TOP OF THE POPS British TV show, featuring live (well, lip synched) performances of songs on the U.K. charts, on the air from 1964 to 2006. Amazingly, most of the early Goths had the hits to appear: THE DAMNED, SIOUXSIE, ADAM ANT, THE CURE (seek out their 1980 performance of “A Forest” for some choice footage of ROBERT SMITH pre–FAT BOB hairdo). Strangest moment: NICK CAVE playing backdrop for Kylie Minogue in their murder ballad duet “Where the Wild Roses Grow.”
TORTURE GARDEN London fetish club, operating monthly events since 1990, now billed as the world’s largest fetish gathering. Certainly the most famous for enthusiasts of high fantasy fashion, extreme body performance art and other more hardcore pursuits than found at your standard Goth fet night. While catering to a diverse crowd with a variety of music, its roots are squarely in the early INDUSTRIAL/noise scene. Its dress code states: if it wouldn’t get you stared at on the street, don’t wear it to Torture Garden. Amen!
TRAD GOTH What the hip-hoppers would call Old School. Someone who listens to the original GOTHIC ROCK and POST-PUNK bands of the ’70s and ’80s and dresses the part: pointy shoes, VELVET CLOAKS, ripped FISHNETS, etc. None of that INDUSTRIAL music or neon NIVEK OGRE for the Trad Goth! There is no sense of GOTHER THAN THOU–ness for this choice, although they are proud of it. What the general public would recognize as a Goth is most likely a Trad Goth.
TRANSMUTER Boots created by Brit Terry de Havilland in the early 2000s that boast extreme height and customizable heels and tongues. You buy one style (usually the knee-high black five-inch platforms) and add on whatever you like: SILVER chrome plates, purple SPIDERWEBs, studs, etc. Extremely popular with CYBERGOTHs for that extreme sci-fi look and with short rock stars like MARILYN MANSON and Gene Simmons, as such sneered at by some TRAD GOTHs as a sign of the apocalypse. No longer manufactured but knock-offs are widely available.
TRANSYLVANIA Historical region of Romania, traditional home of fictional VAMPIRES since BRAM STOKER set his DRACULA novel there. It is indeed full of MEDIEVAL castles, was once ruled by the Visigoths, and sounds devilish. So while no modern Goth scene has sprung up from there, most of us do hope to visit someday. Meanwhile, we enjoy its appearances in books and magazines, most notably ROCKY HORROR and the best Bugs Bunny short ever, “Transylvania 6-5000.” Abraca-pocus!
TRASH AND VAUDEVILLE NYC clothing store, the epicenter of punk and goth shopping in the Big Apple since 1975. No matter your subgenre or style you can be outfitted here from head to toe: sneakers, stilettos, DOCS, leopard-print skinny jeans, POET SHIRTs, LATEX CORSETs, VELVET gowns, Tshirts, day-glo wigs, BAT necklaces, motorcycle jackets and on and on. Shopping at these two shops — one up an iron staircase, the other down below — on St. Mark’s Place is a rite of passage, a pilgrimage, an authentic experience made all the crazier by a run-in with resident staffer Jimmy Webb. No online store, no franchising, no cheap skull-adorned plastic shit from China, just original punk rock attitude all the way.
TRENCHCOAT MAFIA Non-existent Goth gang invented by hysterical media in the wake of the COLUMBINE high school massacre, after it was rumoured that the two killers belonged to a school clique with that name which was associated with MARILYN MANSON and therefore Goths. In truth, there was a small group of like-minded gamers, some of whom wore trenchcoats, who were dubbed that by Columbine jocks, who then reclaimed it for themselves. While it eventually came out that the killers were not part of any Trenchcoat Mafia, some schools actually did ban the coats. Even today, Goth high school kids not looking to arouse suspicions keep theirs at home.
TRIBAL A modern style of belly dance popular with Goths. See also: Gothic belly dance
TRINITY Character in THE MATRIX films, played by Carrie-Anne Moss. A computer hacker with bad-ass martial arts and motorcycle driving skills, she has done more to popularize the skin-tight, shiny black catsuit look than anyone since Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman. Doesn’t need neon hair: totally CYBERGOTH.
TRIPP NYC Clothing label founded by Daang Goodman in 1984, specializing in rock ’n’ roll denim; its blood-spattered or razor-blade ripped skinny jeans are the classics, but it was the oversized, wide-legged bondage-strap pants with neon accents that were all the rave for RIVETHEADs and CYBERGOTHs in the late 1990s.
