Encyclopedia Gothica (18 page)

NO WAVE
Music and art movement emanating from the New York underground in the late 1970s, a nihilistic, noisy kick at the darkness that had little to do with Goth proper but is cited by plenty of art school students as inspiration for their nonsensical film projects.
See also:
Lunch, Lydia

NURMI, MAILA
See:
Vampira

OGRE, NIVEK
Canadian singer/actor (né Kevin Ogilvie, b. December 5, 1962) generally referred to as Ogre. Best known as the vocalist for
SKINNY PUPPY
, although the type of vocalizing he’s famous for would hardly be called “singing” by most people’s parents: guttural, heavily distorted, scream-of-conscience howling that suits his stage moniker. His live performance style is a horror film made flesh:
MASKS
, fake blood, throwing himself into terrifying set pieces about vivisection and other gruesome delights. Distinguished guest on albums from KMFDM, Pigface, Revolting Cocks, etc.; released solo and side-projects under the names W.E.L.T., Rx and ohGr. Recently stepped into acting, notably in the
REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA
musical. A prankster, a recovered drug addict, an animal rights activist, an icon.

OONTZ!
The sound of a repetitive heavy dance beat, used to describe a particularly generic style of
INDUSTRIAL
music often heard at clubs, much to the dismay of the
GOTHIC ROCK
fans. Referring to something as “oontz-oontz music” is generally derogatory.

ORKUS
German music magazine, published since 1998, covering Goth,
INDUSTRIAL
, metal and other sounds from the dark side. Striking
ÜBERGOTH
cover photos and accompanying compilation CDs of new bands have helped make it one of Europe’s top alternative music publications. Since 2006, available sporadically in English as well, although never quite taking hold in North America.

OSCURO/OSCURA
Spanish term for a Goth Girl/Boy, used in Mexico. Literally, dark.

OSTROGOTH
The Original Goths, one of two branches of third-century East Germanic tribe that first used the G-word (the other being Visigoths). Some modern Goths think knowing about the history of their battles gives you
GOTH POINTS
. But unless you’re a real
VAMPIRE
and were actually on the scene way back then, it’s hardly worth talking about.

OUTBURN
American music magazine, published bimonthly and edited by Octavia Laird, which begun as a superb Goth/
EBM
/
INDUSTRIAL
zine in 1996 covering the likes of Swans and
ALIEN SEX FIEND
but quickly devolved into a more mainstream alternative/metal publication, featuring indie,
EMO
and whatever else the
HOT TOPIC
kids might be into. Can’t blame them for wanting to get paid, but a loss for the Goths.

PAGE, BETTIE
American pin-up model (1923–2008) known as the “Dark Angel,” famous for her bondage pictorials taken in the 1950s. In her jet black hairdo and the highest of heels, she exhibited a delight in being tied up and spanked by other girls, or playing the dominatrix role. She disappeared from the spotlight afterwards, converting to Christianity, but a revival in the late 1980s put her image front and centre at the same time that Goth and fetish cultures were emerging from the underground, and she became a style icon whose look continues to be emulated today by
GOTHABILLY
girls everywhere. 2. Women’s hairstyle featuring short, razor straight bangs and shoulder-length waves, named for 1950s pin-up starlet and popular amongst retro-loving Gothabilly girls.

PALE
The preferred shade of skin colour, whether you’re Caucasian or not. Alabaster. Ivory. Extreme whiteface. Goths have always enjoyed playing with shadows, and the lightest skin matched with jet black hair and clothes has become a kind of uniform. Few take this to the point of skin bleaching — although we like reading about those old arsenic- or lead-based whiteners favoured by damsels of yore — but staying out the sun, wearing a high SPF and even carrying a
PARASOL
is considered wise. Cosmetics provide an extra lift: unlike the general populace, many Goths deliberately use a shade or two lighter than their natural skin tone. Clownishly applied
HALLOWEEN
-grade white face paint is a rite of passage for many teen Goth boys, though they mostly grow out of it. Bonus: when done properly, makes you look like the undead.

PALMER, AMANDA
American singer and musician (b. April 30, 1976) best known as one half of
THE DRESDEN DOLLS
and affectionately called “Amanda Fucking Palmer” by her fans. A former busker, she has combined theatrical arts with music in various projects (including Evelyn Evelyn, a duo claiming to be conjoined twins) and her cabaret-punk look has been adopted by much of the current generation of
ROMANTIGOTH
s and
STEAMPUNKS
. Her confessional blog and Twitter postings have made her legions of virtual friends, thousands of whom came to her defense when her label Roadrunner Records tried to edit one of her vids, claiming she looked too fat. They’re not the only ones to think she’s just perfect as is: Palmer recently married author
NEIL GAIMAN
.

