What do you think?
Rate this book
Gothic Rock
From Joy Division to Nine Inch Nails and from Siouxsie to Marilyn Manson, gothic rock has endured as the cult of choice for alienated youth. But, during its heyday in the mid-eighties, when The Sisters of Mercy, Bauhaus and The Cure dominated the independent music scene, it was the underground alternative to the glossy throwaway pop of the day. Dave Thompson traces the roots of this golden era back to Iggy Pop's 'The Idiot'. Taking in Hammer House of Horror, Dennis Wheatley, and a myriad of other influences, Thompson charts the evolution of a sound through the Doctors of Madness, the despair of Joy Division and the pantomime horror of The Damned and beyond.
Paperback
First published November 1, 2002
2 people are currently reading
259 people want to read
About the author
Dave Thompson
266 books42 followersEnglish author Dave Thompson has spent his entire working life writing biographies of other people, but is notoriously reluctant to write one for himself. Unlike the subjects of some of his best known books, he was neither raised by ferrets nor stolen from gypsies. He has never appeared on reality TV (although he did reach the semi finals of a UK pop quiz when he was sixteen), plays no musical instruments and he can’t dance, either.
However, he has written well over one hundred books in a career that is almost as old as U2’s… whom he saw in a club when they first moved to London, and memorably described as “okay, but they’ll never get any place.” Similar pronouncements published on the future prospects of Simply Red, Pearl Jam and Wang Chung (oh, and Curiosity Killed The Cat as well) probably explain why he has never been anointed a Pop Culture Nostradamus. Although the fact that he was around to pronounce gloomily on them in the first place might determine why he was recently described as “a veteran music journalist.”
Raised on rock, powered by punk, and still convinced that “American Pie” was written by Fanny Farmer and is best played with Meatloaf, Thompson lists his five favorite artists as old and obscure; his favorite album is whispered quietly and he would like to see Richard and Linda Thompson’s “I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight” installed as the go-to song for the sad, sappy ending for every medical drama on TV.
Kurt Cobain, Phil Collins, Alice Cooper, Joan Jett, David Bowie, John Travolta, Eric Clapton, Jackson Browne, Bob Marley, Roger Waters and the guy who sang that song in the jelly commercial are numbered among the myriad artists about whom Thompson has written books; he has contributed to the magazines Rolling Stone, Alternative Press, Mojo and Melody Maker; and he makes regular guest appearances on WXPN’s Highs in the Seventies show.
However, he has written well over one hundred books in a career that is almost as old as U2’s… whom he saw in a club when they first moved to London, and memorably described as “okay, but they’ll never get any place.” Similar pronouncements published on the future prospects of Simply Red, Pearl Jam and Wang Chung (oh, and Curiosity Killed The Cat as well) probably explain why he has never been anointed a Pop Culture Nostradamus. Although the fact that he was around to pronounce gloomily on them in the first place might determine why he was recently described as “a veteran music journalist.”
Raised on rock, powered by punk, and still convinced that “American Pie” was written by Fanny Farmer and is best played with Meatloaf, Thompson lists his five favorite artists as old and obscure; his favorite album is whispered quietly and he would like to see Richard and Linda Thompson’s “I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight” installed as the go-to song for the sad, sappy ending for every medical drama on TV.
Kurt Cobain, Phil Collins, Alice Cooper, Joan Jett, David Bowie, John Travolta, Eric Clapton, Jackson Browne, Bob Marley, Roger Waters and the guy who sang that song in the jelly commercial are numbered among the myriad artists about whom Thompson has written books; he has contributed to the magazines Rolling Stone, Alternative Press, Mojo and Melody Maker; and he makes regular guest appearances on WXPN’s Highs in the Seventies show.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
February 2, 2022
Bit of a weird one for me to try to review but I enjoyed it!! I think it’s Definitely more on the introduction side (which is what I was looking for) and a tad repetitive a times, definitely has its low moments but overall I got the knowledge and the connection I wanted from it so I’d say it was overall a success :)
August 14, 2023
Fascinating book!
December 19, 2024
I had a lot of fun reading this one, it was just interesting seeing the history chronicled.
