NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Death Rock

Death Rock (also spelled Deathrock) is a term used to identify a playfully spooky offshoot of Punk Rock which first appeared in Los Angeles during the late 1970s and early 1980s, then later merged with the New Wave and Glam influenced Batcave musical scene to form Gothic Rock. Punk rock is an anti-establishment music movement beginning around 1976 (although precursors can be found several years earlier), exemplified and popularised by The Ramones, the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned. ... New Wave is a term that has been used to describe many developments in music, but is most commonly associated with a movement in American, Australian, British, Canadian and European popular music, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, growing out of the New York City punk rock scene, itself... Glam rock is a style of rock music popularised in the 1970s, and was mostly a British phenomenon. ... DVD cover showing horror characters as depicted by Universal Studios. ... In music a singer or vocalist is a type of musician who sings, i. ... The acoustic archtop guitar, used in Jazz music, features steel strings. ... A Fender Jazz Bass Bass guitar (also called electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply bass) refers to an electric bass or an electric/acoustic string instrument with a similar appearance to the guitar, but with a larger body, commonly four strings, longer scale neck and tuned an octave lower... For other kinds of drums, see drum (disambiguation). ... The term synthesizer is also used to mean frequency synthesizer, an electronic system found in communications, or video synthesizer. ... Deathrock bands through 1990. ... List of Modern Deathrock bands(1990-present): A Spectre is Haunting Europe (Vancouver) Antiworld (Portland, OR) Astrovamps (CA) Baby Shower (NY) Babylon Whores (Finland) Bella Morte (VA) Black Ice (CA) Bloody Dead & Sexy (Germany) Bleak Track (CA) The Brides (NY) Cancerslug (AL) Cinema Strange (CA) Chants of Maldoror (Italy) Crimson... Punk rock is an anti-establishment music movement beginning around 1976 (although precursors can be found several years earlier), exemplified and popularised by The Ramones, the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned. ... This article is about the largest city in California. ... The 1970s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1970 and 1979. ... The 1980s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1980 and 1989. ... The term New Wave has been used to describe several movements in art. ... Glam rock is a style of rock music popularised in the 1970s, and was mostly a British phenomenon. ... In London, England, The Batcave was an early goth nightclub in London, England. ... Gothic rock evolved out of post punk during the late 1970s. ...

Origins of Death Rock

Etymology of Death Rock

The origin of the term Death Rock can be traced back to the 1950s when it was used to describe a genre of Rock and Roll where teenagers would sing about the tragic deaths of their boyfriends or girlfriends from accidents, suicides, illnesses, etc. The Shangri-Las' "Leader Of The Pack" is arguably the best known example, but other well known songs from this era would include Mark Dinning's "Teen Angel" and Ray Peterson's "Tell Laura I Love Her". Frank Wilson's "Last Kiss", released in 1964, was the last song of this genre of rock and roll. These songs were more serious and romantic in nature than the novelty songs of this era which dealt with vampires, monsters, etc. // Events and trends The 1950s in Western society was marked with a sharp rise in the economy for the first time in almost 30 years and return to the 1920s-type consumer society built on credit and boom-times, as well as the the baby boom from returning GIs who... A genre is a division of a particular form of art according to criteria particular to that form. ... Rock and roll (also spelled Rock n Roll, especially in its first decade), also called rock, is a form of popular music, usually featuring vocals (often with vocal harmony), electric guitars and a strong back beat; other instruments, such as the saxophone, are common in some styles. ... The Shangri-Las on the cover of a modern collection of their works. ...

Exactly when term death rock re-emerged to describe bands who sang about death and used spooky imagery is unclear; it was being used as early as 1979 to describe the sound of various bands which would later become associated with the death rock scene. Some attribute it to Rozz Williams who used it to describe the sound of Christian Death, some attribute it to lyrics from the Misfit's song All Hell Breaks Loose ("And broken bodies in a death rock dance hall"), while still others attribute the term to a label applied by the media to describe Los Angeles based Punk bands obsessed with spooky imagery and death, in much the same manner as positive punk was used by the media to describe the early Batcave sound in the U.K. This article is about the largest city in California. ... Look up punk on Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

The term Death Rock was used interchangeably with Gothic Rock until sometime during the 1990s when Andrew Eldritch of the Sisters of Mercy stated a preference for term Gothic Rock over Death Rock. Gothic rock evolved out of post punk during the late 1970s. ... The 1990s in its most obvious sense refers to the years 1990 to 1999. ... Andrew Eldritch (born Andrew William Harvey Taylor, May 15, 1959) is the frontman, singer, songwriter and the only remaining original member of The Sisters of Mercy, a band that emerged from the British post punk scene and, in later years, also flirted with pop and hard rock. ... The band The Sisters of Mercy are a rock band headed by Andrew Eldritch. ...

