Unlike mainstream American culture, in goth culture, age is status. Ask a Goth how old an Eldergoth is, and it will respond with its own age as the minimum. Goths find a way to insert how long they have been gothic into any conversation. “I’m getting old. I’ve been coming to this club since it opened eight years ago!” If you happen to know the place opened five years ago, do not mention this. It will only incite either a) bitching about the club, “I guess it just seems like eight years because the club has gotten lame!” or b) further reference to age, “I must have forgotten because I’m getting so old.”
If you are sick of cultural youth obsession and wish to infiltrate the Goth social scene to gain elder status, be sure to do your research first. You must claim to have attended at least one seminal event in goth history where no one can verify your attendance, i.e. the Siouxsie and the Banshees tour when Robert Smith of The Cure played guitar, or a Joy Division concert. Then have a plausible excuse for your absence in social circles since the event: moved to a remote castle in Romania; married someone who wouldn’t let you express your true self; stayed home obsessively creating art; or was “sick of the drama.” Exercise caution. If you are over 40 and aren’t currently in a band or live in Los Angeles, you may become “the creepy one” or “the late bloomer” in the goth scene.
photo by pusgums
Oh, dear. That one hits where it hurts! What is the name for the emotion “mortified with shame but laughing helplessly”?
There is definitely some truth to this. As the years go on , you can’t help but bitch about how your “club” used to be”. It’s inevitable that things change, evolve and are never the same.
I find myself (at 34) saying that exact stuff…. “You should have seen this place 9 years ago…” or something similar. All you can do is push on forward and find stuff you like, gothic/industrial clubs will always be around in one form or another.
Mutually pleasurable bitching about Andrew Eldritch and how he bites the hand that feeds him/we own his soul anyway is also pretty popular among the Elder set. I’ve never seen that conversation fail to amuse and excite.
I stumbled across “you know you’re old when…” on a different site of yours while looking for a new purple hair dye brand. I tinkled in my panties laughing with something like nostalgia at the references to Rit, markers, and Jell-O; I also used blue mascara. It made me wonder if there would ever be a market for goth `depends’? Perhaps with corset lacing?
Jezabel