Back in the day, the official magazine of Tower Records - Pulse - had a section called "The Desert Island Top 10". The premise is - if you were stranded on a desert island, but had the option of taking ten of anything, what would you take? For the Halloween season, for this post, I will select my Top 10 favorite gothic songs of all time, in no particular order. Yes, I cut my teeth on '80s gothic. Wore the black lipstick, the guyliner and sported the obligatory black, read the Anne Rice chronicles. These are the songs I would die for. Prepared to be spooked! Tell me your favorite songs in the comments section!
1. Christian Death "Figurative Theater"(1982) - As a teen, there was nothing more shocking than L.A. deathrock band, Christian Death, and singer, Rozz Williams, who was occasionally known to wear dead cats as part of his scene's morbid couture. "In the shallow holes of a thousand eyes..." start the lyrics to a song that I copied onto notebooks as an angst-ridden teen, the words seemingly matching the black mood I felt. The violent drumbeat and lurching guitar set to Rozz's droning voice, all of it churning together and frothing to a spitting intensity. It sounded forbidden then. It kind of sounds dated now, although it is easy to see the influence they have had on music through the decades. It was still a sad day in 1998 when Rozz Williams committed suicide, finally giving into the darkness. Rozz was no poseur. He truly walked in the darkness.
2. 45 Grave "Evil" (1983)- "Music that Christians don't have to play backwards," says the announcer in the video below. And that description fits yet another California deathrock band, 45 Grave. This band was always really fun, a clever mixture of '60s surf rock, punk, and horror, they had a stage presence that was as much a part of their performance as their music, fronted by sinister frontwoman, Dinah Cancer, looking like something out of The Addams Family. Although "Evil" sounds like it could be the opening theme from The Munsters, except with Cancer growling her condemnations of, "You're evil!". "Sleep In Safety" was an important album to me in my preteen years and remains, all these decades later, the perfect Halloween album.
3. Tamaryn "Softcore" (2016) - Kiwi artist, Tamaryn, now on tour with Lush, is one of the newer artists at the forefront of the shoegaze revival, but she is known to veer into darker directions, like this gothic gem. The song is off this year's album, and the video here is off of this year's live KEXP performance. Amped-up drums and a caustic bass line sounding like something right out of Sisters of Mercy, Tamaryn's haunted moaning, and guitars screeching, whispered samples, everything coalescing and blending into something that resembles a fevered pitch - something at once beautiful, disturbing, and cool af. Tamaryn is a new artist that you should definitely check out. I will be reviewing her entire new album soon.
4. Xmal Deutschland "Polarlicht" (1986) - An oft forgotten German act, they signed to the prestigious 4AD label who was responsible for releasing much of the gothic bands of the '80s. This song made in onto a mix cassette tape I had as a teen, and I soon had a chance to explore more of their music. The song is mournful and dreamy with Anja Huwe's powerful voice soaring above the landscape, but don't expect to understand it unless you speak German, Sadly, this band never made it out of the '80s, but their impact on gothic and darkwave is undeniable. Any true fan of the genre can tell you about Xmal Deutschland.
5. Cocteau Twins "Garlands" (1982) - Ah, which one of my collections would be complete without Cocteau Twins? This song is off of their debut album. They were a new band out of Grangemouth, Scotland, and this is the only album to feature Will Heggie as a member with his heavy bass guitar. He would soon leave to form proto-shoegaze band, Lowlife. His departure would allow them to explore the more ethereal experiments that they are known for. But this album? Straight up gothic. Heggie's bass chords dominate. Robin Guthrie scratches out spooky noises on his guitar, admitting only later that he only did this because he really didn't know how to play. Elizabeth Fraser's wavering voice offers the names of pretty flowers in a way that they evoke wrongness rather than beauty. This whole album is a classic and one that I listen to several times a year.
