Goth is a modern subculture that first became popular during the early 1980s within the gothic rock scene, a sub-genre of post punk. It is associated with gothic tastes in music and clothing. Styles of dress range from gothic horror, punk, Victorian, fetish, cybergoth, androgyny, and/or lots of black (inspired by the beatniks). However, there is no dress code for goths.
Origins and influences
By the late 1970s, there were a small number of post punk bands in Britain labeled "gothic". However, it was not until the early 1980s that gothic rock became its own subgenre within post punk and that followers of these bands started to come together as a distinctly recognisable group or movement. Independent of the British scene, the late 1970s and early 1980s saw death rock branch off from American punk. With similar themes and dress, goths and death rockers were sufficiently compatible to more or less merge. The use of the word 'goth' as a label for fans of gothic rock, did not start gaining currency until around 1983.
Gothic Horror
The gothic novel, of the early nineteenth century, was responsible above all else for the term gothic being associated with a mood of horror, darkness and the supernatural. They established what horror stereotypes became by featuring graveyards, ruined castles or churches, ghosts, vampires, cursed families, being buried alive and melodramatic plots. Gothic novels are often concerned with the fate of a curious young woman, and a great deal of focus is placed on internal locations. A notable element in these novels was the brooding figure of the gothic villain, which developed into the Byronic hero, a key precursor in the male goth image. The most famous gothic villain of this genre would be Dracula. In 1993 Whitby became the location for what became the UK's biggest goth festival as a direct result of featuring in Bram Stoker's Dracula.
Cinema
An important medium between the goth scene and gothic literature is the modern popular horror genre, in which the horror film is paramount. Hammer Horror films and 1960s TV series, such as The Addams Family, The Munsters, and Ann Radcliffe, have also inspired goths. The interconnection between horror and goth was highlighted in its early days by The Hunger, a 1983 vampire film, starring David Bowie, which featured gothic rock group Bauhaus performing "Bela Lugosi's Dead" in a nightclub. Some of the early gothic rock and death rock artists adopted traditional pre-sixties horror movie images and passed them onto their goth audiences. Such references in both their music and image were originally tongue-in-cheek, but as time went on, bands and members of the subculture took the connection more seriously. As a result, morbid, supernatural, and occult themes became a more noticeably serious element in the subculture.
After post punk
After the demise of post punk, Goth continued to evolve, both musically and visually. This caused variations in style ("types" of goth). Local "scenes" also contribute to this variation. By the 1990s, Victorian fashion had worked its way into the Goth scene, with the mid-19th century Gothic Revival and the morbid outlook of the Victorians Some contemporary media popular among Goths include Anne Rice's novels (Interview with the Vampire) and notable movies such as The Crow, the Blade trilogy, and the movies of Tim Burton (Edward Scissorhands, Nightmare Before Christmas, Beetlejuice, and Sleepy Hollow), as well as roleplaying games like Vampire The Masquerade. Influences from anime have also crept into the Goth scene, which helped give rise to cybergoth.
Source from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goth
Edited by: Deathy boy