Earliest Influences

Other early influences for Death Rock can be traced to late 1950s/early 1960s with novelty music acts such as Bobby “Boris” Pickett and the ‘Monster Mash’ and Screamin' Jay Hawkins and ‘I Put a Spell on You’ in the United States, and British musician Screaming Lord Sutch and his horror themed performances, as well as the visual, auditory and thematic influence of B-movie horror films and their horror film scores shown at drive in theaters. // Events and trends The 1950s in Western society was marked with a sharp rise in the economy for the first time in almost 30 years and return to the 1920s-type consumer society built on credit and boom-times, as well as the the baby boom from returning GIs who... The 1960s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1960 and 1969, but the expression has taken on a wider meaning over the past twenty years. ... Monster Mash is a 1962 novelty song and the best known song by Bobby Boris Pickett. ... Screamin Jay Hawkins Jalacy Hawkins, best known as Screamin Jay Hawkins (born in Cleveland, Ohio July 18, 1929 - February 12, 2000) was an African American singer famed for his wildly theatrical performances of songs like I Put a Spell on You and Constipation Blues. // Early career Hawkins has cited Paul... David Edward Sutch (or Screaming Lord Sutch) (November 10, 1940 - June 16, 1999) was a British politician, musician and maverick. ... The term B-movie originally referred to a film designed to be distributed as the lower half of a double feature, often a genre film featuring cowboys, gangsters or vampires. ... DVD cover showing horror characters as depicted by Universal Studios. ... // Beginning of the Sound Era Early horror films, like all films prior to 1927, were of course silent, but with the advent of the sound era, it became common for studios to use uncredited excerpts of atmospheric music in horror films, rarely commissioning a separate score. ...

Additional visual, auditory and thematic influences include the 1960s TV shows the Addams Family, the Munsters, the Twilight Zone, and Dark Shadows as well as the frequent TV showings of Universal horror films, Hammer horror films, B-movie horror films. Frequently, these TV showings were oftentimes accompanied by spookily clad horror movie hosts including Vampira in Los Angeles, John Zacherle in Philadelphia and New York, Elvira initially in Los Angeles and later nationally, and Ghoulardi in Cleveland. The 1960s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1960 and 1969, but the expression has taken on a wider meaning over the past twenty years. ... Four major characters from the original television adaptation: Thing (foreground) with Uncle Fester, Morticia and Gomez Addams The Addams Family is the creation of American cartoonist Charles Addams. ... Cast of The Munsters (1965). ... The Twilight Zone original opening. ... Dark Shadows opening titles from the first episodes in 1966 used until August 10, 1967. ... Hammer horror refers to a series of gothic horror films produced from the late 1950s until the 1970s by the British film production company Hammer Film Productions Ltd. ... The term B-movie originally referred to a film designed to be distributed as the lower half of a double feature, often a genre film featuring cowboys, gangsters or vampires. ... DVD cover showing horror characters as depicted by Universal Studios. ... Actress Maila Nurmi (born December 21, 1921) portrayed Vampira in many shows, and starred in Ed Woods Plan 9 From Outer Space. ... John Zacherle as Zacherley - promotional photo John Zacherle (born September 27, 1918, he is sometimes credited as John Zacherley) is a U.S. television host and voice actor known for his long career hosting television broadcasts of horror movies in Philadelphia and New York City in the 1950s and 1960s. ... Elvira poses with mechandising Cassandra Peterson (born September 17, 1949) is better known for her on-screen persona Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. She gained fame wearing dark, gothic, cleavage-enhancing clothing as host of Elviras Movie Macabre, a weekly horror movie presentation. ... Ghoulardi from a WJW-TV publicity shot Career Biography Ghoulardi, played by disk jockey, voice announcer and actor Ernie Anderson, was the host of late night â€œShock Theaterâ€ at WJW-TV, Channel 8, in Cleveland, Ohio from 1963 through 1966. ...

These darker themes and images would re-appear some 10 to 20 years later by the generation which grew up listening to and watching these pop culture staples when they began to incorporate these influences to a new form of music called Punk. Popular culture, or pop culture, is the vernacular (peoples) culture that prevails in a modern society. ... Punk rock is an anti-establishment music movement beginning around 1976 (although precursors can be found several years earlier), exemplified and popularised by The Ramones, the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned. ...

Death Rock in Los Angeles

Death Rock (sometimes referred to as Death Punk) first appeared on the American West Coast in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and centered around the Los Angeles bands Voodoo Church, Burning Image, 45 Grave, Kommunity FK, Christian Death, the Superheroines, etc. In general, the term West Coast is a nickname for the coastal states of the Western United States, comprising California, Oregon and Washington, and sometimes Alaska and Hawaii (see Pacific States). ... The 1970s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1970 and 1979. ... The 1980s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1980 and 1989. ... This article is about the largest city in California. ... VooDoo Church are a deathrock band from California. ... Burning Image are a punk rock band from Bakersfield, California. ... During 1979-1990 in Los Angeles, 45 Grave was born in the chaos of the punk movement and churned out their own brand of death rock. ... Kommunity FK a post punk, pioneer Death Rock band, initially formed in London in the early 1980s by American Anti-Art, Anti-Pop Singer/Guitarist Patrick Mata. ... // Christian Death is a band name that originally applied to a Los Angeles death rock group during the post punk era in the early 1980s, but after some major line up changes (which resulted at one point, during the mid 1990s, in two bands with the name Christian Death), it...

