by Bauhaus and The Bunnymen, naively I thought them so incredible they couldn’t possibly fail. And yet, to my amazement they barely got off the ground, worn down by too many soul destroying shows at poorly attended, piss stinking dups like The Moonlight, The Clarendon and The Fulham Greyhound.
Then, one night in the late summer of 1982, after yet another shitty London appearance, this time at The Rock Garden in Covent Garden, we made the short ten minute walk to the faded glamour of The Gargoyle Club in Dean Street, old Soho and took the tiny lift up to The Batcave. A vortex for the burgeoning Goth scene, it was a lightbulb moment for those from the sticks seeking a bit more from life and with our jumble sale suits, motorcycle boots and lust for life we fitted right in. On any given night you could bump into Siouxsie, Steve Severin, Nick Cave, Marc Almond, Jim Thirlwell or Robert Smith propping up the bar. It was a hedonist’s dream of drink, drugs and blow jobs in the toilet, all to a soundtrack of classic glam, rockabilly and cabaret and chaotic live shows from artists in residence Alien Sex Fiend and Specimen, their ‘Stand Up Stand Out’ the epitome of what it was all about.
While I was enthralled by every kind of music, from ear bleeding industrial noise to the colour and poptimism of new pop, more than anything I was drawn to the sickness, dirt, madness and darkness of rock’n’roll encapsulated within The Batcave. The polar opposite of puritanical post punk and the supposed social realism of Oi and ‘real’ punk, it was yet another reaction to punks ‘What now?’ And yet ironically, going somewhat against the grain of popular perception, what I remember the most about it, certainly in the early days, was the sense of fun, the eternal piss taking and the howls of laughter running through the club. Fuelled by the pursuit of pleasure, it promised a flight from the crushing boredom of everyday life. Fuck Thatcher and grim reality. That would come later!
In hindsight I guess the roots of The Batcave and the early Goth aesthetic can be traced back to 1978 when punk was already spinning into amphetamine stoked freefall and the lost children of the revolution were left searching for some meaning amongst the ruins. New, press generated, retro trends came and went with alarming regularity, but those seeking the very essence of their original inspiration were left with nowhere to go but the puritanical anarcho Crass collective, a stark, bleak, sexless ethic run by a couple of old hippies old enough to be my parents. The darker side developed as the antithesis of their values, originally inspired by Adam’s ‘Ant music for sex people’, a further reaction to punk’s empty promises and a kind of Native American ghost dance in the face of defeat.
The Ants possessed some of Goths future hallmarks, but when Adam turned to children’s storybook imagery, his original fans defected to Bauhaus, whose ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’ is rightly regarded as Goth ground zero, and later, Theatre Of Hate, led by Kirk Brandon looking like the original poster boy for Aryan supremacy. Siouxsie and The Banshees, The Birthday Party and Killing Joke, three groups encouraging an escape into a common wildness of ritual and ceremony, magic and mystery, also offered something entirely different to those who wanted the excitement of punk without the crap bits.
The early eighties really was a halcyon period for youth culture and the best of times to be running an independent record label. Just as we were formulating the first Criminal Damage releases, styles that had once been subsumed within the larger post punk diaspora emerged from the genius of the early years to be named and identified as such, not least Goth which despite the best efforts of The Batcave remained deep underground until February 1983 when the NME showcased an article written by Richard North about the musical exploits of his friends and proclaimed the arrival of ‘Positive Punk’. Goth in all but name, while it was a rather naive attempt to connect the latest bunch of newly rising outfits (Brigandage, Blood and Roses, Danse Society, Ritual, Virgin Prunes, Sex Gang Children and the distinctly non Goth Rubella Ballet and The Mob) making a name for themselves in the Capital, it did spark a huge surge of interest amongst the nations disenchanted youth, something the frighteningly hip Southern Death Cult milked for all it was worth.
