Editing Gothic rock (section)

=== Forerunners (1960s and 1970s) ===
[[File:The Doors in Copenhagen 1968.jpg|thumb|left|[[The Doors]] performing live in 1968. They have been cited as a major influence in the gothic rock genre.]]

Critic John Stickney used the term "gothic rock" to describe the music of [[the Doors]] in October 1967, in a review published in ''[[The Williams Record]]''.<ref name=Stickney>{{cite news|last=Stickney |first=John |date=24 October 1967 |title=Four Doors to the Future: Gothic Rock Is Their Thing |newspaper=[[The Williams Record]] |url=http://mildequator.com/performancehistory/articlesreviews1967.html |access-date=11 March 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130504231130/http://mildequator.com/performancehistory/articlesreviews1967.html |archive-date=4 May 2013}}</ref> Stickney wrote that the band met the journalists "in the gloomy vaulted wine cellar of the [[Trump Park Avenue|Delmonico hotel]], the perfect room to honor the gothic rock of the Doors".<ref name=Stickney/> The author noted that contrary to the "pleasant, amusing [[hippies]]", there was "violence" in their music and a dark atmosphere on stage during their concerts.<ref name=Stickney/> Stickney ultimately titled his article, "Four Doors to the Future: Gothic Rock Is Their Thing".<ref name=Stickney/> 

[[File:David-Bowie Early.jpg|thumb|right|150px|[[David Bowie]] influenced the post-punk bands that helped spawn the gothic rock genre]]

Musicians who initially shaped the aesthetics and musical conventions of gothic rock include [[Marc Bolan]],<ref name="A Life Less Lived">{{cite book |last=Reynolds |first=Simon |authorlink=Simon Reynolds |date=26 March 2008 |title=A Life Less Lived: The Gothic Box  |work=Blender}}</ref> [[the Velvet Underground]], the Doors, [[David Bowie]], [[Brian Eno]], and [[Iggy Pop]].<ref name=North>{{cite journal |last=North |first=Richard |date=19 February 1983 |title=Punk Warriors |journal=[[NME]]}}</ref> Journalist [[Kurt Loder]] would write that the song "[[All Tomorrow's Parties]]" by the Velvet Underground is a "mesmerizing gothic-rock masterpiece".<ref>{{cite book |last=Loder |first=Kurt |date=December 1984 |title=[[VU (album)|V.U.]] |publisher=Verve Records |type=album liner notes}}</ref> However, Reynolds considers [[Alice Cooper]] as "the true ungodly godfather of goth" due to his "theatrics and [[Black comedy|black humor]]".<ref name="A Life Less Lived"/>  [[Nico]]'s 1968 album ''[[The Marble Index]]'' is sometimes described as "the first truly gothic album".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Thompson |first1=Dave|last2=Greene|author-link1=Dave Thompson (author)|first2=Jo-Ann |date=November 1994|title=Undead Undead Undead|journal=[[Alternative Press (music magazine)|Alternative Press]]|publisher=Alternative Press Magazine, Inc.}}.</ref> With its stark sound, somber lyrics, and Nico's deliberate change in her look, the album became a crucial music and visual prototype for the gothic rock movement.<ref>{{cite book |last=Unterberger|first=Richie|author-link1=Richie Unterberger|date=1 June 2009|title=White Light/White Heat: The Velvet Underground day-by-day|publisher=Jawbone Press|page=201|isbn=978-1906002220}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-marble-index-mw0000309995 |title=''The Marble Index'' – Nico |last=Unterberger |first=Richie |publisher=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=11 March 2013}}</ref> Gothic rock creates a dark atmosphere by drawing influence from the [[drone music|drones]] used by [[protopunk]] group the Velvet Underground, and many gothic singers are influenced by the "deep and dramatic" vocal timbre of David Bowie, albeit singing at even lower pitches.{{sfn|Charlton|2003|p=353}} Although gothic rock is an offshoot of [[post-punk]],<ref name=gothrockAM>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/style/goth-rock-ma0000002623 |title=Goth Rock |publisher=[[AllMusic]] |accessdate=22 May 2021}}</ref> [[glam rock]] is another forerunner genre of gothic rock.<ref name=story/> ''[[Pitchfork.com|Pitchfork]]'' wrote: "Although it abandoned the psychedelic color palette and exchanged alien worship for a vampire cult, goth kept glam's theatricality intact, as well as its openness to experimentation."<ref name=story>{{cite web |url=https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/the-story-of-goth-in-33-songs/ |title=The Story of Goth in 33 Songs |work=[[Pitchfork.com|Pitchfork]] |date=25 October 2017 |accessdate=22 May 2021}}</ref> In April 1977, critic [[Dave Marsh]] of ''[[The Morning Record]]''  described [[Philip Glass]]'s current album ''North Star'' as "the best neo-Gothic rock since [[John Cale]] and [[Terry Riley]]'s ''[[Church of Anthrax]]'', or more appropriately, the first couple of Doors albums".<ref>{{cite work|first=Dave|last=Marsh|title=Record Reviews - Philip Glass ''North Star''|work=[[The Morning Record and Journal]] |date=April 16, 1977 |page=46}}</ref> Reynolds retrospectively described [[Kate Bush]]'s 1978 song "[[Wuthering Heights (song)|Wuthering Heights]]" as "Gothic romance distilled into four-and-a-half minutes of gaseous rhapsody".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/aug/21/kate-bush-queen-of-art-pop-defied-critics-london-concerts |author=Reynolds, Simon |title=Kate Bush, the queen of art-pop who defied her critics |work=The Guardian|date=21 August 2014 |access-date=10 March 2016}}</ref>