These Los Angeles Death Rock bands were influenced by first wave UK Punk bands such as the Damned, the Clash, the Sex Pistols, etc. and East Coast Punk bands such as the Ramones, the Misfits, the Dead Boys, etc. as well as the more theatrical Glam acts such as David Bowie, Alice Cooper, the New York Dolls, etc. They were not yet influenced by first generation Gothic Rock bands such as Siouxsie and the Banshees and Bauhaus. This article is about the music group. ... The Clash was a successful British punk rock group that existed from 1976 to 1986. ... The Sex Pistols in 1977. ... The East Coast, Eastern Seaboard, or Atlantic Seaboard are terms referencing the easternmost coastal states in the United States of America. ... The Ramones (L-R, Johnny, Tommy, Joey, Dee Dee) on the cover of their debut self-titled album (1976), cementing their place at the dawn of the punk movement. ... The Misfits canonical skull graphic was lifted from the 1946 television serial, The Crimson Ghost, while the typeface is from the 1950s-60s magazine, Famous Monsters of Filmland. ... The Dead Boys were an early punk band that formed in Cleveland, Ohio about 1975, evolving out of the band Rocket From The Tombs. ... David Bowie David Bowie (born David Robert Jones on January 8, 1947 in London) is an English rock musician and actor. ... Cooper in his official eye makeup Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948), is a rock singer and musician. ... The New York Dolls were a glam rock band in the 1970s that prefigured much of what was to come in the punk rock era. ... Siouxsie and the Banshees are a British gothic rock band. ... The Bauhaus Bauhaus is the common term for the Staatliches Bauhaus, an art and architecture school in Germany that operated from 1919 to 1933, and for the approach to design that it developed and taught. ...

These Los Angeles Death Rock bands took the pre-existing base of Punk and added a large amount of dark yet playful images and themes from borrowed from pop culture. Later, this type of Punk and fused with Horror and horror film scores would be identified as Death Rock. However, at the time, these bands were not immediately identified as part of a new sub-genre of Punk; they were simply considered a darker flavor of Punk or maybe even Horror Punk and would play at the same venues as other Punk and New Wave bands. Popular culture, or pop culture, is the vernacular (peoples) culture that prevails in a modern society. ... A film score is the background music in a film, generally specially written for the film and often used to heighten emotions provoked by the imagery on the screen or by the dialogue. ... Horror punk is a dark style of music mixing Gothic and punk rock sounds with morbid imagery. ... New Wave is a term that has been used to describe many developments in music, but is most commonly associated with a movement in American, Australian, British, Canadian and European popular music, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, growing out of the New York City punk rock scene, itself...

A 1981 review of the Veil (see link below), a Los Angeles club catering to a gothic clientele, indicates that "downtown art types" may have also been an indirect influence on the death rock scene by supporting clubs where Death Rock and Gothic Rock were played. The lyrics of the Dead Milkmen's 1987 satirical song "Instant Club Hit (You'll Dance to Anything)" supports the notion that art school students continued to be some of the more enthusiastic supporters of the Death Rock and Gothic Rock scenes through the 1980s. The Dead Milkmen was a satirical punk rock/pop band that formed in 1983 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...

The Batcave in London

Around the same time as Death Rock was emerging as a spooky offshoot of Punk in Los Angeles, another extremely similar spooky offshoot of Punk and Post-Punk was developing independently at a London club called the Batcave Post punk generally refers to the particularly fertile and creative period following the initial punk rock explosion. During the first wave of punk, roughly spanning 1976-1983, bands such as The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Ramones and The Damned began to challenge the current styles and conventions of rock... In London, England, The Batcave was an early goth nightclub in London, England. ...

Initially, the Batcave was envisioned as a club which would specialize in Glam and New Wave musical acts. However, the bands which most frequently performed at the Batcave, Specimen, Alien Sex Fiend and Sex Gang Children, were also strongly influenced by Horror in British pop culture. These bands developed their own darker sound which began to set them apart from the Glam and New Wave scenes. Initially, this new Batcave inspired sound was referred to as positive punk to help differentiate it from Punk's more anarchistic and sometimes violent tendencies, but the term positive punk quickly gave way Gothic Rock. In biology, specimen is an individual animal or a plant or a microorganism that is used as a representative to study the properties of the whole population of that species. ... Alien Sex Fiend is a gothic rock/deathrock band from the UK. Getting their start at the Batcave club in London in the early 1980s, they quickly became known in the gothic scene for their dark electronic, industrial sound, heavy samples and loops and manic vocals. ... Sex Gang Children was an early gothic Rock group that formed in the early 1980s in Britain. ... Popular culture, or pop culture, is the vernacular (peoples) culture that prevails in a modern society. ... Positive Punk is a term used to describe a branch of the punk subculture that emerged around Londons Batcave club in the early 1980s which was a precursor to the goth subculture. ...