PARASOL
Portable canopy to shade oneself from the Yellow Hurty Thing (the sun). Popular with
ROMANTIGOTH
s and
GOTHIC LOLITA
s, who often customize cheap paper parasols with black paint, lace trim, etc.

PEEL, JOHN
British radio DJ (1939–2004) beloved as champion of new underground music on BBC from the 1960s until his death. His Peel Sessions recordings with artists such as
THE CURE
,
JOY DIVISION
,
SIOUXSIE
,
BAUHAUS
and
ALIEN SEX FIEND
remain telling audio documents of the birth of
POST-PUNK
and Goth. His remains are buried at St. Andrew’s Church in Suffolk.

PÈRE LACHAISE
Parisian cemetery, the city’s largest and one of the most visited in the world. Acres upon acres of twisting walkways filled with the final resting places of more than 300,000 bodies, housed in tomb and crypts and columbariums of varying states of grandeur and/or decay. No wonder it’s a vacation hotspot for the
PALE
set, who come not so much for the famous graves (although there are many: Oscar Wilde, Colette, Jim Morrison, Chopin, etc.) but to wander amongst its deathly splendour, listen to the call of ravens and take a photo of the weeping widow sculpture on Raspail’s tomb, as seen on the cover of
DEAD CAN DANCE
’s
Within the Realm of a Dying Sun
album.

PERKY GOTH
A Goth who smiles. No, seriously. Some Goths like dressing up in pink, cracking jokes and otherwise smashing all the stereotypes. There is no particular style of dress or music mix that unites them, rather, it’s their positive outlooks and ability to have a fun time while others are scowling about in the shadows. Prone to bouncing.

PERMISSION
American magazine edited by Jayson Elliot from 1992 to 1997. Originally a black-and-white zine, it quickly became the leading North American glossy publication devoted to the scene during its heyday, although its publishing schedule was somewhat erratic. Published hundreds of album reviews plus interviews, comics and cheeky features like “Why’d you get kicked out of
DENNY’S
?” that reflected the attitude of the culture as well as its art. Relaunched in 2004 as a not-at-all-Goth general lifestyle and fashion mag in NYC.

PERRETTE, PAULEY
American actress, poet and singer (b. March 27, 1969) who portrays
PERKY GOTH
criminal investigator Abby Sciuto on the network drama
NCIS
, a character that walked straight out of a
HOT TOPIC
and is probably the most famous Goth, real or imagined, of the twenty-first century. The question “Is Pauley Perrette actually a Goth in real life?” has replaced “Is Marilyn Manson Goth?” as the most pressing issue of our time, apparently. She insists she is not, but let’s take a look: jet black
BETTIE PAGE
hair,
TATTOOS
, writes poetry, animal rights activist, obsessed with crime scenes. Could go either way, really. But her band, Lo-Ball, isn’t Goth. And she has completely avoided joining MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and the like, which might make her the only Goth Girl on Earth to do so. So I guess she’ll remain the stuff of TV dreams, folks.

PHONO
Nightclub in
LEEDS
, ground zero hang-out for original goth stars
THE SISTERS OF MERCY
and
THE MARCH VIOLETS
and most if not all of the other pasty-faced crowd in town. Catering to misfits since it was a hippie/rocker bar in the 1970s, became home to the Goth set in early 1980 when it was known Le Phonographique, later continuing the legacy in the 1990s as Bar Phono with its Black Sheep Sunday DJ nights. The Sisters’ song “Floorshow” was apparently inspired by the dancing denizens of the subterranean dive bar, which boasted central pillars for one to do the hokey-pokey around. Apparently, the
GOTHIC TWO-STEP
dance was born here as well. Not as well known as the
BATCAVE
, but for those who were there, just as legendary.

PICK THE APPLE
Dance move in which the Goth reaches one hand up to the sky and seems to pluck an invisible object from the air with a melodramatic turn of the wrist. The advanced version of the move is known as “Pick the Apple, Take a Bite, Oh No! That Tastes Poisonous! Throw It on the Ground and Stamp It With Your Foot. Oh, Look! I’ve Located My Lost Contact Lens.”
See also:
Gothic Two-Step
,
Kicking the Smurf
,
Sweeping the Floor

PIKES
See:
Winkle pickers

PINHEAD
Fictional character from
CLIVE BARKER
’s
Hellraiser
universe, the leader of the angel/demons from the other side known as
CENOBITES
. Easily identified by his bald head covered in nails, which gave him his name. (In Barker’s stories/script, he is never referred to as Pinhead; the make-up effects team coined it and it stuck.) In the feature films, played by Doug Bradley, who gets to say, “I’ll tear your soul apart!” and other classic lines later sampled by loads of
INDUSTRIAL
bands. A most serious villain, whose costume is bound to show up at every Goth
HALLOWEEN
party ’til the end of time.

