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Ready to Embrace the Dark Side?

Hi! Chances are you clicked this link because you're either curious about the goth subculture or you want to be goth yourself. I'd consider myself a babybat (a new goth), but I want to give resources about how to be goth if that's what you so choose!

The Culture Overview

There are only two requirements for becoming a goth: 1) you must like the music, 2) you must be against fascism, bigotry, and the overall hatred of people based on things they cannot control. That's it! You might be thinking "What about the fashion?" While the fashion is a huge, recognizable feature of the subculture, its not nessecary. You do not have to wear all black if you don't want to. Most goths do because it's what we're most comfortable with, but if you can't for whatever reason, you're all good.

The reason being goth is boiled down to those two rules is because the goth subculture is an offshoot of the punk movement. Y'all already know punk is anti-fascist and music focused, so naturally the goth subculture would be the same too. Something else you might know about punk is that the fashion is big on DIY. Goth is the same way! Back when the goth subculture was getting started, they didn't have a bunch of fast fashion goth-marketed crap, so a lot of goths thrifted clothes and made then their own. I would say if there's any hard rule about goth culture pertaining to fashion, I'd say that thrifting is preferred over anything fast fashion. The only exception to this rule is if you are buying from a local artist and/or clothes maker! The nature of DIY also extends to buying from local artists.

That is to say, that doesn't mean you can't buy anything fast fashion. I've invested in some New Rocks for example, and I've bought clothes from my local alternative store that works with fast fashion brands. Just don't have all of your clothes fast fashion. Don't rely on big ass corporations that only care about your money to make the clothes you'll love. Chances are, you already have an idea of what clothes you'd like. Thrift your base article of clothing and DIY it into your dream clothes!

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Okay, cool. Let's tackle the two points.

Let's talk Politics

Nice! Alright. Let's start with the second point: Being anti-fascist. I plan on researching some good articles to help assist you with this, but for right now, I will offer a list of things for you to research until I find articles I like myself. These ideas are listed with the United States in mind, as that's where I live, and I'm not too familiar with other countries' politics. Chances are, though, that these ideas might apply to your country as well. All of these bullets points are connected since they are overall the same fight, but I will list them seperately in case you'd like to just start with one point.

Now there's a lot more than that, but I feel as though those are pretty good places to start. If you are intimidated by this list, then I would pick just one bullet point to research and go from there.

As a side note, I purposefully did not include any sort of other political idealology (such as socialism or communism) to research for a few reasons. 1) I think you should unlearn everything you know first before attempting to fit yourself into a political category considered radical, 2) There is a lot of leftists infighting online between what idealology is better. In my opinion, it doesn't matter at this point which one's better, we're still trying to undo capitalism. Let's just unite on our longing to undo captitalism and decide on all that later, and 3) I don't identify with any particular label for reasons explained in the last point.

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The Music

Oh baby, there's a lot. Like, I know goth bands, but I don't know like the exact "how did we get here" timeline. From the little research I've done, what's really considered "goth music" can vary. One thing that can be agreed on is that "goth rock" is definetly goth. That's kinda the best I got. I think to make it easier, I will just list bands that I listen to that I consider goth. Keep in mind I am wrong, and the bands I consider goth may not be goth to others. Also keep in mind though, that there are different subtypes of goth that enjoy a particular flavor of music that they consider goth while others don't.

The bands I like and listen to include Bauhuas, Siouxise and the Banshees, Scary Bitches, The Cramps, Sisters of Mercy, Depeche Mode, The Cure, This Cold Night, Jfarrari, Jordan Fiction, and whatever comes up on the goth playlists I listen to.

"But Joe! What if I like music other than Goth music, or I like goth but I like another genre better?" You're still goth! You enjoy the music period. I personally listen to a lot of metal, punk, and EDM in addition to goth music, doesn't make me any less goth.

Here's a goth playlist I enjoy! Start here if you have no idea what bands to listen to.

Other Resources

Okay, you like the music, you like the politics. Now what? Well, here's some resources to get you started!