Transition to Gothic Rock

Sometime during early 1980s, the Death Rock scene in Los Angeles and the Batcave scene in the UK became increasingly aware of one another, especially after Christian Death and the Gun Club began touring in Europe. This growing awareness resulted in them exerting a mutual influence on each other, and eventually these two spooky Punk offshoots merged into what would later become known as Gothic Rock. Gothic Rock was strongly influenced by Bauhaus and Joy Division and took on a more Post-Punk sound which helped differentiate it from Horror Punk. Cords remained simple and were accompanied by a driving 4/4 beat, but the lyrics became more complex, experimentation with unusual sounds and sonic textures was encouraged, and songs gradually became longer and more introspective than their Horror Punk counterparts. // Christian Death is a band name that originally applied to a Los Angeles death rock group during the post punk era in the early 1980s, but after some major line up changes (which resulted at one point, during the mid 1990s, in two bands with the name Christian Death), it... The Gun Club were a rock band from Los Angeles in the 1980s led by the flamboyant singer, ex-rock critic Jeffrey Lee Pierce. ... Gothic rock evolved out of post punk during the late 1970s. ...

During the second wave of Gothic Rock in the mid 1980s, the influence of the playful, tongue in cheek nature of this music would be replaced with a more serious approach, the tempo of the music would be slowed down and become more mechanical from the widespread use of drum machines instead of live drummers and from the growing influence of atonal lead vocals to replace the more Punk, Glam and Post-Punk styled vocals. This more serious approach was evidenced by the influence of the Sisters of Mercy . While technically a first generation Gothic Rock band (they released their first single in 1980), their sound had far more in common with second wave Gothic Rock bands like Fields of the Nephilim and The Mission than they did with the prominent first generation Gothic Rock bands Bauhaus, Siouxsie & the Banshees or The Cure. The 1980s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1980 and 1989. ... The band The Sisters of Mercy are a rock band headed by Andrew Eldritch. ... Fields of the Nephilim Fields of the Nephilim is a Gothic rock band, active throughout the 1980s. ... The Mission can refer to: The film The Mission. ... The Bauhaus Bauhaus is the common term for the Staatliches Bauhaus, an art and architecture school in Germany that operated from 1919 to 1933, and for the approach to design that it developed and taught. ... Siouxsie and the Banshees, from Peepshow album art. ... The Cure is a British rock band widely seen as one of the leading pioneers of the British alternative rock and post-punk scenes of the 1980s. ...

Later, during the third wave of Gothic Rock in the mid 1990s, Gothic Rock would begin to incorporate many elements of the harsher, factory inspired sound of Industrial music, and the more repetitive and electronic sound of EBM. These new influences alienated many in the Goth scene who preferred the livelier, punkier Death Rock and Batcave sound. Their growing dissatisfaction with the new direction of Gothic Rock led some to seek out their earlier Death Rock/Batcave roots. The 1990s in its most obvious sense refers to the years 1990 to 1999. ... Industrial music is a loose term for a number of different styles of electronic and experimental music. ... Electronic body music (EBM) is a musical genre combining elements of industrial music and electronic dance music. ...

Modern Death Rock

Death Rock Revival

Some 20 years after Death Rock appeared on the music scene in Southern California, the Death Rock revival began in Southern California. Image File history File links deathrockers outside of Release the Bats File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links deathrockers outside of Release the Bats File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This article should be split into multiple articles accessible from a disambiguation page. ...

In 1998 in Long Beach, California, Dave and Jen Skott (AKA Dave and Jen Bats) were asked by the owner of the Que Sera, a local bar, to throw a one night ‘old school’ Gothic Halloween party. After the success of the one night party, the event quickly evolved into a regular Death Rock club called Release the Bats. (The club is named after a song by the Australian Death Rock band the Birthday Party.) County Los Angeles County, California Area - Total - Water 170. ... The Birthday Party is the name of an acclaimed play (and later movie) written by Harold Pinter: The Birthday Party (play); and an influential post-punk band led by Nick Cave: The Birthday Party (band). ...

Release the Bats offers songs by classic and modern Death Rock bands for the dance floor, plus a live performance by a Death Rock Band. At any time during the night, there are almost as many people outside the club socializing with one another as there are in the club dancing to the music or listening to the band.

The continuing success of Release the Bats and the other Death Rock clubs which followed have been seen by some as the first sign of Death Rock beginning to emerge as a subculture separate from the Goth subculture.

