Grunge Goth

Now for something much more modern. This Connecticut band sounds kind of like Type O Negative. And that's why I love 'em. The guitars and drums are a little grungier, though, and the singer isn't as derivative as some others I've heard. They're also a lot of fun, as their song titles hint at. They're not even playing together anymore, as of late 2017, but they still make funny, self-depracating posts on Facebook. This song was on their final release, The Fourth Place Concession Prize of Abject Failure, a 4-song EP released in 2017. On Bandcamp, this tune is listed as "Drain Me aka The Tire Marks on Your Dreams and Aspirations."

This is one of my favorite goth bands of the '80s. They typically used a driving guitar sound, and they sounded like a darker version of R.E.M., which was a band that had a large influence on Kurt Cobain. This song, the opener from 1989's Blow , came out of Britain just as Seattle's grunge sound was about to explode across America. It sounds very much like it could've been written by Cobain. I wonder if he'd heard this band much. I was running from a world so cold, I was on the other side ...if love could be an easy game, I'd be in your arms tonight

Ok, let's finally get to a song by one of the icons of grunge, Layne Staley, formerly of Alice in Chains. This song is so grunge goth, it sounds like it could be a cover of an '80s goth rock tune. Not to mention, the song title seems like something an '80s goth band would use. But the vocals are pure grunge, at its finest. Rumor has it that Layne wrote this song about his girlfriend, Demri Parrott, after she left him. As you may know, she died of a heroin dose not long after. And then, some time after that, so did Layne. Then a demon came to him "You must know I'm gonna win"

Now we're talking. Move over, Charon. This is Rozz Freakin' Williams. Doesn't get much more grunge goth than this. And this was way back in 1981, but the band doesn't sound much different from Nirvana, aside from the vocals. There was a version of "Spiritual Cramp" on the Only Theatre of Pain album in '82, but the version I've posted here is the even grungier "Nouvelle version" from the Deathwish  EP, which was recorded before Pain  (1981) but released after it ('84).

The riffs in this song seem more influenced by post-grunge, but this is still pretty grungy, and the vocals certainly sound gothy. Charon was a Finnish band from 1992 to 2011. They started as a death metal band. They didn't stay that way, but the metal background helps give their later poppy, gothy songs a grungy finish. This is from their 2005 album Songs for the Sinners. This song has a lot of lyrics videos on YouTube, so apparently it's popular.

Before Nirvana and Soundgarden, there was Death Cult, formerly Southern Death Cult, who later shortened their name to just The Cult. And before their hit "She Sells Sanctuary," there was their slightly gothier self-titled EP. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if Kurt Cobain and Chris Cornell heard and were influenced by this 1983 release. Here's a bitingly poetic track from the Death Cult EP (and also the reissue, entitled Ghost Dance ) called "Christians." The lyrics make me think of the Jonestown massacre just a few years prior, but they mention Saigon, so they may have been inspired, at least partly, by the Vietnam War.

New grungy post-punk from northeast France. Vinyl coming in March. I support these dudes. One of my faves. Wish I knew more about them. give her this, she takes that by Bras Mort