CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT “Listen to them. Children of the night. What music they make,” quoth Count DRACULA in BRAM STOKER’s novel, in reference to howling wolves in the hills around his castle. Since then, there have been films, short stories, songs and more riffing on the idea, and Goths eagerly embracing it as a term of endearment.
CHRISTIAN DEATH American DEATH ROCK band, founded in 1979 in Los Angeles by singer ROZZ WILLIAMS, whose impact on Gothdom cannot be understated, despite never having enjoyed a chart hit. Debut studio album, 1982’s Only Theatre of Pain, set the template for American-style GOTHIC ROCK, adding to British POST-PUNK’s bass heavy death disco a bravado and blasphemy, spoken word and a wash of spooky guitars and keyboards. Did I mention blasphemy? Everything about Christian Death seemed designed to piss off the Catholic Church, from the name itself to lyrics about necrophilia, perversion and drugs, not to mention their “Litanies of Satan.” The prime line-up consisted of Williams, guitarist VALOR KAND, keyboardist GITANE DEMONE and drummer David Glass. In 1985, Williams quit the underground rock star life for pursuit of more surrealist and experimental art musings and Kand took over the mic and the name. (Rozz later decided he wanted it back and then there were competing, confusing Christian Deaths on the market.) The resulting split caused a deep rift in the Goth time-space continuum: you were either Team Rozz or Team Valor. Until April 1, 1998, when Williams took his own life, by hanging. Then it hardly seemed to matter. What remains is a catalogue of boundary pushing, deeply macabre music from all parties that is required listening for anyone who wants to understand how it all began.
CHURCH OF SATAN Religion founded in 1968 by Anton Szander LaVey (1930–1997) in San Francisco, having very little to do with Christian, Jewish or Muslim concepts of Satan at all. Rather, it rejects heaven and hell and prayer in favour of individual responsibility, indulgence and the occasional Black Mass featuring a hot naked woman on an altar. Membership details are shadowy, but few Goths actually belong to the CoS (although MARILYN MANSON has) even if they like to wear inverted pentagrams and quote from the Satanic Bible. LaVey’s daughter Karla (“The High Priestess of Hell”!) keeps the fires burning with her own First Satanic Church, a radio show and the occasional special appearance at HALLOWEEN club events near you.
CINNABON Chain of fast food kiosks serving cinnamon rolls and other gooey deserts, generally found in malls across America. Fictional place of employment for AZRAEL ABYSS of Saturday Night Live’s sketch GOTH TALK, meant to poke fun at how a dark prince has to work a MUNDANE low-wage food court job. Circe: “Azrael, how does the evening find you?” Azrael: “Forlorn. I had to work a double shift at Cinnabon today.”
CLAN OF XYMOX Dutch SYNTHPOP band founded by guitarist/vocalist Ronny Moorings in 1981, originally known as Xymox. Part of the early wave of bands on 4AD Records practicing ethereal electronic alchemy with female vocalists (in their case, bassist Anke Wolbert); signed to PolyGram with negligible effect, later got a harder edge and hookup with METROPOLIS RECORDS. Remembered today mostly as the band with a name that starts with X. (Not to be confused with X-Mal Deutschland.) Club hits include “Obsession” and “Imagination.”
CLEOPATRA RECORDS American independent record company founded by Brian Perera in 1992 in California, specializing in Goth and INDUSTRIAL music. Best known for tributes and other compilation albums, but also nurtured many up-and-coming artists, notably SWITCHBLADE SYMPHONY and Mephisto Walz, as well as resurrecting out-of-print punk and metal classics on various sub imprints. Apart from the beloved Goth Box CD and DVD set, many of the comps were novelty and have not aged well, but for about ten years, a deal on Cleopatra was about as good as it got for a Goth band in North America. Current roster includes Finnish vamp rockers 69 Eyes.
CLOAK Sleeveless outerwear garment fastening at the neck, worn by both men and women. Many uses: for going to the opera, for playing MEDIEVAL fantasy games, and for dressing up like Count DRACULA. Cloaks have been associated with VAMPIRES since BELA LUGOSI wore one in the classic horror film, so you know Goths have followed suit.
CLOVES Type of cigarette blending tobacco and dried clove buds that emits a sweet smell and a crackling sound when lit. For some reason, a fashionable thing for Goths to smoke. In 2009, the government of the United States enacted a ban on cloves in a bid to inhibit cigarettes with a “characterizing flavour” from attracting children. Goths wept.