In the late 1970s, the word "gothic" was used to describe the atmosphere of [[post-punk]] bands like [[Siouxsie and the Banshees]], [[Magazine (band)|Magazine]] and [[Joy Division]]. In a live review about a Siouxsie and the Banshees' concert in July 1978, critic [[Nick Kent]] wrote that concerning their performance, "parallels and comparisons can now be drawn with gothic rock architects like the Doors and, certainly, early Velvet Underground".<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Kent |first=Nick |title=Banshees make the Breakthrough [live review - London the Roundhouse 23 July 1978] |magazine=[[NME]] |date=29 July 1978}}</ref> In March 1979, Kent used the gothic adjective in his review of Magazine's second album, ''[[Secondhand Daylight]]''. Kent noted that there was "a new austere sense of authority" to their music, with a "dank neo-Gothic sound".<ref name=magazine>{{cite magazine |last=Kent |first=Nick |title=Magazine's Mad Minstrels Gains Momentum (Album review) |magazine=[[NME]] |date=31 March 1979 |page=31}}</ref> The second Siouxsie and the Banshees album, also released in 1979, was a precursor in several aspects. For journalist [[Alexis Petridis]] of ''[[The Guardian]]'', "A lot of musical signifiers... – scything, effects-laden guitar, pounding tribal drums – are audible, on... ''[[Join Hands]]''".<ref name=petridis>{{cite news |first=Alexis |last=Petridis|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/apr/26/goth-life-fields-nephilim|title=Goth for life |newspaper=The Guardian|date=26 April 2012 |access-date=2 September 2017}}</ref> In September, Joy Division's manager [[Tony Wilson]] described their music as "gothic" on the television show ''[[Something Else (TV series)|Something Else]]'',<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMRZROGtm1Q  | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/QMRZROGtm1Q| archive-date=11 December 2021 | url-status=live|title=Something Else [featuring Joy Division] |publisher=BBC television [archive added on youtube] |date=15 September 1979 |quote=Because it is unsettling, it is like sinister and gothic, it won't be played. [interview of Joy Division's manager Tony Wilson next to Joy Division's drummer Stephen Morris from 3:31]}}{{cbignore}}</ref> and their producer [[Martin Hannett]] described their style as "dancing music with gothic overtones".{{sfn|Reynolds|2005|p=420}} In 1980, ''[[Melody Maker]]'' wrote that "Joy Division are masters of this gothic gloom".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Bohn |first=Chris |date=16 February 1980 |title=Joy Division: University of London Union – Live Review |journal=[[Melody Maker]]}}</ref> When their final album ''[[Closer (Joy Division album)|Closer]]'' came out a couple of months after the [[suicide]] of their singer [[Ian Curtis]], ''[[Sounds (magazine)|Sounds]]'' noted in its review that there were "dark strokes of gothic rock".<ref>{{cite journal |last=McCullough |first=Dave |date=26 July 1980 |title=Closer to the Edge |journal=[[Sounds (magazine)|Sounds]] |quote=Young men in dark silhouettes, some darker than others, looking inwards, looking out, discovering the same horror and describing it with the same dark strokes of gothic rock.}}</ref>