GOTHIC INFLUENCES: MUSIC

The music of the goth subculture comes in a number of different styles including gothic rock, post-punk, deathrock, darkwave, Industrial Music, Ethereal and neoclassical. Gothic rock combined dark, often heavy keyboard music with dark lyrics. The bands and Singers that adopted the Gothic Rock genre included Bauhaus, The Cure, The Damned, Adam and the Ants, Depeche Mode, The Birthday Party, Southern Death Cult, Specimen, UK Decay, Sex Gang Children, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Sisters of Mercy, The Mission, Alien Sex Fiend and The March Violets. 

Bauhaus

Bauhaus was an English rock band formed in 1978. Their dark sound, and gloomy image are what caused them to be considered as the first Gothic Rock group. Bauhaus combined a number of influences including Punk, Glam Rock and even Krautrock and funk. Their sound appealed to many fans, and after breaking up in 1983 the band reunited again 1998 and 2005.

The band chose the name Bauhaus 1919, a reference to the German Bauhaus art movement of the 1920s, because of its "stylistic implications and associations", according to David J. The band also chose to use the same typeface used on the Bauhaus college building in Dessau, Germany. 

The Cure

The Cure are an English rock band formed in 1976. The band first began releasing music in the late 1970's as part of the Post-Punk and New Wave movements and their dark music helped form the Gothic Rock genre during the early 80's. The Cure's popularity increased throughout the 80's decade, especially in the United States. Their songs "Just Like Heaven, "Friday I'm In Love" and "Lovesong" were entered in the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. 

The Cure were one of the first alternative bands to have commercial and chart success before alternative rock was out in the mainstream.  In 1992 NME announced that The Cure, during the 1980s became "a goth hit machine, an international phenomenon and, yep, the most successful alternative band that ever shuffled disconsolately about the earth".

Specimen

Specimen were an English band formed in 1980. Their music spanned over many different genres, including glam, goth and post-punk. Specimen is widely credited as one of the main influences of the Gothic movement. Members of the band Ollie Wisdom and Jon Klein ran the club The Batcave which was at the forefront of the Goth era. 


The face of the band Jonny Slut became it's most famous member despite only being the keyboardist, largely due to his striking image and fashion sense. Unofficially credited with inventing the Deathhawk hairstyle. Ian Astbury, Lead vocalist from The Cult, described Specimen's unique combination of punk and glam as being "like a Death Bowie."

Sex Gang Children

Sex Gang Children were a post-punk and gothic rock band formed in England in 1981.  Although the original group only released one official studio album, their singles and various other tracks have been packaged into numerous collections, and they remain one of the more well-known bands of the early Batcave scene and have reformed for new albums and touring at various times since the early 1990s.

"One of the groups coming up at the same time as Southern Death Cult was Sex Gang Children, and Andi - he used to dress like a Banshees fan, and I used to call him the Gothic Goblin because he was a little guy, and he's dark. He used to like Edith Piaf and this macabre music, and he lived in a building in Brixton called Visigoth Towers. So he was the little Gothic Goblin and his followers were Goths. That's where goth came from." - Ian Astbury, The Cult, 1994.

Siouxsie and the Banshees

Siouxsie and the Banshees was an English rock band formed in 1976 by Siouxsie Sioux and Steven Severin after meeting at a Roxy music concert. Originally associated with the Punk rock scene, the band evolved combining elements of pop and avant-guarde sounds, providing inspiration for the upcoming gothic rock genre.

They disbanded in 1996, with Siouxsie and drummer Budgie continuing to record music as The Creatures, a second band they had formed in the early 1980s. In 2004, Siouxsie began a solo career.

Alien Sex Fiend 

Alien Sex Fiend was a deathrock band formed in England in 1982 by Nik Fiend (Nik Wade) and Mrs. Fiend (Christine Wade) whilst Nik was working at The Batcave Club. The couple was joined by guitarist David James and Johnny Freshwater on Drums. The band became known in the gothic scene for it's dark electronic, psychobilly, industrial sound and manic vocals. The band was immediately successful with their first single "Ignore the Machine" reaching number 6 in the UK Independent Chart and a further eleven singles and five albums reaching top-twenty positions in the chart up to 1987.

The March Violets

The March Violets were an English rock band formed in 1981 in Leeds. The original band members met whilst at Leeds University; Tom Ashton and Laurence Elliot played lead and bass guitar, Simon Denbigh and Rosie Garland were the vocalists.

They combined drum machine rhythms and electric guitar, similar to fellow Leeds band The Sisters of Mercy. Seven of the bands singles made it into the UK Indie Chart.