I don't remember goths being miserable at all, the ones I met were all really humorous. Yeah, the music was dark, but I don't see taking an interest in 'dark' concepts as a sign of being po-faced. I always thought Smashing Pumpkins and Teenage Fanclub fans were the worst, now there was a fucking mass misery train. There used to be a load of teenage goths in Luton who lived in an abandoned house near Stopsley in the early 90s, they were always mucking about. The only time I saw one of them cry was on her 18th birthday, when she'd had too much snakebite, apparently it was cos "I can't be the dancing queen anymore!". Regarding the alleged inherent whiteness of the scene, my mate Jason, who's 2nd gen Jamaican, has everything Bauhaus and Siouxsie ever recorded.
Similarly, I grew up on a street in the early 80s where, one month, there'd be a load of kids with pink hair, CND badges and leather jackets hanging around outside Forbuoys. Then, a few months later, same kids would still be there, but with crop cuts and harrington jackets. They'd be like, 'Skinheads, skinheads, na na na na na na!" We were like, I thought you were into Greenpeace? There was way more crossover than the self-appointed historians let on. Ever seen pics of die-hard Trojan skinhead Tim Wells when he was a teenager? He's got a cut off denim jacket, spikey hair and a Motorhead T-shirt!
The great unsung goth LP is "Wonderful and Frightening World of the Fall"
