The Art of Darkness: The History of Goth

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Now, it’s become a shorthand for something that’s darkly delicious and enticing in cultural terms, so we embrace it more now. Anyone who has encountered The Book of Kells cannot help but be impressed by the labyrinthine coils of the Celtic imagination. It looks at the music, style and the political and social conditions that spawned the culture and the great music, fashions and attitudes – clubs that defined it, and is also a first-hand account of being there at the gigs and clubs that made the scene happen. But like Schrödinger’s experimental cat, it is clear that Goth is currently both dead and very much alive.

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What an insult to the woman who is widely established to have founded the science fiction genre at the age of 18.The music, dance and fashion are sumptuously brought to life, but more than that, Robb manages to take us into the psyche, fantasies and imaginations of a plethora of fascinating Goths. Robb spends more page-space on Ian Astbury's couch-surfing days than he does on the influence of Tim Burton. Robb also discovered that in the same month the review was published, Iggy Pop was also watching Morrison while still a student at university.

The Art of Darkness: The History of Goth - John Robb - Google

The next day, when Cave came to do his gig in Manchester, he had to sit on the drum riser all through the gig because he was absolutely knackered from being up all night at this mad little do in Hulme! If pressed, I would point to Siouxsie and the Banshees as being the starting point for the genre, possibly with Bauhaus coming in second. One of the most noticeable things that happen when reading the book is the appreciation of the differences between bands who fall under the Goth umbrella, to such an extent that we can imagine the debate about who is or isn’t Goth rumbling on for some time yet, as some of the bands mentioned below prove. His latest opus is the 650-page “The Art Of Darkness : The History of Goth”, an in-depth account that he feels presents the first major and comprehensive overview of Goth music and culture and its lasting legacy. In Goth: A History, Tolhurst identifies Joy Division, Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees and his own band, The Cure, as the four main architects of darkness (Robb and Unsworth devote chapters in their books to this quartet too).Everything from Tim Burton to visual kei to Gothic tribal bellydance to South Park and Buffy the Vampire Slayer goes by in a blur of barely connected names. Despite it being responsible for giving rise to Goth, the Punk movement is dealt with relatively briefly, which is fair enough, as it is a scene that Robb has covered before in his equally detailed Punk Rock: An Oral History.

John Robb - The Art of Darkness: A History of Goth

Over the last few months he has disarmed packed rooms of rowdy concert goers, leaving them silent as they hold fast to every syllable sung. A real slog reading this, not very well-edited at all, lots of good info and history but not really collected into a readable whole.

When he’s not touring with his band (they recently toured in Europe with The Stranglers, The Chameleons and Fields Of The Nephilim), he’s presenting, moderating or writing for his popular UK music site Louder Than War. Seeing as goth is arguably the only subculture that was born out of literature and poetry, it seems appropriate that 40 years after the G-word became a widely used term, it is having its moment in the publishing spotlight. However, even here, Robb takes the opportunity to look at the past, starting with The Doors, the first group to be described as Gothic.