Encyclopedia Gothica

by Ladouceur, Liisa, Pullin, Gary

  QUEEN OF THE DAMNED Horror film directed by Michael Rymer in 2002, based on the epic third novel in ANNE RICE’s VAMPIRE Chronicles. Starring Stuart Townsend as the rock star version of Vampire LESTAT, who wakes Akasha, the sexy and sinister “first” vampire, played by R&B singer Aaliyah. A goofier, more adolescent cinematic adaptation of Rice’s world than INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE, with Lestat dressed a bit too much like ERIC DRAVEN as THE CROW and a now-dated soundtrack of nü metal, nevertheless it gave a lot of Australian Goth teens roles as extras in the big concert scene. Dedicated to the memory of Aaliyah, who died in 2001 in a plane crash shortly after completing shooting.

  RAKS GOTHIQUE See: Gothic belly dance

  RAMPLING, ANNE Nom de plume for author ANNE “Vampire Chronicles” RICE, under which she wrote the sexually provocative novels Exit to Eden (1985) and Belinda (1986), which explored BDSM and man-girl love, respectively. See also: Roquelaure, A.N.

  RASPUTINA American cello trio founded by Melora Creager in 1989 as the Travelling Ladies’ Cello Society. STEAMPUNK before most Goths even knew what that was, the group combines VICTORIANA with rock ’n’ roll, wrapped tightly in CORSETs and a wicked sense of play. The major labels came calling early, and Rasputina enjoyed widespread mainstream promotion in the early ’90s, via MARILYN MANSON remixes and placement on BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER. Today, an independent outfit keeping esoteric folk tales alive through DIY recordings and small-scale recitals. Essential tracks: “Transylvanian Concubine,” “1816, The Year Without a Summer.”

  RAVENCROW NEVERSMILES Pseudonym chosen by fictional character Lisa Simpson in the 2004 Simpsons episode “Smart and Smarter” when, during an identity crisis, she adopts a Goth persona (after rejecting cheerleader and rapper). Her yellow hair turns black, and she’s rocking the FISHNETS. When her nerdy suitor Millhouse mistakes her black-and-purple attire for an Oakland Raiders fan thing, she dismisses him with “It’s called Goth, eternally clueless one.”

  RAVEN, THE Once upon a midnight dreary, real or imagined, EDGAR ALLAN POE wrote this narrative poem about a lovesick young man who goes mad in the presence of a talking raven gently rapping on his chamber door. It was widely published in 1845 and made him famous (if not rich, sadly). In the years since, this well-known verse has become a Goth hymn — memorized, romanticized — and cultural touchstone representing gloominess satirized by everyone from black metal bands to TV comedy writers. An outrageously perfect reading of it by actor Christopher Walken appears on the Poe tribute CD Closed on Account of Rabies. When will its impact wane? Obvious: Nevermore.

  REACH FOR THE CRYPT One-off Goth game show produced and hosted in 2001 by broadcaster/author/not-so-closet Goth Daniel Richler for Canada’s Book Television, in which he quizzed a team (myself included) on DRACULA facts vs. rumour to promote the book Dracula: Sense and Nonsense by scholar Elizabeth Miller.

  REC.MUSIC.INDUSTRIAL Usenet group formed in 1991 for the discussion of all INDUSTRIAL-related music. For years, an indispensable source of info on new releases and concerts, now mostly a cobweb of its former self. If you have a burning question about the minutiae of Front 242’s discography, its old FAQs should be of some assistance.

  RECOVERING GOTH An ex-Goth, someone who considers his/her Gothdom to be in the past. Perhaps they don’t dress up as much as they used to, or go clubbing anymore. But the fact that they still know enough about the scene to refer to themselves as this in-joke means they are probably still quite Goth on the inside.

  REDEMPTION FILMS See: Salvation Group

  REGULATION COLOURS Acceptable colours for clothing, make-up and home décor. Essentially: black and red. You can also get away with dark purple, burgundy and some shades of green or blue. See also: Silver

  RELEASE THE BATS 1. Song by THE BIRTHDAY PARTY, released 1981. Two-and-a-half minutes of noisy, skronking shrieks! 2. Monthly DEATH ROCK club night held in Long Beach, California, since 1998, featuring live bands and DJs including the event’s appropriately named promoter and resident selector Dave Bats. Holding it down for the TRAD GOTHs in the face of Cyber domination for those who like their dancing old school.