Formed in Bradford yet built upon the North American Indian, pseudo-hippy twaddle singer Ian Astbury had picked up in Canada, unfortunately, despite selling vast quantities of their debut single ‘Fatman’/‘Moya’ and packing out venues, they proved all style and no content, failing to become a credible musical force until halfway through the year when Astbury teamed up with Theatre Of Hate’s Billy Duffy, initially as Death Cult before dropping the ‘Death’ in January 1984 to broaden their appeal still further. By then Goth was legion, the Sisters Of Mercy’s ‘Temple Of Love’ not only the single of the year but guaranteed to get the chicken dancers on the floor. Other young groups like Play Dead, 1919, Bone Orchard, Flesh For Lulu, March Violets, Gene Loves Jezebel, The Skeletal Family and scores of others emerged like locusts to swarm across the live circuit and the Independent charts. In fact, soon Goth had become such a dominant force that almost every label of note had at least one like-minded group on its roster and my own Criminal Damage were no different.
Early on we pulled out all the stops to sign both Blood And Roses and Brigandage on one off singles deals before discovering to our cost that the NME piece had corrupted them beyond repair. That kind of thing happened a lot back then; a tidal wave of press attention leading to big egos and hugely inflated visions of grandeur. Despite our disappointment, by the summer of 1984 we had still gained the reputation of being almost exclusively Goth with records by The Stunt Kites, Twisted Nerve, Look Back In Anger, Ausgang, Anorexic Dread, The Leather Nun and Geschlecht Akt, not to mention Rob from Play Dead’s Goth supergroup M.A.D. Renowned journalist and genre historian Mick Mercer gave us the nod on some groups and within a few months was working part time for the label scribbling nonsensical press releases to bemuse his fellow scribes.
Through Mich Ebeling of Look Back In Anger we befriended Billy Duffy who kindly offered his services as a label producer for expenses only, although ultimately, with The Cult’s increasing success taking up more and more of his time, he only got to do the Look Back in Anger mini LP Caprice. Yet that connection alone was enough to allow me into goths inner sanctum and blag my way onto The Cults first UK tour and their Wembley Arena shows supporting Big Country, not to mention the first leg of the Sisters Tune In, Turn On, Burn Out tour. Brilliant times and all the while juggling the label, a wife, a kid, a mortgage and signing on every two weeks back in the old hometown.
Musically early Goth tended to share the post punk mind set of the Banshees with rock’n’roll something to be discarded. However, The Sisters Of Mercy soon changed that dynamic. Being defiantly rockist while still retaining an aura of adventure and quest, Andrew Eldrich admired then embraced rocks relentlessness and sense of stupidity, albeit with mechanised beats courtesy of drum machine Doktor Avalanche which in an eighties rock context was shocking in itself. The result was an ultra-stylised approach, sunglasses after dark and speed emaciated bodies wrapped in black. Ex Sister Wayne Hussey’s Mission, the last truly big Goth group Fields Of The Nephilim, and lesser lights like Rose Of Avalanche faithfully followed suit. The Cult too referenced the past, although they concentrated on the look and sound of the early seventies, so paving the way for Billy Duffy’s guitar God aspirations (he once told me his favourite album was The Free Story from 1973), Ian Astbury’s endless wail and The Cult’s unforgiveable slide into long haired, hard rock parody.
Much like today, even at the time outsiders ridiculed Goth mercilessly, unable to get past the kitsch horror leanings, the death obsession and the funereal clothing. Of course I was far too close to pass judgement but maybe in the end it did all get a little silly and distorted but that happens to almost every music genre. And it must be said that out of all the sub species spawned by punk, Goth remains as one of the few that is not only still standing but is as vital a part of twenty first century music culture as any other genre. It also gave me personally some of the most brilliantly exciting times of my life which will forever be an all abiding memory of my past.
BAUHAUS ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’ (Single A Side August 1979)
Unlike anything else Bauhaus would record during their five year existence, ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’s skittering, dub inflected, nine minute plus treatise on virginal brides, black capes, tombs, bats, bell towers and a B movie Count Dracula who died in 1956 was goth ground zero. Not that anyone, least of all Bauhaus, knew it at the time.
ADAM AND THE ANTS ‘Kick!’ (Single B Side March 1980)
It’s impossible now to think of the Prince Charming of new pop as some kind of proto Goth. Where that manifested itself may have been more in the fanaticism and devotion of his early followers than in the music, but there’s no denying the similarity between the Mk. 2 Ants magnificent ‘Kick’ and the noise that would soon be sweeping through the post punk underground.
