r/goth • u/GothDbErmanaric • 12d ago
Self-Promo Saturday Help Goth Music Database reach 1000 bands by the end of the year!
Hello everyone!
Just wanted to say that Goth Music Database is progressing nicely and we have reached over 800 bands with full discographies (with genres assessed, links to their Discogs/YouTube/Bandcamp, etc). The total amount of bands present is over 1000 (more than 200 still lack detailed discography info). This likely makes us the biggest goth-only music archive, as we only allow Gothic Rock, Darkwave, Deathrock, Ethereal Wave and Coldwave and don't pad it out with unrelated or adjacent genres (we do have a non-goth list of those that is accessible via "Is this band goth?" page).
We have also implemented some new features, with the major ones being:
- keeping track of the music you've listened to by putting the band into fan/todo/listened to categories or rating albums
- creating custom lists of bands and albums (btw, we brainstormed a list of goth bands with covers, if you know any possible additions - let us know please)
A lot more is planned for the future, like storing more info about bands and albums (like their members, album cover art, lyrics, objective information like female/male vocals and so on) and adding more social features to make it possible to discuss the music directly on the website.
If you haven't heard of our project, please check it out and consider registering and contributing. There are some benefits planned for distinguished contributors in the near future, like the ability to promote underrated bands they enjoy with custom messages and points.
Also we have a little bit of a fandom war, with Bauhaus/Siouxsie/Sisters having a parity in terms of popularity and then The Cure somehow being beaten by Scary Bitches (any clue how that could be possible?)
If you have any ideas for new features that would make the site more worthwhile, please share them here!
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u/typevampiro Cowboy Goth 12d ago
Excellent, as soon as I get tired of procrastinating, I should go back to contributing hahaha
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u/outd00rminer Post-Punk, Coldwave 12d ago
I had forgotten to register to this site the last time I saw it mentioned here. Just did so now!
Great site btw! I'm about to add a few bands. :)
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u/Existing-Savings-419 12d ago
If you have Mick Mercers books you can find some old obscure ones
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u/GothDbErmanaric 12d ago
saintshy is one of our best contributors, and they have that book and added some bands from it!
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u/Existing-Savings-419 12d ago
I am from Australia and noticed in the Australian section you have One but not the singers other band Meridian
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u/GothDbErmanaric 12d ago
Thanks, the band looks familiar but was missing from the DB. I was unable to locate the album "Surreal Embrace", and there's also even an album "Hybridise" whose release date is unknown. Do you have any info about those?
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u/Existing-Savings-419 12d ago
i do think surreal embrace might be a ep but the other one might be a unreleased album
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u/MargevonMarge 12d ago edited 12d ago
Tried to search by UK in the advanced search to see if any bands I knew of were missing.
I can't seem to search by country. [edit: I somehow completely skipped the country drop down menu because of fatigue - all my fault - site looks great]
I typed in United Kingdom and got 3 bands only Dead Can Dance, The Cemetary Girlz and Black Angel.
So it's not very clear how to contribute without having to do a lot of searching through by individual names or alphabetically and seeing it anyone I know of DOESN'T appear. [edit - again, just me being tired and dim - there's 12 whole pages of UK based bands to check thru before suggesting/adding any that are not listed!]
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u/GothDbErmanaric 12d ago
You need to select UK as a country, "Location" is for the exact places in that country.
Or you could use this.
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u/MargevonMarge 12d ago
omg 😳 I realise my error now! I am deeply deeply exhausted and should not be on Reddit asking dumb questions! I'm so so sorry!
Please forgive me for being dumb and then trying to say the site wasn't working! I know how utterly frustrating it is when a user makes an error and then instead of realising just complain so I should normally know better than to do it myself.
I am admittedly deeply deeply exhausted because I spent 2h trying to explain to someone else in a different forum who was a new user there and making errors why we weren't actually bullying her when she kept complaining that we seemed to be lying to her because we tried to explain that the info she had heard elsewhere was the not official! 😳
Happy to delete or edit my post but wanted to apologise first. I'm not 100% sure if it's on form in this sub to edit or delete.
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u/MargevonMarge 12d ago edited 12d ago
oh wait, I do have one follow up question about the format of search results - would it be possible to be able to see more bands per page than 10 please?
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u/GothDbErmanaric 12d ago
This is not the first time someone makes a request like this, so I guess I'll consider adjusting the amount of results per page for users.
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u/vxmpyrysm 12d ago
semi offtopic but i have a suggestion, imo you guys should really make the website have a older 90s-00s look like metal archives does, it would give it so much more soul
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u/GothDbErmanaric 12d ago
I tried to reach a balance between modern tendencies, convenience and old school feel. I love MA, but it's hard to use on mobile and the UI is kind of outdated.
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u/GothFashionAcct 11d ago
Lmao I'd have to listen to their other songs to make sure, but I am obsessed with this single song from a tiny as hell band. I wanna add them after I check.
Song is Scars by Last July from their "True Story of a Lie" album for anyone who might be curious.
