Goth is a modern subculture that first became popular during the
early 1980s within the gothic rock scene, a sub-genre of post punk.
It is associated with gothic tastes in music and clothing. Styles
of dress range from gothic horror, punk, Victorian, fetish,
cybergoth, androgyny, and/or lots of black (inspired by the
beatniks). However, there is no dress code for goths.
Origins and influences
By the late 1970s, there were a small number of post punk bands in
Britain labeled "gothic". However, it was not until the early 1980s
that gothic rock became its own subgenre within post punk and that
followers of these bands started to come together as a distinctly
recognisable group or movement. Independent of the British scene,
the late 1970s and early 1980s saw death rock branch off from
American punk. With similar themes and dress, goths and death
rockers were sufficiently compatible to more or less merge. The use
of the word 'goth' as a label for fans of gothic rock, did not
start gaining currency until around 1983.
Gothic Horror
The gothic novel, of the early nineteenth century, was responsible
above all else for the term gothic being associated with a mood of
horror, darkness and the supernatural. They established what horror
stereotypes became by featuring graveyards, ruined castles or
churches, ghosts, vampires, cursed families, being buried alive and
melodramatic plots. Gothic novels are often concerned with the fate
of a curious young woman, and a great deal of focus is placed on
internal locations. A notable element in these novels was the
brooding figure of the gothic villain, which developed into the
Byronic hero, a key precursor in the male goth image. The most
famous gothic villain of this genre would be Dracula. In 1993
Whitby became the location for what became the UK's biggest goth
festival as a direct result of featuring in Bram Stoker's
Dracula.
Cinema
An important medium between the goth scene and gothic literature is
the modern popular horror genre, in which the horror film is
paramount. Hammer Horror films and 1960s TV series, such as The
Addams Family, The Munsters, and Ann Radcliffe, have also inspired
goths. The interconnection between horror and goth was highlighted
in its early days by The Hunger, a 1983 vampire film, starring
David Bowie, which featured gothic rock group Bauhaus performing
"Bela Lugosi's Dead" in a nightclub. Some of the early gothic rock
and death rock artists adopted traditional pre-sixties horror movie
images and passed them onto their goth audiences. Such references
in both their music and image were originally tongue-in-cheek, but
as time went on, bands and members of the subculture took the
connection more seriously. As a result, morbid, supernatural, and
occult themes became a more noticeably serious element in the
subculture.
After post punk
After the demise of post punk, Goth continued to evolve, both
musically and visually. This caused variations in style ("types" of
goth). Local "scenes" also contribute to this variation. By the
1990s, Victorian fashion had worked its way into the Goth scene,
with the mid-19th century Gothic Revival and the morbid outlook of
the Victorians Some contemporary media popular among Goths include
Anne Rice's novels (Interview with the Vampire) and notable movies
such as The Crow, the Blade trilogy, and the movies of Tim Burton
(Edward Scissorhands, Nightmare Before Christmas, Beetlejuice, and
Sleepy Hollow), as well as roleplaying games like Vampire The
Masquerade. Influences from anime have also crept into the Goth
scene, which helped give rise to cybergoth.
Source from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goth
Edited by: Deathy boy