KILLING JOKE ‘Wardance’ (Single A Side March 1980)
Master musician Jaz Coleman would take Killing Joke in all sorts of directions in subsequent years yet they started out as fearsome post-punks with an undeniably dark and disturbing energy. Driving drums and a stabbing guitar powered their second single ‘Wardance’ before the typically anthemic chorus kicked in.
BAUHAUS ‘In The Flat Field’ (In The Flat Field LP October 1980)
I never realised just how important Bauhaus were to me until I started putting this playlist together. Much maligned and ridiculed even at their peak, and ignored ever since by wimpy post punk commentators, they were one of the most progressive and popular groups to come out of the wreckage of punk. Even Joy Division’s Ian Curtis was an early supporter, the similarities between the two groups strikingly obvious, particularly on the fabulous In The Flat Field and its songs of love, death, hope and life.
SIOUXIE AND THE BANSHEES ‘Halloween’ (JuJu LP June 1981)
Often considered the Banshee’s darkest album, Juju placed John McGeoch’s unique and innovative guitar playing front and centre, nowhere more so than on ‘Halloween’, a song that summed up Goth’s ghoulish disposition better than most.
THE BIRTHDAY PARTY ‘Release The Bats’ (Single A Side August 1981)
Most Goth bands messed about with frightening imagery in a comical, Hammer Horror kind of way but The Birthday Party were genuinely scary. Their notorious live shows felt like anything could erupt at any moment and it often did. Somehow they managed to capture that unhinged energy on ‘Release the Bats’, an instant gem and key touchstone. Hearing Nick Cave shriek ‘Sex! Vampire! Bite!’ still gives me the chills.
NICO ‘Vegas’ (Single B Side September 1981)
Nico was spoken of as the late twentieth centuries very own Mary Shelley, except instead of writing about Frankenstein she lived it, surviving not only the sixties, Lou Reed and a heroin habit of gargantuan proportions, but also getting her head together enough to release a couple of decent singles in her early forties.
THEATRE OF HATE ‘Do You Believe In The Westworld?’ (Single A Side December 1981)
Led by the impossibly pretty Kirk Brandon, Theatre Of Hate were all bleached flat tops, German military vests, tight jeans and brothel creeper sneers. As a result they became the most derided and scorned group in the music press since Adam. And yet that journalist imposed outsider status immediately appealed to a lost, mostly alpha male fan base looking for something a little more challenging than Discharge, GBH, The Exploited and the supposed ‘sound from the streets’. And ‘Do You Believe In The Westworld?’ delivered in spades, a dark, foreboding anthem of thunderous drums, spaghetti western guitar and Brandon's howls that got them onto Top Of The Pop’s and as close to the mainstream as they’d ever get.
CHRISTIAN DEATH ‘Romeo’s Distress’ (Only Theatre Of Pain LP March 1982)
Said by Mick Mercer to be the ‘gothic album to out gothic all others’, Only Theatre Of Pain stood out partly because Christian Death came from the bright, sunny climes of California rather than the dank, dark, Dickensian wastelands of London, but I do remember it causing quite a stir.
GENE LOVES JEZEBEL ‘Shaving My Neck’ (Single A Side May 1982)
Goth’s influences were sprawling and messy, stretching back to the nihilism of punk and beyond to the cerebral, arty side of glam. Like Bauhaus before them, Gene Loves Jezebel founders Jay and Michael Aston drank heavily from Bowie’s sexually charged swagger and Roxy Music’s dark, theatrical experiments.
BAUHAUS ‘Spirit’ (Single A Side June 1982)
Bauhaus really came into their own on their singles, each one completely different to what had come before or what would come after. From ‘Bela’ to the white boy, art funk of ‘A Kick In The Eye’, and from the swirling mystery of ‘Spirit’ to ‘She’s In Parties’, they supplied a thrilling litany of dark kicks. In the end, critically despised and fatally wounded by Pete Murphy’s lengthy bout of pneumonia during the recording of their last album Burning From The Inside they just seemed to fade away. At the time there was so much going on we didn’t realise exactly what it was we’d lost, yet today the influence of Bauhaus stretches as far, if not further, than their more heralded peers.