  REN FAIR Short for Renaissance Fair (sometimes faire, fayre, etc.), a gathering of enthusiasts of the English Elizabethan era, involving music, food and sports of the period in a festival setting. Attracting a wide range of people, ROMANTIGOTHs in particular love Ren Fairs for the opportunity to wear frilly shirts or CORSETs, polish their swords and hang out with their GOTHLINGS in a family-friendly environment that nurtures their love for history.

  RENFIELD 1. Fictional character in BRAM STOKER’s DRACULA and the cinematic interpretations thereof, a laywer turned lunatic under the spell of Count Dracula who eats spiders and utters the immortal words “The blood is the life!” 2. Renfield’s Syndrome, more officially known as clinical vampirism, a mental disorder in which sufferers are obsessed with the drinking of blood.

  REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA Horror rock-opera film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, released 2008, about a future world run amok where organs can be bought — and repossessed. A gory, over-the-top romp that’s probably the only movie we’ll ever see starring Paris Hilton, Paul Sorvino and Ogre from SKINNY PUPPY together, featuring musical numbers like “Things You See in a Graveyard.” Thus, it’s developed an underground cult following of “Shadow Casts,” who dress up and “Testify!” at screenings, à la ROCKY HORROR. A documentary about the fandom by L.A. Goth/horror personality Spooky Dan is in the works.

  RE/SEARCH PUBLICATIONS Book and magazine publishing company founded in 1980 by V.Vale, editor of the seminal punk rock fanzine Search & Destroy. Devoted to alternative music, film and lifestyle when it was truly underground, its original tabloid zine plus books like MODERN PRIMITIVES and the Industrial Culture Handbook have documented with an anthropological and artful eye the greater counterculture in which Goth exists. Essential reading.

  RETAIL SLUT Clothing store on Melrose in Los Angeles opened in 1983 by Helen Bed, a gathering place for punks, Goths, drag queens and other FREAKs until it closed in 2005. Assorted DEATH ROCKERs of note worked there, including ROZZ WILLIAMS and Eva O. of CHRISTIAN DEATH.

  REZNOR, TRENT See: Nine Inch Nails

  RICCI, DONNA American model and clothing designer and one-time self-professed “Gothic Supermodel,” she of the ballerina-thin legs and Rapunzel-length hair. Co-creator of the Wicket Talent collective for alternative models. Now designer of STEAMPUNK clothing under the name Clockwork Couture.

  RICE, ANNE American author (née Howard Allen O’Brien, b. October 4, 1941), grand dame of the VAMPIRE tale. That one of the bestselling novelists of the twentieth century (100 million books sold and counting) dealt in gloriously Gothic stories of romantic vampire aristocrats warms the cockles of all of our black hearts. During the 1990s, her Vampire Chronicles (INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE, Vampire LESTAT and QUEEN OF THE DAMNED in particular) dominated the book scene, and the films sprung from them fueled our fantasies about New Orleans, decadence and immortality, with later works doing the same for witches. So Rice’s announcement in 2005 that she was abandoning the genre, returning to Catholicism and would write henceforth only for the Lord, well, it was a mighty blow. But her canon exists to be savoured eternally, inspiration for all those who want to rule the world by writing stories of love and blood. See also: Anne Rice Vampire Lestat Fan Club; Louis; Rampling, Anne; Rocquelaure, A.N.

  RIVETHEAD A fan of INDUSTRIAL music, most commonly male, who dresses the part as well as listening to the music. Typical attire is militaristic in nature, often with combat boots, army pants and short/shaved hair in monochromatic black. Accessorizing with more flashy synth dreads, TRANSMUTER boots or GOGGLES has become fashionable in the post-CYBERGOTH age. Although rivetheads and Goths often frequent the same shops and clubs and the term “Industrial Goth” has come into use, the scenes and looks are quite distinct. ANDROGYNY, for one example, is not common in rivetheads. Neither is “PULLING THE TAFFY” or other dramatic arm gestures on the dance floor. Rather, they are more li
kely to be stomping up a sweat while plotting how “the war for Industrial music must be won!” (Seriously, I saw that graffiti once.) Rivethead girls do exist; they keep the market for TRIPP NYC baggy pants alive.

  ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW, THE Horror musical film released in 1975, a parody of B-movies, starring Tim Curry as Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a “sweet transvestite from Transylvania” who looks great in FISHNETS. With its massive cult status for three decades now, it’s such a recognizable good-time movie that it provides a great cover for Goth Boys who want cross-dress (“Oh, it’s just a Rocky Horror costume!”) and its signature dance number “Time Warp” gives us something to dance to with our non-Goth family members at weddings.

