Page 70 - Classic Rock (February 2020)
P. 70
The Mission
THEY WERE THERE
Some of our goth feature’s commentators.
Roger Nowell Olli Wisdom
Bassist with Skeletal Family. Before splitting Singer with 80s glam goth rockers Specimen,
in ’86 they released four albums, Burning Oil and co-founder of legendary London goth
topping the indie chart. They reformed in 2003. club The Batcave (in 1982).
Nik Fiend Jonny Slut
Frontman with Alien Sex Fiend, Keyboard player with Specimen.
who had five albums and 12
singles in the UK indie Top 20 Gregor Mackintosh
charts from ’82-87. Guitarist with Paradise Lost,
widely regarded as a driving he 80s was the decade when musically
Wayne Hussey force in gothic metal. anything went. From the preening
Guitarist in Dead Or Alive before poseurs of the New Romantic
joining the Sisters Of Mercy and Simon Denbigh movement to the sonic extremists
then forming The Mission. Co-vocalist with the March T of the grindcore scene, it was
Robert Smith Violets, and former touring a kaleidoscope of sounds and styles.
Siouxsie Sioux member of the Sisters Of Few genres were as celebrated and reviled at the
Vocalist with Siouxsie And Mercy. same time as goth. Crawling from the suburbs and
The Banshees, one of the provincial cities of the UK, this was the poker-faced
goth groups who achieved Andrew Eldritch antidote to the yuppie decade. The media mocked it
mainstream success. Sisters Of Mercy frontman, relentlessly, although its most famous bands – The
who has been called the Cure, The Cult, the Sisters Of Mercy, The Mission,
Peter Murphy Godfather of Goth. Bauhaus, Siouxsie And The Banshees – made the
Frontman with Bauhaus, leap to become household names. There also was a
whose first single, Bela Billy Duffy generation of bands who never got the recognition
Lugosi’s Dead, in ’79 helped Andrew Eldritch Guitarist with The Cult, who they deserved, among them The March Violets,
kick-start goth. achieved huge success on the Flesh For Lulu, UK Decay, Alien Sex Fiend and
rock scene, and post-punk/ Balaam And The Angel. Today, goth’s tentacles have
Kevin Haskins gothic rockers Theatre Of Hate. crept into mainstream culture, influencing
Bauhaus drummer. everyone from Nine Inch Nails to Tim Burton.
Jim Morris Forty years after its birth, it’s time to give this
David J Guitarist/keyboard player with ultimate outsider scene the respect it deserves.
Bauhaus bassist. Birmingham-based Balaam
And The Angel.
Steven Severin
Banshees bassist/songwriter. Carl McCoy Goth eventually became an amalgam of
Dave Vanian Longstanding frontman with unlikely influences: the theatrical glam of
Robert Smith Fields Of The Nephilim, a highly Bowie and Bolan, the unhinged garage rock
Best known as guitarist, singer and songwriter influential goth band in terms of both their of The Stooges, the nihilistic electro-noise
with The Cure, another goth band who had look and their sound. of Suicide, even the cavernous echo of dub
major mainstream success. reggae. But, like so many other subcultures,
Dave Vanian it all initially sprang from punk.
Christian Riou The often Vampire-caped lead singer of
In the right places at the right time and punk rockers The Damned, whose look was Roger Nowell (Skeletal Family bassist): Like
witnessed the scene develop. Went on the widely recognised as a massive influence on everybody else, I got into music in 1977 cos we all GETTY x4; THE MISSION: ALAMY
be the singer in alt.rockers Claytown Troupe. the goth subculture. thought we could be in punk bands. But punk
burned itself out pretty quickly.
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