August 30, 2020
Read this with the book club on Gothy Discord as our second book.
It starts in 1977 with bands who were influential to the genre, but that I'm honestly not very interested in. But as it gets into post-punk, I was more interested. It goes all the way up to 2002, but the further into the book you go, less and less is mentioned. The first part (77-81) is about 70 pages, the second (82-84) about 50 pages and the third (86-2002) is about 70 pages. As you can tell, he talks A LOT about the early few years, but not very much later on - which is understandable, but I don't really see why the 90's and the first years of the new millennium was even included. Probably only because the book came out in 2002.
This book is pretty much just a chronological history of a select amount of bands - I can't even say it's from the goth genre, cause a bunch of other bands were mentioned, like the influential bands as I said earlier, metal, and even grunge (AKA just Nirvana). Don't really know why those were mentioned. There isn't that much insight into the bands, there were only a couple of things I didn't already know. Most of the information is just album releases, tour dates and places, and stuff probably taken from interviews. So this isn't what I would have wanted from a book like this. I like reading stories told by the bands themselves that aren't widely known, stuff like that. Not things I could easily look up on wikipedia or hear from any other fan.
At the start of every chapter there is a big photo, and the middle has that classic glossy insert of band photos - though those are also in black and white, and like every other music book it interrupts a chapter. Three of the featured photos in the book were almost the same photo of Robert Smith, which I found a little weird.
The book ends with an ACTUAL chronological list of releases, concerts, and some other stuff - so basically the whole book summed up into 40 pages. I didn't bother actually reading it, but it looks like there too he only picked a few bands, which is kind of a shame. It's mostly just the biggest bands.
So this book is probably better for people who are new fans of goth rock, and don't know that much about the (big) bands and the (early) history of the goth scene. But it's honestly not THAT engaging to read, so I guess you'd have to be REALLY interested in learning.
It starts in 1977 with bands who were influential to the genre, but that I'm honestly not very interested in. But as it gets into post-punk, I was more interested. It goes all the way up to 2002, but the further into the book you go, less and less is mentioned. The first part (77-81) is about 70 pages, the second (82-84) about 50 pages and the third (86-2002) is about 70 pages. As you can tell, he talks A LOT about the early few years, but not very much later on - which is understandable, but I don't really see why the 90's and the first years of the new millennium was even included. Probably only because the book came out in 2002.
This book is pretty much just a chronological history of a select amount of bands - I can't even say it's from the goth genre, cause a bunch of other bands were mentioned, like the influential bands as I said earlier, metal, and even grunge (AKA just Nirvana). Don't really know why those were mentioned. There isn't that much insight into the bands, there were only a couple of things I didn't already know. Most of the information is just album releases, tour dates and places, and stuff probably taken from interviews. So this isn't what I would have wanted from a book like this. I like reading stories told by the bands themselves that aren't widely known, stuff like that. Not things I could easily look up on wikipedia or hear from any other fan.
At the start of every chapter there is a big photo, and the middle has that classic glossy insert of band photos - though those are also in black and white, and like every other music book it interrupts a chapter. Three of the featured photos in the book were almost the same photo of Robert Smith, which I found a little weird.
The book ends with an ACTUAL chronological list of releases, concerts, and some other stuff - so basically the whole book summed up into 40 pages. I didn't bother actually reading it, but it looks like there too he only picked a few bands, which is kind of a shame. It's mostly just the biggest bands.
So this book is probably better for people who are new fans of goth rock, and don't know that much about the (big) bands and the (early) history of the goth scene. But it's honestly not THAT engaging to read, so I guess you'd have to be REALLY interested in learning.
June 7, 2015
"Oh my god, what have we done?!"
Once you get to the above quote you pretty much know what the whole thing was about in the beginning. The thing is, there is a lot of information in this work. Some of it held a stronger meaning to me, the other parts may hold a stronger meaning now if I'd read it again. This was above all a learning experience for me. To know as much I could about "my" genre. To know where goth was coined or how it became to life or what happened before it all is like having an answer to who I am. Well, mostly who I was when I read it. That's not to say I'm not goth anymore, I just mean it doesn't hold such a huge imporance to me anymore.
