But if you're trying to capture the sound of, for example, Killing Joke in words, only hyperbole will do. A real labour of love (a decade in the making) Robb’s book takes as its jumping-off point the architecture, literature and philosophy that was deemed “Gothic”. John Robb notonly covers musical aspects butalso history, art, film, literature andsociety to explain the dark genre.

The Art Of Darkness - The History Of Goth - John Robb The Art Of Darkness - The History Of Goth - John Robb

Goth can be regarded as the more glamorous cousin to punk, but to dismiss it as decadent or frivolous is to miss the point. Over 500 pages, John Robb explores the origins and legacy of this enduring scene, which has its roots in the post-punk era. Finally, he considers the current mainstream goth of Instagram influencers, film, literature and music. This leads to weird cases where Adam Ant (an artist I've never seen associated with goth) gets equal space to Bauhaus or Sisters of Mercy.Joy Division’s musical and literary influences are discussed, as is their approach to songwriting and recording with “ mad professor” Martin Hannett and, of course, their sad and untimely end. The Cure needed a way out of the situation that we found ourselves in, but first we had to undergo a quest to fully understand who we were and where we came from. John Robb has announced a book tour to go with his definitive new book about Goth Music and culture ‘The Art Of Darkness – the History Of Goth’ which is available from here. Siouxsie’s image was one that would become a huge visual influence on Goth, but more importantly, the music The Banshees made went a good way to create a template for what was to follow. He could have gone on to explore the enduring legacy this novel had on the horror genre and the stylistic influences of its creatures (think bride of frankenstein hair etc).

Goth: Three fascinating books explore a musical subculture

The fact that the latter is A SPIN-OFF OF VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE referred to as if it's a game of its own shows just how little John Robb knows or cares about anything except that brief period when he and his friends were cool.A darker culture that began to coalesce around the holy trinity of the Doors, the Velvets and the Stooges in the late sixties before flirting with glam rock and then being amplified by punk and exploding as Goth and then splintering into electronic dance music, industrial, psychobilly and new Goth and then through dystopian Hollywood blockbusters, modern literature and throughout the modern world.