Best 80s Goth Band

The Birthday Party

Yasss Nick Cave

Siouxsie all the way. Cities In Dust was so catchy and so malevolent all at once.

Oh - oh

Oh your city lies in d-u-u-st

My friend

Bauhaus. Can’t stand The Cure or that pig smeared with lipstick, Robert Smith. Grossly overrated. I love Joy Division, but I don’t think I’d consider them goth.

Bauhaus invented gothic rock. There is no band that did it better. Despite his tendency toward androgyny at times, I find Peter Murphy to be one of the sexiest men to ever have walked the planet. That deep, low, booming voice, that lean body, and those prominent cheekbones. He looked like a vampire, and had the mysterious sex appeal of one too. I finally saw them perform live a couple of years ago, and they still sounded fucking fantastic. It was an excellent concert. "Dark Entries" is easily in my top 10 list of favorite songs.

Does Goth still exist as a subculture?

Bauhaus/Siouxsie/Sisters, and I'm putty for She Sells Sanctuary to this day - liked The Cure as well, and you can't talk goth without Diamanda coming up sooner or later. Ditto Specimen.

and Peter Murphy was basically Lestat at this point. Hubba.Hubba.

those Peter left behind, before morphing into Love & Rockets, making Bauhaus the undisputed champion goth band.

"Spellbound" is THE anthem, as far as this long-ago Babybat is concerned. From the moment Siouxsie appeared undulating like a cat to the sounds of John McGeoch's haunting guitar lick, I was hooked--she had created herself out of whole cloth into the very persona she wanted to project, and it was both captivating and wonderfully intimidating.

Siouxsie and the Banshees would be far behind The Cure.

Another vote for Siouxsie and the Banshees. Subversive and unique. Siouxsie was a badass trailblazer. And I like that she said fuck it, I'm retired in France now with the cats but still pops occasionally to do shows.

Is it true that Siouxsie's longtime companion is iconic stage costume designer Pam Hogg?

That was the rumor R14.

R11 Oh brother! Mary!

I like all of these bands (though I feel Sisters of Mercy are a bit overrated). I'm not a huge fan of later era Cure, but I do think they had a period in the 80s where they were hugely influential and almost everything they put out was excellent. I would have to rank them first.

Another good group that didn't really get their due was Red Lorry Yellow Lorry.

If I can mash-up a definite goth act with the goth-adjacent/miserabilist act of all time...

I have always thought that Diamanda Galas should do a gothed-out cover of The Smiths' "Shakespeare's Sister." Just her and the piano and that voice, "I going to meet the one I looooooooooooove."

I think it would be iconic.

Also...add me to the list of people who found Sisters of Mercy overrated. They were just hard to embrace. Kind of an LA vampire/"club goth" sound. Too slick for my liking.

Latter period Sisters were harder to embrace longterm for me, but No Time To Cry and Walk Away are in my sacred lot, and oddly enough, my husband resembles Andrew Eldritch, so I guess that makes me a fan boy, hence my Top 3.

Siouxsie is and always has been a force of nature and an icon of cool.

Early Sisters is superb. Temple of Love and the whole of First, Last and Always.

The Cult and singer Ian Astbury. Uh huh!😛🤩

Pete Murphy was the hottest guy in goth, although painfully skinny. Robert Smith quickly morphed into a monster. Andrew Eldritch was another emaciated waif who hid his terrible acne behind huge sunglasses. Ian Curtis was handsome with great bone structure and haunted pale blue eyes.

Siouxsie referred to Robert Smith as Fat Bob. Made me love her even more.

These bands are new wave, not goth.

[QUOTE] These bands are new wave, not goth.

They're all British bands classified as goth in the UK. Your American terms don't apply to them. 'New Wave' lmao.