Saturday 23 March 2013

Gothic aesthetics in song lyrics

Now, I do not know a lot about music, but I started to wonder some things when I heard one particular pop-music song. I started to think about lyrics in songs made by artists who are considered goth or bands that make gothic music.

The music in itself can vary from ethereal 80's goth music to 2000's more faster beat. But there has to be something that makes it creepy, a touch of eerie. It is hard to describe, but you know how in a otherwise perfectly normal lullaby there is one note, that strikes wrong, or too late? Then it makes the whole song somehow wrong and agonizing. 

But how about lyrics? There is no strict guidelines of how many times there has to be mentioned for example 'blood' or 'fear' or another keyword that frequently appears in the work of old masters. I do not think you can measure the gothness of some song in the way linguistics try. But if there is some spooky things mentioned, it can hardly be a bad thing. Besides, 'blood' and 'fear' are frequent visitors in rap music and opera music too.

My point is that it all comes to the interpretation the listener does. In the same way with that example of a lullaby, there can be something almost hidden creepiness in the lyrics. Something that makes it break the normality, makes the interpretation twisted. Also, if the title of the song and the lyrics are in a contradiction, it makes the song twisted. For example if the lyrics start to describe a pretty normal afternoon about a couple called Peterson, and the title is 'Slaughter of Mrs. Peterson' it makes the listener expect something horrific is going to happen, right? It makes the whole song more creepy, especially if the end of the song is somehow metaphorical and can be interpreted in many ways, one of them being something violent.

So what have we learned of this babbling of mine? That constructing one's identity too strictly ('I listen only Goth bands!') is not that fruitful. A goth can find gothic aesthetics from places others might not, and therefore enjoy of them too. It doesn't make those things 'Goth', but it doesn't make the person who is enjoying of them a 'non-goth' either.

And last, some lyrics that I think have something in common.


I wanna taste you but your lips are venomous poison
You're poison running through my veins
You're poison I don't wanna break these chains

- Alice Cooper, Poison -



Kiss me, ki-ki-kiss me
Infect me with your love and
Fill me with your poison

Take me, ta-ta-take me
Wanna be a victim
Ready for abduction

- Katy Perry, E.T. -



You are the perfect drug the perfect drug 
The perfect drug
The perfect drug
The perfect drug

Take me with you 
Without you everything just falls apart 
It's not as much fun to pick up the pieces

- NIN, The Perfect Drug -



I don't know about others, but I think the one in the middle is almost as creepy as the others two.

Thursday 21 March 2013

The Professor's Monthly Homework Assignment: Spring



Our lovely professor has given the Monthly Assignment and this time it is Spring! What does it mean to us, what do we like about it? Go and check what other participants think of spring too!

I like spring, because then one doesn't have to wear endless layers off winter clothes and ugly but sensible boots. Instead one can wear lovely high heels. These green beauties are made of silk, so one can hardly wear them if it is even the smallest chance of rain.

I have waited so long to use these again!
Spring is also the time of rebirth, the season of finding a mate and everybody's got their hormones all wind up and I am not sure if I personally like it. Usually I have not been affected by it that badly, but now this spring I got this feeling I'm like a bloody high-school student, slave to one's hormones and way too easily infatuated. It is annoying, but at the same time quite nice. Of coarse I have a hard time admitting it publicly, it makes me feel so embarrassed. Yeah, I've been listening to this song a lot, because I am starting to feel a bit obsessed.

And last, a nice picture of flowers.


Friday 15 March 2013

CorpGoth's Mid-Month Status Report: March forward!


It is once again time of CorpGoth's Mid-Month Status Report! This time the task is to show our work shoes, meaning the ones we use everyday due to the realities of walking long distances or dress code or other reasons. You can find other participants from here, go check their shoes too!

I live in a cold and bleak city, where is snow and hale and slush snow, and they can change from one to the other within a week. For the last six months I've been walking to the university or to the shops and other places, because it was just two kilometers from my old flat. This means that I walked from 4 to 8 kilometers daily, so the shoes had to be comfortable.


One can clearly see, that those shoes are used and the surface is slightly damaged. They have served me well, but I hope I find better ones before winter comes back and buries me into her cold whiteness again.

Now that I live 400 meters away from the university, I shall be able to use more high heals. Also, the spring is coming, so soon I do not need to worry about snow and icy roads anymore. These boots are lovely, but there is one slight problem. I found them at a flea market and they are one size too big for me. Therefore my ankles start to hurt, if I walk with them too long. I shall try to figure some way to make them more my size, so that I can wear them as "work shoes". I wonder if somewhere they sell some sort of ankle support thingies I could wear inside the shoe.


Friday 8 March 2013

Hierarchy of needs, aka. how important aesthetics are for goths?

This post is mainly inspired by the fact that I moved into a new flat almost two weeks ago. I guess it is relevant to tell, that my common-law marriage ended in last September and I had to live in the old flat till February because the rental contract was determined to that month and there would have been financial sanctions if I had broken the contract before that.  But that's enough about the private life of Jade!

I have been awfully busy with the whole operation of moving for the last month and I felt completely exhausted. So, instead of organizing the fridge or other more urgent matters, I started to hang paintings and photos on walls.



It made me think Maslow's hierarchy of needs. For those who do not know it, or just can't remember at the moment, here is a nice information package. According to Maslow, physiological needs like food and shelter are the base of human's needs and the last priority is self-actualization, which includes creativity.

This is an old theory and there has been criticism against it. The prioritization can vary in different circumstances and I started to wonder, is my circumstance altered, or in what stage of need the environments physical attractiveness is situated. The aesthetic nature of a human's environment is not mentioned in the bottom portion of Maslow's triangle, so I assume it is considered to be a part of self-actualization, since making one's home cozy is expressing one-self.

Kitchen. The chandelier is owned by the other roommate.


I am bold enough to claim that in goth culture the aesthetic has a big role. At least for me personally it has an important part in my life and luckily my new roommates approve my sense of decor in the no man's land (aka. living room, kitchen and corridor). I am not ashamed to confess, that I get sings of depression if my environment is ugly. Or if I can not dress at least in a moderately gothic way. I'm not saying that all goths are vain or disturbingly attached to pretty objects, but I think it is sort of a part of the sub-culture to have the tendency to appreciate twisted beauty.

The corridor. 
 The corridor would be so depressing, if there weren't some paintings or the cages on the dresser, don't you think?

Close-up. In the cage is a fluffy chlamydia bacterium.

 For last but not least, my worktable. I decided to hang on the wall a drawing made by a friend, since it has been away from the walls for nearly a year. I like it very much, it is sad and beautiful at the same time. I need some beauty in front of my table, since I must spend a lot of time there doing my Bachelor's thesis and other essays. As seen in the picture, the table is already in a mess.


Also, the painting is not tilted, it just looks like it thanks to the point I took the photo from. Thank you for reading and next time it is CorpGoth's Mid-Moth Status Report!