The Changing Face of Hobart Goth

by Kevin Bonham

If you think the present boom of "goth" in Hobart hasn’t happened before, you’re wrong. You should have been here in 1989, when goth was just about the biggest youth subculture in Hobart, and the lawns of Salamanca on a Saturday afternoon were carpeted with several distinctive groupings of black-clad walking cliches. None of them spoke to each other all that much, but I digress.

There is something different about the current uprising, and it has to do largely with music. Although a lot of people are dressing in a fashion which fits the "goth" stereotype, most of them are taking their musical cues from bands well outside the goth genre, mainly bands in the industrial/metal spectrum.

Exactly what goth is, is endlessly debated. Online surveys have shown that most people who identify themselves as goth regard goth as "a way of life" rather than a musical, social or fashion movement. This is strange because there is so much variation in lifestyle between goths, that the idea of a single gothic lifestyle is simply false. The history of the term provides us with a better insight. Movement historian Pete Scathe’s "Early History of Goth" website (www.scathe.demon.co.uk/histgoth.htm) reveals that although the term ‘goth’ was used to describe the sound of various bands from 1979 on, it was not used for the subculture until around 1983. Even then it was used mainly to denote fans of bands thought to have a ‘gothic’ sound.

The subtle shift in emphasis from music to fashion, or rather simply away from interest in distinctly goth styles of music, seems to have happened more in small centres like Hobart than anywhere else. The reason for this is probably the sheer commercial obscurity of goth music today. Back in the 1980s, a string of goth bands achieved unusual commercial success, including Sisters of Mercy, Fields of the Nephilim, Bauhaus, Joy Division, and so on – enough to at least get their records sold in any major city. However, none of these bands had careers which were both long and active, and by the early-mid 90s most had either split, or were no longer active creative forces. (Either that, or, like the Sisters’ Andrew Eldritch, they were simply procrastinating.) This left a gap for new acts like Nosferatu, Rosetta Stone, Suspiria and Children on Stun to take over. Although such bands tended to borrow to a large degree from gothic sounds of the 80s and did not have quite the same chart appeal, they also displayed more refined and interesting songwriting skills than some of the major acts of the past. Under normal circumstances, the more prominent goth acts of the mid-90s would be able to creatively spearhead the revival we are now witnessing. However, these bands too had a short shelf-life – Suspiria and Stun have split, Rosetta Stone are inactive, and Nosferatu were never any good once they lost their original vocalist.

Worldwide, a very large goth music movement still exists and there are more than a thousand active goth bands, but this movement is so specialised and fragmented that any given active band will probably not be followed by more than 20% of the genre. My interest is in classic melodic goth-rock of the sort pioneered by the Sisters; I can talk about music with someone who likes dark-ambient goth bands on the Projekt label, or who likes metal-goth crossovers, and I will find that we have little musically in common. In a large city where these niche markets can be easily catered for, this really doesn’t matter. In Hobart, what this translates to (except where people are willing to make the effort to explore music for themselves through mail order or over the net) is simple: Enter Manson.

I do not dislike Marilyn Manson’s music, and I find his interviews to be articulate and sometimes quite perceptive. Nonetheless, I fail to see much relevance of Manson to goth. His music owes more to and even rock-opera, metal, glam, with just the odd hint that he might have listened to Christian Death when he was ten. His performance ethos also owes more to punk and glam in that he deliberately uses shock tactics and overstatement in his art, admitting that he is doing so for the sake of social counterbalance rather than as a personal expression. Finally, his fanbase is and always was a generic alternative one. When the Cure and the Smiths were very big in the late 80s, many people also questioned their relevance to the subculture and raised concerns that their popularity threatened the identity of goth. The difference in those days was that unquestionably goth alternatives were easy to find.

While many of Manson’s followers strike me as appallingly tacky, the critical focus on religion that is being promoted by Manson is probably not a bad thing, however simplistic it may be. At the same time, it will be disappointing if goth does not persist as a distinct creative force and is replaced by another uniformed gang waiting to be spoonfed JJJ-endorsed products. What has happened to mainstream alternative rock in the last seven years, whereby the grunge movement in the wake of Nirvana turned first into faceless dull guitar-rock, then finally into angsty redneck rap-metal, gives us a good idea of what goth needs to avoid.

Kevin J. Bonham

k_bonham@postoffice.utas.edu.au