This entry was posted on Friday, January 11th, 2008 at 12:58 pm and is filed under music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
My Books
Outlaw Territory
(with Melike Acar)
24Seven Vol. 2
(with Walter Pax & Jack Kaminski)
24Seven
(with Ben Templesmith)
Complete story - "The Workman"
(courtesy of New York Magazine)
Evil is an exact science
So… we all agree that goth is dead, right?
Sometime in the late 90s, it morphed and diluted, became less morbidly epic and more self-involved, and the disenfranchised youth who almost certainly would have become goths all became emo kids (or Juggalos), instead. And that’s fine. Times change and subcultures have a tendency to wear out their welcome. But even though the damaged girls of the 21st century would rather look like Joan Jett than Siouxsie Sioux, and even though I look back at my own short-lived goth period with more than a little embarrassment, I think we have to admit that some pretty kick-ass stuff came out of it. Everyone with a heart likes The Cure, and everyone with a dark sense of humor (and a bookshelf full of dogeared classics) likes Nick Cave.
But I have to say, my vote for best goth song (and video!) of all time goes to “Nemesis” by Shriekback. [embedding disabled]
So epic! So evil! So Apocalyp-tastic! It’s what Sir Miles has on his iPod and the goddamn thing makes me giddy.
Embrace the darkness! It’s fun!
(Also worth mentioning: TOWARD THE WITHIN by Dead Can Dance — the sexiest sex-music album ever recorded.)
5 Responses to “Evil is an exact science”
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January 11th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
Best part of that track is the mezzo-soprano backing vocal in the chorus.
Yeah, this rocks. Definitely on my list and iPod.
January 15th, 2008 at 11:37 am
On a related note, I found myself trying to explain the value of cartoon metal to the McCubbin woman. It is a dying mode.
Once upon a time, there existed motherfuckers who pushed the metal persona to truly excessive limits. I’m not talking about Slayer or what not, I’m talking about Alice Cooper, Rob Zombie, and Dave Wyndorf, guys who acted like coked-out rhinestone super-skrulls, guys who wanted to enslave all of mankind, obtain a +5 vorpal sword, and then fuck you on the hood of a tricked-out GTO. Fuck that defeatist gloomy norwegian death-metal nonsense, I’m talking about sheer mad giggling brutalism. I’m talking about rock stars foregoing the whole thuggish/tough-guy/gg allin model and acting like the sort of villians that they used to paint on the side of pinball machines.
I want more bands that act like Annihilus The Living Death That Walks and dress like Liberace. I want more bands with goddamn go-go dancers. I want a Satan that smiles, already.
I mean, Lordi are maybe halfway there, but……fuck.
January 15th, 2008 at 11:54 am
Well said.
I’m also fond of the ridiculously earnest evil, though (see my post about old Metallica). Four fuck-ugly latch-key kids writing nine-minute-long baroque symphonies about Cthulhu and insane asylums — that’s what pop culture is missing these days.
Screw you and your trendy irony. I want commitment.
January 16th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
I could have swore that Alex’s philosophy was that if they were dressed like Liberace, it wasn’t really metal. Whatevs!
Also, I wouldn’t refer to Rob Zombie’s career in the past tense. I think he’s still got surprises for us.
January 17th, 2008 at 9:38 am
“I could have swore that Alex’s philosophy was that if they were dressed like Liberace, it wasn’t really metal. Whatevs!”
Was that the Poison thing? Poison’s hair and wardrobe choices don’t keep them from being metal, it’s their music. Poison (and the other hair bands) aren’t metal, they are straight ahead blues rock. They’re closer to Aerosmith than anything else.
“Also, I wouldn’t refer to Rob Zombie’s career in the past tense. I think he’s still got surprises for us”
Granted, but I’m whining about new guys in that mode. Marylin Manson was close, I suppose. Some of the music was good, and he def. had that sense of theater, but he was more a sniveling in the dark/it’s all a metaphor guy than a true intergalactic sorcerous fuckhead.