The most beautiful culture in the world
——Gothic culture
“Why do you have to live a happy life? Of course you can if you listen to different music Live a different life. ”
Shuowenzi: Gothic
It is a good habit for writers to check the dictionary frequently. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the following two Explanation: 1. A style of rock music that violently mixes guitar, bass and drums, and has apocalyptic or mystical lyrics; 2. Performers or followers of this music often wear black clothing and make-up. Black makeup. But just as a master wouldn't go to a department store to buy an electric guitar, we can't entirely trust rock-industry outsiders like Oxford Dictionary.
The word "Gothic" has a long history, being used during the Renaissance to refer to medieval art forms. It was named after the German "Goth" tribe, who invaded Italy and overthrew the Roman Empire. In the 15th century, people generally had the concept of Renaissance and hoped to return to the classical era. The period between the Classical Age and the Renaissance is called the Middle Ages. Because Italy hated the Goths for destroying their Roman Empire, Renaissance people always had a negative term for the Middle Ages. They called this period "Gothic" which means barbarism and rudeness. Of course we have to see both sides of things. The Middle Ages left many precious cultural heritage and outstanding works of art to the world. There were breakthrough improvements in architectural technology during this period, resulting in Gothic cathedrals like NOTRE-PAME. Gothic art is not only reflected in architecture. From the 12th to the early 16th century, sculptures, glass products, decorations, etc. were all labeled with Gothic art. Religion plays a very important factor in Gothic artwork. Painters and sculptors used religious feelings more than realistic methods to express their themes. In any case, people during the Renaissance clearly implicitly rejected the word "Gothic".
During the Romantic Movement (ROMANTIC MOVEMENT) around 1800, medieval culture gradually became extremely relevant and became a fashion in the eyes of some people. Romanticism became the center of this cultural movement. Romantics wanted to go beyond the limitations of history, some wanted to return to the medieval era, some sought ideals from religious or mystical attention, and others tried to get answers from nature. They use their own different ways to achieve their goals. Throughout the Romantic movement, Gothic began to be considered to be associated with darkness, strangeness, ghosts, etc. Romantic and Gothic writers such as Byron, Shelley, Baudelaire and Verlaine were obsessed with the expression of the dark side of human beings. Gothic emotions are also clearly reflected in visual art, with painters like Caspar David Friedrich showing darkness and desolation. In architecture, neo-Gothic style gradually became fashionable. During this period, many Gothic novelists continued to emerge. Gothic literature not only showed the dark side of human beings, but also challenged the orthodox thinking mode of society at that time. It was a mixture of horror and mystery. The more typical characters in Gothic novels are vampires, such as Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Brian Stoker's Dracula, and the descriptions in Edgar Allan's poetry collections. Stoker's descriptions of vampire incarnations are the same as in the past. The comparison goes into an opposing perspective. (Contemporary writers Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire and Poppy Z. Brite's Lost Souls are also continuations of Stoker's style.)
But it is used to describe music and The culture was still in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when the punk movement ended and post-punk emerged. In any case, the Gothic spirit began to show its influence in music. Gothic music expresses the gloom and emptiness of human nature as its themes, and it also has a strong interest in death. Slowness, sadness and even terror are the characteristics of its music. First, Ian Astbury used the word "gothic pixie" when describing the band Sex Gang Children; later, Siouxsie Sioux (the core of Siouxsie and the Banshees) used the word "gothic pixie" when describing the new direction of her band. gothic"; later, Joy Division's manager used the word "gothic" on a BBC TV program in 1978 when comparing the band to mainstream pop bands.
Bela Lugosi's Dead, released by Bauhaus in 1979, was the first work to be labeled "Gothic", at least as everyone agrees.
Gothic music, as a follow-up to punk (death rock), has since developed into an underground culture from a set of aesthetics and ideas consisting of visual art, literature, music and clothing, etc. Countless underground communities have been derived. Although these communities have developed greatly in various aspects, there are two things that all Goths have in common: the color of clothing and music.
List of Gothic bands (music comes first, of course!)
Early prototype Gothic bands:
Bauhaus, Christian Death Death), Southern Death Cult (Southern Death Cult, later renamed The Cult), Joy Division (Happy Division, but their appearance does not look too Gothic), Sisters of Mercy (Sisters of Mercy), Siouxsie and the Banshees (Siouxsie and the Goblins);
Quasi-prototype goth band:
The Fields of The Nephilim (a little less qualified than the band above, but better than the new band) Too old), The Mission (UK) (their early works were considered very Gothic by the media), Sex Gang Children;
Soft Gothic band:
Dead Can Dance( Dance of Death), A band) (Many Goths like to listen to Ministry, but Ministry is not a real Goth band);
Experimental/Folk/Occult Goth band:
Current 93, Death In June, Sol Invictus;
Neo-Gothic bands:
Nosferatu, Rosetta Stone, Shadow Project (a branch of Christan Death), Clan of Xymox (A band that relies on synthesizers, very dance music).
Introduction to darkwave/gothic music and its several types:
Darkwave is dark music, belonging to the so-called subculture, and is sometimes translated as dark music school. Some are translated as dark wave, which in an ideological sense describes the other side of religion, life and society.
When talking about darkwave, we must first mention gothic music, which is closely related to darkwave. The relationship, the origin and reproduction of gothic can be written in articles of ten thousand words. In short, gothic itself does not only refer to music. It originated from architecture in the Middle Ages and gradually penetrated into various cultural fields and even life forms. As music, it has become an independent form since the 1970s and has differentiated into various styles.
So what is the relationship between gothic and darkwave? Sorry, I don’t know. Haha... because there is no way to explain it. 1. The traditional view is that darkwave is a branch of gothic music, which is very inaccurate. In terms of time, the name darkwave appeared much later than gothic, so there is no doubt that darkwave and gothic are in the same strain, but the things covered by darkwave are It's not just gothic. I won't go into this academic issue, music is the key. I think it would be much easier to count gothic/darkwave as a kind of music... (Take a long breath...) .So according to my understanding, the following are its main forms:
1. gothic rock: or pure gothic
This is the most typical gothic, while retaining rock The basic characteristics of the band, so the tunes are relatively noisy, with a bit manic guitar, dark singing, and the drums are often heavy and slow. The earliest band that appeared and continues to this day is Bauhaus, and famous bands include the cure (ha) , I know), sisters of mercy (Sisters of Mercy, male lead singer!), siouxsie and banshees (female lead singer), nick cave, and also the tree.... It can be seen that gothic rock and punk , post punk has a close relationship. Some people call the cure a post punk style, and the birthday party where Nick Cave was originally was a punk band. Gothic rock has a long history and is widely accepted by society, so publishing companies are also big companies. , easily available.