>
> >
> > I don't know. What is the difference?
>
> How it gets listened to and appropriated, what influences it has and
> proliferates, how it's sold, who makes it, and why.
Really? I was thinking of the differences in the music itself. The music is produced and sold to make money. It proliferates through radio, magazines and other forms of capitalist marketing as well as through more informal social networks (Zines). Bands make music for fun, to express themselves, to earn a living, become more popular with the opposite sex or same sex, sometimes to express and contribute to politics. etc. Goth bands and Metallica are pretty much alike in these respects.
>
>
> >How about proto-Goth?
>
> Try Bauhaus. Totally different vibe.
>
> >Metallica
> >is now like Madonna and Mickey Mouse: a top US export.
>
> Absolutely, and I've quite disliked everything they've done since their
> self-titled album. That's immaterial, though. If you can't tell the
> difference between goth and heavy metal (or at this point, pop), won't it
> just be a *tad* difficult to develop a penetrating analysis of what goth is
> and how it works?
If you did a blindfold test I could certainly tell the difference. The reason I asked is that I haven't heard much Goth. I grew up in a real heavy metal milieu and I know that genre inside out. I am burned out when it comes to listening to rock.
The Littleton 2 liked Goth because it expressed, albeit in a crude way, how they felt.
> Most importantly, won't it be impossible to develop an
> analysis of how goth did or didn't contribute to the Littleton murders?
It is usually very difficult to distinguish between causation and correlation. I would be careful here because if it can be established that Goth music played a role in causing those two to act the way they did, it plays into the hands of Tipper Gore. Goth music gets banned tomorrow. I'm sure Bill would have no problem making it illegal for anyone besides Kenny G to pick up a musical instrument. Reactionaries have been trying for a long time to establish that rock causes certain kinds of behaviour they disagree with. You know, some guy cuts his own penis off and bleeds to death after listening to Motley Crue backwards. So lets ban Motley Crue. That kinda thing.
>
>
> Or does reading the lyrics of a song tell you everything you need to know
> to make your argument?
Pretty much. The music itself is so similiar (4/4 time, bass-drums-guitar- male vocal, 4-5 minute songs, chorus-guitar solo-chorus, mostly major keys, I-IV-V or slight variants) it would hardly make much of a qualitative difference in one's psychological states. The difference between rock bands that are left wing like Sepultura and Rage Against the Machine and Neo-Nazi rock bands is mostly in the lyrics. If the music itself expresses anything, it is anger. The lyrics show what the anger is directed at and sometimes why they are angry. They certainly have a lot to be angry about.
Sam Pawlett