It was possibly the most striking of the youth mythologies that emerged in the eighties: the Gothic ones.
Although Ana Curra claims the much more descriptive term that was used in Spanish musical circles: los sinisters.
Ana remembers it in her prologue to
Season of the Witch.
The Book of Gothic Rock
, a volume written by the English novelist Cathi Unsworth, published by Contra and translated with care by Héctor Castells.
I note that the approach of the book is decidedly Anglocentric: the Gothic movement is defined here in opposition to Margaret Thatcher, who was then experiencing her golden decade.
In reality, the sinisters did not confront the Iron Lady, neither in the streets nor in the records, unlike other musical sectors.
I have memories of talking about it with Siouxsie Sioux, from the Banshees, or Robert Smith, from The Cure, and seeing that his interest in politics was close to zero.
Neither the Falklands War, nor the miners' strike, nor the fight against the
poll tax
seemed to affect them (in fact, at the beginning of the nineties, Siouxsie would become a tax exile, living in the south of France).
One can understand the solipsism of that generation, which lived with horrors like the Yorkshire Ripper, who killed women in and around Leeds.
Indeed, Leeds was a great incubator of the gothic: groups like The Sisters of Mercy and Soft Cell emerged from there.
In truth, one of the strengths of the movement lay in its geographical dispersion, with the consequent variety of proposals.
They avoided the London microclimate, with those powerful magazines that decreed what was or was not fashionable: these were the years, remember, when the textile world and the music industry joined forces to launch the so-called
new romantics
.
The Goths did not recognize many precedents, although there was an underlying reverential respect for aesthetic transformations and David Bowie's voracity for experiences.
Like the vampiric Bowie who appeared at the beginning of
The Craving
(1983), Catherine Deneuve's partner, both tracking down fresh bodies among those attending a concert by the Bauhaus group.
They were children of punk, which had fragmented too quickly.
Leaving, yes, many teachings.
Like DIY, Do It Yourself, which Ana Curra confesses that she signed up to wear the leather lingerie that she wore on the cover of
El Acto
, the LP of Párálisis Permanente.
Season of the Witch also stands out
.
The book of gothic rock
for its didactic spirit: there are many pages of bibliography and filmography.
Each chapter closes with the invocation of a godfather and godmother of gothic rock;
Jacques Brel or Maria Callas thus rub shoulders with Marc Almond or Diamanda Galas.
But these irreverences obey a smiling logic.
Unsworth portrays the occurrences of (generally) kids from the provinces who form bands,
fanzines
, sessions in nightclubs, independent labels, and concert promoters.
We sense that they are going to stumble over many stones: drugs, egos, money.
Indeed, they stumble and fall.
Few have demonstrated the strength of a Nick Cave, who has maintained his creative search across three continents, overcoming a thousand disasters and renewing his accomplice.
It's a small compensation, Unsworth thinks, against Australia's main export: the evil Rupert Murdoch.
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