Proto-goth

Parlons des points de référence post-punk à l'origine du son et de l'esprit goth.

L'argument tacite de Simon Reynolds, dans son chapitre sur le goth de Rip It Up & Start Again (2005) est que les groupes qui ont inspiré les goths étaient de loin supérieurs aux goths eux-mêmes. 

Le début des années 80 marque un moment où les idées d'obscurité et d'impureté (sexuelle) revendiquées par un nouvel underground commençaient à représenter une alternative à l'éclat commercial d'une new pop un peu trop propre sur elle, mais également au caractère hyper-rationnel et anti-religieux du postpunk.

Le public proto-goth s'accrocha alors à tous les groupes qui avaient quelque chose d'un peu fin et tordu à offrit, de romantique et de torturé.

Le journaliste rajoute une couche dans sa chronique du coffret A Life Less Lived: The Gothic Box (2006) : la musique goth la plus aventureuse a été faite dans la phase émergente du genre, avant qu’elle ne devienne un style codifié, avant même qu’elle n'ait ce nom en fait.

Dub rocky-horror caverneux, cavalcade doom-punk, blues grotesquement bruitiste, sean nós primitiviste, psychédélisme morbide ...

Vu du postpunk, ce proto-goth apparaît bien plus ouvert qu'une grosse partie du goth, désespérément ordinaire sous ses belles fringues de mystère surnaturel et de menace souterraine (sic).

Quelques citations de concernés :

Steve Severin pour Alternative Press (1994) : "All the time the Goth thing was growing up alongside us, we were doing something completely different to what the audience imagined we were doing, So they started doing it themselves. With the Sisters of Mercy... suddenly the audience was onstage itself."

Robert Smith pour Guitar World (1996) : "We didn't invent Goth. That's a myth. We were a raincoat band in those days. That was the term that was around at the time. Now I suppose it's all been lumped together. So now we've actually achieved this status of legendary Goth Gods. Around the time of Pornography we had a sound and a vision, and that's been turned into this notion of Goth. But it wasn't around at the time we were doing it. I don't think we really invented it. Bands such as the Sisters of Mercy that came after us, they were Goth. And Danse Society, who supported us on a British tour we did in '80 or '81. Those bands were responsible for Goth. They cited us as an influence, but they just took it a step further."

Daniel Ash pour VCReporter (2005) : "In England, Goth has always been a joke. It means big hair, too much makeup and no talent. People tend to say The Cure, Siouxsie & The Banshees, New Order and Joy Division were Goth. No way: Goth was Alien Sex Fiend and Specimen, all that crap. Time has shown we had more talent than those guys."