Goth is a subculture that began in the United Kingdom during the early s. It was developed by fans of gothic rock , an offshoot of the post-punk music genre. Post-punk artists who anticipated the gothic rock genre and helped develop and shape the subculture include Siouxsie and the Banshees , Bauhaus , the Cure and Joy Division. The goth subculture has survived much longer than others of the same era, and has continued to diversify and spread throughout the world.
Its imagery and cultural proclivities indicate influences from 19th-century Gothic fiction and from horror films. The scene is centered on music festivals, nightclubs, and organized meetings, especially in Western Europe.
The subculture has associated tastes in music, aesthetics and fashion. The music preferred by goths includes a number of styles such as gothic rock, death rock , cold wave , dark wave and ethereal wave.
The style most often includes dark usually solid black attire, dark makeup and black hair. The term gothic rock was coined by music critic John Stickney in to describe a meeting he had with Jim Morrison in a dimly lit wine-cellar, which he called "the perfect room to honor the Gothic rock of the Doors ".
In a live review about a Siouxsie and the Banshees' concert in July , critic Nick Kent wrote, concerning their music, "[P]arallels and comparisons can now be drawn with gothic rock architects like the Doors and, certainly, early Velvet Underground".
