March 21st, 2006
Goths, now rich and happy
So, who are mocking goths now?
I remember I used to. When I was 16-17, made up to look like a member of Front 242, my favourite industry/EBM-band, my mates and I used to loathe goths and new romantics, because they weren’t tough enough. Come on, a couple of songs were good, but…sappy! Minds have changed on that since then, haven’t they?
Thing was, the mock-hate only happened when all of these sub-sub-cultures met, usually at a club which played music for all. When Front 242, Front Line Assembly or Skinny Puppy went on, all new romantics cleared the floor, some goths stayed and the rest of us uneasy blighters did our home-brewed pogo-dance: standing in a ring, kicking (in tact, mind you – we weren’t complete savages) at the middle so our Dr. Marten’s boots met, while we drank, celebrating our youth and shouting along:
hot to assimilate we’ll rot or annihilate
agony profusely stains the inner thinking of the brain
accusations clanking chains experiments with the groans of pain
all prefer no one blames the terror in an animal’s screams
in cages our future – the answers insane
Skinny Puppy, “Assimilate“
However, when we industry-inclined did meet new romantics and goths outside of the clubs or pubs, we passed a quasi-masonic wink to each-other as if to say “the others aren’t like us”. Of course, by trying very hard not to conform with the rest of society, we were extremely conformist in our little cells; if I’d met the others and worn a white shirt they’d frown incessantly.
Now, it seems goths are favoured by life. The Guardian has today published this article which is based on a study by Dunja Brill, on how goths are likely to excel in school and have highly paid professions. Funny and interesting article, that.
But goths still have a shitty taste in music. And boot up, boot down, boot up…
Today he has no means, he’s alone and anonymous
But written in his cells he has got the marks of the genius
I’m looking for this man to sell him to other men
To sell him to other men at ten times the price at least
Front 242, “Headhunter“