DANSE SOCIETY ‘Danse/Move’ (Seduction Mini LP August 1982)
Danse Society were nothing like the enthusiastic young waifs and strays I’d been listening to, the synth textures, art experiments and sweeping grandeur of Seduction a cut above the amateur racket most indie outfits of 1982 seemed to wear like a badge. Independent records were not supposed to be as sophisticated as this, and yet from the sleeve to the elegant production Seduction oozed sheer class, bridging the gap between post punk and something far more serious and distinctive.
UK DECAY ‘Testament’ (Rising From The Dread EP August 1982)
Once described by the NME as ‘one of the worst punk bands of all time’, then lavishly praised and held up as ‘positive punk’ forefathers in the same publication four years later, UK Decay were a significant influence on the early goth scene, their blend of tribal drums, liquid bass, spidery guitars and shamanic vocals setting a template for others to follow.
SEX GANG CHILDREN ‘Into The Abyss’ (Single A Side November 1982)
Sex Gang Children were signed to Criminal Damage financiers Illuminated Records so I used to see them around our shared Fulham Road HQ all the time. Fusing their natural punk energy with theatrics to create their own unique form of nightmare cabaret music, they were an easy target for the music press.
SISTERS OF MERCY ‘Alice’ (Single A Side November 1982)
Sisters of Mercy are generally the first group folk think of when the ‘G’ word is mentioned. This had a lot to do with Andrew Eldrich’s command of imagery, which from 1982 led to them becoming one of the most visible Goth ‘brands’. A stand out from their early history, ‘Alice’ featured the same intense vocal as every other release but for once with a broodingly compelling tune to match.
SOUTHERN DEATH CULT ‘Fatman’ (Single AA Side December 1982)
The most hyped independent release of the winter of 1982/83, it’s impossible to ignore ‘Fatman’ and Southern Death Cult’s place in the history of Goth. And yet even at the time it sounded horribly weedy and a bit of a let down. The ever enterprising and self-aggrandising Ian Astbury obviously thought so because just a few months later he ditched his erstwhile bandmates to join up with part time Theatre Of Hate guitarist Billy Duffy.
PLAY DEAD ‘Propaganda’ (Single A Side January 1983)
Like so many of the groups here, Banbury’s criminally underrated Play Dead refused to acknowledge the goth tag, even though everything about them, from the music itself to their morbidly romantic sleeves and song titles, appeared to invite it.
BLOOD AND ROSES ‘Spit Upon Your Grave’ (Love Under Will EP February 1983)
Blood and Roses were another group bound up in the fortunes of ‘positive punk’. Appearing on the front cover of the infamous NME edition at the same time as their debut Love Under Will EP was released, they promised much yet delivered little. My own favourites Brigandage suffered an even worse fate. Despite my best efforts to sign them to Criminal Damage for a one off single, they decided to wait for the big deal that never came and failed to release anything on record apart from the incredible ‘Hide And Seek’ on Dave Roberts of Sex Gang Children’s The Whip compilation LP.
SEX GANG CHILDREN ‘Sebastiane’ (Song And Legend LP April 1983)
I never got around to asking him but it seemed likely that Andi Sex Gang was influenced by early Cockney Rebel. Apart from the obvious similarity title wise with Steve Harley & Co’s debut single, the violin drenched, brilliant baroque fury of ‘Sebastiane’ plundered many of Harley’s vocal mannerisms and classical motifs.
SPECIMEN ‘Stand Up, Stand Out’ (Originally Unreleased Recorded July 1983)
Specimen’s legacy as genre lynchpins revolved more around Ollie Wisdom and Jon Klein’s involvement in The Batcave and keyboard player Jonny Slut’s notoriety as the face of Goth than their music. But for a brief moment, ‘Stand Up, Stand Out’ proved a suitable anthem for those naive young Batcavers looking to escape their provincial existence, if only for a night.
1919 ‘Cry Wolf’ (Single A September 1983)
Fondly remembered, relatively obscure bunch of brigands from Bradford who ploughed through the early eighties with a handful of records and a couple of Peel sessions before the law of diminishing returns led to their demise, as it did with most groups back then.
SISTERS OF MERCY ‘Temple Of Love’ (Single A Side October 1983)
Andrew Eldrich’s admirable refusal to ditch Doktor Avalanche undoubtedly had an adverse effect on The Sisters mainstream fortunes, and the same could possibly be said for his theatrical, doomy croon. And yet, it was those same unique qualities that made him and his group the icons they ultimately would become. Having said that, the magnificent ‘Temple of Love’, arguably the greatest Sisters song of them all, stayed true to Eldrich’s defiant vision whereas the re-recorded 1992 version remains a travesty best forgotten.
