This is the ever-expanding history of the goth subculture. From my perspective and experience as a 90s-era goth woman, I offer more insight. My stance is that I don’t think about music. Goth music shouldn’t be the primary focus anymore.

While it is essential, other aspects should also be considered, such as the history of the subculture and its inspiration, and more. In addition to this, music is essential, but each individual in the community must find their own way, create their own style, and adhere to what they love about the culture as well.

The goth subculture emerged among those outside England from the backdrop of the Punk scene at the time. Mainly surfacing around a club called the Batcave. The original goth bands were influenced by actual goth writers such as Edgar Allen Poe. These bands laid the foundation for what the community is today.

I’m a 90s elder goth and from my experience with MTV Music videos and the new era of America Online, with the noise of dial-up internet that you had to wait to get online. It was the dawn of a new era, technologically speaking, with increased access to the goth subculture and more information on related topics, and, of course, AOL Instant Messenger to connect with other like-minded individuals.

Around this time, in about 1996, a new star, yet to some extent not Marilyn Manson, arrived with his bold and shocking anti-authoritarian looks and defiant gender norms, as well as his morbid and grotesque videos and lyrics, which often expressed despair and anti-Christian Sentiments, in his actual debut album, Antichrist Superstar.

At the time, Manson’s The Beautiful People caught my eye. I was 16 at the time, and I was a male teenager as well. I discovered Opeth in 1998 with their album My Arms, Your Hearse and then also Slayer’s Diabolus In Musica. And then I found Cradle of Filth; to this day, they are my favourite goth metal band of all time, and yet their description is extreme metal.

During these times, the internet evolved, and so did the community, with the rise of Hot Topic in the early 1990s to the mid-2000s. However, it later declined into only selling pop culture items and brands. And a new surge along the way for another era in Goth history.

Around this time, Gothic fashion, as I mentioned previously, exploded into the fashion industry, and online and physical shops appeared, becoming popular among all goths alike and none.

Such stores that have risen include Killstar, Vampire Freaks, Lip Service, Hell Bunny, and Demonia Shoes. For me, it was a good and memorable time despite my personal life being in turmoil. It was a great time to be a teenage goth to a young adult.

Anika Harley