Share with us the finest songs by the also-ran goth bands of the 80s

like Skeletal Family:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41AqlPjc-Wc

i'm sorry, dull grey afternoons just have this effect on me

Yorkshire's answer to the edge in that video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTpi8wkXfKA

this song still sounds better than the sisters

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKW3YOr4kkg

wonder if that guy had any birthday party records

I'm pretty sure I've never heard a Skeletal Family song before. That's great!

yeah, even the terrible video is quite charming

They are totally wanna-be-Siouxsie featuring wanna-be Edge.

influence-spotting is some of the fun with this stuff it's true

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2-keONyPU4

^ think this was the Danse Society's second or third single? most of their early stuff was p. good afaict

more of a hardcore/deathrock crossover thing, but uber-classic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4z5_lCrEH8

in the 80s on the beach in LA while visiting my Dad I met these goth kids whose parents were fundamentalists, and the parents had brought in an exorcist to "heal" their rooms of dark energy. They were androgynous boys with HUGE hair dressed in black, and they gave me a tape with this band on it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV0t_NEvBT8

haha, enjoyed both of those a lot! i know NOTHING about the 80s us goth scene

"Finest song" is a stretch, as is their gothness maybe, but this video is a hoot. I saw these guys play a time or two back in the day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lePhHOI3pWk

Does The Bolshoi count? They're on the Goth Box and all but there are some controversial choices on that tracklist. Still, this song rules:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FzFu-ze8pA

that morticia thing was revolting! a little bit too cabaret for me perhaps

will always love trevor tanner's hammy performance in that bolshoi video btw

45 Grave!!! kind of a hardcore/goth crossover

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=45+grave

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTgDfSF_2Pk

actually i'm a fine one to talk about cabaret

oh yeah 45 Grave and Sex Gang Children are key

it's a stretch, but it's 80s and very very goth and wasn't nearly as popular/noticed as it should have been until the recent reissue, so:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-D-QgbSUslo

(it's holger czukay and conny plank under the alias of Les Vampyrettes)

^ yes, that is the best!

Ausgang? More like BAUhausgang, amirite?

(I just googled looking for the Soul Merchants' Country Lane, but apparently that's so also-ran it's not even on YouTube)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOPEIMpJQ4A

more pioneers than also-rans, shame about the grotty sound

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9xhZ1YeqC4

snakedance baby

"Promised Land" was the first thing I thought of when I saw this thread!

btw it drives me crazy when people post youtubes on list threads and don't write the name of the thing they're linking to

March Violets OTM, Specimen too, jeez it's like high school all over again

Asylum Party - Julia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeZtT8zBaZU

btw it drives me crazy when people post youtubes on list threads and don't write the name of the thing they're linking to

mea culpa, it's bad form i know

Short Romans - Black Day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGrmX3IQdTg

goofy german dudes, every single other song of their's i've ever heard is terrible, but i really liked this one at the time

haha so it IS okay to post the Goth Box tracklist here, so here's some Gene Loves Jezebel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1Lt_yl749c

i don't even know what the goth box is, so fill yer boots

DUDE

http://www.amazon.com/Life-Less-Lived-Gothic-Box/dp/B000GIWS4M/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1412964645&sr=1-2&keywords=goth+box

gothness of said box is not in debate, give or take a bunnyman or two

certain bands i was sort of into at the time but in hindsight they were such rubbish

balaam and the angel anyone?

and i never did find out what the good rose of avalanche songs were

guh, flesh for lulu

did james ray do anything good outside of 'giving ground'?

hahaha I was about to mention Flesh For Lulu

I still remember how excited I was after the Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink soundtracks to get my hands on the Some Kind of Wonderful soundtrack; I got to the Flesh For Lulu song before going "NO" and turning it off; I don't think I've ever actually heard the whole thing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiCpfZXjbsk

Kommunity FK - Something Inside Me Has Died

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qgFGqJz9yc

Anyone else remember Zerra One?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDNixynsek0

re: Red Lorry Yellow Lorry - this song still sounds better than the sisters

I would listen to ALL THE RED LORRY YELLOW LORRY before I feel exhausted enough to dig into the Sisters. (On that note, I'd then listen to ALL THE SISTERS OF MERCY before I'm relegated to listening to The Mission.)

ooh if we get to put Gene Loves Jezebel on here, we gotta have their John Hughes-movie-esque slowjam:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FtiwM7KjsA

not only do i remember zerra one, but i also had the dubious pleasure of seeing them live once. more of a u2 big music thing than goth though, despite the haircuts

i had that gene loves jezebel album, that song is reminding me of bunnymen tune but i can't recall which one

their voices are great btw, welsh accents and all

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o1hDowtSvU

original version of desire gets my vote as the best glj song

I stand by GLJ's first overall album Promise as utterly unhinged in the best goddamn way. Dare you to play this loud at work if you're still there and see what happens, one after the other -- "Screaming for Emmalene/Scheming."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0EesVsgc9Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYwKHmCUaVI

i am at home. i made it three minutes into the second song before my wife started yelling at me from the other room. thanks for posting those though, i really enjoyed them. sounds much better to me now than it did to my 14 yr old ears, kind of like my experience with 'the top'

i am liking this thread, possibly way more than is socially acceptable

thinking of other 80s things which might fit here either sonically (the bleaker end of post-punk/looser end of coldwave) or in amounts of eyeliner worn (silly vampire synth-pop i love you) but y'know I wasn't therrrre man* and do not wish to diminish the realness of this thread by my dumb post-hoc connections