6. Modern English "16 Days" (1981) - When people think of Modern English, they think of MTV, '80s one-hit wonders, and their one big hit, "I Melt With You", a happy-go-lucky love tune. They don't think of a gothic band, and, yet, their first album was just that. The song starts out with eerie guitar effects that only grow more nightmarish as the song progresses, followed by samples extolling the horrors of the Cold War era. The bass line is earth-shattering, and Robbie Grey spits out his lyrics in a post-punk fury. Then the song ends in a wash of futile noise and chaos. This Mortal Coil would later cover this song as their very first single, with Liz Fraser from Cocteau Twins and Gordon Sharp from Cindytalk, another great goth band, on vocals.
7. Bauhaus "She's In Parties" (1983) - No goth collection would be complete without Bauhaus? But whereas most might expect me to include the ubiquitous and Halloween-friendly "Bela Lugosi's Dead", the goth anthem, no, I am including this selection instead - the final single from their final album for more than twenty years. These guys created this sound, created this genre. Peter Murphy's vocals are savage, contrasting Daniel Ash's soft background pining. The harmonica seems out of place, and yet Bauhaus offers one last stark masterpiece before venturing into different projects. Believe me - Tones On Tail or Love & Rockets would have made it onto this list had I not already covered these bands extensively.
8. Dead Can Dance - "De Profundis (Out of the Depths of Sorrow)" (1985) - The very first time I heard Dead Can Dance was this song. It was a life-changing experience. I was blown away. I never knew pop music could be so... panoramic. The song goes from silence and explodes into an orchestral swathe so huge that you can't help see images, and then Lisa Gerrard's voice crashes like a hurricane against a mountainside, singing, not in words, but pure emotion. Then the song unravels with a single male singing a wordless Gregorian chant alongside the peals of a bell that sound not so much monastic as pagan. Dead Can Dance defy classification, but it was the goths who loved them first.
9. Sisters of Mercy "Black Planet" (1985) - The album this song came from became so definitively known as "goth" that everyone that came afterwards tried to imitate this sound - even Andrew Eldritch. By the way, this is my favorite lineup of the Sisters, which includes the creative force of Wayne Hussey and Craig Adams, who went on to form The Mission UK right after this album. In this song, Hussey's guitars are crystal clear with the Celtic lilt that he is known for, and Eldritch sings in that wavering, spooky bass that would be imitated by goths forever after.
10. The Cure "Lullaby" (1989) - I had a hard time picking the last band, because there are so many goth artists that I love. But I had to ultimately settle on the most Halloweeny of songs. The Cure had developed the reputation of being dark and gothic, but, in truth, by the time "Disintegration" came along, the band had veered into some very un-gothic territories involving caterpillars, love cats, being hot hot hot, and kisses. Imagine Robert Smith prancing around in a huge teddy bear suit. It was enough to make me shake my head. But with this song - and accompanying creepy video - The Cure went dark and gothic again. Maybe even more gothic than they had previously been. All of the black-clad minions breathed a sigh of relief. Smith sings about being eaten in his bed by a thousand shivering holes all set to the rhythm of pizzicato violins. The song was nightmarish and troubling, and the band redeemed the genre to live for another Halloween.
I grew up in the small town of Casa Grande, Arizona - located smack dab between Phoenix and Tucson. It was a town that survived mainly on the work of cotton farmers. On a good day, starting from 1986, we could pick up the airwaves in our dusty town from Phoenix - new alternative stations, the KEY 100.3, and later, KUKQ where radio personalities like Jonathan L and the Bone Mama introduced us to alternative music.
Alternative music was welcome relief to the musical wasteland that was the '80s - like the summer rains that occasionally settled the dust of Casa Grande. Back then, alternative music was just that - an alternative to what the radio stations were playing then. It wasn't particularly a genre. It was a melange of styles and sounds. It wasn't until the early '90s that it burgeoned into a solid movement (and many argue that it ended when it went commercial).
During the '80s, many of us who embraced the alternative movement were laughed at and scorned by our peers for our tastes. This was especially true in high school. There was a moment of vindication my freshman year at Central Arizona College in 1988. In our philosophy class, Dr. Buys played us a couple of song selections and asked us to interpret the philosophical meanings behind the lyrics. The songs were "I Do" by Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians. The second song was "No New Tale To Tell" by Love & Rockets. I was so happy that a teacher was playing "my music", I remember grooving while seated at my desk.
