'Encyclopedia Gothica' Brings Definition to Halloween

Goth journalist, and sometime-Spinner scribe, Liisa Ladouceur recently released the 'Encyclopedia Gothica,' an astoundingly complete compendium of all things black and scary. Though the book extends far beyond Goth music, we've pulled together a special Halloween-themed collection of musical encyclopedic excerpts. Enjoy! (Mwa-ha-ha!)


Horror Punk: Style of punk rock attributed to the Misfits and practiced by their clones in which almost every song is about a monster or other creepy character from a horror film or comic and features a spirited chorus of "whoa-oh-ohs!" Horror Punk rockers look quite a bit like Death Rockers (i.e. one can never have too many skull T-shirts), but the music is quite a bit goofier.

Astbury, Ian: British singer (b. May 14, 1962) best known as the leader of the Cult. Wolf child, howler of hymns, shaker of hips and tambourines, Astbury is one of many credited with the first use of the word Goth in a musical context, although by the time he called singer Andi Sex Gang and his followers Goth in 1982, the term was already in use so its probably a bit of revisionism on his part. His contributions came from writing classic songs like 'She Sells Sanctuary' and making it acceptable to wear aviator sunglasses and fur hats to a Goth show. Less influential, his post-Cult project Holy Barbarians and a stint fronting the Doors ("of the 21st Century"). Still, the man's got attitude, soul and a vocal style that is unmatched. Don't count him out for a resurrection.

Limelight: New York City nightclub and concert venue operating from 1983 to 2007, part of a chain run by club kingpin Peter Gatien. For once, Goths got to play in a big budget building: a renovated Gothic church boasting spiral stairs, dark and secret passageways, a dungeon crypt, a H.R. Geiger-designed room, balconies for the voyeurs and a Goth-friendly booking policy that brought live performances by the likes Marilyn Manson, KMFDM and London After Midnight and the longstanding weekly DJ party Communion. In North America's Goth heyday of the 1990s, a mecca of sports for those looking to see and be seen. Today, houses a boutique shopping mall.

Love and Rockets: British post-post-punk group formed by ex-Bauhaus members Daniel Ash (vocals, guitar), David J (bass, vocals) and Kevin Haskins (drums) in 1985. Debut album 'Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven featured the glorious break-up ballad of doom 'Haunted When the Minutes Drag,' but Love and Rockets are the least Goth and most musically inventive -- and subsequently most commercially successful -- of all Bauhaus-related projects. Still, very much adored, because Goths need to smile and rock out, too. Sadly, despite some one-off reunion shows, seems to be defunct.

Ogre, Nivek: Canadian singer/actor (ne Kevin Ogilvie, b. December 5, 1962) generally referred to as Ogre. Best known as the vocalist for Skinny Puppy, although the type of vocalizing he's famous for would hardly be called "singing" by most people's parents: guttural, heavily distorted, scream-of-conscience howling that suits his stage moniker. His live performance style is a horror film made flesh: masks, fake blood, throwing himself into terrifying set-pieces about vivisection and other gruesome delights. A prankster, a recovered drug addict, an animal rights activist, an icon.

Wilson, Tony: The man who brought Joy Division to the world (1950 -- 2007). For a dramatized account of his life as a TV personality and co-founder of Factory Records, see the film '24 Hour Party People.' Buried at Southern Cemetery, Cholton-cum-Hardy, Lancashire.

Emo: Not Goth.

Everyday is Halloween: Song by American industrial band Ministry, originally released in 1984 as a 12" single on emerging Chicago indie label Wax Trax!, later reissued on the compilation 'Twelve Inch Singles.' With its bouncy synthpop rhythms and lyrics about woe-begotten Goth life, it's up there with 'Bela Lugosi's Dead' on the shortlist of universal Goth anthems, and probably outstrips the former as the single most played in Goth clubs worldwide, not only on Halloween but, yes, everyday.

Nine Inch Nail: American industrial music project led by Trent Reznor since 1988, commonly abbreviated as NIN. Half the people reading this book worship the guy; the other half strongly believe he's not Goth at all and would sword-fight you about it. Count me as Team Reznor: as the most commercially successful industrial music artist of all time, he's done more to put the genre out into the universe than everyone else combined. He's genuinely emotionally tortured (or was, when he wrote hits like the universal ballad of despair 'Hurt') and bleeds his self-deprecation, his depression, his social anxieties into violent, noisy, eerie, erotic sonic experiments that you can sing and dance along to. If Joy division is Goth, so is Nine Inch Nails.

Buy 'Encyclopedia Gothica' at ECW Press or a bookstore near you or online.

Excerpted from the book ENCYCLOPEDIA GOTHICA by Liisa Ladouceur, with illustrations by Gary Pullin. Copyright © Liisa Ladouceur 2011. Published by ECW Press. Used with permission.