  ROMANTIGOTH The bookish Goths, as interested in the Romantic poets as the NEW ROMANTIC punks, as well as Victoriana, MEDIEVAL history and the like. Typically attired in VELVET, lace and POET SHIRTs, prone to daydreaming and always finding beauty in death and decay. Like the TRAD GOTHs, not too interested in the Cyber scene, but prefer their playlists more on the ETHEREAL and DARKWAVE side rather than sticking with DEATH ROCK. The most likely to organize picnics in cemeteries and know their Beethoven from their Bach.

  ROQUELAURE, A.N. Nom de plume for ANNE RICE used for her Sleeping Beauty trilogy, in which she re-imagined the fairytale as an explicit BDSM fantasy. The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty (1983), Beauty’s Punishment (1984) and Beauty’s Release (1985) actually outsold her INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE novel, which inspired her to write additional pornographic books under the name ANNE RAMPLING. For many who discovered them only after the breakout of the VAMPIRE Chronicles in the early 1990s (by which point her true identity had been revealed), they offered an introduction to the S/M world not generally found on mainstream bookshelves. Censors responded in kind: the Beauty books remain one of the most frequently challenged by libraries and other authorities.

  ROSETTA STONE British GOTHIC ROCK band formed by Porl King in 1988, one of the most successful second wave of acts basically re-hashing THE SISTERS/MISSION/NEFFS formula — right down to the drum machine with its own name (Madame Razor). Nevertheless, thanks to a North American deal with CLEOPATRA RECORDS, and King’s openness to communicating directly with his fanbase on Usenet groups in the pre-MySpace age, they found a global audience and a semi-hit with “Adrenaline.” After switching to a more INDUSTRIAL sound in the 1990s, they disappeared into the ether forever — declaring at an appearance at WHITBY GOTHIC WEEKEND in 1998 that they were “sick and tired with all the bullshit surrounding the scene.”

  ROUGH TRADE British record shop, label and distributor, founded by Geoff Travis in 1976, specializing in POST-PUNK. Best known for signing The Smiths (or, to those under thirty, The Strokes), but also home at times to CABARET VOLTAIRE, VIRGIN PRUNES and other important late ’70s acts.

  RUBBER See: Latex

  RUE MORGUE Horror magazine and radio show based in Toronto, Canada, founded by Rodrigo Gudiño in 1997, devoted to horror films, art and culture. The National Geographic of horror fandom, documenting macabre entertainment and lifestyle in a serious, sexy way that’s free of Hollywood-marketing bullshit. As one of its long-time contributors, I believe it’s exposing a whole generation of horror movie nerds to great music, books and more that will set them on a darkened path for life. Not a Goth mag per se, but the world is a Gothier place for it.

  SALEM City in Massachusetts, USA, site of the 1692 witch trials where more than twenty people were killed in a wave of superstition and mass hysteria. Today people go there to buy souvenir broomsticks and magic quartz. Goths who fall into the tourist trap are most often disappointed as it’s not really that evil of a place, unless you’ve got a fear of gift shops.

  SALEM’S LOT Novel by STEPHEN KING, published in 1975, about a town in Maine infiltrated by VAMPIREs. With its fog and shadows, foreboding mansion and ghostly child vampire Danny Glick, one of the most traditionally Gothic of modern vampire stories. The 1979 TV miniseries portrays the head vampire as a monstrous, NOSFERATU-like creature, the likes of which are tough to find in the post–ANNE RICE/TWILIGHT era.

  SALVATION GROUP British media company, formed by Nigel Wingrove in 1993, comprising a film distribution company (Redemption), record label (Triple Silence) and magazine (Nihilista) specializing in horror and exploitation, especially VAMPIRES and naughty nuns. Famous for its Satanic Sluts, a group of devilishly pervy models/actresses/performance artists who make the SUICIDE GIRLS seem rather sweet.

  SAMHAIN 1. Celtic harvest festival of yore, held on October 31, and source of many of our modern HALLOWEEN traditions, such as jack-o-lanterns and costuming. Practiced today by Wiccans and other pagans, and name-dropped by Goths who think it’s more authentic than Halloween. 2. Horror punk band, GLENN DANZIG’s short-lived project between THE MISFITS and Danzig.

  SANCTUARY 1. Online radio station, streaming classic and new Goth/INDUSTRIAL 24/7 at sanctuaryradio.com. 2. Name of the Swiss Gothic Association. 3. Mail-order catalogue created by pop star Cher for a few years in the 1990s, featuring a surprising amount of Gothic home décor — wrought-iron four-poster bed with GARGOYLEs anyone? 4. Toronto’s Sanctuary Vampire Sex Bar, an all-Goth nightclub operating from 1992 to 2000, which is now a Starbucks; owner Lance Goth (not his real name!) published the collection of short stories Tales From Sanctuary: The Vampire Sex Bar.