BONE ORCHARD ‘Kicking Up The Sawdust’ (Stuffed To The Gills Mini LP November 1983)
The largely unknown Bone Orchard were a group who would remain a prize reserved for those in the know. Not strictly Goth’s in the purest sense of the word (but then who was), Stuffed To The Gills was a growling, belligerent kick in the balls to anyone who dared to try and categorise them.
MARCH VIOLETS ‘Snake Dance’ (Single A Side January 1984)
Together with the Sisters of Mercy and Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, The March Violets were an essential part of the vibrant goth and post punk scene that originated in Leeds amidst a backdrop of high unemployment, the miners strikes and Thatcherite austerity. Lesser known than their more illustrious brethren, ‘Snake Dance’ was their most significant claim to fame, breaking new ground by skilfully blending the punky vitality of The Stooges with a previously unheard glacial grandeur.
ALIEN SEX FIEND ‘New Christian Music’ (Single B Side March 1984)
Batcave darling’s Alien Sex Fiend were so much more than the schlocky horror show they are often made out to be, their weird, synth punk electronics and the madman antics of Nik Fiend giving Goth a new sonic direction as well as a much needed sense of humour.
AUSGANG ‘Vice Like Grip’ (The Teachings Of Web EP March 1984)
Criminal Damage’s main contribution to Goth were Ausgang, a bunch of back to basics post punkers from Birmingham fusing sex, drugs and twisted rock’n’roll into new and interesting patterns. Favourites amongst the select few, I have nothing but fond memories of them and that glorious period of my life.
THE CULT ‘Spiritwalker’ (Single A Side May 1984)
You can say what you like about The Cult and I often do, but there’s no disputing the fact that they were a focal point of excitement and daring do for those just that little bit too young to have been around for punk. If you were fifteen or sixteen in 1984, the undeniable energy, passion, colour and mystery of hearing ‘Spiritwalker’ or watching The Cult play live on Channel 4 music show The Tube was enough to make you want to change everything about your life. Hard to believe I know, but for some it really was as important as that.
FLESH FOR LULU ‘Subterraneans’ (Single A Side May 1984)
The wonderful Flesh For Lulu were Batcave regulars and a personal favourite of mine although whether they were Goths or not is debatable. More glammy Stones copyists than dated genre curios their songs still stand up, ‘Subterraneans’ one of the most poignantly poetic anthems of the age.
SEX GANG CHILDREN ‘Dieche’ (Single A Side July 1984)
The Sex Gang Children’s final release was a dramatic dance inflected reworking of ‘Into The Abyss’ B Side ‘Dieche’ for Illuminated Records In Car Entertainment alternative dance floor cassette, an off the wall idea but one that inadvertently provided a suitably fitting epitaph.
FURYO ‘Legacy’ (Furioso EP September 1984)
Formed from the ashes of UK Decay, Furyo only ever played a dozen or so shows which came as something of a surprise to me as I saw them a number of times in the latter half of 1983. Yet another one of those groups we all thought were guaranteed to hit the bigtime, sadly, despite a decent mini album and 12 inch EP, they just seemed to fade away.
ANDI SEX GANG ‘Les Amants D’un Jour’ (Single A Side November 1984)
Andi Sex Gang was one of the more principled artists of the time which is possibly why the Sex Gang Children never made it into the mainstream. However, unlike UK Decay/Furyo frontman Abbo he was never going to drift quietly into obscurity, his masterful version of Edith Piaf’s ‘Les Amants D’un Jour’ the first of many solo projects.
SKELETAL FAMILY ‘Promised Land’ (Single A Side February 1985)
When the Skeletal Family first appeared in the early months of 1983 their dark melodies, eerie guitar tones and Anne-Marie Hurst’s voice bought something unique to the Goth party. A phenomenal song that is still cherished today by goth’s and non-goths of a certain age, ‘Promised Land’ even dented the lower reaches of the UK singles charts proper before it all ended in an oh so predictable litany of mistrust and musical differences.