Current Death Rock Scene

The current Death Rock scene is similar to the original Death Rock scene in Los Angeles and the Batcave scene in London.

In addition to clubs, the current Death Rock scene is centered around concerts, special events, parties, and horror movie screenings. The internet is playing a major role in the Death Rock revival, similar to the one it played in expanding the presence of the Goth scene in the 1990s. There are websites devoted to the discussion Death Rock music, bands and fashions as well as horror movies, such as Deathrock.com and Post-Punk.com, plus mailing lists for Death Rockers on Yahoo! and on-line virtual communities on LiveJournal and MySpace. This article should be split into multiple articles accessible from a disambiguation page. ... Gothic woman, trad style, with spikes and piercings This article is about the contemporary goth/gothic subculture. ... For the Temptations album, see 1990 (Temptations album) MCMXC redirects here; for the Enigma album, see MCMXC a. ... A website, Web site or WWW site (often shortened to just site) is a collection of webpages, that is, HTML/XHTML documents accessible via HTTP on the Internet; all publicly accessible websites in existence comprise the World Wide Web. ... Wikibooks Wikiversity has more about this subject: School of Music Look up Music in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Wikisource, as part of the 1911 Encyclopedia Wikiproject, has original text related to this article: Music Meta has a page about this at: Music markup MusicNovatory: the science of music encyclopedia The... A fashion consists of a current (constantly changing) trend, favoured for frivolous rather than practical, logical, or intellectual reasons. ... Electronic mailing lists are a special usage of email that allows for widespread distribution of information to many Internet users. ... For other uses, see Yahoo. ... LiveJournal (often abbreviated LJ) is the name of a weblog site allowing Internet users to keep an online journal or diary. ... MySpace is a free social networking internet service which enables its registered members to communicate through blogs, an internal e-mail system, web forums and more. ...

In contrast to the early Death Rock scene, the current Death Rock scene has had additional influences which didn't exist in the late 1970s or early 1980s.

First, there is the strong influence of the Post-Punk sound which comes from the first generation of U.K. Gothic Rock. The result has been a greater emphasis on complex music structures, experimentation, scratchy guitars, and unusual rhythms resulting in an emphasis on atmosphere and mood (as opposed to the loud and fast ethos of Punk) and a deliberate lessening of accessibility to outside audiences.

This first generation Gothic Rock influence has also led to a stronger influence by the themes and images of Gothic novels and artwork, which are generally more serious in nature than Death Rock's original influence of campy horror films. The result has been a greater emphasis on Romanticism and Introspection within Death Rock. The influence of Goth inspired Victorian fashion has also given some Death Rockers who wear black lace clothing an unexpectedly Steampunk look. DVD cover showing horror characters as depicted by Universal Studios. ... Romanticism was an artistic and intellectual movement in the history of ideas that originated in late 18th century Western Europe. ... Introspection is the direct observation or rumination of ones own heart, mind and/or soul and its processes, as opposed to extrospection, the observation of things external to ones self. ... Windsor Castle in Modern Times by Landseer depicts the Queen and the Prince Consort at home in the 1840s. ... White lace is often used in collars and other fabric borders. ... Steampunk is a subgenre of speculative fiction, usually set in an anachronistic Victorian or quasi-Victorian alternate history setting. ...

Second, there is the influence of Psychobilly (another music fusion genre of horror and Punk) which is noted for being strongly apolitical. This influence has discouraged political debates which have the potential to fragment the scene. While it is not uncommon for Death Rockers to voice objections to broad political issues (as per their Punk roots), they will immediately stop if anyone involved in the discussion objects. And the Drop Dead Festival, featuring several days of Death Rock bands (including smaller band which would normally be unable to fill a large venue), is similar to Psychobilly's Hootenanny. Psychobilly is a genre of music generally described as a mix between the British punk rock of the 1970s and the American rockabilly of the 1950s. ... The fusion of two or more musical genres. ...

Third, there is an even stronger horror movie based influence on Death Rock, based in part of the increasing availability of horror movie film scores through CDs and legal online music download and from the participation of Death Rockers on internet discussion forums and mailing lists for horror fans. (Many Deathrock discussion forums have separate sections specifically for the discussion of horror movies.)

Fourth, there now exists the influence of older Death Rockers still active in the scene on a new generation of Death Rockers. A significant percentage of modern Death Rockers were part of the Death Rock scene in the 1980s and are now in their 30s or 40s. Members of the original Death Rock scene did not have the benefit of a group of 'elders' to pass on the oral history of music and the traditions of the scene. A religious elder (in Greek, presbuteros) is valued for his or her wisdom, in part for their age, by the logic that the older one is then the more one is likely to know. ...