TRUE BLOOD TV supernatural drama based on the Southern VAMPIRE Mysteries book series by Charlaine Harris. No actual Goths on the show, but as Gothic as it gets: sex and violence in the Louisiana heat; vamps and shapeshifters and voodoo and psychics; a bar called Fangtasia, even! And plenty of blood for would-be “Fangbangers.” Harris and the show’s creator Alan Ball have crafted the best vampire TV since DARK SHADOWS, good enough to shell out $10 a bottle for their True Blood–branded blood orange soda, the new straight-edge Goth cocktail of choice.
TUBULAR CRIN See: Cyberlox
TWILIGHT Since the 2008 blockbuster film, the bane of our existence. For the record, people: real VAMPIRES don’t sparkle. Now, for bringing a whole new generation over to the dark side with her vampire romance empire, author Stephenie Meyer deserves some GOTH POINTS. It really is too bad the whole thing is basically about abstinence. And sparkling.
TYPE O NEGATIVE American GOTHIC METAL band, formed in Brooklyn in 1989 and led by the hulking, ÜBERGOTH baritone/bassist PETER STEELE. Dubbed the “Drab Four” for their doomy sound and macabre lyrics, as exhibited on the hit album Bloody Kisses, they brought MUNSTERS-style black humour back from the dead and legions of HOT TOPIC shoppers lined up to worship them. Following the death of Steele in April 2010, fate is uncertain. See also: Black No. 1
ÜBERGOTH Most definitely, excessively, exquisitely Goth. The epitome of Gothness. One who radiates darkness, breathes despair, bleeds black. Or someone who goes out dressed to the nines in full-on TRANSMUTERs and PVC and whiteface to get bread from the corner store. Used good-naturedly to describe anyone who is just seen as very, very, very Goth all the time. Can also be used to describe a temporary state or action that is very, very, very Goth (“CLOVE cigarettes? How übergoth of you!”). The prefix über can also be used alone to express the excessive Gothness of any person, place or thing (“That VELVET HOBBLESKIRT is totally über”); the “Goth” part is understood. How this German term came to be widely used to describe anything extremely Goth is unknown, but points to a longstanding fascination with all things Deutsch, a country which, of course, is totally über.
UNCLE NEMESIS British writer and concert promoter (né Michael Johnson), who organized concerts and events under the name Nemesis Promotions from 1995 to 2001. Now runs the website Nemesis to Go, where he continues to review new bands and their live shows.
URBAN DECAY American cosmetics company founded in 1996 by Sandy Lerner, who, frustrated at the lack of purple nail polish, created her own. Then came the black lipstick (Oil Slick), the green eyeshadows (Acid Rain) and soon a whole range of non-traditional colours trumpeted under the ad slogan “Does pink make you puke?” You might not think Goths need anything more than black EYELINER to be happy, but for everyone who craves an eye-popping shade or the ultimate glitter (many of them vegan friendly too), Urban Decay has become the go-to make-up line.
URBAN GOTHIC British horror TV series focused on seedy or supernatural tales from the London underground. Short-lived (2000–2001) and low budget, but it did a decent job of putting teenage necromancy and vampirism on the telly, even getting scream queen Ingrid Pitt to make an appearance. Available on DVD.
VAMP 1. A femme fatale type, the kind of woman who uses sex as a weapon. All female VAMPIRES are vamps but not all vamps are vampires. And not all Goths are either. Pretty much only used by boys who watch a lot of film noir. 2. Horror comedy from 1986 starring singer Grace Jones as the vampire queen Katrina, featuring one of the freakiest vamp dance sequences ever committed to celluloid.
VAMPIRA American television personality created by actress Maila Nurmi (1922–2008), based on the Charles Addams cartoon character of MORTICIA. As the host of The Vampira Show in the 1950s, she set the template for campy, sexed-up femme fatales,
with her look of skin-tight black dress, long black hair, exaggerated eyebrows, black fingernails, extremely corseted waist, trademark goofy graveyard puns and piercing scream. Some say she put a curse on her friend James Dean, but she was no witch, just a really great actress. Her horror hostess style was resurrected in the 1980s by Cassandra Peterson as ELVIRA, and although the two fought legal battles over the rights to that image, Goth Girls know the difference and love ’em both. Nurmi’s remains rest at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
VAMPIRE Mythological bloodsuckers, the Goth’s favourite horror movie villain, standard HALLOWEEN costume, dream date. For those people who think they’re real, see MODERN VAMPIREs.
VAMPIRE BATS BATs that feed on blood, hunting unsuspecting mammals in the night. Biologists call them Desmodus rotundus, Diphylla ecaudata and Diaemus youngil; Goths dream of them transforming into a human VAMPIRE, like they do in books. If only.
