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Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2008 The Music of the Goth Subculture: Postmodernism and Aesthetics Charles Allen Mueller Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF MUSIC THE MUSIC OF THE GOTH SUBCULTURE: POSTMODERNISM AND AESTHETICS By CHARLES ALLEN MUELLER A Dissertation submitted to the College of Music In partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2008 Copyright 2008 Charles Mueller All Rights Reserved The members of the Committee approve the dissertation of Charles Allen Mueller defended on June 12, 2008. __________________________ Charles E. Brewer Professor Directing Dissertation __________________________ Barry Faulk Outside Committee Member __________________________ Denise Von Glahn Committee Member __________________________ Douglass Seaton Committee Member The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members. ii ACKNOLEDGEMENTS I would like to extend my most sincere gratitude to the Presser Foundation who funded my research in Great Britain. I would also like to thank journalist Mick Mercer and the staff at Rough Trade in London who provided me with important insights into the development of goth music. All of the past and present goth participants and musicians who took the time to share with me their passion for music and life experiences also played a major role in making this dissertation possible, and I cannot thank them enough. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract Introduction 1 Chapter 1 Musicology and Subculture Social Theory 22 Chapter 2 Goth and English Society During the 1980s 69 Chapter 3 Goth and Appropriations of 1970s Glam and Punk 98 Chapter 4 Examining the Gothic Elements of Goth Music: Style and Analysis 111 Chapter 5 Siouxsie and the Banshees and Postmodern Gender Theory 158 Chapter 6 Goth and Postmodernism 218 Concluding Remarks 229 Bibliography 231 iv MUSICAL EXAMPLES 2.1 The Cure: “100 Years 77 2.2 Siouxsie and the Banshees: “Candyman 84 a. missing thirds b. music box melody c. bridge bass line and accompaniment 4.1 Christian Death: “As Evening Falls” a. guitar melody 109 b. frantically repeated pitches in narrow range c. modulation to f major 110 4.2 Bauhaus: “Dark Entries” 124 a. opening riff b. main riff during verses c. bridge 4.3 Bauhaus: “Hollow Hills” 126 4.4 “Hollow Hills” vocal melody 127 4.5 The Sisters of Mercy: “Marian” a. introduction b. bass line c. chorus 129 d. vocal melody 130 4.6 Alien Sex Fiend: “Hurricane Fighter Plane” guitar riff 133 5.1 Siouxsie and the Banshees: “Melt” a. opening guitar theme with rapid tremolo 185 b. melody of the chorus 186 5.2 Siouxise and the Banshees: “Something Blue” a. sampled marimba ostinato 193 b. melody of the chorus 194 5.3 Christian Death: “Spiritual Cramp 214 5.4 The Sisters of Mercy: “Vision Thing” 215 v 6.1 Play Dead: “The Tenant” a. introduction b. power chords enter on top of arpeggios c. main riff for each verse 226 d. interlude 227 vi ABSTRACT Goth was a subculture derived from England’s punk movement, and it served as a pessimistic cultural and artistic response to The Cold War, and to the social and economic upheavals in Britain during the 1980s, and as an alternative form of English nationalism. Musical groups that came to be associated with goth developed a musical and visual style that was a postmodern pastiche of punk rock, glam rock, and Berlin cabaret styles. Gothic literature, classic horror movies, and early expressionist films were also influences on the music. This dissertation uses the methodology of Dick Hebdige’s theory of subcultures to demonstrate how bands used gothic signifiers and aesthetics as a way to sharpen and continue the social commentary of the punk movement. In addition, the artists recognized the masculine logic of power and control as the root cause of many social problems, and they embraced seduction and feminine signifiers as subversive devices. Goth bands purged their music and image of characteristics associated with masculinity, and they composed songs dealing with gyno-centered traumas, domestic abuse, and everyday cruelty. The songs typically treated sex as a source of danger rather than pleasure. Goth was not simply a fanciful label; the music exhibited many characteristics associated with Gothicism. A preoccupation with mood and ambience, nostalgia, camp humor, and the mocking of power, were all hallmarks of the genre. In addition, the way in which goth bands were highly influenced by the aesthetics of film and their appropriation of a wide variety of signifiers reflect the postmodern social milieu as described by Jean Baudrillard. Musical artists featured in this study include Bauhaus, The Cure, Christian Death, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Sisters of Mercy, and others. vii INTRODUCTION I did not