The language was difficult so getting through this was pretty hard. But my interest in all that the book held for me was strong. Everything was told in an interesting way, I'm not one for reading about music mainly because it's often told in way too much detail from the point of view of someone who doesn't matter to me and on top of this often include personal accounts such as "When I first heard of The Cure I was like OMG.." In nother words - total turn off for me.
I will definitely pick this up again at some point in my life. To refresh my memory on how it all began. Or just to reminiscence on what my life was like when I read it the first time.
This piece in truth lauched my interest in music in general, not just gothic. Also, being in my twenties when I read it, it also gave me a boost of confidence. Be what you are, first, and the labels or classifications come after.
Once you get to the above quote you pretty much know what the whole thing was about in the beginning. The thing is, there is a lot of information in this work. Some of it held a stronger meaning to me, the other parts may hold a stronger meaning now if I'd read it again. This was above all a learning experience for me. To know as much I could about "my" genre. To know where goth was coined or how it became to life or what happened before it all is like having an answer to who I am. Well, mostly who I was when I read it. That's not to say I'm not goth anymore, I just mean it doesn't hold such a huge imporance to me anymore.
The language was difficult so getting through this was pretty hard. But my interest in all that the book held for me was strong. Everything was told in an interesting way, I'm not one for reading about music mainly because it's often told in way too much detail from the point of view of someone who doesn't matter to me and on top of this often include personal accounts such as "When I first heard of The Cure I was like OMG.." In nother words - total turn off for me.
I will definitely pick this up again at some point in my life. To refresh my memory on how it all began. Or just to reminiscence on what my life was like when I read it the first time.
This piece in truth lauched my interest in music in general, not just gothic. Also, being in my twenties when I read it, it also gave me a boost of confidence. Be what you are, first, and the labels or classifications come after.
April 7, 2011
Really interesting history of the "real" Gothic rock of the late '70's and '80's. The author does a good job of looking at the earliest influences with artists such as Iggy Pop and Captain Beefheart up to the early '90's when the decent stuff disappeared and was replaced by the rubbish peddled by M. Manson. The best sections of the book deal with the early founders: Joy Division, The Cure, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Bauhaus, The Damned, and so forth. Lots of anecdotal stuff along with interesting analyses of the recordings.
The book started to lose me about halfway in. At a certain point, the author shifts into an almost exclusive focus on two topics: the battle of egos between the Sisters of Mercy and The Mission and the rise & fall of The Cult. The first topic focuses on two of the most egotistical artists in the mix: Andrew Eldritch of SOM and Wayne Hussey of The Mission. Originally both founding members of the SOM, they have spent recent decades in a near constant feud in which only the spoiled celebrity can (or desire) to indulge. The other topic, unless you are a huge fan of The Cult (which I am not), is just boring and overblown. Interesting read but definitely only worth a single read.
The book started to lose me about halfway in. At a certain point, the author shifts into an almost exclusive focus on two topics: the battle of egos between the Sisters of Mercy and The Mission and the rise & fall of The Cult. The first topic focuses on two of the most egotistical artists in the mix: Andrew Eldritch of SOM and Wayne Hussey of The Mission. Originally both founding members of the SOM, they have spent recent decades in a near constant feud in which only the spoiled celebrity can (or desire) to indulge. The other topic, unless you are a huge fan of The Cult (which I am not), is just boring and overblown. Interesting read but definitely only worth a single read.
September 25, 2021
Contrarily to what some have said about this book being solely about one aspect or another of the early post-punk/goth era, this book covers quite concisely the artists and albums that spearheaded the goth genre to where it finally lay to rest at the end of its run. In doing so the book also includes some interesting details about given players and bands that helped the genre evolve over the years. I would recommend this book based on its title to anyone wanting to delve into the history of goth music and culture.
September 18, 2008
I LOVE THE OLD SCHOOL PIONEERING ACTS OF GOTHIC MUSIC. I WAS AMAZED TO LEARN FROM THIS BOOK HOW MUCH IGGY POP'S "THE IDIOT" WAS A INFLUENCING FACTOR TO SO MANY!!! WHO KNEW???
January 6, 2022
Quite an entertaining read, a good overview of goth, UK-based goth anyway
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews