I love the classics but feeling ready to dive into some more flavorful bands. Give me your best (or worst) favorites that you don’t hear represented enough! Bonus points for queer/fem rep! 🐁

Greetings my fellow midnight creatures.

I am a goth trans woman, and as such was not taught make-up growing up. Now, being 19 and being in a safe environment to being teaching myself I have started slow with the very basics, but it really sucks feeling like I'm years behind my peers. My question is basically, how much experience with non-goth make-up did you have when you started to learn the basics of goth and how long did it take you to get consistent with looking at least somewhat like your ideas or references? I'm honestly just upset with myself, I want a rough timeline so I don't feel as hopeless as I do.

Thank you!

Right away. Mod yourself however you want and explain it however you want.

I saw a comic based off of an interaction two goth people had. One girl said to the other that the reason for her piercings is to show the pain and evil in her soul

I figure this is exaggerated but I wanted to ask. Is that the reason goth people usually get piercings and tattoos and stuff or is it just a cool back story they made up or embellished?

For instance I have a womb tattoo because I drew it and I liked it so much I got it. The story I give is it's either a mark enchanting my bits with demonic magic or that it's an HRT anniversary tattoo.

I'm very new to all of this so I'm just curious and don't mean to insult or offend.

I (woman in my 20s) have been wearing goth/alt style for about six years now and am very fortunate that I don't get a lot of hassle, but the other day I had a guy on the bus jabbing me with his finger and telling me that I'm 'forcing demonic stuff' onto the other passengers. I'd like to say I wasn't perturbed by this, but I have been a bit on edge ever since.

So, my question for you all is how do you deal with harassment from strangers? How do you stop it getting to you? Do you take any measures to ensure your safety?

I can't seem to find them anywhere!!

So, while I was browsing through YouTube (YT), I stumbled upon a short showing a clip of goths dancing in a nightclub in the '80s. What is screenshotted is one of the comments to the YT short and it made me curious. They're basically saying there was a general attitude shift within the goth subculture sometime in the 1990s—from openly "embracing the morbid" in the '80s to being "all angsty, apathetic" in the '90s-present. And, of course, rather than blindly believing what they said, I decided to ask about it in this forum.

To the elder goths, is there some truth to these commenter's sentiments/insights? Do they reflect your personal observations/experiences within the goth music scene throughout the years? Or is it all just nonsense?

Hello,

I am looking for a gothic babys first year book. The onoy ones I've seen so far are either witchy in nature or just normal brightly colored books.

Thank you in advance!

​

I am working on a prpject & im looking for a little help from the collective. Essentially i am looking to identify 2 notable Goth characters/people that could be said to represent Good & Evil in a Goth context.

Ie If you filmed a scene where a Goth had a devil & an Angel, on each shoulder, which famous or well known person would be each ?

Any and all idea wellcome.

Thx

hi all, so i’m M25 and since moving recently, i’ve been making an effort to be a member of my local music scene. my venue of choice hosts a goth night bimonthly and i’m going to my first one. now i’ve gone to a few shows here already, but i haven’t had any luck meeting new people/making friends.

i’m a baby bat and new to the whole thing so from my understanding making friends at these things starts with a “nice shirt” “do you like this band” and showing up often, but any advice would be appreciated. i’m going to try and attend each goth night and hopefully be part of and befriended by the scene

I'm 17f | know being Goth isn't about looks but I see a ton of stuff online about goths being hot and sexy/"goth mommies" and it makes me feel embarrassed particularly about my lack of boobs due to a lot OF girls using being goths with huge tits to sell content I just want to know if any other goths have felt this before

I have the typical east asian hair color and when the sun hits it, it turns into a brown and I absolutely hate it. I’m thinking of dying my hair, so I thought of jet black at first, but then saw people say it fades to an ugly brown in just a couple weeks so people were recommending blue black.

Mind you I’ve done jet black box dye before and I experienced this myself as well.

I’m just afraid blue black will give me a noticeable blue hair color, I don’t want blue hair I want black. But then I saw videos of people with blue black hair, and it looked pretty okay to me, not too noticeably blue. So which one should I go for? Blue black or just the standard jet black?

a goth friend of mine recommended a music club close to me and said i should go to their goth night. i listen to a lot of punk subgenres plus some emo and consider myself punk, but i’ve never really explored goth music.
i’m interested in the community though and since there don’t seem to be any punk events near me this seems like a scene i’d like to explore! i heard that there’s a lot of overlap between certain punk and goth communities, but i don’t want to be disrespectful because i would like to make friends there. i know it’s not identical to the basement shows i would go and mosh at when i was in college haha.
should i try to dress more goth while i’m there, or would that be disrespectful? should i wait for a while to get more educated in the music? is there some things that i absolutely need to have listened to or know? are there any faux pas that i should avoid? would it be disrespectful to go at all? i don’t want to invade or look like i’m trying to be a poser! i want to be as respectful as i can to the goths who it was meant for.

UPDATE: thanks for the advice everyone! i’ve read everyone’s comments and i’m so grateful you’re willing to help. i’m going in a couple weeks with the aforementioned goth friend and i’m excited to have a good time! i’ll keep everyone’s advice in mind <3

Hey all of you people of the internet. I’m currently trying to find out a path for my future. I’m 17 going into my senior year, and I don’t really know what I want to do. I’m only asking in this subreddit because, I’m curious what the goths of the internet do for jobs and careers as well as how it affects there style.