discover the music of England’s goth subculture until I was twenty years old, when a friend introduced me to recordings by The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Gene Loves Jezebel. At the time, I did not realize that these artists were associated with a distinct British youth movement and were considered part of a genre called “goth” on that side of the Atlantic. As a musician, I was impressed with how these bands were able to create strong melancholic moods with a few simple musical gestures. The guitar parts were not elaborate, but players had striking tone, and I came to admire their use of texture and color. The song lyrics seemed more sophisticated than what I was accustomed to in rock music. I still consider Pornography by The Cure to be one of the most moving albums of popular music produced during the 1980s. Although I cannot claim to be an insider to the goth subculture, I was active in Oregon’s heavy metal community from the mid-1980s until 1992. Prior to my discovery of goth music, I served as a guitarist in three bands who performed and recorded. Therefore, I have personal experience with subcultures and the production of popular music. The songs composed by my bandmates and myself were firmly rooted in the mid- late 1980s, revolving around anti-war sentiments, nuclear annihilation, class inequality, mass murders, fear of death, and the hypocrisies of the political system. We possessed all the fears and anxieties that most young people shared during the era—fear that President Reagan would provoke a war with the Soviets, fear of an uncertain economic future, and an underlying terror of not being in control of one’s life. Many of these themes can also be found in the songs of English goth bands, so I was able to appreciate their perspective, even though their music was much different from the heavy metal songs that I had written. In fact, one of the best ways that one could come to understand goth would be to read Robert Walser’s book on heavy metal and then imagine a style of music that was its antithesis in nearly every respect.1 On the surface it might seem as though goth and heavy metal would have much in common—they both originated among the white, working classes in Great Britain, both kinds of bands used gothic symbols in their image (black attire, occult signs, ghoulish make-up), and the songs of both genres dealt with topics that 1 Robert Walser, Running with the Devil: Power Gender and Madness in Heavy Metal Music (Hanover: Wesleyan University Press, 1993). 1 make most people uneasy, dwelling on difficult emotions and grim aspects of life. When goth artists were at the start of their careers, unperceptive journalists often compared them to heavy metal groups. For example, Andy Gill, writing in New Musical Express, described fans of the iconic goth group Bauhaus as “more closely related to the heavy metal hordes than they’d like to believe,”2 and stated that Bauhaus were simply a more hip version of heavy metal progenitors, Black Sabbath. The statement is untrue, and I will make frequent contrasts between heavy metal and goth throughout this dissertation. There are many reasons why I, and probably many others in the U.S., did not come to appreciate the goth genre sooner: The artists received virtually no radio airplay, their videos were rarely shown on MTV, and Rolling Stone and other American music publications rarely mentioned them. Musicians’ magazines such as Guitar Player and Guitar World gave goth artists no coverage whatsoever, possibly because the players did not value the ability to improvise elaborate solos, which were in vogue in popular music throughout the 1980s. I had an unfortunate prejudice against bands who recorded for small independent record labels, because I was misguided enough to believe that big record companies would not overlook talented bands. Therefore, I reasoned that the groups who were worth listening to recorded for major labels and artists on independent labels were inferior and not worth considering. But British goth bands were not understood by American distributors who misrepresented the artists’ works in the way in which they marketed them. For example, when the album Dawnrazor by Fields of the Nephilim, one of the most admired goth recordings by fans in England, was released in the US, the album cover and promotional materials featured images of a disposable shaving razor.3 Not many young people in America would have investigated a recording packaged in such a ridiculous way. The few goth music videos that did manage to receive some limited airplay on MTV during the late 1980s, such as “Peek-a-boo” by Siouxsie and the Banshees or “Lullaby” by The Cure, were derived from the artist’s most lighthearted songs, which were not representative of most of their output.

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