Goth Post-Mortem

It’s been a while since I’ve felt compelled to write a goth-related blog, but this one forced itself into existence, because I think we’ve finally, officially, completely lost the plot.

I, someone who lives and breathes deathrock, got told by a so-called “goth” on TikTok that Deathrock ISN'T goth.

I genuinely don’t know what’s more offensive: the blatant historical illiteracy, or the smugness it came packaged in. I wish this was satire, but no, some lady on that cursed app had the nerve to say that Deathrock is “like, not real goth but still accepted as it” while dancing to Depeche Mode in a Shein corset. You wear a fake Ankh and talk about “goth energy” while your entire cultural understanding comes from Pinterest posts and Tiktok videos. 

Do these people even know what the Batcave was? The Batcave Club opened in 1982 in London. It was founded by the likes of Specimen, yes, Deathrockers, what a surprise. A place where bands like Alien Sex Fiend, Sex Gang Children, and Christian Death were the heartbeat of what became the Goth subculture. Deathrockers helped birth the damn thing.

Deathrock. Is. Goth.

Deathrock is why goth exists. Deathrock preceded the term “goth” being solidified, and in many ways, forged it. The deathrock subgenre came before Trads.

We're not even misremembering goth history anymore, we're actively rewriting it to be less confrontational, less dirty, less weird.

Of course, you don’t have to love Deathrock... You don’t even have to like it. But saying “it’s not goth” is just absurd, to say the least.

It’s ahistorical.

It’s ignorant.

And it’s embarrassing.

🦇Long Live Deathrock🦇