Since I recently reviewed Bauhaus and Tones On Tails, I decided that it would be fitting to review Love & Rockets. So Bauhaus broke up, and Tones On Tail ended, and Daniel Ash, Kevin Haskins, and David J decided to form a new band called Love & Rockets, which was basically the same lineup as Bauhas, minus Peter Murphy (who was having a prolific solo career.)
Their first album was "Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven", which was released in 1985. With this new album, they departed from the gloomy, gothic sound of their previous bands and embraced a more '60s psychedelic sound like many of the bands of that era, like theChurch or Dream Syndicate. This sound seemed prevalent on most of their other albums. The most prevalent song on this album is "If There's A Heaven Above", which was an anthem of sorts on alternative radio.
But it wasn't really until their next album, "Express" (1986) that I started to get to know them. "Ball of Confusion" - a remake of a Temptations song - dominated the airwaves on the alternative stations. On my laptop, I have other Love & Rockets albums, but I noticed that I did not have this album, which is my favorite of all their albums. So I recently downloaded it. The album starts out with "It Could Be Sunshine" with it's sax intro and 80s pop that could be Tears For Fears, but then it corrodes into smashing finish. "Kundalini Express" was always a favorite with its train motif. It always was reminiscent of the '60s, a feeling also found in "Life in Laralay". "All In My Mind" is good jangle pop, and "Ying and Yang (the Flowerpot Man)" with its driving acoustic guitar is a good example of what good songwriters they are. "An American Dream" is my favorite song, an acoustic gem played with a Pink Floyd-esque charm.
Their next album, 1987's "Earth, Sun, Moon" never moved me as much as "Express" did, but it is still a good album. By now, they were well-establlished icons of the growing alternative music, as well as darlings on MTV's "120 Minutes". This album contains "No New Tales To Tell", as well as my favorite song, "Waiting For the Flood".
By the time their self-titled album came out in 1989, I was kind of over Love & Rockets. It was 1990, and I was living in Salt Lake City, working at an AutoZone on State Street. We used blast a Top 40 station on the car stereos. It seemed like every hour, they were playing "So Alive". Instead of saying, "Oh, wow, Love & Rockets... On the radio!" I was mildly annoyed by the song. It seemed as if they had become parodies of themselves. I don't know; I might like it now. But I never followed up with any of their albums afterwards.
But I do recommend the first three albums - especially "Express" - for any who are wondering what '80s alternative was all about.
The thing about punk in the 1970s - it was a reaction to all of the artsy rock around at the time. Rock had become grandiose with feathered hair, silk leotards, rock operas, songs that lasted ten minutes, drum solos that showcased skill. Punk was a reaction to this - a remembrance that rock was supposed to be rebellious and fun. The "one-two-three-four" songs of the Ramones that lasted two minutes, songs stripped down to the bare minimum, and played sloppily.
So it is ironic that many of the post-punk bands of the 80's, bands that came right out of the British punk scene of the 70s, bands like PiL and Tones on Tail took upon an arsty quality. Listening to Tones on Tail's only album, "Pop", released in 1984, I could very well believe that it is Pink Floyd.
Tones on Tail was a side project belonging to Daniel Ash of Bauhaus (whom I retro-reviewed here). In his spare time, he would record singles and EPs along with one of Bauhaus' roadies. When Bauhaus broke up in 1983, Tones on Tail became Daniel Ash and Kevin Haskin's full-time project. They released only one album and then morphed into Love & Rockets.
Clubbing in the mid-80s was an interesting experience. In the late 80's, it was all about house music, techno, and New Beat. But in the mid-80s, the clubs played things like the ubiquitous "Blue Monday" by New Order, anything by the Cure, "Bela Lugosi's Dead" by Bauhaus, as well as "Go!" and "Christian Says" by Tones on Tail. Any song with the word "vampire" in it was going to appeal to the gothic crowd. I heard these songs pretty much every night.
