Encyclopedia Gothica (25 page)

Black Planet

Words and music by Andrew Eldritch and Wayne Hussey

Copyright © 1985 ELDRITCH BOULEVARD LTD. and UNIVERSAL MUSIC PUBLISHING MGB LTD.

All rights for ELDRITCH BOULEVARD LTD. in the United States and Canada controlled and administered by UNIVERSAL – POLYGRAM INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHING, INC.

All rights for UNIVERSAL MUSIC PUBLISHING MGB LTD. in the United States and Canada controlled and administered by UNIVERSAL MUSIC – MGB SONGS

All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Reprinted by permission of Hal Leonard Corporation

Goth Girls in the California Sun

Words and music by David Haskins

Copyright © 2002 Urbane Music

All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Reprinted by permission of David Haskins

Liisa Ladouceur
is a music and unpopular culture journalist, a poet, and a Goth. A former Goth zine publisher, she has examined the subculture for various newspapers and magazines and been called upon as a recognized expert on radio and television including MuchMusic, Newsworld, CTV and TVO.  Her arts reporting has been published in
Eye Weekly
,
National Post
,
THIS Magazine
,
BUST
and
Alternative Press
and she has appeared regularly on MuchMoreMusic and CBC Radio. She is currently known as the Blood Spattered Guide music columnist for
Rue Morgue
, the world’s leading publication for horror in art and culture. Liisa lives in Toronto, Ontario, and still owns a hair crimper.

Gary Pullin
is the art director for
Rue Morgue
magazine, and his work can be seen at
www.ghoulishgary.com
. He lives in Toronto, ON.

This book would not have been possible without the support of many colleagues and friends, and the writing on Goth that came before it.

Firstly, to the team at ECW Press, particularly Michael Holmes for saying yes and Crissy Boylan for making it better with her keen eye. And to Gary Pullin for his incredibly wicked illustrations. It’s an honour to work with you all.

Of the many excellence reference tomes on Gothic music and culture already penned, I drew inspiration and information from
Dark Entries: Bauhaus and Beyond
by Ian Shirley,
The Dark Reign of Gothic Rock: In the Reptile House with The Sisters of Mercy, Bauhaus and The Cure
by Dave Thompson,
Rip it Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978–1984
by Simon Reynolds,
Goth Chic: A Connoisseur’s Guide to Dark Culture
by Gavin Baddeley and
The Goth Bible
by Nancy Kilpatrick, as well as the archives of alt.gothic,
goth.net
,
waningmoon.org
and
Propaganda
,
Ghastly
,
Permission
,
Gothic Beauty
,
NME
,
Sounds
and
Melody Maker
magazines.

I would not have been in the position to write this book without being Goth in the first place, so thanks to the DJs who changed the soundtrack of my life: The Brother, Denise Benson, Dani “Alternative Bedtime Hour” Elwell, DJ Iain, TK Kelly, Mitch “Beyond the Gates of Hell” Krol, DJ Lazarus, Lord Pale, Ivan Palmer, Paul and John from Empire Mondays, Mr. Pete, Scary Lady Sarah, Stephen Scott, DJ Shannon and Chris Sheppard. And most especially the dearly missed Martin Streek, who was not Goth but knew that every day could be Halloween but Halloween was the best day of all.

Of equal importance in my Gothucation were the many cut ’n’ pasted photocopied zines that filled my mailbox and captured my imagination throughout the 1990s.
Theatre of the Night
,
Nyx Obscura
,
Among the Ruins
,
Thistle
and the rest: R.I.P.

For valuable assistance during the process of getting this out of my head and onto the published page: Gillian Holmes, Stacey Mitsopulos and Tony Burgess, my Goth reading team of Stephanie “50footqueenie” Quinlan, Laura “Morbid Outlook” McCutchan and Sharon “Not a Goth” Hughes, plus the many Goths around the planet I hassled.

Finally, I am lucky to have people in my life who’ve long supported me and my writing. Much gratitude to my girlfriends Sharon, Carol, Andrea, Karen and Ankixa, who I can always count on for adventures and who would never try to stop me from riding a bike in a velvet cloak. To the Royal Sarcophagus Society, because Art Saves. To the truly incredible Deane, who always knew I had it in me and never let me forget it and for being the boy who would let me paint his nails black. To my black cat, Nisha, for the incessant hugs. And to my mother, Marie, who may not be much of a reader but knew enough to instill in me a love of language early on and who always stuck up for me and my wacky Goth hairdos. I love you all.

Text copyright © Liisa Ladouceur, 2011

Illustrations copyright © Gary Pullin, 2011

Published by ECW Press

2120 Queen Street East, Suite 200, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4E 1E2

416-694-3348/
[email protected]

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any process — electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise — without the prior written permission of the copyright owners and ECW Press. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Ladouceur, Liisa

Encyclopedia Gothica / Liisa Ladouceur.

ISBN 978-1-77041-024-4

Also issued as: 978-1-77090-080-6 (PDF); 978-1-77090-079-0 (ePUB)

1. Goth culture (Subculture)—Encyclopedias. I. Title.

HM646.L33    2011 306’.103    C2011-902859-X

Editors: Michael Holmes and Crissy Boylan

Cover and interior illustrations: Gary Pullin

Text design: Tania Craan

Typesetting: Gail Nina

Author image: House of Pomegranates

Production: Troy Cunningham

The publication of
Encyclopedia Gothica
has been generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts which last year invested $20.1 million in writing and publishing throughout Canada, and by the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for our publishing activities, and the contribution of the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit. The marketing of this book was made possible with the support of the Ontario Media Development Corporation.