Friday, October 31, 2014
Goth at the BBC tonight
Tonight on BBC 4 at 22:00 and 02:25: "A 60-minute showcase of beastly basslines, scything guitars, tormented
lyrics, piercing synths, leather, lace and fashion on the edge! This
programme celebrates the Goth aesthetic that began in early 80s
British clubland and traces its evolution in music throughout that
decade and beyond. Featuring classic BBC TV performances from Siouxsie
and The Banshees, Bauhaus, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Killing Joke, The
Sisters of Mercy, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, PJ Harvey and many
more." (Thanks Ade, Aaron, Warren, and Matthew)
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live setlist report :)
ReplyDeletesiouxsie - spellbound
bauhaus - bela legusi's dead
specimen - the beauty of posion
now its our boys!
ReplyDeletethe walk!
goth?!
described as 'a dark dance number' erm, ok!
ReplyDeletethis is my first time hearing sex gang children. i know that sounds wrong on many levels. hopefully the last. they are not very good.
ReplyDeletethe cult - ressurection joe
ReplyDeletethe walk was an old top of the pops performance, robert, andy, lol, porl. robert making no effort to pretend to play the guitar as usual when made to mime
depeche mode - blasphemous rumours
ReplyDeletekilling joke - love like blood. this is a great song. jaz coleman, mad as a box of frogs but top song
ReplyDeletestrawberry switchblade - since yesterday. lovely pop song, but goth? goth? one has dark hair, and they wear black eye make up - of course, goth!
ReplyDeletenow this is goth! sisters of mercy - lucretia my reflection.
ReplyDeletewonder who've got left. some band that once wore black, once, somewhere, just for a laugh, but they wore black. so they must be goths. it says so in the lazy book of tv music production
ReplyDeleteok, i'll give them this one. fields of the nephilm - moonchild
ReplyDeleteand this one as well i suppose - the mission - tower of strength. 'you raaaaaaiiiiseee me uuurrrrrrrpppp' that was my best wayne hussey impression
ReplyDeletenever realised the mission had a bongo player. you learn something new everyday. well, thats two things today, the first was that strawberry switchblade are goth.
ReplyDeleteprobably the only time nick cave has followed shakespeare's sister. nick cave - red right hand.
ReplyDeletepj harvey - down by the water. she's wearing black in this performance.
ReplyDeletei kid you not. marilyn manson - personal jesus.
ReplyDeleteso that was goth. ok
ReplyDeletehad a good view of the performances, kept dry and warm.
refreshments were excellent and the highlight - cup of tea, and the halloween sweets nobody else wanted.
strawberry switchblade. goth?
ReplyDeletesorry, am going now.
Just a few quibbles:
ReplyDeleteBela Lugosi's Dead wasn't the first goth single. The Staircase Mystery came out 5 months earlier and is the fully formed goth 'sound'.
With The Cure's Oxford Roadshow and Riverside performances in the vaults they chose the ungoth-like "The Walk" from TOTP. Go figure! Also incorrectly labelled as their first post-'dissolution' single. That was "Let's Go To Bed".
A stretch to include Depeche Mode as goth (and I'm a fan), but hey, they are in that ball park in the States so I'll let the BBC off.
Strawberry Switchblade labelled as "goth-lite". The album was over-produced (albeit still good), but their John Peel sessions quite happily started them off in the goth-folk arena inhabited by All About Eve.
Talking of which, where were All About Eve?
Not P J Harvey's gothiest number but good to see her included.
Overall thumbs up and good to see "Beauty of Poison" get an outing.
Depeche Mode is not...never was...and never will be Goth......only to those who have no fucking clue.....I am a fan but even in those darker 84-86 days...that was the stretchiest of stretches...I don't think Martin Gore's leather shorts had that much give in them...lol!!!
ReplyDeleteon arte tv (france-german, sorry you won't be able to watch it), documentary about rock and death with small extracts of one hundred years, pictures of you and itw.
ReplyDelete(thanks TAZ73)
Boris played with Strawberry Switchblade, did he make an appearance on this?
ReplyDeleteNo Boris, just the two of them.
DeletePhil Thornalley played on their album as well.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed goth at the bbc. there is always the inevitable is this goth ? is that goth ? but all apart from shakespeares sister and stawberry switchblade seemed like a fair representation. i still love killing joke and that song sounded fresh still. in fact quite a lot felt fresh again.the whole scene has sounded so dated for so long...surprising. is goth about to get a rebirth into mainstream modern culture perhaps ? is it possible to incorporate goth with rap and hip hop beats ?
ReplyDeleteRetrospect is a wonderful thing. I can't remember being called a goth, despite adopting the all black, eyeliner and crimped hair look and a fake leather jacket with the dropped 'C' Cure logo in 1980 (although to be fair I also wore a lot of camo netting a la Echo and The Bunnymen 'Heaven Up Here' era - which IMHO is a very underrated goth album).
ReplyDeleteUntil about 1984 I was nicknamed Bleak on account of liking 'bleak and industrial music'.
As for music style, I did a goth disco on Friday nights between 1983 and 1987 and the range of music I played was a lot broader than is now accepted as goth. Then it was more a case of you couldn't define goth but you knew it when you heard it.
All About Eve and The Bolshoi were labeled 'goth' bands in the mid eighties despite in the first case being, like Strawberry Switchblade, a "folk" band with a flanger who wore goth clothing and in the second a rather fine indie pop band.
I guess as the scene has contracted people are getting more and more precious about what is or is not goth. I still subscribe to the broad church argument and will still describe certain pop tunes as 'gothy'. I also don't have a problem with Marilyn Manson being described as goth as that comes from the US take on the scene which is culturally just as valid in defining the genre, just not my goth.
Personally, I really enjoyed Goth at the BBC too :)
Umm..
ReplyDelete!!!!!!!
https://twitter.com/thecure/status/529906017275215873