Goth

Emerging in the 1980s, Goth is both a subculture and a musical style rooted in the drama and romantic ennui of eighteenth century gothic novels. The style's pioneers -- bands such as Bauhaus, Joy Division, the Cure and Siouxsie & the Banshees -- wrote melancholy, theatrical music with haunting guitar tones and echoing vocals. Despite its fixation with fashion, Goth culture carries an immense sadness with it; witness the suicide of Joy Division singer Ian Curtis. Through the 1990s, the Sisters of Mercy, Nick Cave, Cindytalk and many others continued the tradition of creating wan, poetic songs with processed, atmospheric guitars. Some artists -- such as the controversial Marilyn Manson -- tended toward the cartoonish end of the Goth spectrum, putting as much energy into their presentation as their music. Others, like Christian Death, became outright macabre. Goth maintains a looming presence today and has infected the aggression of Black Metal bands Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir. Meanwhile, electronic experimentalist Aphex Twin's Come to Daddy is rife with Goth's dark irony and cynicism. Given the importance of artists such as Manson and Nine Inch Nails, the resurrection of Bauhaus and the continued output of Nick Cave and the Creatures, Goth, both as a culture and as a musical style, is defiantly undead.