Customer Reviews

21st Century Goth

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you are reading this then you are obviousely wasting valuable compulsive money spending time. And once again Mick Mercer (one of my fav. authors) brings Goth to the masses making the world a safe cuddly place for death rockers, cyber, old-school, fluffy, rivet head, and moody goths alike. For any self-respecting Goth this book is a must have, to give you info on the world of gothdom via the internet. It gives bands, people, clubs, fashion and locations from the America's, Europe, Brazil and Japan and more. This Gothic Web book has it all, in a directory for those who wish to have an immense amount of bookmarks saved on your favorites list. Also, listen to Mick give his 2 cents on those cramping our goth style!

While some here have found this book to be poorly done, I have found it of high value for it's information. In fact, I have used it soo much I am needing to replace it...as it is falling apart. ^_^

I would highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to know gothic places and sites!

Mr. Mercer has done it again! His fourth book chronicling the gothic culture, and it's affiliate sub-genres of the scene (i.e. ethereal, industrial, ambient, etc...), succeeds in the overwhelming feat of capturing all the best of what's going on in the ever-changing internet realm. With a striking full-colour cover, and thoughtful, clever introduction by the author, Mick shows that he sincerely cares for this scene which he has been writing about for the past two decades ~ expressing his concerns, and hopes for it's future. The book itself is a vast directory of just about any website related to the gothic scene that you could imagine ~ from bands, to online shops, webrings, to personal pages, there are well over 5,000 sites reviewed! The ambitious book is kept visually interesting with almost two hundred photos, twenty of which are stunning full page images! This is an amazing resource as well as a treasured example to save for posterity a moment in time in a constantly evolving culture.

For those of you who are familiar with Mick Mercer's previous books covering goth culture I am sure you are aware of how important, influential and amusing they have been - this new book is no exception.
It is an invaluable and immensely entertaining resource for any gothically inclined person with access to an internet connection. The catalogue of sites are handily divided into sections (bands, businesses, clubs etc) most with short reviews and many with relevant pics. There are several interviews with people that Mick Mercer obviously felt had interesting perspectives to give and also some nice pictures of gothic vixens thrown in for good measure!
The thing that has become so evident in recent years is how little geographical locations matter anymore. With the internet at our fingertips we can visit Germany, Australia, California within the space of a few minutes and still be home in time for tea. Because of the transient nature of websites there will always be some sites that no longer exist, some links that don't work. But the beauty of this book is that this really doesn't matter. There are so many sites listed that you are bound to find what you were looking for and probably a whole lot of things that you never new you needed! 21st century Goth cannot help but bridge the gap between countries and bring gothic artists, musicians and businesses to a wider audience. This can only be a good thing.

which I deem:

1) "What is Goth?" by Voltaire
For spelling out the basics to looky-loos, kinderbats, or insiders who aren't afraid to laugh at themselves (for fear of exposing the adhesive-stripes along the gumline of their fake fangs)...

2) "Cottonmouth Kisses" by Clint Catalyst
For its sinister and gorgeous first-person account of life within the nightclub netherworlds. I've known many a Goth girl over the years who's had her share of Clint "pin-ups" and "shrines," and the fact that he's lived a life so far beyond the margins of Hot Topic and mainstream acceptability (and SURVIVED it) is more "Goth" (i.e., barbaric -- i.e., AUTHENTIC) than any paint-by-numbers impostors out there...

3) "21st Century Goth" by Mick Mercer
For its role as an informative compendium of the international scene in all its varied shades of shadow. There is no easy answer, no singular attempt in this book to pigeonhole Goths -- in fact, it does the opposite. Plus, I mean, it's MICK MERCER, who's been reporting on the scene longer than most batpackers these days have been alive. Pay your respects to the grandaddy of Goth!

And ALL HAIL THE TRIUMVIRATE!

I am the author and can assure you this book was not, despite what 'Stevenson' thinks, done by Google searches. You would have to spend all your free time over several years endlessly searching to come up with what I did. As for N. P. Stathoulopoulos, who has reviewed it based on flipping through it, if you can't see an aggrieved Sisters fans when you meet one....

This book is very helpful, with neat and tidy alphabetical listings of bands, clubs, and fashion, as well as interesting websites. It's time for an update though. But it's fascinating. You havew to see the great photos. Thank you.

So many people ask that question. Its hard to explain, even being a goth because there are so many facets to the subculture. I think Goth is a style and therefore it has it's foundations but is always changing on the surface. That is why it is hard to find a really good book on the goth subculture. Like my other reviews, this book is fun and entertaining but not definative. If you have any intrest in the goth sub culture this is worh checking out

This poorly titled book should be called "Goth Guide", as it is essentially a guide of what is what in the "goth" world.

It seems that the main issue with this movement, or subculture, or whatever, is exactly that--the difficulty, impossibility, and at times downright refusal by its own members to accept any form of ghettoization.

Which in many ways is good, since who needs more stereotypes and uniforms one must adopt in order to enjoy a Cure record. However, it is also doomed to be an obsolete term that will no longer really map itself to anything definitive.

To give a good example of what this guide really is, take the Bands section and look up The Sisters of Mercy. This section really just reviews the band website for bands considered "goth", or just bands that people who like bands considered "goth" also seem to like. Anyway, author Mick Mercer, credited on the back as the premier "historian" of the goth movement (er, right) completely rips the band, Andrew Eldritch, and the website because they no longer contribute to the "goth" movement that made them so popular.

And why? Well, do a little outside reading and you'll find that Eldritch doesn't speak with Mercer at all since The Sisters of Mercy have made a concerted effort to distance themselves from the Goth label. Therefore, they get lousy ratings.

Remember when a certain small college in the Northwest suddenly stopped talking to US News and World Report? Sure enough their rating dropped to the bottom the next year, simply because they didn't take part in the survey.

Who's going to blame Eldritch for no longer wanting to be associated with a "movement" (which sometimes resembles less a movement than a fashion stance and a continued imitation of a few bands from the 80s) that never really moved past a certain point and has become popularized to the point that mall stores dedicate fashion gear to it?

Mercer slames the band for not "contributing" to the scene in a long time. What does that mean exactly? I wouldn't exactly describe much of what The Sisters did after Floodland as gothic rock. Even today as they tour and present new material (slowly, that is) the sound is not The Sisters of old but a new incarnation with a more industrial tone. Whatever. The point is that the band was considered important, but now that they no longer want to wallow in some 80s notion of what gothic rock is they get discredited.

Back to the book, which I don't even own but flipped through in a bookstore one day. You'll find all the latest bands who are considered "goth", I think, as well as stores, clubs, web sites, etc. Mick Mercer has his own cottage publishing industry on the ever-difficult to pin down "movement" and will most likely continue to update this guide enough times to resell it over and over.

However, as a one-stop resource for bands and shops and clubs, it's well-assembled. Heck, this would be a perfect web site, but I doubt Mercer could get people to subscribe to it for money.

Simple... Don't waste your time with this book. Hey, I'm a big fan of other Mick Mercer books, but having Mr. Mercer punch in "Goth" in a google search engine, then press print is complete rubbish.