As a teen, I had a beat-up cassette recording of Tones on Tail's only album, "Pop". I listened to it all the time. The lamentful "Lions", the heavy percussion of "War", the psychedelic chants of "Slender Fungus", the surrealistic jazz of "Movement of Fear", the acoustic "Real Life", the ambient electronica of "Rain", and (my favorite) the infectious yet discordant rhythm guitar of "The Never Never (Is Forever). And the lyrics: "Down for you is up." All of these songs were an important part of my youth, and I can still sing along with every song. After having listened to these songs as an adult, I can honestly say that "Pop" is one of the best yet sadly forgotten rock records of all time.
I had not owned any music by Tones on Tail since my cassette tape disintegrated in some box in storage. So I thought that I would download their 2011 compilation, "Weird Pop". It has the whole "Pop" album, minus two songs. It also has a collection of their singles like "Go!", "Christian Says", "Burning Skies", and an awesome gothic version of Elvis's "Heartbreak Hotel".
So where does this music sit with me? I have downloaded quite a bit of music lately, and the only album that I keep listening to over and over right now is "Weird Pop" by Tones on Tail. As my ex-wife would say, "It is genius." Enough said.
For this review, I am reviewing two albums by Bauhaus - "Crackle" and "In The Flat Field".
Bauhaus was a very important band for me in my teen years. Yes, I read Anne Rice. Yes, I dressed in black and wore eyeliner. But by the time I started listening to Bauhaus, they had been broken up for three years. My first exposure to them was in the 1983 movie "The Hunger" (directed by the late Tony Scott) with David Bowie, Susan Sarandon, and the beautiful Catherine Deneuve. Decades before "Twilight", this was the vampire movie for hipsters. I used to watch it and count how many cigarettes the actors smoked during the course of the film. The film starts in a dimly-lit, New York nightclub. Peter Murphy is singing "Bela Lugosi's Dead" from inside of a cage. His fine features are pale, and his black hair is spiked. His intense eyes are darkly outlined with eyeliner. He looks positively evil, just like a vampire should look. From then on, I was hooked.
Bauhaus - on their short run from 1978 to 1983 - created gothic before there was even such a thing. Through the rest of the 80's, many bands tried to mimic their sound. Scratchy, tinkling guitars, strong bass lines, and the deep, quavering voice of Peter Murphy. When you think of gothic, you invariably must describe the sound of Bauhaus. They invented the sound. There would never have been a Marilyn Manson if there wasn't a Bauhaus. They sound dark, like being trapped in a fever dream.
As important as Bauhaus was in my youth, I realized that now, as an adult, I have none of their music. So I decided to download "Crackle", which is greatest hits compilation released in 1998. It has some real gems, well-known hits like "Bela Lugosi's Dead", their cover of David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust", "Burning From the Inside", and "She's In Parties", as well as several songs from their debut album, "In the Flat Field". But I was dissatisfied with this compilation. It wasn't until I listened to this collection that I realized that most of the Bauhaus songs that I know and love are found on their 1980 debut album - "In the Flat Field".
So a few days later, I downloaded this album. From the first refrains, I was singing along, even though I hadn't listened to this record in over twenty years. Importantly, their first album was released on 4AD, which is one of my favorite labels. All subsequent records were released on Beggar's Banquet.
The first songs - "Dark Entries" and "Double Dare" - had me bobbing my head. The third song is the title song and has such inspiring lyrics as:
"Ying and yang lumber punch
Go taste a tart then eat my lunch
And force my slender thin and lean
In this solemn place of fill wedding dreams
Of back matted lace, of pregnant cows
As life maps out onto my brow
The card is lowered in index turn
Into my filing cabinet hemispheres burn"
Other favorite are the mellow and haunting "The Spy in the Cab", the funky "St. Vitus Dance". There is a moment in "Stigmata Martyr" where Peter Murphy is screaming in Latin. That little bit there represents all of teen rebellion encapsulated in one verse. Other favorites are the T. Rex cover "Telegram Sam" and "Terror Couple Kill Colonel".
Bauhaus defined in a way that today's music can't. It has been refreshing to take this trip down memory lane.
