goths

Goths have cool style and all, but i hear some of them go pretty wierd and do all these demon rituals and stuff like that ya.

My pal told me that there was this one goth chick he knew who kept a vial of her own blood on her table.

So are they a secret society, or is it just some kind of style, with a few cultists??

I think its a bunch of rich kids trying to rebel from their parents to be honest. They try to be different from what they see as "conforminsts" and yet they all conform to the goth look and style to become goth. Ironic in its own little way.

No secret society

Originally posted by Catfish
Goths have cool style and all, but i hear some of them go pretty wierd and do all these demon rituals and stuff like that ya.

My pal told me that there was this one goth chick he knew who kept a vial of her own blood on her table.

So are they a secret society, or is it just some kind of style, with a few cultists??

Hardly a secret society and I doubt that most Goths even know anyone in a "cult." Most goths I know have issues, generally psychological, or they think being gothic is "cool." It is a way to fit in, as weird as that sounds seeing how most goths complain that they are not excepted for who they are, if there were no cloths, makeup and hear die they would be more themselves and would not have to complain about being looked at funny.

The person with the blood on the table, well, she might just be trying to impress someone, like your friend, its called shock factor.

Maybe some gothic people on the board will have some more input.

hehe, goths. i love goths.

most dont get heavy. some do, but thats just a lifestyle, no different than religion (in fact, it is a religion). the vial of blood is just cool, id do something like that (after this year, my parents would brain me). its simply a lifestyle. a lifestyle with cool clothes, awesome music, and (sometimes) a different sexual taste.

all in all, very cool.

Was anyone on this site ever goth besides me?

In my teenage years I fell into the goth clich while attempting to escape all other clichs not realizing that goth was itself a clich. Make sense? See I grew up in a fairly hick NJ town and did not know that goth even existed. I looked the look (minus the make-up) and listened to the music (early Cure, Bauhaus, Sisters, etc), but without the media and internet that we have now did not know what goth was. So I suppose that I was goth without ever really seeing a goth. People at my school did not know what goth was either; they just though I was some derranged art student. Remember this was the late 80s, early 90s and I was about 14 or 15.

It is actually pretty funny how I discovered goth. On a trip to the Village in NYC, I picked up a magazine called Propaganda and to my amazement found a whole group of people that looked like me. And that was pretty much that! I became obsessed with the underground club scene from NYC to Philly and all the way down to Baltimore. It was a pretty crazy time for me as when you are on the scene that intencely, you meet just about everyone involved in the scene. I was even running a goth zine for a while and interviewed various bands after their sets. I suppose that the most well know people I have talked to are Robert and the boys from The Cure and the most interesting interview I got was Corpus Delecti in the dressing room at Limelight.

Goth is really like any other clich. It is just a bunch of people that gravitate towards one another because of similar interests. Goth might look strange to some but when you describe it as a group of people that like the same type of fashion, music, literature, movies, etc. it really isn't that strange. It is the appearence that does it for most people, the sudden gasp of "What the hell?" Some goths avoid this and others, like myself at the time, get even more extreme for the humor of shock value.

Also like other clichs, there are always the extremists. The ones that push it further then the average and stigmatize the group. I have known people that claim to sleep in coffins and even dated someone that bleached her skin to get it whiter. The whole drinking blood thing is one of those things that got blown out of perspective. Yes, there are some that put on their silly vampire fangs and emulate Bela Lugosi movies, but for the most part blood drinking is more of a sexual/sensual type of foreplay that only some goths do.

To be completely honest, I don't know what the goth scene has turned into these days as I don't keep contact with most of my highschool era friends. Sure I still see the occasional Victorian goth at a club (there are many different kinds of goth), but it morphed like all things over time. That is not to say that there aren't any old school goths about anymore, but rather that when the music branched out the hordes did as well. Back in my youth it was new wave, goth, industrial, punk and the beginnings of synthpop which comprised the scene. Today it would take me pages to list all the divisions. EBM (electric body music) is the big one in the underground clubs in the US and Europe these days, but that is beginning to get over-played as well.

Me? As I have already stated, when I realized that goth was just another clich I got bored of it and start becoming, for lack of a better discription, extremely excentric in my fashion style: silk pajamas all day long or a nice dress suit with a costume tyger's tail hanging out the back or full goth make-up with bright Hawian shirts. Avantgard humor I suppose. These days I would have to say that I appear Cyberpunk when I go to clubs, but that has nothing to do with the music as there are no real cyberpunk bands. Cyberpunk was a fashion that grew out of scifi literature.

Just another social scene. I wouldn't say I've ever been "goth" but have been to goth clubs and such. Jonna pretty much hit it on the head. Hey Jonna, ever hit up Evolution in Philly about 7 years ago or so?

Originally posted by DiabolusFireDragon
Just another social scene. I wouldn't say I've ever been "goth" but have been to goth clubs and such. Jonna pretty much hit it on the head. Hey Jonna, ever hit up Evolution in Philly about 7 years ago or so?

Yep, but I am not sure of the dates. I use to live in Blackwood, NJ so Philly was literally 10 minutes from me. I heard that it was shut down do to a fight of some sort. I always liked Nocturne at Club Shampoo in Philly as it has a really nice layout.

The Goths were a group of German nomadic people who lived in the 1st century BC. They split into two groups, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, who, along with the Vandels launched the first serious attack on the Roman empire. Thier language, Gothic, was the first written Germanic language.