COCTEAU TWINS Scottish DREAMPOP band formed in 1979 by guitarist Robin Guthrie and bassist Will Heggie, known for the heavenly vocals of frontwoman Elizabeth Fraser. Showcased a minimal drum (machine) ’n’ bass driven sound on 1982 debut Garlands (after which Heggie was replaced by Simon Raymonde); moved towards the dreamiest of pop, with layers of effects-laden guitars and Fraser’s otherworldly singing of nonsense lyrics at the forefront. Defined the swirling, shoegazing sound and style of their label 4AD, until relationships between the parties soured; signing to major Capitol brought 1988’s Blue Bell Knoll to more North American ears, with 1990’s excessively produced Heaven or Las Vegas completing their transformation into a commercial entity, complete with radio singles and (gasp!) discernable lyrics. Behind the scenes, romantic ties between Guthrie and Fraser were on the brink, and the band collapsed during recording in 1997. A planned reunion at Coachella festival in 2005 was called off by Fraser. The Cocteaus remain ground zero for the ETHEREAL subgenre, and forerunners of such later day acts as Iceland’s Sigur Ros. Most importantly, the Cocteaus gave ROMANTIGOTHs a soundtrack for clubbing. If you’ve ever watched someone on the dance floor who appears to be sweeping cobwebs from the air in slow motion and mouthing the words to some alien language, that’s a Cocteau Twins song playing, probably “Carolyn’s Fingers” or “Iceblink Luck.”
COFFIN A box to bury the dead, meant to be used just the once, and only after we’ve passed on. But Goths see no need to wait. While few have invested in actual coffins for their homes, coffin-shaped furniture is a popular choice, from expensive custom casket couches or bookshelves to more novelty-type items such as wine boxes or pillows.
COFFIN CARS A coffin modified to operate as a vehicle. Why would anyone bother? Because THE MUNSTERS had one called DRAG-U-LA, and it was quite cool. A fun weekend project for GOTHABILLY hobbyists.
COLDWAVE 1. Musical movement born in France and Belgium in the late 1970s around experiments with POST-PUNK and electronics, a legit subgenre that’s not necessarily Goth. 2. New wave of twenty-first century indie bands who wear black and like JOY DIVISION and early CURE records but would never deign to call themselves Goth. (Ed. note: POSEURs.) See also: Darkwave
COLLINS, ANDREW British journalist and TV screenwriter (b. March 4, 1965) who penned the hilarious “Bluffer’s Guide to Goth” for NME in 1991, which remains the most spot-on answer to “What is Goth?” this author has yet to find, probably because Collins is a) an actual Goth, and b) a comedy writer. Went on to work for Q, Select and the BBC and to publish several memoirs of his misadventures and a biography of activist singer/songwriter Billy Bragg. Collins on why Goths buy skull-shaped candles: “Well, electric light is so artificial, isn’t it? And light. And not shaped like a skull.”
COLUMBINE Location outside Littleton, Colorado, site of a high school massacre April 20, 1999, in which two disgruntled students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, shot and killed twelve students and one teacher, injuring dozens more and inadvertently causing a moral panic about violence and Gothdom. In the wake of the tragedy, in which the gunmen killed themselves, struggles to understand why led media to jump on the boys’ appearance (black trench coats), habits (video gaming) and musical tastes (KMFDM), labeling them Goth even though they were most definitely not. They were also not MARILYN MANSON fans or members of the so-called TRENCHCOAT MAFIA clique at their school but that didn’t stop media from vilifying those things too. Initial reports that the murderers were lashing out against bullying jocks had some Goths expressing sympathy or support for the misfits’ cause, but most were as shocked and horrified as anyone. When tabloid TV and ne
wspapers started declaring Goth a violent subculture (even Diane Sawyer on 20/20 pointed fingers at this “dark, underground national phenomenon”) and some schools banned all-black clothing and trenchcoats in fear, Goth backlash was in full effect. Marilyn Manson took the brunt of it, while most kids just tried to stay out of the crossfire. To this day, violent acts committed by a teenager in black clothing can result in cheap knee-jerk reporting and a collective sigh from Goths everywhere.
COMBAT BOOTS Military boots designed for soldiers in combat but adopted by punks and Goths of both genders, particularly the RIVETHEAD crowd who enjoy their supreme stompiness factor. The old insult “Your mother wears combat boots” doesn’t really work on us.
COMBICHRIST American-based “aggrotech” project started in 2003 by Norwegian vocalist/guitarist/electronic music programmer Andy LaPlegua of Icon of Coil. Essentially a one-man band, he takes all the hallmarks of INDUSTRIAL EBM music and gives them a gothier makeover: more TATTOOS, more and spikier hair and more evil lyrics to go with the club-ready 4/4 stomp, a combo LaPlegua has dubbed “Techno Body Music.” Breakout single “Get Your Body Beat” was released on June 6, 2006 (6/6/6, get it?), and spent six weeks on the Billboard charts. Oooh, scary! A prime example of Goth’s special brand of self-deprecating black humour; to wit: some of the cheekiest album titles around, including Sex, Drogen und Industrial and What the Fuck Is Wrong with You People?