PIRATE SHIRT
See:
Poet shirt

PLASTIK WRAP
Canadian streetwear clothing company, founded by Adriana Fulop and Ryan Webber in 2001. One of the first to bring futuristic
CYBERGOTH
designs to North America, specializing in tailored clothes made from high-tech fabrics, with names like “Transform” or “Invader,” most suited to dance floors but also appreciated by
CORP GOTHS
. As befitting a Cyber label, have strong online presence.

PLAY ROOM
At a
FETISH NIGHT
, a space for more sexually explicit activities, often separate and shielded from the main dance floor area.

POE, EDGAR ALLAN
American poet, author and literary critic (1809–1849). Truly, no other writer epitomizes so much of what we hold dear. Horror. Romance. Sorrow. A preoccupation with death and returning from death and beautiful women dying and loving dead beautiful women. Humour as black as our souls. Creator of the detective story (“The Murders in the Rue Morgue”) and inspiration to later sci-fi writers, Poe mastered tales of mystery and imagination and lived a life as Gothic as his works. Orphaned at a young age when his mother died of tuberculosis, wife killed by the ravages of consumption, descended into a grief-stricken drunk and found delirious and near-death in the wee hours of October 7, 1849, his definite death following a few hours later. The true cause of his demise remains a mystery, as does the identity of the “Poe Toaster,” an admirer who visited his grave for more than fifty years on the anniversary of his death. Poe left us a canon that continues to appear in art and popular culture, from the Roger Corman–produced horror films of the 1960s starring
VINCENT PRICE
, to a never-ending stream of music artists recording their interpretations of his best-known stories and poems. (See, for one example, song versions of his posthumously published “Annabel Lee” by everyone from folk singer Joan Baez to
THE CRÜXSHADOWS
.) Not to mention, Poe wrote a little something called “
THE RAVEN
.” If there were a citizenship test for Gothdom, reciting some Poe would be it. Buried at Westminster Burial Ground, Baltimore, Maryland.

POET SHIRT
Loose-fitting, long-sleeved blouse with many frills at the cuffs and down the front, which is often a low V-shape with laces. Popularized by the
NEW ROMANTIC
s like
ADAM ANT
and still worn by
TRAD GOTH
s and
ROMANTIGOTH
s seeking to project that “I read
BYRON
” look. Because it’s similar to the kind of shirt worn by pirates in movies, sometimes called the pirate shirt. Available in a variety of fabrics from linen to
VELVET
, it’s the one Goth staple that’s usually seen in white.

POGS
1. Australian term, short for Post Office Goth, Perth’s version of a
MALL GOTH
. So named because the gothy teens hung out on the steps in front of the General Post Office. 2. Perth Order of Gothic Societies.

POLIDORI, JOHN
British writer (1795–1821), author of the first known
VAMPIRE
story in English,
The Vampyre
. Originally attributed to
LORD BYRON
, the tale of an aristocratic undead scoundrel launched the romantic vampire fiction genre that we enjoy to this day. Polidori didn’t seem to enjoy much: he committed suicide by cyanide poisoning shortly after it was published. His remains are buried at St. Pancras Old Church in London.

POP, IGGY
American singer and actor (né James Newell Osterberg Jr., b. April 21, 1947) known as the Grandfather of Punk but plenty Goth too: his wild, confrontational performance (going as far as cutting himself up with broken glass on stage with The Stooges) in the 1960s influencing many, including
PETER MURPHY
and comic book artist James O’Barr, who modeled Eric “
THE CROW
”
DRAVEN
partly after Pop. And he’s got the same physique and stamina today, suggesting he just might possibly be an actual
VAMPIRE
. Even more importantly, his 1977 album
The Idiot
blew minds and was directly responsible for inspiring almost everyone in the early
POST-PUNK
scene. (They say it was on
IAN CURTIS
’s turntable when his body was found hanged.)

PORNOGRAPHY
Fourth studio album by
THE CURE
, released 1982. The opening lyric is “It doesn’t matter if we all die,” and it doesn’t get any cheerier from there. Dismissed upon its release (
Rolling Stone
called it “adolescent existentialism,” as if that were an insult!), now considered the apex of the band’s darkest, early days.
THE SISTERS
and
JOY DIVISION
be damned, probably the most Goth record of all time.

P. ORRIDGE, GENESIS
British musician and artist (né Neil Andrew Megson, b. February 22, 1950) credited with coining the term “
INDUSTRIAL
music” in 1976, with the formation of Industrial Records by his experimental noise band Throbbing Gristle. As the leader of 1980s psychedelic electronic music/video project Psychic TV, promoted occult magick to the masses through acid house; during the 1990s industrial heyday collaborated with the likes of
SKINNY PUPPY
. But his greatest artwork is his own existence: a prominent body modifier, he has taken gender bending to new extremes. Starting with breast implants and other plastic surgeries, he ultimately transformed his body into a “pandrogynous” experiment alongside his (late) wife Lady Jaye. Imitable.