Takes more than black hair dye, eyeliner and a bitchy little attitude to compete with that huh?

Any Questions?

:bnghd:

For my understanding, the Visigoths use to raid villages and castles at night time covered in mud so no one could see them against the darkness. It has been suggested that this is where the phrase, "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes", originally came from. Who can say?

Funny thing is that most of the goths I knew don't even know the origins of this.

Originally posted by Jonna

Funny thing is that most of the goths I knew don't even know the origins of this.

My point exactly. Maybe after reading this thread, throwing a temper tantrum, having a Tab, and several bouts of eye-rolling, they'll become interested to learn more.

BTW, as far as I know, (and that may not be far enough) the whites of the eyes remark came from the US revolutionary war which would have been a great deal later than that so its possible whomever said it then knew his world civ.



[edit on 7-12-2004 by astrocreep]

A lot of them (like most groups of people) are full of crap and take themselves too seriously, and have no idea how hard things can be but pretend that life is so horrible.

Though Goth chicks are really hot...

gah double post

[edit on 7-12-2004 by Thorfinn Skullsplitter]

Originally posted by Thorfinn Skullsplitter
A lot of them (like most groups of people) are full of crap and take themselves too seriously, and have no idea how hard things can be but pretend that life is so horrible.

True, but most people take themselves far too seriously...especially teenagers because everthing seems like a life and death situation. I was guilty of this just as most at that age.

Saying goths are all miserible is like saying all French majors are French. Some are and some aren't, but it isn't the deciding factor in being French or gothic for that matter. I guess if there was any perceivible common personallity trait among goths it would be the tendency to be attracted to the taboo or darker, more seductive side of things.

lol, the one's that are trippy is the section of "Goths" who are, FIRST, Vampires, lol...some of them are harmless...but some are really crazy psychotic blood drinkers that it will never be safe to be around, lol....

I do dress gothic, sometimes, and I looked into those who believed they were Vampiritic, for whatever reason...because I showed some real tendancies towards stupidity in that area, and I can tell you most are harmless.

Out of bordom, I am creating a list of the subdivision of goths. Add them if you got them.

Old School goth: Goths that refuse to accept anything exists in relationship to the gothic subculture that was introduced after 1986. Minimalistic and fanatical about the first goth bands.

Gothicpunk: The name says it all. A cross breed with all the make-up and neon fishnet shirts you can choke on.

Gothic Industrial or Fetish Goth: These two have been intertwining over the years and I really can't tell the difference anymore. Just think bondage goth with straps, over-sized clasps/buckles, pvc and all.

Victorian Goth: Goths obsessed with the Victorian era.

Renaissance Fair Goth: Think Victorian goth with chainmail shirts.

Graver (gothic raver) or Day-glow goth: Think goth with far too much glow in the dark clothing and hair extensions.

Angry t-shirt goth: Do something besides advertize for your favorite band for god's sake!

Vamp Goth or Roleplayer Goth: I almost get the impression that roleplayer goths get lost in a fantasy world and turn into Vamp goths. Fangs and all...



That is all I can think of off the top of my head.

Some of the Vamp Goths that I talked to were having other problems.

They started with one of the following basic problems:

1. Diagnosed with either extremely sensitive skin or eyes. (The eyes were not always diagnosed, since if you work at night, your eyes are irritated when you try to go out in the daylight....eyes adjust to the ammount of sunlight they get.)
2. For some reason, beleive themselves to be stronger than they should be.... Sometimes this is a sign of a REALLY horrid mental imbalance (you may have heard of how insane people can be REALLY strong...) or they have a chemical imbalance that makes them off...Girls with a high testosterone level would be in this area too. Or they can be just delusional.
3. They crave blood. Imbalanced Iron levels. Or they grew up in a family that eats rare meats.
4. They have natural fangs...overly large cannines (most parents will take their kids to the dentist and file them down, those that don't.....well they often like to bite in street fights, lol...)
5. Those who emotionally drain others....a "psychic vampire".....more often, just crazy, lol...it's where someone is more energetic CONSITANTLY around those who are worn out, while not being that energetic arond lively people...it gives the impression that you drain others of their energy...some may, and othes may after they think that they do it to others...but not all of them are real.

Now, this is all seperate from gothic culture and the steryotypical vampire goth...one or the other lifestyle can come first..and not all "vampires" are goths, lol....many of them would rather live as if they were normal....and most of these will drink blood, a good bit even from a "doner"
....lol, if I was to have chosen that lifestyle, I would have, lol....

Originally posted by jlc163
1. Diagnosed with either extremely sensitive skin or eyes. (The eyes were not always diagnosed, since if you work at night, your eyes are irritated when you try to go out in the daylight....eyes adjust to the ammount of sunlight they get.)

Actually I have this problem with my eyes from working the graveyard shift for nearly ten years. It isn't extreme or anything, but it is surprising that it really hasn't gotten much better over the years.

Originally posted by Jonna
Out of bordom, I am creating a list of the subdivision of goths. Add them if you got them.

*ahem*

RIVETHEADS.
*puts on stompy boots*

Originally posted by Banshee
*ahem*

hehe, i wondered when you might get in on this.

Goths are mostly just rebels. I know several and the're usually normally people. the chick that had the vial of blood was really cool and she was a kickass artist and good at X-Box