CONSTANTINE, STORM British author (b. 1956) of sci-fi and fantasy heaving with magic and sexuality. Her imaginative Wraeththu trilogy features post-apocalyptic hermaphrodites. That’s not particularly Goth, but Storm is in her real life. She’s even parlayed her expertise on the nephilim, those Biblical giants, into writing the liner notes for Revelations by the FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM, those giants of GOTHIC ROCK.
CONVERGENCE Gathering of the denizens of the ALT.GOTHIC newsgroup, held annually in rotating host cities since 1995 and often referred to simply by the letter C plus the number of years running (e.g., C4 was held in Toronto). The volunteer-run event, now primarily organized through LiveJournal, provides an opportunity for net friends to meet in person and features the usual elements of a Goth festival (live bands, DJs, fashion shows, group outings, etc.). Blossomed into a full-fledged weekend event attracting the masses for a while, but it’s really meant to serve its own specific community and, after some controversy about its growth (i.e., “Who are all these people we didn’t invite?”), has scaled back to a more intimate meet-up. In 2006 in Seattle, they got to enjoy a surprise appearance from PETER MURPHY.
COOPER, ALICE American heavy metal singer (né Vincent Furnier, b. February 4, 1948) who set the bar for horrific GRAND GUIGNOL shock theatrics in a rock show in the late 1960s, using faked electrocutions, guillotine beheadings, dead babies, boa constrictor snakes and blood to great effect. Target of controversy, spinner of yarns, Cooper’s longstanding myths include that he took his stage name from a seventeenth-century witch who contacted him through a Ouija board. Notable from his five-decade long career is his 1975 album Welcome to My Nightmare, with special guest VINCENT PRICE. Despite all this, Cooper has never been on most Goth playlists, perhaps because his music’s actually pretty upbeat, and he’s a born-again Christian golf nut.
CORBEAU A French Goth (literally “raven”). Prefer Gothique.
CORBIJN, ANTON Dutch photographer and filmmaker (b. May 20, 1955), modern master of the black-and-white image, most beloved for establishing the look of JOY DIVISION. He relocated from his homeland to ENGLAND specifically to meet and photograph the band in the 1970s, directed the video “Atmosphere” after the death of singer IAN CURTIS, and ultimately made the 2007 Curtis biopic Control. You don’t see a black-and-white feature film about an underground band winning prizes at Cannes everyday. Dank u, Corbijn.
CORP GOTH Short for Corporate Goth, a term for a Goth with a professional job. Commonly used as an adjective to describe clothing suitable for office dress codes that won’t make you gag. Websites and message boards help guide the Corp Goth to balance their day/night lives, answering such questions as “Can I wear my lip ring to the interview?” and reassuring folks that one isn’t a POSEUR just for accepting employment that doesn’t appreciate blue hair. If you spot a girl with a long velvet skirt and SILVER jewelry on your morning commute or a boy in your office prone to pinstriped suits, you’re probably looking at a Corp Goth.
CORPSEPAINT Black and white face make-up as applied by black metal bands and their fans. Generally haphazard, with white all over the face and black EYELINER around the eyes and mouth, although sometimes more elaborate designs are created. In general, meant to look brutal and evil and not to be confused with Goth make-up styles, which are meant to look beautiful, albeit ghastly. Some similarities with CROW MAKE-UP, but neither can be recommended.
CORSET Garment designed to restrict and/or shape the torso, originally an undergarment now brazenly worn on its own by Goth girls of pretty much every size and stripe who can afford one. Constructed of a variety of materials, including silks, velvets, leather, LATEX or PVC, and with metal or plastic replacing the traditional whale boning, they are mass produced and available at lingerie and sex shops for cheap, but generally are best when custom made. Meant to be laced very tightly, resulting in an exaggerated silhouette and much cleavage, although few Goths practice actual body modification through corsetry. Rather, it is considered a staple of both formal and fetish wear. Every few years some pop star popularizes corsets as outerwear, but Goths get away with doing it all the time.
COSPLAY Short for costume play, an activity in which participants dress and act as a fictional character, commonly from Japanese anime or manga, or Western sci-fi or comics, often to attend fan conventions and pose for photographs. Since some of these characters can be “gothy,” one may find a non-Goth person dressed in what would seem to outsiders to be Goth attire. A bad wig in a bright colour is the first giveaway you’re dealing with cosplay.