  SANDMAN, THE Comic book series by NEIL GAIMAN, originally published from 1989 to 1996 by DC’s Vertigo Press, about MORPHEUS, the King of Dreams, and his siblings Desire, Despair, Destiny, Delirium, Destruction and, most important of all, DEATH. The horror and fantasy worlds created herein were the stuff of real dreams for Goths — villains and heroes in black and PALE white dropping references to Shakespeare and Greek mythology to make us feel smart. A critically acclaimed mainstream blockbuster title, The Sandman is probably read by more Goth Girls than every other comic ever made combined, making Gaiman into a icon of the grandest stature.

  SAVAGE, JON British music journalist (né Jonathan Sage, b. 1953) who wrote about POST-PUNK and NEW WAVE for Sounds, NME and the like, whose 1991 book England’s Dreaming is the definitive reference for the U.K. punk explosion, including THE DAMNED, SIOUXSIE SIOUX and others.

  SCARY LADY SARAH American club DJ and concert promoter from Chicago, now based in Berlin. Resident DJ at Nocturna, Chicago’s longest-running Goth/INDUSTRIAL/dark alternative club night, and regular special guest at CONVERGENCE, WAVE-GOTIK-TREFFEN and other major festivals. Known as much for her gravity-defying teased hair as her continued commitment to scouring the underground for new bands to play.

  SCHWARZE SZENE German term, literally translates to “black scene” and used since the 1990s to describe all the so-called dark alternative music styles swirling around Goth: industrial, darkwave, electro, metal, neofolk and medieval, and for some reason also including bdsm/fetish culture. Kind of like the Goth version of LGBTTIQQ2SA, but “Schwarze” just sounds so much Gothier. Not widely used outside of Germany.

  SCREAM Los Angeles nightclub and live music venue, operated by Bruce Perdew and Michael Stewart at the Embassy Hotel from 1989 to 1999. A massive, multi-level space with a “Stairway to Hell” up to the dark dance floor, where FREAKs of all ages and persuasions would gather late into the night/morning, but none so purposefully as the DEATH ROCKERs, who made it their after-hours home. See also: Helter Skelter

  SDAM Singapore Dark Alternative Movement, organization started in 1998 by Saito Nagasaki to put on Goth events and promote the subculture throughout the country.

  SECRET GOTH CABAL Can’t talk about this. Sorry.

  SEX Clothing boutique located at 430 King’s Road in Chelsea, London, operated by punk impresario Malcolm McLaren and designer VIVIENNE WESTWOOD from 1974 to 1976. (Previously known as rock shop Paradise Garage and Teddy Boy outfitters Let It Rock.) Sold LATEX/fetish/bondage wear and incorporated that scene’s studs and zippers and such to original Westwood designs, particularly her sometimes pornographic, always provocative Tshirts that helped define the distressed punk rock s
tyle. Changed names a few times and closed for good in 1980.

  SEXBAT Pseudonym for one of the co-founders of ALT.GOTHIC, who is credited with coining the term NET.GOTH.

  SEX GANG CHILDREN British POST-PUNK group lead by singer Andi Sex Gang (né Andreas McElligott) formed in 1981, part of the original BATCAVE crew. Andi’s upper-range vocals proved you don’t need to be baritone to be Goth. In fact, at least one person (IAN ASTBURY) claims the origin of the G-word is his nicknaming the short-statured, hyperactive Andi, who lived in a place called Visigoth Towers, the “Gothic Goblin.” Drama followed the band on stage and off, and they never quite got their due before splitting in 1984; the DEATH ROCK revival has put them back in the spotlight and they now headline Goth festivals in Europe. A documentary about Andi, Bastard Art, was released in 2009.

  SHELLEY 1. Mary Shelley (née Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, 1797–1851), British writer, author of FRANKENSTEIN. Writing the world’s great monster story earned her a place in literary history, but the fact that she kept the actual heart of her late-husband Percy (rescued from the funeral pyre by a friend), wrapped in the pages of his elegiac poem Adonaïs also makes her the godmother of ROMANTIGOTHs everywhere. Buried at St. Peter’s Church in Dorset, ENGLAND. 2. Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822), Mary’s husband, one of the great Romantic poets. Chastised in his time by those who knew him for being a political reformer and atheist, remembered now for his Gothic novels, lovely lyrical verse and the essay A Defense of Poetry (which, to Goths, needs no defense at all). Bonus points for being able to correctly spell his middle name. Drowned at sea, his cremated remains (sans heart) are in a cemetery in Rome.