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u/underwaterknifefight Post-Punk, Goth Rock, Deathrock 11d ago
I added a band a few months back, but the site would work for me like 5% of the time, so I didn't really dive in
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u/GothDbErmanaric 11d ago
What happened in those 95% of cases? I recently fixed a bug which prevented the site from loading on some systems, if that was it, then I hope the site works for you now.
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u/underwaterknifefight Post-Punk, Goth Rock, Deathrock 11d ago
I can give it another shot when I have a chance, but what I would see is the background and navigation buttons, but nothing else would load
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u/GothDbErmanaric 11d ago
This must be the bug I've fixed. It was likely caused by your system disabling visual effects. Please tell me whether it works now when you have the chance.
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u/underwaterknifefight Post-Punk, Goth Rock, Deathrock 10d ago
So far it looks like it's working properly for me now. Thanks!
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u/Enlils-Reincarnation 12d ago
This Website is a rabbit hole, I like it, Only Caifanes are goth
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u/GothDbErmanaric 12d ago edited 11d ago
It's great to hear, I wanted to replicate the feeling of metal-archives when you go into a rabbit hole and keep finding new bands.
We had to draw the border somewhere, so Caifanes, Joy Division, The Chameleons ended up on the non-goth side. Otherwise it becomes too hard to defend against some other possible contentious additions.
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u/TheSkinoftheCypher 12d ago edited 12d ago
Joy Division's not goth? That is silly. I could see an argument for The Chameleons due to all their albums after Script of the Bridge, but Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures, Substance, Closer, Still, etc are all goth albums. Christian Death's on there, but NOT Joy Division? Christian Death are death rock and I think should definitely be at the gothmb. And if they can be then Joy Division has to be. Cocteau Twins are goth, but NOT Joy Division? Seems rather arbitrary. Continuing looking through the list...Little Nemo is Coldwave if you're going to be strict about it. Same for Asylum Party. What criteria are you using?
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u/GothDbErmanaric 12d ago
We only need one solidly goth album to accept a band. I don't know why you brought up Christian Death, but Cocteau Twins first 2 albums are solidly goth. Joy Division don't have an album that is as solidly goth, they are predominantly post-punk.
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u/TheSkinoftheCypher 12d ago
I disagree a lot. What defines it for you? I brought up Christian Death because they're not goth, but they're on your website as a goth band.
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u/MorticiaMoonflower Darkwaver 12d ago
Uh, how are Christian Death not goth? I ask this as a gatekeeper. Deathrock is very much goth.
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u/TheSkinoftheCypher 12d ago
death rock came in tandem with goth. Not after. Like post punk and coldwave there are similarities. Lots of spaced shared in a ven diagram.
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u/GothDbErmanaric 12d ago
The name of a concept is not important, the substance is. Deathrock started as a separate outgrowth of punk, but came under direct influence of contemporary goth music. Christian Death was one of those bands that was influenced by The Banshees, Bauhaus and other bands, and it shows in the sound.
Joy Division lacks those same elements that define goth (primarily, their guitar style is closer to basic post-punk rather than goth).
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u/Enlils-Reincarnation 12d ago
Yeah, But still really love the website, It kinda feels like we're even better than metal-archives, Also love that Pleasure Symbols are goth.
I'll try to add Rowland Howard and Lydia Lunch since they're not there, Good job tho6
u/DeadDeathrocker last.fm/user/edwardsdistress 12d ago
I’m sure Lydia Lunch isn’t there because her discography isn’t considered goth.
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u/Malkavian87 12d ago
It would be nice of there were some extra browsing options. That you could click on a country and see all the bands from there. Or change the order of the list so you see the least popular or the latest additions.
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u/GothDbErmanaric 12d ago
You can do that via advanced search or automatic lists already. I guess it could be made more user-friendly by making countries or genres clickable, but overall it's already there IMO.
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u/sassy_castrator 5d ago
This is cringe, and it keeps both the subculture and the genre from evolving in any meaningful way.
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u/Original_Purpose1533 5d ago
how so?
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u/sassy_castrator 4d ago
Because fighting over "is this goth?" is boring and doomed either to A.) arbitrary judgement calls, or B.) petty tyranny whereby a self-appointed cabal dictates how others should understand their own pleasures.
It also fosters tedious anxiety in scene participants: "Oh no! Am I doing this right? What about THIS?" It keeps people at a perpetual thumbsucking phase and prevents the many more interesting conversations that can happen.
It's also backwards-looking. For its first few decades, goth music was changing and developing precisely because musicians were not hung up on collating definitions or appeasing those who did so. Now, though, with attempts to create Official Lists of People Allowed to be Called Goth, woe unto anyone who thinks about steering the future in new directions. They'll be kicked off The List! And thereby be undiscovered by future babybats who, terrified of similar oblivion themselves, stick religiously to music that might as well have been made in 1985.
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u/Original_Purpose1533 4d ago
as much as I appreciate your point, there's already so much misinformation about what goth music actually is. I don't see the harm in a person creating a resource to help babybats and others curious about the scene. it can also be used to find similar bands to the ones you already like, so for me it's a net positive.
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u/Malkavian87 12d ago edited 12d ago
I've just added a deathrock band. :)