In comments, Eldritch and I were discussing why some bands seem reluctant to call themselves "goth" even though they seem to have that style.
Eldritch gave the example of Dr Arthur Krause who said "Some people call it goth and we are fine with that."
I note that the TRAITRS song I just posted sounds a lot like early Cure, but their bandcamp page labels it as "punk / coldwave / post-punk".
Is that kinda thing common? If so why?
Look Siouxsie straight in the eye and tell her why.
I think it stems more from the Victorian Gothic than it does the Visigoths. A lot of specific goth fashion and steam punk are Victorian remixes. Frocks, frills, frills, waistcoats, and ruffles all in black. Victorian times also marked a particular obsession with death and the occult. Which should set your goth sensors tingling. Victorian traditions and rituals, surrounding death along with their embrace of death. It was something else. Something eschewed by more squeamish so called proper cultures that came after.
Also didn't you hear? Bella Lugosi's Back. Heh
The use of the term "gothic" in the Victorian era initially meant "barbaric", but people ran with the description and it came to define what you mentioned: the interest in death and the occult, tragedy and darkness.
Good point fair enough LOL