COTHRON, KYNT Reality TV star of The Amazing Race season 12. Goth. See also: Fiala, Vyxsin
COUNT CHOCULA Fictional mascot for breakfast cereal of the same name introduced by General Mills in 1971, a spoof of BELA LUGOSI’s Count DRACULA, sporting a brown-and-white tuxedo and cloak with mono-fang. Part of a gang of monster cereals also including Franken Berry and Boo Berry, the product features chocolate skull and BAT-shaped marshmallows and tons of sugar, with the side effect of turning your milk to chocolate milk. Part of a balanced Goth breakfast.
CRADLE OF FILTH British black/gothic/symphonic/black symphonic gothic metal band, formed in Suffolk by Dani Filth in 1991. The sound of a HAMMER HORROR film as re-imagined as an extreme metal musical, CoF have too many GOTH POINTS to count: concept albums based on VAMPIRES, ELIZABETH BÁTHORY or the stories of CLIVE BARKER; cameos by scream queen Ingrid Pitt and PINHEAD Doug Bradley; copious use of nudity and gore in art and performance; SISTERS OF MERCY covers; black leather, PVC and other shiny fetish outfits; and Dani’s cheeky sense of black humour. So why aren’t they Goth? Because they’re heavy metal.
CRAMPS, THE American garage rock band, formed in New York in 1976 by kooky power couple Lux Interior (vocals) and Poison Ivy (guitar). Originators of the GOTHABILLY sound and style, combining American blues, R&B, surf and punk rock with B-movie monsters and junk pop culture into a sexed-up, swampy cocktail of swagger and spook. With rotating membership and record company woes, they never broke through to the mainstream, but they sure knew how to write a pop hit: “Human Fly,” “Garbageman,” “Goo Goo Muck” and “Can Your Pussy Do the Dog?” to name just a few. They did get a song (“Surfin’ Dead”) onto the soundtrack of The Return of the Living Dead in 1985 and crashed onto network TV for Beverly Hills 90210’s 1995 HALLOWEEN episode. And damn if they didn’t look cool doing it: Lux’s black PVC pants painted on, Poison Ivy’s flame hair and go-go boots. The band’s end came suddenly on February 4, 2009, when Interior died of aortic dissection. Perhaps The Cramps were too much fun for some Goths, but the world is a lot less interesting w
ithout them in it. R.I.P.
CREATURES, THE Musical side-project for singer SIOUXSIE SIOUX and drummer Budgie, of British superstars SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES, formed in 1981. By 1991, the two had married; by 1997 The Banshees were dead and The Creatures became the duo’s priority, but by 2007 the couple was divorced and the musical collaborations had come to an end. Despite several critically acclaimed albums, some cheeky covers (Mel Tormé’s “Right Now,” The Troggs’ “Wild Thing”) and the pedigree of its members, The Creatures are often forgotten.
CREEPERS Men’s shoe with thick corrugated-like soles and pointed toe and uppers of leather or suede often in a two-tone black/white or leopard print, more accurately known as a “Brothel creeper.” Originally popularized in ENGLAND in the 1950s, taken up by the punks in the 1970s, adopted by Goths in the 1980s and now seen primarily on psychobillies and other cool retro cats. Well-known manufacturers include Underground (traditional, unisex styles) and T.U.K. (branching out to girlie creepers and creeper/sneaker hybrids).
CREEPY CUTE Something a little bit scary, a little bit soft and cuddly. Think crocheted ZOMBIE dolls. The idea started in Japan. Of course.
CRIMPER Hair styling tool used to wave or “crimp” hair in a jagged pattern by pressing it between two heated sawtooth-shaped plates. Legend has it the crimper was invented in 1972 to style Barbra Streisand. This didn’t stop it from becoming widespread in the counterculture throughout the 1980s. Goths are some of the only folks who still own crimpers today, if only for the few times a year they try to make their hair look like ROBERT SMITH’s.
CRIMSON GHOST 1. Skull logo used by horror punkers THE MISFITS, so named for the 1940s TV serial whose poster inspired the creepy black-and-white image. First used on 1979 single “Horror Business” and appearing on Misfits’ releases and merch (plus plenty of fan TATTOOS) ever since. It’s kind of like the Goth equivalent of a picture of Che: kids wear it to look cool even if they have no idea what it is. 2. Song on the 1997 Misfits album American Psycho. 3. A number of horror punk bands who would be obvious Misfits rip-offs even if they weren’t named after their favourite group’s logo.
Encyclopedia Gothica Page 4