You might say that to be a meta head, you would need to like Metal music.

But to apply that idea to a broad subculture like Goth, does that necessarily mean that to be Gothic, you need to listen to Gothic music? I beg to differ. I use myself as an example.

Me, I love macabre expression, Dark Humor and listen to very little "Gothic Music" I like Voltaire, I like Marilyn Manson and I like Rob Zombie, all of which are debatable as Gothic artist. I Love Gothic literature, and have a liberated mind to accept the darker aspects of life along with the lighter ones. Without Evil there is not Good. I would comfortably consider myself to be of the Gothic culture. But musically not so much. So just because I don't listen to music means I'm not what I feel closest to? I do realize that the culture was birthed from the music, but so was punk, and look at the culture that it came out to be.

Your opinions Madames and Missures.

for such "subcultures" which sometimes claim to be "apart from normality" and "free from the rules of society" and the like, to have rules to constrain their own "culture" seems to me, quite contradictory of their ideal and in turn, hypocritical.

to put oneself into a box of such, seems to me, quite rediculous.

this discussion brings up the whole ideas of labels and all that bollocks. feel free to accept many posts of "i'm like this but i do that" and suchlike for the rest of your thread.

if you're open minded enough to embrace something that is so called "different" then you need to have the cohones to be different yourself, and not to feel the need to follow another set of rules in its place. but then again, that's what different societies and cultures and subcultures are all about. rules.

Ok, I understand. To me this sub-culture id all about the mindset, that is then projected into everything else, music, literature, film, and all other art forms. Would anyone agree?

But at the same time, if you're going to consider yourself to be a part of a subculture . . . or at least try to relate to an individual of said subculture . . . it's important to know where they're coming from. Most of my friends are Goths, death-rockers and the like, 30 year olds and what not still obsessing about the days of Shadow Project, Christian Death, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Dead Can Dance, Joy Division, and what have you. I personally hate gothic music in general, though Siouxsie and the Banshees have some pretty groovy songs. But whenever someone approaches one of them, proclaiming to be "gothic" because of acts like Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie, or whoever, they get extremely annoyed.

I can actually sympathize with that. I myself am a subculture whore when it comes to metal. I listen to progressive black metal, satanic black metal, death metal, pagan metal, viking metal, battle metal, sludgecore, etc. etc. etc. So, when someone sees me banging my head, and they ask "What are you listening to?" And I reply "Nocte Obducta!" And then they ask "What's that?" And then I reply "Black metal." And then they say "Cool! I like black metal! I like Dimmu Borgir!" I don't really have any response to that . . . I mean, to say you like a style I like, but you like the popular side of it, and really and truthfully only one band in that genre . . . well, it's not like we're going to have much to converse about.

At the same time, I like jazz music. But I wouldn't consider myself a jazz-head (is that what they're called?). Anywho, if I meet someone who's really into jazz, rather than trying to connect with them, I ask what they like, who they listen to, etc. Because I honestly don't much about jazz. I listen to Tom Waits, Ray Charles and Bernadette Seacrest. So I don't go around jazz peeps and spout off about it like I know what's going on in that scene.

But, in the end, I think music is so fucking spread out right now that it doesn't matter if you're a subgenre-whore, a poser, or just a critic. Because no two people are going to have the exact same taste in music. You might have a few bands in common, but eventually one of you is going to lean this way, while the other leans that way.

indeed sixx. i totally agree.

I myself love a bit of everything. I love stuff like Tool, Muse, Faith no more, Megadeth, T rex and Queen and of course, the mighty Pink Floyd, I also enjoy anberlin and alterbridge (only a little) and alot of indie music and suchlike. I go to festivals and listen to the rock and metal but spend an equal amount of time listening to folk and reggae and jazz and suchlike too. I also love pendulum and shpongle and infected mushroom and i adore euphoric dance music as well as crazy stuff like anime soundtrack music.

i love classical, rock, metal, grunge, indie, dance, trance, techno, folk, punk, ska, jazz, soul, reggae, psytrance, goa... i could list the stuff i like for hours. music to me, if it's well structured, full of life and energy and love and soul, and sounds... well, reasonable, i tend to like it.

I know there's loads of people out there who i share alot with in terms of musical interest, I was very close to my uncle and we shared music and he was a massive big band and jazz fan.

I don't fit into any group in terms of music. but i won't give up liking one kind of music just because one of my friends or someone i meet doesn't like it.

I grew up listening to ELO, Judas Priest & Iron Maiden.
I can appreciate most musical genres for what they are, but always end up back at the metal or electronica end of the spectrum.

LOL i saw Siouxsie and the Banshees in Boston Common back when... Still have the tee from it!!
Course i saw ELO in concert when the whole spaceship/lazer thing was new ( cost a mill back then ) as well...
and i've seen willie in concert as well as NiN..

Guess my music taste doesn't vary at all!!! LMAO

Just to show my various music tastes, I just got home from a Tiger Army concert, and they featured a group called Revolution Mother, pretty hard hitting music, don't know if it can be classified as metal. Anyways, lead singer is pro skater Mike Valelly, he actually has a really good voice.