A Goth on a Hippie forum...

So this is the thread where I finally own up. I dress in black, wear whiteface and eyeliner. I listen to Goth rock, steampunk, darkwave, deathmetal, and the beatles. I read and reread Dracula over and over again. I love horror movies and books. And I go clubbing at places...commonly called goth clubs.

I'm not claiming to be Goth, because that is a classification other people make and I don't care. But even if I am, when it comes down to it, Goth is a subculture yes, but it's also counter-culture.

And at the heart of it, I still smoke heroic quantities of pot.

So I guess what I'm saying is, If I'm goth, and you're hippies... Can't we all get along? Does anyone have any problem with goths or any other subculture?

-BlkBks

 

eat a douche goth

 

your cool here man =]

 

All the same mate!

 

could be worse, you could be a republican!

 

I wear black most of the time too, but I'm not goth...

Went into a restaurant one time and the booth full of goth kids quit talking suddenly, I looked over and they were all staring at me.

 

i'd say that 95% of the shirts i own are black. i pretty much do all my shirt-shopping at shows, and most bands do black shirts.

 

You know I've been called goth before.......

I wear black lots and stuff too plus my piercing too oooooo lol

 

Is it cool if I am Vegeta Prince of all sayians?

i like goths, ive just never met any to become close friends with

 

Aww, you guys are sweet! You even ganged up on the first replier, possibly in my defense. lol! I can tell we're all going to get along.

Okay, well now I feel less like a Zebra at a party for Giraffes.

-BlkBks

 

I barely see a difference

 

hey i feel bad for making a sarcastic comment.

 

i wish i could take back alot of what ive said on here AHHHHHH FUCK.. but hahah probably gonna happen alot

 

i just feel bad though cause like the wasted knowledge in some good threads lol and the space it takes up on the servers lol its a mess here where do threads go to die? and are posts saved and stored well "quality" ones anyways.. i could help for a bit maybe hah

 

Well this wasn't just for my insecurities. I just wondered... From my perspective, and prolly from your perspectives, we've got a lot to disagree on, but neither really seems to care or argue cause we all agree on a few things. I mean, the general consensus is that Hippies and Goths either get along so well or so horribly that it cancels itself out and neither has any problems with the other.

I don't do the whole bright colors thing and Tie-dye...just...no. I'm less concerned with fostering peace and love than I am just shaking my head at the idiots that disrupt them. And where Hippies seem to employ optimism, I just can't muster the faith in humanity to do it.

That and...Joplin? Really? I suppose you make up for it with The Doors. (<---Joke)

-BlkBks

 

Honestly, I think there's a fine line and you hit upon the difference. The difference is hope and hopelessness, action and observation. The whole "goth" identity thing didn't really exist when I was in school - but I would have definitely fallen into that category, if for no other reason than I was at least 50% pessimistic and really into Joy Division, but at the same time, I was listening to the Dead and Phish and getting into the festival thing - I've always been an activist in the sense that I had a knack of getting myself into trouble for pointing out and drawing attention to injustice. In either case, I think in general the two camps can agree that something is very wrong and unnatural about the way most of us live and interact with each other - the difference, I suppose, is in the reaction. In any case, categories are illusory and transient at best.

 

Subculture is an icky topic, imo. Because it's basically a category into which society has stuffed you. And you can be a good little boy and stay in the box, color in the lines, or you can get creative. You guys have kinda owned yours, and well-done. I'm just a guy who likes a certain kind of club, dress and music. On that basis, society busied itself in doing what it always does, trying to classify me.

That cute little picture of those south-park mall-goths is now what I'm teamed up with, unfortunately. Ah, but there was a time, back in the eighties, with Siouxie Sioux and the Banshees, Sister's of Mercy and Bauhaus. Where it was all called post-punk and there were no fixed labels. And yet. now some people will flat out call me an emo.

No, I've never owned up to the label goth(before now, obviously). But seeing you guys, I realize maybe I could turn the term around. Besides if I call myself a goth then I've been called, and called myself, worse.

-BlkBks

 

Sometimes outsiders have a more clear veiw of the scene than insiders due to the distance. If you ever get a chance see "The Electric Apricot and The Quest for Festaroo" Les Claypools spoof of the Jam Band Scene. Matt Stone and Seth Green have hilarius cameos as Tapers. Plus Bob Weir, Warren Haynes, and Mike Gordon all have cameos.

@ the OP. Have you ever noticed how both Goths and Hippies bot have tendencies to wear clothing with sceletal motifs. When I was a kid and didn't know better I thought The Greatful Dead were a heavy metal band. That name almost sounds goth to me.

Stay Brown,
Rev J

 

Two hippies could disagree to the same degree with each other as a goth and a hippie, or even more. This is of course just a stereotype same with the general consensus you mention here. I used to be a metalhead and in the end the most individualistic and blasphemic subgenre in the metal department is the most satisfying for me (black metal). This does not mean I do conform to the characteristics and am excluded from others, I just appreciate them. I have grown out of the black fase though. And never was into smearing corpsepaint on my face, but I think that is best reserved for the artists on stage :2thumbsup:

It is to a lot of people, but it shouldn't have to be at all. You can fit in like who knows how much subcultures at once.

 

I can't speak for the south park hippies. I can say that the south park episode with the goths was more cultural shorthand than truth. So much of what happened in that episode was funny and sure...what the hell, it might as well be true. (although, if all the goths in the world burned Hot Topic stores, the world might be better off)

As for my issue with subcultures. People become too slavish to them to the point that it's alarming and then the opposite happens. People show up wearing black and make-up acting like assholes in clothes they bought from Hot Topic the day before and wanting to hear Cannibal Corpse or Cradle of Filth on the club floor. Or people come dressed up as Edward Cullens.

So rather than use the label associated with all this chaos. There are a lot of us who just do what we do because we don't even want to be associated with our own subculture, but Society still teams us up with it. Society labels emo, metalhead, and goth as all the same and because people believe it, they turn up at my clubs and calling themselves goth. So I figured if I get branded as it, I might as well try and change popular perception to something positive.

The Goth subculture has issues and so, at least in my case, getting me to own up to being goth is a hard thing to do. And it makes it an icky issue, at least for me. I never wanted a label and a generalization that I get criticized for either following or not following.

-BlkBks

 

You never wanted a lable but now you feel kinda like you should make a difference in the goth subculture because you got branded as part of it. Sounds like a worthless effort to make to me.