Confessions of a former goth hater.

Isn't it funny how people change? I was watching the final part of VH1's week long metal documentary last night, and the segment about Marilyn Manson portrayed him as a kind of subversive rock and roll Vaudeville act, in the vain of Alice Cooper, or Kiss. Back when I was in high school (95-99), though, I couldn't see the forest for the trees. I couldn't stand the guy, or any his fans. At the time, the social hierarchy of my school went Prep/Athlete, Skater, Punk, Goth, Hippie/Redneck. Having been a punk then, I made life hard for a good number of now former goths who are all in their mid 20s, none of whom I have have seen in close to a decade. And it's a shame! Because now that I 'get' what the goth 'thing' was about, I feel about having been a bully.

marilyn manson is not 'goth' or whatever label is in vogue now. he is a hypocrite and an attention whore who's only good songs were covers of other people's creativity. all of his publicity that i've seen has been about how he's trying to open people's minds and force them to accept other views, blah blah blah, but when he was getting interviewed by someone wearing a crucifix he asked them to put it away, because it offended him.

I don't get into Marilyn, I just like Goth for the girls!

Word! as a matter of fact, Words! Plural!

I was won over by his diatribe in Farenheit 911.

Whatever hate you spread to the Goths, my guess is that they gave it right back to you. Only twice as bad and behind your back. I know because I am one.

mmmmmm.....goth girls....when they don't go over board, they are super hot.

One time, during lunch, I yanked an acoustic guitar out of a goth kid's hands and threw it on the roof of the arts building. Sorry if you used to be a goth and got bullied on for it

Dude! You're like a movie bully. You better call that kid and apologize before he finds you. Its like you ripped out his heart with your sphincter.

he'll be listening to duran duran, and putting on lipstick when you call. then later on, when you're trying to have a showdown against the asshole trying to steal your dad's company, he'll come in and save the day.

I came across of the goths recently. Last fall, I went to a 711, and the counter guy was somebody I used to be really mean to back then. It was unbelieveably awkward.

I don't care about the guy, but I could never do that to a guitar.

I get my revenge on the guys like you in high school on a daily basis... I've owned my own home and been married for 10 years, make lots of money and get to go to work every day dressed pretty much just like I did in high school. Most of the "bullies" are either complete losers or busting their asses in low-mid level corporate jobs and struggling to afford homes in our area.

Nerds of the world UNITE!

one of my favorite sayings about revenge:

'The best revenge is living well.'

fuck you bullies!

Excelsior!

I love you.

You can't forget the blaster with Siouxsie and Dead can Dance...

Fucking exactly.

Thank you, "Goth" died before it even got a name, what people did in the Nineties was just a bunch of hot topic glam bullshit. We used to go to school with our clothes slit up the back, we used to scare the shit out of everyone but the punks who were the only people fucked up enough to be our friends. Even though they hated our music like everyone else.

Now, someone shows up in 400 dollars worth of corporate sponsored b.s. and gets to hear shit like "yer so cool", all you are is a Prep in a different Hue, catch on and burn the institution to the ground.

Agreed.

I was not a Goth, I was one of those outsider people (never in a group really, but I did participate in everything I was able to).

I like Industrial music, I liked the clubs and I liked the dead baby jokes. I also enjoyed the apathy and the diverse social and cultural view points. I liked the wearing of scary halloween makeup on any given day (especially the woochie scars). I loved the idea that the squares thought they/we were evil satanic cannibals. I am a huge fan of horror movies and fiction. I loved going over the fine details of why Cliver Barker is ultimately so much better than his contemporaries

I liked the obsession with death, and the long conversations about Heart of Darkness and Edgar Allen Poe. Trying out various occult rituals and of course there was all the picture taking (that I did not participate in).

Then in college it was even more hard core, walking around late in dangerous parts of the city for shits and giggles, participating in bondage at bondage clubs, trying every drug imaginable (Opium became the holy grail) because of the empty hole that could never be filled.

Smoking because we secretly hoped it would kill us, laughing at pain, because it felt better.

I watched my younger brothers go through school and have them describe their "Goths" What a bunch of wussy sell outs. Totally dissappointing mass market cliche cliquey bullshit. Many of them being just speed freak, wanna be different people who couldn't tell you the difference between an Edgar Allen Poe poem and a quote from Oprah.

Oh well...That is the way it goes.

Is it ok to behave like a monster to someone if they like RnB? Pleeeease...?

What gave you the impression that I was trying to rationalize it? Plus, who among us didn't do dumb shit, in one way or another, in high school?

He actually won me over by going tit for tat with David Letterman. He's one smart cookie. Very observant and intelligent, and he's a pretty good showman. If only his music didn't suck sweaty donkey balls.