As the modern Goth scene continues to drift further away from its Punk roots under the influences of EBM, goth metal, shock rock, BDSM and Fetishism, an increasing number of new Death Rock bands and clubs are appearing as a reaction against this trend. Cinema Strange, Bloody Dead and Sexy, The Brides, the Vanishing, Bella Morte and Devilish Presley are popular modern Death Rock bands, while Release the Bats in Long Beach, CA; Funeral in Pomona, CA; the Asylum in San Francisco, CA; Dead and Buried in London, UK; Pagan Love Songs in Bochum, Germany; Onderstroom in Nijmegen, Netherlands and The Wake in Nottingham, UK remain popular Death Rock clubs. Gothic woman, trad style, with spikes and piercings This article is about the contemporary goth/gothic subculture. ... Electronic body music (EBM) is a musical genre combining elements of industrial music and electronic dance music. ... Goth metal (also called Gothic metal) is a crossover between heavy metal music and goth music itself; although the term metal is debated by those who say it is mainly goth music. ... Shock rock is an umbrella term for bands in many different music genres which combine rock music with elements of shock value in a stage performance involving acts of theatricality, sex and/or violence which are designed to push the limits of decency. ... A collar is a common symbol of BDSM. BDSM is a term which describes a number of related patterns of human sexual behaviour. ... A fetish (from French fÃ©tiche; from Portuguese feitiÃ§o; from Latin facticius, to make) is a natural object believed to have supernatural powers, or in particular an object created by people that has power over people. ... Cinema Strange is a Band from America. ... The Vanishing is the title of several films: The Vanishing (1988 film) The Vanishing (1993 film) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Bella Morte are a goth/ synthpop/ punk/ metal band that was formed in 1996 in Charlottesville, Virginia. ... Devilish Presley Jacqui Vixen Bass and vocals. ...

Death Rock Temperament

The temperament of Death Rockers, much like Death Rock music, falls somewhere between Punk and Goth.

Much like Goths, Death Rockers are drawn to the darker aspects of society that most people reject or seek to suppress. While Goths generally view these darker aspects in a more serious manner, Death Rockers have a more playful and somewhat curious attitude towards them. Both Goths and Death Rockers exhibit almost compulsive creativity by incorporating these images, themes, beliefs, etc. into their subculture, music, fashions, etc. And Death Rockers are generally as polite and well mannered as Goths.

Likewise, much like Punks, Death Rockers have a strong DIY ethos, an ironic sense of humor, and a dislike of large institutions and corporations which put their own welfare ahead of others and society in general. However, Death Rockers are noticeably less impulsive than Punks; mosh pits and stage diving are extremely rare occurrences at Death Rock shows. However, it is not uncommon for Death Rockers at a show to reach up on stage and help untangle a musician's mic cable as he takes the mic off the stand during a performance, or hand him a bottle of water or a beer between songs if he mentions that he is getting thirsty. See also: DIY Network, a cable TV network. ...

Death Rock Synonyms

Death Rock synonyms include the 1980s terms Positive Punk, Batcaver, Death Punk, PIB (Person in Black), and Monochromatic Punk as well as the 1990s terms Punky-Goth, Old School Goth and 80s Goth. The 1980s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1980 and 1989. ... The 1990s in its most obvious sense refers to the years 1990 to 1999. ...

Horror Punk is sometimes also used as a synonym for Death Rock though in reality it is a different (though closely related) sub-genre of Punk.

Death Rock vs. Horror Punk

Death Rock and Horror Punk are so similar as to sometimes confuse members of both musical subcultures. Generally speaking, Horror Punk is considered less introspective, less romantic and more influenced than Death Rock, which sounds more Glam and Post Punk influenced to Horror Punk fans. Keyboards are another differentiating point: Death Rock bands frequently use keyboards (mainly for atmosphere) whereas Horror Punk band do not. Horror punk is a dark style of music mixing Gothic and punk rock sounds with morbid imagery. ...

However considerable overlap exists between these two Punk sub-genres' sense of fashion, musical preferences and bands. For example, the Misfits is a Horror Punk band with strong appeal Death Rockers, and many Horror Punks claim 45 Grave as one of their own. The Misfits canonical skull graphic was lifted from the 1946 television serial, The Crimson Ghost, while the typeface is from the 1950s-60s magazine, Famous Monsters of Filmland. ... During 1979-1990 in Los Angeles, 45 Grave was born in the chaos of the punk movement and churned out their own brand of death rock. ...

Influential Death Rock Artists

Christian Death's 1982 debut album, Only Theatre Of Pain is widely held as the first purely Death Rock album which could not be easily classified as either a darker flavor of Punk (as with T.S.O.L or the Damned), Horror Punk (as with 45 Grave or Voodoo Church), or Post-Punk (as with Bauhaus or Joy Division).

