bandwagon's full, please catch another

(Bandom lyrics used as a title for a cranky goth post = EPIC WIN, Y/Y?)

There are at least two different groups I'm part of on FB where guys have very vehemently espoused that if you don't listen to "goth music", you can't call yourself a goth. It doesn't matter if you have a darker aesthetic, are interested in gothic art, fashion, mourning traditions and history, literature ... nope, the only marker for Being A Goth is "goth music". Which, of course, I find laughable and annoying. But there's no convincing these guys that their opinions are maybe the tiniest bit claustrophobic and reductive. Not to mention I got tired of participating in this discussion back in ... '98? 2000? Whenever peak Usenet alt.gothic was.

Or, as I commented in a friend's DW: I just realized the argument I could make in at least one of those discussions: the song that is widely acknowledged as THE flashpoint for "goth music" is about an actor from a b&w horror classic, based on a classic gothic novel. "Bela Lugosi's Dead", by Bauhaus.