Salutations, traveler of The Internets! Welcome to William's Bloody Hell, so named after our founder, Sir Bloody William.
He is seen in the likeness above in a rare, 19th century woodcut. This
image was rumoured to have been
commissioned after a bout of unpleasantness
in the White Chapel district of London. Do enjoy your stay and peruse our many, varied offerings, much of which cannot be found elsewhere!
:: Today's soundtrack: Electric Hellfire Club "Bela Lugosi's Dead" ::
Every once in a while, someone will say to me "Hey, William, you sure seem to know your goth stuff! I mean, what with being devilishly handsome and stylishly dressed all the time and all. Can you give me some tips on the goth music scene?" Okay, so that was entirely made up. But let's use our collective imagination and pretend that I'm not a gigantic lumbering beast of Swamp Thing-esque proportions who can actually find cool-ass clothes that actually fit him properly. And I'm going to wear a cape with blood stained white gloves and change my name to "Estebar." Yeah, imagination is sweet. So, in this realm of the make believe, let's say you actually ARE curious about the goth music scene (come on, it's all pretend. You can't sit there and tell me that it never once crossed your mind). Naturally, I can't go in depth on every single bastard sub-genre to come waltzing into the room over the last ten years. Instead, I'm going to give you a few listening suggestions that y'all can check out to whet your palette and see if goth music is something you'd really be interested in. I should mention that I'm going for what I myself would consider "core goth". Yes, that is a term that I just made up. But, as I said, I'm not shooting off into subgenres and we're already having a marvelous time pretending things anyway. So,
William the Bloody's Top Five Goth Songs of ALL TIME!
5. "How Soon is Now?" by the Smiths. The Smiths
themselves were always hesitant on referring to themselves as actually being "goth,"
but come on, they're not fooling anyone. Quite possibly one of their darkest
sounding songs, this one is definitely the epitome of teen angst set to
music. What with chorus lyrics like: You shut your mouth/ how
can you say/ I go about things the wrong way/ I am human and I need to be loved/
just like everybody else does, crooned in a voice only Morrissey could
provide, no bout of depressing heartbreak is complete without it.
4. "Lullaby" by The Cure. The creepiest track on their darkest
album, Disintegration, this song added a tone of fear on a record which
seemed end to end with hopelessness and despair. The lyrics are literally about
being eaten alive by a giant spider, but this can be read as any number of
personally applicable allegories, such as being eaten alive by ones own fear,
self doubt, or loneliness. The synth strings and prominent bass line accompanied
by singer Robert Smith singing in an eerie whisper make this song something
which can chill you.
3. "Dead Souls" by Joy Division. Okay, so nearly any song on Joy Division's discography could have filled this slot, but this one really represents something different on this list and I'm striving for the representation of as many aspects of the core goth music as I can, here. Loud guitars and a strong bass perfectly compliment Ian Curtis's uniquely tormented vocal stylings. When he sings about internal torment, you can FEEL it. This song can really bring out the disdain you can have for yourself and make you want to trash something all at the same time.
2. "This Corrosion" by Sisters of Mercy. Clocking in at an impressive ten minutes and fifty-five seconds, it should really be no mystery that this song was written by the incomparable Jim Steinman (you know, of "Bat Out of Hell" and "Total Eclipse of the Heart" fame). It leads in with a suitably spooky sounding thirty-eight seconds worth of choir, which also serve as the back up singing to the lead vocals. It's got a cool beat and passionate singing, and it would be number one except that...
1. "Bela Lugosi's Dead" by Bauhaus. When this song starts, you get a tapping percussion, the slightest hint of bass, followed by eerie guitar. He doesn't so much play the guitar here as strum it to make bizarre and creepy noises. The singing doesn't start until over two and a half minutes into it, which well represents the minimalist, yet effectively spooky, overall sound of the song. The lyrics are pretty much exactly what you'd expect from the title: reflecting on the death of actor Bela Lugosi, blurring the line between the man and the fictional character of Dracula he was most famous for playing, referring to him as "The Count" and "undead" repeatedly. This song was used to open the vampire film The Hunger, and covered by many new goth bands of the various sub-genres. You are not allowed to call yourself goth if you do not have a recording of this song. Seriously. I think they come to your house and tear up your goth membership if they find out.
There you have it. You know, even if you AREN'T curious about goth, you may want to hear these; they're just plain good songs. Anyway, in the land of make believe, you don't have to be ashamed of wanting to check out something gothy. If I can sit here wearing a silk shirt and David Bowie's Labyrinth pants and make that outfit work, then anything is possible.
William (Estebar A. Darkholme, esq.)
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