VAMPIRE DISPATCHING KIT Mythical antique object, also known as a VAMPIRE Killing Kit, allegedly made in the nineteenth-century to take care of the pesky NOSFERATU problem, now sold to rich Goths looking for a real piece of vampire history. Except they’re probably fake — a beautiful antique wooden box filled with dusty prayer books, holy water vials, daggers and STAKEs, now worth ten times its value for the fancy marketing. Better to buy a contemporary replica. Plus, if the real vampires attack, do you really want to depend on a used one?
VAMPIREFREAKS Social networking site exclusively for Goth/INDUSTRIAL types (or other “tormented souls” and “beautiful FREAKs”) created by RIVETHEAD computer programmer Jethro Berelson in 1999, now boasting more than two million users. Like MySpace, LiveJournal, iTunes and Craiglist rolled into one, it’s a one-stop virtual shop for Goth living. BABYBATs in particular have flocked to it to create profiles and make spooky love connections in an unfettered environment where they feel free to expresses their innermost pain. Problem is: nobody’s moderating or monitoring all these underagers, and the site has been tainted by several high profile, serious crimes by its members, including rape and murder. Most adult Goths find the site either ridiculous or disturbing or both.
VAMPIRE’S ANKH See: Ankh
VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE Role-playing game developed by White Wolf Publishing. For those who really, really want to create their own VAMPIRE alter ego, join a clan and act out their fantasies in a safe, fun environment. Participation exploded in the 1990s, spinning off into books and even a short-lived TV series, Kindred: The Embraced. See also: LARP
VAMPYRE SOCIETY British organization for VAMPIRE enthusiasts, active in the 1990s. Not the MODERN VAMPIREs who believe they are undead; rather, people who like graveyard tea parties and Gothic horror novels (i.e., Goths). Turned into a similar group called Vampyre Connexions in 1998 but now seems to be defunct.
V & A The Victorian and Albert Museum in London, home to 4.5 million objects of decorative arts and design. Admirers of MEDIEVAL, VICTORIAN, Elizabethan and Renaissance eras (i.e., % 90 of Goths) will swoon at its extensive collection of decadent textiles, furniture, jewels, sculpture and more. Yes, it has some of the world’s most famous stained glass, CANDELABRAs, reliquaries, CORSETs and the like, from such Gothic luminaries as Horace Walpole, William Morris and VIVIENNE WESTWOOD, but it’s the sum total, and the glorious building itself, all wrought iron and mosaic tiles, that make it site of Goth pilgrimage. The 2003 exhibition Gothic Art for ENGLAND can still be enjoyed in book form.
VANIAN, DAVE British singer (né David Lett, b. October 12, 1956), leader of THE DAMNED. Ex-gravedigger and horror film fan, he took his stage name to rhyme with Transylvanian, used COFFINs as concert props, wore ghoulish make-up and streaked his hair black and white and generally indulged in macabre presentation well before BATCAVE and GOTHIC ROCK were ever born. So while PETER MURPHY may be the Godfather of Goth, Vanian is its actual dad. Also leads PSYCHOBILLY band David Vanian and the Phantom Chords and is married to PATRICIA MORRISON, ex–SISTERS OF MERCY.
VARNEY THE VAMPIRE British horror serial about a cursed bloodsucker, Sir Francis Varney, written by James Malcolm Rymer and published as a series of cheap penny dreadfuls in the 1840s. Pure VICTORIAN Gothic VAMPIRE fiction, which established such well-known tropes as FANGS, hypnotism and superpowers.
VELVET Fabric of kings and queens and MEDIEVAL times, soft yet heavy, luxurious to the touch; no TRAD GOTH wardrobe is complete without a velvet CLOAK or gown or TOP HAT.
VICIOUS, LIZ American porn actress of a Goth persuasion. If you’re into that, just Google her.
VICTORIAN The era of Alexandrina Victoria, Queen of ENGLAND (roughly 1837–1901), romanticized by the ROMANTIGOTHs and the STEAMPUNKS for its ornate architecture (indeed, the Gothic Revival starts here); its abundance of lace and fanciful dress, CORSETs and waistcoats; its perceived majesty of living.
VIRGIN PRUNES Irish POST-PUNK group formed in 1977 that frankly, was GOTHER THAN THOU, or me, or most of the BATCAVERS of the 1980s. Not just for the unsettling, horror-drenched sounds on albums like … If I Die, I Die and songs like “Baby Turns Blue” but for the brazen theatricality of their live shows, GRAND GUIGNOL in miniature, with PALE white faces in cross-dress, enshrouded in fog, simulating sodomy and other acts of deviant decadence — in Ireland! In the 1970s! So sadly short lived, and never big in America. Look ’em up.
VISUAL KEI Japanese music style associated with GOTHIC LOLITA scene. Like glam metal mating with cyberpunk in a historical VICTORIAN manga, visual kei artists flaunt ANDROGYNY, colour and frills in a way that no Western artist could ever get away with. Hence, most of us have never heard of it, but if you’re wondering where over-the-top creative costuming in pop music went, look to the East. See also: Mana
VODKA-CRAN Vodka and cranberry, the Goth cocktail of choice.
VOLTAIRE 1. American musician, writer, animator and comic book artist (né Aurelio Voltaire Hernandez, b. January 25, 1967), best known for his graphic novel Oh My Goth! and the humourous and handy guidebooks What Is Goth? and Paint It Black: A Guide to Gothic Homemaking. He spins a fine goth folk song too, tongue always firmly in cheek, and has released several albums on PROJEKT RECORDS. In addition to singing in nightclubs, you can find it him in animated form in the game Adventure Quest World, at comic conventions plugging his Deady Bear line of gruesome toy collectibles or just enjoying a good laugh at his own expense. 2. Pen name for seventeenth-century French writer/philosopher François-Marie Arouet, who was really more of a punk than a Goth.
VON TEESE, DITA American pin-up starlet, fetish model and burlesque dancer (née Heather Renée Sweet, b. September 28, 1972), known to the general public for marrying (and divorcing) MARILYN MANSON, but beloved by lovers of glamour girls as this generation’s BETTIE PAGE. The raven-haired beauty of the fake birthmark and red lips rocks the runway as well as the stripper pole and Playboy centerfold, often in the blackest, most decadent of dress, proving that you don’t need to look like a Suicide Girl to be a totally hot Goth.
VNV NATION English electronic music group founded in 1990 by singer Ronan Harris. The Gothiest thing about them is probably Harris’s voice, with its icy detachment yet clean, mellifluous delivery. Initially, he paired that with straight-up EBM rhythms ripped from the Nitzer Ebb handbook, then evolved the project into happier, bouncier SYNTHPOP that has crossed over to the masses, at least in Europe. The soundtrack to CYBERGOTH life, much to the dismay of some old-school RIVETHEADs and DEATH ROCKERs. Essential tracks: “Further,” “Chrome.”
WAVE-GOTIK-TREFFEN The world’s biggest Goth festival, also known as WGT (pronounced Ve Ge Te) or simply Leipzig Fest, for the German city which has hosted it annually since 1992. Up to 200 bands of every conceivable gothy variety perform, while all-night dancing, all-day shopping (at what is probably the world’s biggest Goth market) and other dark themed events (ABSINTHE brunch!) keep as many as 20,000 Goths busy for four days. Primarily attended by Germans (who are the most ÜBER of all, after all) and other Europeans, it does attract a significant number of North American Goths on pilgrima
ge. Amazingly, there is camping.
WAX TRAX! Chicago-based independent record label founded by Jim Nash and Dannie Flesher in 1978, originally as an import record shop that became the very influential home of INDUSTRIAL music in North America throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. It brought bands like Ministry, Front 242, My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult and KMFDM to the masses at a time when their heavy, often sleazy, electronic stomp was still underground, releasing such classic club tracks as 242’s “Headhunter,” Coil’s “Tainted Love” and 1000 Homo DJ’s “Supernaut,” all while maintaining the retail shop as gathering place for bands and fans in the scene. While many of their acts jumped ship to major labels, Wax Trax! remained synonymous with the genre even after its bankruptcy and subsequent buy-out by TVT. The 1994 box set collection, The Black Box, compiles its greatest moments, of which there were many.
WEDNESDAY 1. Wednesday Addams, fictional child in the Addams Family comic/TV/film series whose PALE skin, pigtail braids and prim attire (not to mention, never smiling) have made her a Goth style icon. Played to wonderfully morose effect by Christina Ricci in the 1991 film. 2. Wednesday 13, American musician (né Joseph Poole, b. August 12, 1976) who took his stage name from the Addams girl and has fronted several HORROR PUNK bands, including Frankenstein Drag Queens from Planet 13 and Murderdolls, as well as releasing music as a solo artist. 3. Wednesday Mourning (née Jennifer Lee Smallwood, b. October 28, 1978), American self-identified Goth model, she of the waist-long black hair with perfect bangs, as seen in ads for KAMBRIEL. 4. Wednesday’s Child, character in the English folk poem “Monday’s Child,” who is said to be full of woe and has obviously inspired quite a few woeful CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT.
WESTENRA, LUCY Fictional character in BRAM STOKER’s novel DRACULA; beautiful, sweet, gregarious best friend to Mina Harker, she is pursued by three suitors, plus one Count Dracula, who transforms her into his VAMPIRE bride until she is staked by the hunter Van Helsing. In the 1992 film version by Francis Ford Coppola, she is portrayed as a seductress by Sadie Frost.
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