The bands that began the gothic rock and death rock scene were limited in number, and included Bauhaus, Siouxsie & the Banshees, The Cure, Southern Death Cult, Sex Gang Children, 45 Grave, UK Decay, The Virgin Prunes, Alien Sex Fiend and Christian Death. Joy Division, Dead Can Dance and Killing Joke have also been linked, but there is debate over their influence.
By the mid-eighties, the number of bands began proliferating and became increasingly popular, including The Sisters of Mercy, The Mission UK, Xmal Deutschland, The Bolshoi and Fields of the Nephilim. The nineties saw the further growth of eighties bands and emergence of many new bands. Factory Records, 4AD Records, and Beggars Banquet Records released much of this music in Europe, while Cleopatra Records amongst others released much of this music in the United States, where the subculture grew especially in New York, Los Angeles, & Orange County, California, with many nightclubs featuring "gothic/industrial" nights. The popularity of 4AD bands resulted in the creation of a similar US label called Projekt Records. This produces what is colloquially termed Ethereal Wave, a subgenre of Darkwave music.
By the mid-1990s, styles of music that were heard in venues that goths attended ranged from gothic rock, death rock, Industrial music, EBM, ambient, experimental, synthpop, shoegazing, punk rock, 1970s glam rock (not to be confused with later glam rock), indie rock, to 1980s dance music. This variety was a result of a need to maximize attendance from everyone across the alternative music scene, particularly in smaller towns, and due to the eclectic tastes of the members of the subculture; but it also signaled new shifts in attitude.
Gothic rock was originally clearly differentiated from industrial and heavy metal by older participants in the alternative scene, but newcomers and media misconceptions blurred the boundaries in the nineties as gothic rock became significantly less popular in the US and UK. Thus while Industrial metal-influenced or heavy metal bands such as Marilyn Manson, Jack Off Jill, Type O Negative, Lacuna Coil, Nightwish,Within Temptation,Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth and Slipknot were often labeled as "goth" by the media, this categorization was strongly resisted by longstanding goths. Even more confusion was added with the rise of gothic metal, with such bands consciously using gothic imagery from the dark ages in their own music and appearance and started even following fashion trends indistinguishable from older goth ones. Arguments about which music is and is not goth became an ever more significant part of how the subculture tried to define itself.
The other significant development of the nineties was the popularity of electronic dance bands such as VNV Nation, Apoptygma Berzerk and Covenant in the goth scene. The rise of what has been called cybergoth music and style, which has much in common with techno/synthpop and EBM, caused bitter divisions between its fans and those firmly attached to the analog and/or guitar based sound of gothic rock. Bands with a darkwave sound or those such as The Crüxshadows, which combine an electronic and gothic rock sound, appeal to both sides to some extent.
Darkwave band The Crüxshadows.
Recent years have seen a resurgence in the early positive punk and death rock sound, in reaction to the EBM, futurepop, and synthpop, which had taken over many goth clubs. Bands with an earlier goth sound like Cinema Strange, Bloody Dead And Sexy, Black Ice, and Antiworld are becoming very popular. Nights like Ghoul School and Release The Bats promote death rock heavily, and the Drop Dead Festival brings in death rock fans from all over the world.
Today, the goth music scene thrives most actively in Western Europe, especially Germany, with large festivals such as Wave-Gotik-Treffen, Zillo (which ceased to be active after 2004), Mera Luna and others draw tens of thousands of fans from all over the world.
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Historical and cultural influences
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Term origins
The original Goths were an Eastern Germanic tribe who played an important role in the fall of the western Roman Empire. In some circles, the name "goth" later became pejorative: synonymous with "barbarian" and the uncultured due to the then-contemporary view of the fall of Rome and historically inaccurate depictions of the pagan Gothic tribes during and after the process of Christianization of Europe. During the Renaissance period in Europe, medieval architecture was retroactively labeled gothic architecture, and was considered unfashionable in contrast to the then-modern lines of classical architecture.
In the United Kingdom, by the late 1700s, however, nostalgia for the medieval period led people to become fascinated with medieval gothic ruins. This fascination was often combined with an interest in medieval romances, Roman Catholic religion and the supernatural. Enthusiasts for gothic revival architecture in the United
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