Life looks like a temporary escape from the kingdom of death. Death never leaves mankind alone, and is the originator of bad thoughts, bad feelings, and every kind of fear. Fears are partly conscious, and partly unconscious. Rationality can analyze fears, but can’t completely dominate over fears. However, I think that it’s undeniable that fears have even positive functions, and give an essential contribution to the survival instinct, proper of all the forms of life that the man knows. On planet Earth, there’s an alternation of days and nights, and, despite of the prevalence of daily activities, a notable list of human activities belongs to the dark hours. For that, in our souls there’s always room for dark passions, with variable strength. Nightlife at clubs is one of the activities bound to the dark hours, and is rooted inside music, subcultures, and fashion. In the second part of the 70’s, a branch of traditional psychedelic rock changed, and evolved towards a new genre named punk rock. On the basement of punk rock, some sub-genres were born, among which Goth rock, that’s the topic of the page.
The adjective Goth is a contracted form of Gothic, and comes from the German tribes of the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, that invaded the Roman empire, and gained the derogatory term of barbarians. The barbarian invasions were responsible of the beginning of the so-called Dark Ages, that are commonly compared by historians to the previous age of the domination of Rome. The comparison of the above has led to the definition of the Dark Ages as a period of decadence, characterized by doom and gloom feelings, during which innovations were like steps of a descent into the depths of a superstitious underworld, not clearly distinguishable from a barely tolerable everyday life. Thus, Gothic means not completely under control, agitated by mysterious and often hostile forces, rooted inside the darkest part of human nature, similar to a storm of dark passions. In a storm of dark passions, only brave riders can survive, although without keeping their own fates at hand.
Goth rock emerged in the UK in late 70’s, and was a contamination of punk rock, with more synthetic sounds, and a plenty of gloomy atmospheres, taken from nihilism, existentialism, romanticism, occultism, horror cinema and literature, sadism, and masochism. They say that the originator of the sub-genre is a song of the year 1979 by the Bauhaus, titled Bela Lugosi’s dead, and based on a vampire story. Music opened the road to Gothic subculture, that dates back to the early 80’s. Two British nightclubs were the recognized product of the kind of culture, the Batcave in London, and the F Club in Leeds. The mood was rather fetishist, and notably bizarre.
Of course, Goth rock is perfect for the blog. What exactly is Goth rock? Given my role of web DJ, I have preferred to answer in music, with the mix of the page. You can consider it as a compilation of the very best of the genre, mixed on the beat.
File name “Goth rock and supernatural, by Max Look DJ (Oct 2025)”, 1 hour 20’ and 45” of musical pearls belonging to Goth rock, in a dance club style.
Get Goth, the playlist:
Escape With Romeo – somebody (1989)
Sisters of Mercy – first and last and always (1985)
Killing Joke – multitudes (1985)
Vioflesh – mirage (2022)
Mission – wasteland (1986)
Tones on Tail – Christian says (1984)
Suspiria – allegedly, dancefloor tragedy (1997)
Joy Division – she’s lost control (1979)
Eden House – neversea (2012)
Cocteau Twins – feathers-oar-blades from lullabies EP (1982)
Danse Society – heaven is waiting (1984)
Rosetta Stone – tomorrow for us (2019)
Rosegarden Funeral Party – once in a while (2019)
Siouxsie and the Banshees – spellbound (1981)
Balduvian Bears – shadow (2024)
Depeche Mode – black celebration (1986)
Damned – street of dreams (1985)
Ulterior — body hammer (2013)
Cure – primary (1981)
Bauhaus – St. Vitus dance (1980)
Alien Sex Fiend – R.I.P. (1983)
