So, is Marilyn Manson goth? No more or less so than Sisters of Mercy, Fields of the Nephilim, The Cure, etc. Does Marilyn Manson have some gothic songs? I'd say absolutely yes. Many of their songs incorporate dark subject matter; their dress has fallen into many different styles of goth fashion; they may be popular, but they're still outside the mainstream. I've never heard anyone in the band describing themselves as goth, so for everyone with a hard on for bands so goth they deny that they're goth (cough-Sisters of Mercy-cough-The Cure-cough), Marilyn Manson fits into that too. I've seen it suggested that if a band doesn't claim to be goth they can't be posers... so I guess they're not posers either. I personally think it's nothing more than Manson's popularity that drives people to deny they have anything to do with goth. And I think that's ridiculous in the extreme. Leave the "sell out" propaganda for the punks that goth derived from decades ago.
Based on "Friday I'm in Love," could you really call The Cure goth? "Peek A Boo" from Siouxsie & the Banshees? "Somebody Put Something In My Drink" from Nosferatu? "Spirit" by Bauhaus? These songs are practically bereft of any gothic sentiment or ornament. I cannot bring myself to consider them goth. Many other songs from these bands I do consider goth. This leads me to the only conclusion that can make sense to me: there are no goth bands, but there is goth music.
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