Gothic music

The word "gothic" comes from the name of the Germanic Visigoth tribes that conquered the Roman Empire. People define the period from the end of Roman Empire to the start of Renaissance as Dark Middle Age and called the artistic style in this period gothic art. It mainly includes architecture, sculpture and painting. One example is the Cologne Cathedral located in Germany, whose extremely tall and solemn appearance with sharp tops and Victorian style windows represents main elements of classic gothic architecture.

The first use of the term Goth in its present meaning is believed to have been on a British Broadcasting Commission (BBC) TV program. Anthony H. Wilson, manager of Joy Division described the band as Gothic compared with the pop mainstream. Then the name stuck.

Gothic music separated from post punk in late 1970s. The representative artists of the earliest gothic music are Nick Cave, Joy Division, The Cure, Bauhaus, Sisters of Mercy and so on. With meditation and retrospection, gothic musicians always try to find a different way of thinking about life, like trying to find beauty in life, pain and death.

Because Goths tend to be non-violent, pacifistic, passive, and tolerant, the style of gothic music is quiet, elegant and gloomy, combined with classical, metal and electric elements. People can feel something unique such as misty female voice and dissociable chord hunting in the background.

There are many sub tribe in Gothic music such as Ethereal Voices(Cocteau Twins, Ophelia's Dream, Black tape for a Blue Girl), Darkwave(Switchblade Symphony, Love Is Colder Than Death, Sopor Aeternus & The Ensemble Of Shadows), Neo-classic(Autumn Tears, Ataraxia, Stoa, Rajna, Lacrimosa), Industrial Rock(The Leech, Nine Inch Nails, Vanity Beach), Goth Metal(Tristania, Type O Negative, My Dying Bride, Sirenia), Goth-pop(H.I.M, Evanescence, The 69 Eyes) and so forth.