Okay, lets go through a few things here that have made me angry.
1:
Metal. It's just as bad. Supposed non-conformity, anarchy, etc. If a metal fan was truly a non-conformist, or anarchist, he would show up to a Varga or Kreator concert wearing a frilly pink tu-tu.
Where the hell did you pull this crap from? Since when is metal about non-conformism and anarchy? If you want to pick vague over-arching things metal is about, hedonism and unity as 'warriors of metal' or whatever is what we're talking about. Metalheads are geeks with attitude and a bit of belligerence who know in their hearts that all men play on ten: they also come in at least six or seven radically different sub-groups, making classifying them all, well stupid. And Anarchy and non-conformism? Since when has metal sung about that? Maybe a very few bands, but then, there are metal bands that sing about things like Lawnmowers, Ducks, Isreali nationalism, hating people called Ben and the purity of German Beer. Please do not confuse 15 year old kids who listen to bands like Trivium with actual metalheads. 'Anarchy and non-conformism' is, I think you'll find, what punk was about (in '77 at least). And I'm fucking sure some people turned up in pink tu-tu's back in the day.
Goth kids wear black. You see, it's a stereotype, but in order to be considered a Goth kid you /have/ to wear black... therefore it is true, 100% of the time. If you just listen to industrial music, exclusively, but dress in cardigans, blazers and khakis, you're not a Goth Kid, therefore you're not /breaking/ the stereotype, rather; you don't fit into the group that the stereotype is based upon.
GOTH KID DOES NOT. EQUAL. GOTH.
GOTH CLOTHES DOES NOT. EQUAL. GOTH.
Now, lets look at some pictures of some industrial, goth and neo-folk musicians:
Genesis P Orridge:
Invented industrial music.
Andrew Eldritch:
Major formulator of the sound of goth rock. Never wore anything more elaborate than big sun-glasses and leathers. Deliberately distances himself from goth (the sign of the truest of true goths).
David Tibet (Current 93):
http://www.arrakis.es/~sdczine/c931.jpgMr. Tibet is almost certainly singing about drowning in the virgin mary's afterbirth or childrens book characters becoming fascist dictators. He is a seminal industrial and neo-folk musician. He is not, however wearing black.
You see, you really don't have to wear black to be goth. You don't have to conform to anything to be goth*. You just have to be
goth, and not a snivelling little git decked out in spikes from Hot Topic. Also, a big Newsflash:
GOTH WAS NEVER ABOUT INDIVIDUALITY.
This was something made up by aforementioned angsty teenage cunts because they didn't understand goth. Goth was always a tribe, and a lot of people who enjoy or even make the music prefer to stay outside this tribe. The whole point of 'goth' (if a subculture whose name is purported to have started as an in-joke about Bauhaus's bassist can actually be said to have a point) was to create a culture, ie a cohesive body of people, that evolved values, etiquettes and moral standards that opposed those of mainstream society.
Also, it gives you an excuse to be really pretentious and smoke a lot of cloves, but that's besides the point. The point I'm trying to make is this: Just because you believe bullshit stereotypes based mainly on the misconceptions and vague jibber-jabberings of pathetic poseurs who wish to be part of groups or cultures they don't understand whilst never really dipping more than a toe outside the mainstream, doesn't make them true or valid. There are certainly a lot of true stereotypes about every subculture, but most of them are in-jokes. The public at large, and the media especially, likes to boil down everything into it's basic components. Remember, the media hasn't even realised emo's exist yet. It still thinks any outlandishly dressed teenager is a goth, and that they all smoke weed and listen to Marilyn Manson.
The only group I've ever found blatant stereotypes to be in any way true for is chavs, and that's only if you recognise the real and important distinction between chavs and townies.
*But you have to like Christian Death, or the other goths poke you.