Rozz Williams, the lead singer of Christian Death, Shadow Project and Premature Ejaculation, is considered by many as the single most influential Death Rock musician of all time, the virtual 'Patron Saint' of the Death Rock scene. His collective work and collaborations with other musicians have arguably had a greater and more lasting impact on the Death Rock scene than anyone else. Rozz Williams Rozz Williams (November 6, 1963 - April 1, 1998) was the lead singer and founder of Christian Death. ... Shadow Project is a Goth/Deathrock band formed in the early 90s by Rozz Williams and Eva O. William Faith and Stevyn Grey joined the line-up for the Dreams For The Dying tour and recording albums. ...

However, this is not to say that other Death Rock influences are missing or absent. Many British bands have made major contributions to the Death Rock sound, including Joy Division, Bauhaus, Siouxsie & the Banshees, The Cure, etc. Joy Division was a rock music band formed in 1977 in Manchester. ... Bauhaus Bauhaus is a British rock band (formed in Northampton in 1978) popular in the 1980s. ... Siouxsie and the Banshees, from Peepshow album art. ... The Cure is a British rock band widely seen as one of the leading pioneers of the British alternative rock and post-punk scenes of the 1980s. ...

Xmal Deutschland in Germany, the Virgin Prunes from Ireland, and the Birthday Party from Australia were extremely influential in the early Death Rock scene. Xmal Deutschland was a musical group from Hamburg, Germany. ... The Virgin Prunes is an Irish rock band. ... The Birthday Party is the name of an acclaimed play (and later movie) written by Harold Pinter: The Birthday Party (play); and an influential post-punk band led by Nick Cave: The Birthday Party (band). ...

Sisters of Mercy, which is frequently played at Death Rock clubs, is generally not considered a major influence because Sisters of Mercy's sound which has more in common with second wave Gothic Rock bands than the punkier sound of first wave Gothic Rock bands and in part because of lead singer Andrew Eldritch's controversial comments about Goths. The band The Sisters of Mercy are a rock band headed by Andrew Eldritch. ... Andrew Eldritch (born Andrew William Harvey Taylor, May 15, 1959) is the frontman, singer, songwriter and the only remaining original member of The Sisters of Mercy, a band that emerged from the British post punk scene and, in later years, also flirted with pop and hard rock. ...

What Death Rock Is Not

Despite the similar sounding names, Death Rock, which is a sub-genre of Punk, and as such has very little in common with death metal, which is a sub-genre of heavy metal. Death metal is a type of heavy metal music (with prominent thrash metal influences) that emerged in the United States (especially Florida and California), Europe (especially the United Kingdom and Sweden) and Canada in the late 1980s and early 1990s. ... It has been suggested that Metal music be merged into this article or section. ...

Also, Death Rock should not be confused with shock rock. Death rockers and Death Rock bands do not go out of their way to shock others or cause controversy. Death Rockers have a very "live and let live" attitude towards others. Shock rock is an umbrella term for bands in many different music genres which combine rock music with elements of shock value in a stage performance involving acts of theatricality, sex and/or violence which are designed to push the limits of decency. ...

Lists of Deathrock Bands

Deathrock bands through 1990. ... List of Modern Deathrock bands(1990-present): A Spectre is Haunting Europe (Vancouver) Antiworld (Portland, OR) Astrovamps (CA) Baby Shower (NY) Babylon Whores (Finland) Bella Morte (VA) Black Ice (CA) Bloody Dead & Sexy (Germany) Bleak Track (CA) The Brides (NY) Cancerslug (AL) Cinema Strange (CA) Chants of Maldoror (Italy) Crimson...

Related Genres

Dark Cabaret is a new music genre emerging from the underground minglings of German Cabaret, Burlesque, Vaudeville, Folk, Punk, Darkwave, and Gothic rock music styles as well as Film noir influences. ... Gothic rock evolved out of post punk during the late 1970s. ... Horror punk is a dark style of music mixing Gothic and punk rock sounds with morbid imagery. ... Punk rock is an anti-establishment music movement beginning around 1976 (although precursors can be found several years earlier), exemplified and popularised by The Ramones, the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned. ... Post punk generally refers to the particularly fertile and creative period following the initial punk rock explosion. During the first wave of punk, roughly spanning 1976-1983, bands such as The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Ramones and The Damned began to challenge the current styles and conventions of rock... Psychobilly is a genre of music generally described as a mix between the British punk rock of the 1970s and the American rockabilly of the 1950s. ... Gothabilly is a portmanteau which refers to an unusual fusion of rockabilly music and the Goth culture. ... In London, England, The Batcave was an early goth nightclub in London, England. ... New Wave is a term that has been used to describe many developments in music, but is most commonly associated with a movement in American, Australian, British, Canadian and European popular music, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, growing out of the New York City punk rock scene, itself... Gothic metal (also called Goth metal) is a crossover between heavy metal music and gothic music itself; although the term metal is debated by those who say it is mainly gothic music. ...