* by only a handful of years, in case this seems like a "o i am just barely on the other side of <Real 80s Goth cut-off age>" humblebrag, but a whole lot of earth-salting happened in those years

anyway thanks very much, great thread, please keep it up!

trying to think of more US bands that fit in here... Spahn Ranch? Christian Death? TSOL circa Dance With Me?

also some of the bands here:

http://www.discogs.com/Various-Hell-Comes-To-Your-House-Part-II/release/979347

les vampyrettes has been a favourite of mine for years tho its a little strange to see such an alpha as fuck lineup as conny & holger in amongst these minority interest types

thinking of other 80s things which might fit here either sonically (the bleaker end of post-punk/looser end of coldwave) or in amounts of eyeliner worn (silly vampire synth-pop i love you) but y'know I wasn't therrrre man* and do not wish to diminish the realness of this thread by my dumb post-hoc connections

there was lots of bleed round the edges i think. i mean, this to me is as goth as fuck and you can bet that the everyone there owned a siouxsie album or six but also it's something else entirely...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClInH1P7q14

that's pariah by danielle dax btw crut

more birthday party swamp punk types:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hwHSytI_Vo

Inca Babies - She Mercenary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2JWl9O8YpA

Bone Orchard - Shall I Carry The Budgie Woman?

minority interest, pah

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWKv_O0vzQ4

Play Dead - Walk Away

didn't like these dingles much but this performance is yer authentic chicken dancing goth rock plod

trisomie 21 the last song

only heard it for the first time recently and am *really* into it (mainly that bass)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3ZVZVMIG7g

This youtube is really crappy, but the Thing from the Crypt version of Sad Lovers and Giants' "Clint" is the perfect midpoint between "Just Like Heaven" and "They Walked in Line". Which is everything I want from second-tier goth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMGsUZD99kk

yeah in no way was I calling holger and conny "also rans", but Les Vampyrettes as a release was pretty low-profile because of the pseudonym and (maybe?) distro at the time of its release? At any rate that band under that name wasn't "Famous" in the Goth canon in the way that other things were.

I assume Christian Death were so popular that they don't belong in this thread either, honestly. Gonna blast "Spiritual Cramp" now in honor of Rozz.

Does this count as also-ran? (Also how do I get the YouTube to embed?)

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/5IbhQFmXsZc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

http://youtu.be/5IbhQFmXsZc

Here are a few of my favorite synth pop hits for goths.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4gBCSY7UtI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqNoulVpE4s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htTvjk0FvoI

This actually came out 2 years after "Inbetween Days"

The Essence - "Only For You"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeieB08pwAA

i find it hard to be particularly strident before 8 in the morning but that trisomie 21 song is fucking great. bassline plus the thin metal sheets of sumner-esque guitar that come in every now and again. also it goes on for about 100 years, stuck in loop like yr trapped in a goth hall of mirrors

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLcU3oiPh-8

more danielle dax, moving away from the artier stuff and trying to break through

gah, wrong song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU6dIBK7_ig

danielle dax - cathouse

trying to think of more US bands that fit in here... Spahn Ranch? Christian Death? TSOL circa Dance With Me?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU0ibrQ2JQQ

Mighty Sphincter - Ghost Walking

Teahouse Camp - To Kill, Stab in Back

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLPufR5bNQU

As for American bands - here's a song by Eleven Sons:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aoprinou0WQ

Stiff Kittens - Contempt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxE5gYtLhsg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U9M6e4bOpc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iXfM0ZSmPY&list=PL6DA530F0763B78A3&index=33

Academy of Unrest - Hope

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3LH9JqHkbs

These 2 songs by The Arch were big at our local goth night:

"Ribdancer"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LehJ55xbcX4

"Babsi Ist Tot"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cOX0wO92Lc

The Neon Judgement also had huge club hits here:

"Tomorrow In The Papers"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvYpFw474Ss

"Miss Brown"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJiH-IxqG_U

"Chinese Black"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=736B1FWm1AM

and probably their biggest one, "TV Treated"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRSz-qECBXE

I remember this period like it was yesterday. Have 1919 shown up yet, my brother liked them (they sounded like Killing Joke basically)

Trisomie 21 also had "La Fête Triste" and "Logical Animals"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rfxf8PQi5B4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfzTvUlI96E

(xp) ... and Play Dead, yeah he liked them too!

on the borderline as they were v popular but hey

x-mal deutschland "polarlicht"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5q8cmQ-nXYU

or x-mal douchebag as some ilxor once renamed them. need to check the last batch on a computer that works, but in honour of this thread I bought a death cult ep today - one pound! passed on a philip boa & the voodoo club album though, did I do wrong?