Goth, who are they, what are they?

Generally (although generalisations are not big or generally (here we go again!) clever), a pale person with a lot of black.. Often the question then is, is this a goth guy or a girl, now it gets interesting!

Nowadays there seems a never ending need to split everyone into their very own little stereotypical categories. Ah, he wears a backwards baseball cap... he must be a grunge boy. Ah, she has blonde highlights in her hair, she must be a supermarket checkout girl. Ah, she wears heavy black eyeliner she must be a 'Goth’ (Short for 'gothic' for those of you wondering). The need to label everyone hasn’t ebbed any, and we can assume it won't anytime soon. There are basically three groups of goths. Here they come:

Original Goths. These people actually spent their formative years listening to Bauhaus, the Cure, and Joy Division (I did, veteran of the Manchester free trade hall and the Hulme Russel club (PSV Club)), spookily enough all UK exports. All originals are familier with Robert Smith’s 1980's unkempt hair and sensually made up mouth. It was exciting - new. The music started it all. Not the old stones or architecture, or the legends of witches and vampires and stories that come like baggage for the scene. The music was the basis for all that followed.

Wannabes are the second group, not old enough to have the baggage of the originals above. Ironically enough, these are often the more pretentious of all 'Goths’. Original Goths are not concerned with the latest fashion. True 'Goths’ are gothic at heart. These little ones feel the need to wear black lipstick, eyeliner and leather to shock rather than as an expression of who they are. They adopt extremely bad attitudes in an effort to gain attention, and they shun those who do not fit their adolescent notions of what is gothic. Marilyn Manson has replaced the older, and of some might say better, music. Pity that he is actually Glam Rock. He has more in common with David Bowie than Pete Murphy.

Group three covers Vampire Goths. Music is no longer the centerpiece, now certain authors and characters have created a whole new goth world, albeit mostly online. The authors synonymous with the online Gothic scene are Anne Rice and Poppy Z. Brite. Rice being the 'Original’ of the two. Brite’s writing tends to try at anything for shock value and attention. Nothing wrong in that!

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