The Gothic Lifestyle
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This is NOT Gothic Music!!!!
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MTV...supposedly an expert on music. Maybe it is when it comes to rock or metal...but not when it comes to goth and other underground styles of music. You would think a network which exists for the promotion of music would take more time to understand it, but it is apparent they do not. For instance, they will pass Green Day off as a punk band. Technically, though influences are there, they are not a punk band...I'd tell you why but this isn't a punk website.
Marketing ploys, misconceptions and ignorance of musical content have allowed some groups and musicians to be labelled as Goth when they are not. One such tragedy was Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids (later shortened to Marilyn Manson). He worked in the industry before becoming a musician in his own right and he is definitely unconventional. He likes dark topics like bad religion and death. Maybe this is why he gets labelled gothic all the time.
However, the lyrics and themes come from the wrong perspective to be gothic. Gothic music approaches such topics from a "Romantic" perspective, finding beauty and meaning in the struggle. In general, Gothic style musical art is personal, brooding, bittersweet, and sometimes nihilistic.
Manson prefers instead to shock his audience and spew hate and misunderstanding. His lyrics are raw, unadorned and often offensive. Speaks strongly about religion, politics and social ideas and he uses typical hard rock and metal musical and video expressions. None of these are gothic...And he seems to have patterned himself after Alice Cooper, who is a "shock rock" icon rather than a goth.
Most Gothic people resent being classified with Manson and his followers are called "Spooky Kids" - which is not a compliment to a Goth. Gothic people do not produce music which is overtly political, angry, intolerant, filled with hate, or full of profanity like Manson does. You may want to question any groups that have similar styles that are classified as Gothic on MTV or VH1. Those people obviously do not understand their market and need to get a clue. In the mean time, the rest of the world needs to do so.