SISTERS OF MERCY ‘Marian (Version)’ (First And Last And Always LP March 1985)
The Sisters were always a divisive outfit, being adored by their fanatical followers and detested by everyone else, especially the old hippy journo’s of the weekly music press. Whether it was a wind up or not, in interviews Andrew Eldrich liked to refer back to the era of Altamont, The Stooges and the early seventies, much as The Cult would do a couple of years later but with very different results.
More than thirty years on First And Last And Always is still considered to be the most important goth album of them all and the standard template of the genre, what with its sinister chord progressions, driving beats, subtle synthesiser washes and above all Eldrich’s low, deep and doom laden vocal styling. Not only that, it stands proudly as the most cohesive work released under The Sisters name, and is still regarded fondly by the once wild and youthful legions hurtling reluctantly towards pensionable age.
THE CULT ‘She Sells Sanctuary’ (Single A Side May 1985)
For all that The Cult would become, nothing should detract from ‘She Sells Sanctuary’, a mighty, anthemic tune and giant, top twenty hit that would only be bettered chartwise by the Godawful ‘Lil’ Devil’ two years later.
RED LORRY YELLOW LORRY ‘Walking On Hands’ (Paint Your Wagon LP March 1986)
While the Sisters received most of the attention, the Leeds scene actually dated back to the Gang of Four’s emergence during the initial stage of post punk. Emerging from those same roots, perhaps it’s no surprise that with their pummelling rhythms, throbbing guitars and monotone vocals Red Lorry Yellow Lorry were tarred with the same Goth clichés as their more popular peers, and yet they came to mean so much more.
GENE LOVES JEZEBEL ‘Desire (Come And Get It)’ (Single A Side October 1986)
‘Desire (Come And Get It)’ was an even greater version of the Aston twins greatest song and what a blast it was, drawing on a hefty dose of glam with a thumping beat, an earworm of a chorus and a curious dance undercurrent.
ROSE OF AVALANCHE ‘Velveteen’ (Single A Side October 1986)
Another Leeds group to feature a drum machine, twin guitars and a fondness for the late sixties and early seventies, Rose of Avalanche arrived late to the party. Noticeably different to their contemporaries due to vocalist Philip Morris’s half-spoken, Lou Reed like delivery and a couple of terrific songs, incredibly he kept up his ludicrous mid-Atlantic drawl for his between song banter, something I laughed out loud at when I saw them for the first time supporting The Mission.
THE MISSION ‘Wasteland’ (God’s Own Medicine LP November 1986)
Wayne Hussey was a nice chap and he wore some great hats but for shit lyrics and out’n’out pretentiousness he beat Andrew Eldrich and Ian Astbury hands down. To my ears The Mission’s debut God’s Own Medicine suffered from such ostentatious bullshit in a big way but its highpoints, namely ‘Severina’ and ‘Wasteland’, still possessed enough of that essential something to send shivers down my spine.
FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM ‘Preacher Man’ (Single A Side March 1987)
Fields Of The Nephilim were regulars at the shows we put on at Reading’s Paradise Club, starting out as £100 headliners before transferring to the 1,000 capacity Majestic for ten times that amount just as ‘Preacher Man’ rocketed up the independent chart. Incredible live, their success followed years of struggle yet founding member Carl McCoy’s singular vision, both visually and sonically, never faltered. Dressed in wide brimmed hats, black funereal clothing and boots dusted with flour for that faux spaghetti western look, they were genuinely like no-one else, their songs simultaneously haunting, brave and beautiful with many a biblical and apocalyptic reference thrown in for good measure.
SISTERS OF MERCY ‘Lucretia My Reflection’ (Floodland LP November 1987)
Derided now as then as the face of Gothdom, no-one can deny Andrew Eldrich’s legacy and ‘Lucretia My Reflection’ had it all. Recorded in response to the departure of Wayne Hussey and Craig Adams in 1985, Eldrich collaborated with rock opera maestro Jim Steinman for an almost comedic yet brilliant exercise in sonic excess, the most over the top video ever and the full stop on goths first and finest age.
Chris Green
March 2023
Fully Revised and updated edition of a piece originally written in June 2006 including quotes originally intended for John Robb’s ‘The Art of Darkness: A History of Goth’.
