Yesterday, I took a look at the early days of goth, and how it pretty much was the off spring of the post punk and industrial scenes. Today I wanted to take a look at how goth evolved in the mid to late 80’s.

Like I said yesterday, goth is maybe the most misunderstood type of music there is. It’s NOT Marilyn Manson jumping around worshiping the devil. In fact, if you listen to most music from the 80’s labeled as goth, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell it from new wave. In fact, by the late 80’s, when hair bands ruled MTV and radio, new wave was pretty much played out, and all that was left from that scene was goth. Next to the college rock/American underground music scenes, the best music of the late 80’s came out of the goth scene. This list is one of the better ones I’ve done, of any genre. Like AJ said in the comments yesterday, there is just so much great music that came out of this scene that I could go on and on. Enjoy!

1. Love and Rockets - Haunted When The Minutes Drags
2. The Cure - Fascination Street
3. Peter Murphy - Cuts You Up
4. Tones On Tail - Performance
5. Southern Death Cult - Fatman
6. Gene Loves Jezebel - Motion Of Love
7. Flesh For Lulu - I Go Crazy
8. All About Eve - Scarlet
9. The Lords Of The New Church - Russian Roulette
10. Love and Rockets - Welcome Tomorrow

So, first, what a nice, relaxing weekend I had. My wife’s son is in town, and we three just kind of hung out, watched football, relaxed, gamed our asses off, and even golfed. Now, here’s the kicker…the last time I had a golf club in my hands, Nirvana’s Nevermind had just been released. That’s how long it’s been. In high school, my friends and I golfed all the time, which was a pretty bizarre sight, I’m sure. To see 3 or 4 stoners on the golf course (and we were all pretty good…our handicaps were averaged in the mid to high teens) must have shook the old timers up pretty good. It was nice to be on a course again…him, my wife as a rider taking pictures and I. Believe it or not, I don’t think I did too badly. I shot a 126, 63 in, 63 out. No, I won’t ever be a pro, but for someone who hasn’t touched a club in 16 years or so, I don’t think I did so bad.

On to the music. I’m actually a pretty big fan of early goth. It seems natural that I would be, given my love of post punk, glam rock, punk and new wave. As most of the bands on the list show, you mix all those styles up, shake nicely, and out comes this. It’s not a genre that gets covered a lot…I think a lot of people are afraid of the whole “goth” label. In fact, it’ll be interesting to see how many page views I get off this title. If your still with me, congratulations…what you’ll find in the list is some of the best music from the early to mid 80’s. Enjoy!

1. Joy Division - Candidate
2. Danse Society - Red Light (Shine)
3. The Sisters Of Mercy - Alice
4. Christian Death - Electra Descending
5. Bauhaus - Passion Of Lovers
6. Siouxsie and the Banshees - Happy House
7. Alien Sex Fiend - Stuff The Turkey
8. The Cramps - I Was A Teenage Werewolf
9. Tones On Tail - Go!
10. Throbbing Gristle - Weeping