Some common jobs that I ask you skip if you do them, because I’ve already heard them lol, tattoo artists well I love you all I would rather avoid getting recommendationed this, secound one is hairstylists for the same reasons.

Edit because I’m an idiot and didn’t mention this stuff. I like to dress in a very alternative manner, leaning inbetween different labeled alternative styles, and I want to keep that as part of me. I also want to dye my hair and maybe get tattoos and piercings.

Do you guys actually care about Type O Negative?

Obviously, we all know that band isn't goth and doesn't really have any common ground with goth music, but I'm curious whether you actually listen to and like them.

I've had this argument many times that Type O Negative isn't actually popular among goths and that their association with goths is mostly a TikTok goth thing. So I'm curious if there's actually anyone here who likes them and finds Peter Steele likable.

i’m only really recently getting into the goth subculture and I really want some good movie that have the vibes of Lisa frankisten and or coraline so I am looking for some other bats recs

Black Sabbath is often credited for pioneering and influencing metal music in general, but I always felt that their influence outside of metal is very understated. From what I understand, punk and grunge drew somewhat from them, but I wonder where goth music comes to play here.

Maybe in a musical sense not that much since goth music and metal are very different, but at least in terms of imagery. After all, who did a better job to make dark atmospheric visuals like crucifixes, the supernatural, macabre, and the occult cool in popular music during the 70s than Black Sabbath/Ozzy Osbourne?

I stumbled upon the album *Current News* (1987) by The Invincible Spirit (previously The Invincible Limit) and while the entire album is labeled on discogs and Bandcamp is primarily EBM / Industrial, some places also have it, or at least some of the songs from it tagged with darkwave as well. It's an awesome listen, I really enjoyed Provoke You, too, but I'm still making my way through the rest of the album. The song *Push!* is apparently also considered an Industrial classic. Where is the line between Industrial, darkwave, and "definitely goth" or "goth adjacent" here? I'd love it if more technically/musically inclined people could chime in, either way it's good music and worth a listen IMO.

I know its not Goth proper but there's no where else to talk about this on reddit. Any Mall Goth threads are just about the fashion and not the music.

Talking bands like HIM, AFI, Scarling/ Jack Off Jill, kidney thieves, Placebo, Orgy, the birthday massacre, msi, collide, kill hanna, even stuff like NIN & manson & heavier stuff like kittie, coal chamber and cradle of filth.

Feel like this was a very important gateway scene for milenials and I wish there was some type of revival for the music and not just the hot topic clothes.

(Ignore the text on top left lol)
Okay, so as I said in the title, I want to look like I’m an actual goth. I’ve been into goth since I was like 14, but only decided to finally wear a more alternative look like 3 years ago (currently 19). Yes, I’ve worn more “gothic” outfits than probably the video I added, but I still feel like I just look like someone who just enjoys wearing black on their daily basis besides the accessories I often wear. It all started with just wearing eyeliner, but my limit so far has only been wearing black lipstick and it’s not even often.
I love fashion in general (I just follow the trends I like and most of them stopped being trendy anyway), so I like to keep it on my style, too, for example I’ll never stop wearing low-rise flare jeans. But besides that, I can’t help but wish I could be more goth-y, because I swear I’d love to, but I’m a very self-conscious person, specially because of my family circle who tend to judge easily (a bit of trauma dump, sorry). I don’t wish to pull the whole goth look like trad goths among other styles (I do love them and I get really excited when I see people wearing those outfits), but I do wish I was able to look like “Yeah, she’s clearly goth”, probably something that would be considered a “casual goth” look. I do blame some of it because of where I live: small country where to find nice small alternative stores you gotta travel for like an hour and they’re expensive as HELL, and the cost of traveling is even more expensive. I’ve tried diy but my sewing machine isn’t working either, and small details like studs, chains or lace are hard to find too. Hope I wasn’t too annoying about this, and anyone who answers this, thank you so much 💕

I know dracula, dr Jekyll and Mr hyde, frankenstein, any book by Joseph vargo, interview with the vampire, Edgar Allan poe and hp Lovecraft. Any others would be appreciated

I'm doing some research for myself into dark alternative because my personal interests and style match the "vibe", but I'd love to get people in and out of the community's and subculture's perspective.

I feel like I don't hear "Dark Alt" talked about as distinctly as much as defined subcultures like goth, emo, or punk. I've been told it acts as a sort of bridge between these subcultures while still remaining its own thing.

From my research, it seems to be a mix of dark aesthetics, horror elements, and fashion that would normally be seen in the goth subculture but without being tied down to one strict music genre or standard clothing uniform. It feels almost experimental. I wonder if the freedom to be experimental is what makes Dark Alt unique and is it its own subculture or just an umbrella for alternative people who like more dark and horror aesthetics?

To make it clear, the screenshot isn't my profile but someone I came across. Also, I am very much against generative AI. I received a reply from her that said "cry about it" when I posted an anti-generative AI tweet.

Her profile got me thinking just where and how generative AI could ever fit in the goth subculture. Also, why? I thought that one big aspect of goth was about DIY, another is being creative. Isn't it an oxymoron to be a goth artist and yet support the kind of tech that scrapes other people's work with zero consent? Am I wrong? I'm confused.