Subcultural Fashion

Johnny Slut, from the band Specimen, exhibits death rock fashion Death Rock fashion is the distinctive style of dress associated with Death Rock music and the Death Rock music scene. ... Punk fashion is a fashion style largely associated with the punk movement during the late 1970s and early 1980s. ... Goths in southern Germany Gothic fashion is a style of dress of young people who identify themselves as goths. ...

Web Zines

Articles

Deathrock Festivals

Horror punk is a dark style of music mixing Gothic and punk rock sounds with morbid imagery. ... Post punk generally refers to the particularly fertile and creative period following the initial punk rock explosion. During the first wave of punk, roughly spanning 1976-1983, bands such as The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Ramones and The Damned began to challenge the current styles and conventions of rock... Psychobilly is a genre of music generally described as a mix between the British punk rock of the 1970s and the American rockabilly of the 1950s. ... Horror punk is a dark style of music mixing Gothic and punk rock sounds with morbid imagery. ... Post punk generally refers to the particularly fertile and creative period following the initial punk rock explosion. During the first wave of punk, roughly spanning 1976-1983, bands such as The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Ramones and The Damned began to challenge the current styles and conventions of rock... Gothabilly is a portmanteau which refers to an unusual fusion of rockabilly music and the Goth culture. ...

Club Nights

Categories: Punk genres | American styles of music | Rock music genres | Goth | Death rock Punk rock is an anti-establishment music movement beginning around 1976 (although precursors can be found several years earlier), exemplified and popularised by The Ramones, the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned. ... The suffix -punk appears in the names of a number of genres of modern fiction and music. ... The anarchy symbol commonly used by anarcho-punks Anarcho-punk (sometimes known as peace-punk) is a subgenre of the punk rock movement consisting of groups and bands promoting specifically anarchist ideas. ... Anti-folk (or antifolk) is a genre of music related to punk rock and American folk music that originated in the mid-1980s in New York City. ... Crust punk (also known as crust) is the extreme evolution of Hardcore punk. ... Garage punk is a subgenre of rock music. ... Hardcore punk (or hardcore) is an intensified version of punk rock usually characterized by short, loud, and often passionate songs with exceptionally fast tempos and chord changes. ... Post-hardcore; this specific genre was created by others as a sourse to relaese the emotion that builds inside, making the music intimate and touching to listeners. ... Horror punk is a dark style of music mixing Gothic and punk rock sounds with morbid imagery. ... New Wave is a term that has been used to describe many developments in music, but is most commonly associated with a movement in American, Australian, British, Canadian and European popular music, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, growing out of the New York City punk rock scene, itself... No Wave was a short-lived but influential offshoot of punk rock centered in New York City during the late 1970s and early 1980s. ... Noise rock is a musical genre that developed in the 1980s as an experimental outgrowth of punk rock. ... Oi! is the name given to a sub-genre of punk music that sought to align punk with a working-class street level following. ... Pop punk is used for two separate subgenres of punk rock music: the kind typically found on Lookout! Records, which stray very little from the three-chord formula that The Ramones pioneered, as well as a newer subgenre of melodic, more emotional punk, which includes by bands like NOFX and... Post punk generally refers to the particularly fertile and creative period following the initial punk rock explosion. During the first wave of punk, roughly spanning 1976-1983, bands such as The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Ramones and The Damned began to challenge the current styles and conventions of rock... The post-punk revival is a movement in modern rock music, being part of the larger indie/garage rock, punk, and dance genres. ... Psychobilly is a genre of music generally described as a mix between the British punk rock of the 1970s and the American rockabilly of the 1950s. ... Riot grrrl (or riot grrl) is a form of hardcore punk rock music, known for its feminist stance. ... Ska punk is a fusion of Jamaican ska and British and American punk rock. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Two Tone (or 2 Tone) is a style of music created by fusing elements of punk rock and ska. ... The DIY punk ethic refers to the idea of doing it yourself, i. ... Protopunk is a term used to describe a number of performers who were important precursors of punk rock, or who have been cited by early punk rockers as influential. ... List of Pre-Punk Bands or Proto punk groups (ca. ... List of Early Punk bands (1976-1985) See also: List of musicians by genre Adam & the Ants Abrasive Wheels The Adicts The Adverts The Afrika Korps Alternative TV Angelic Upstarts Anti-Nowhere League Anti-Pasti Art Attacks The Angry Samoans The Au Pairs The Avengers Bad Brains Bad Religion The... These are bands that could be considered to be part of the second wave of the punk rock movement, circa 1985 and after. ... For much of its history, punk music has been focused on energetic live shows and local music scenes, due to the non-marketability of most punk music and to the anti-corporate politics of many punk bands. ... List of punk movies, i. ... Skinheads, named after their shaven heads, are members of a subculture that originated in Britain in the 1960s, where they were closely tied to the Rude boy of the West Indies and the Mods of the UK. English Skinhead on cutdown circa 1991 // Categories National Socialist Skinheads in Toledo. ... A list of films relating to or about the Skinhead culture. ... This page is about the musical style. ...

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