blank-page-emperor:

Evanescence- Amy Lee Interview in Israel, June 2007

(Move video ahead to 1:40 if you want to get to the meat of what I want to talk about today.  See also: Amy Lee About Her Style)

(GIANT DISCLAIMER: These are my thoughts and opinions on this subject.  You don’t have to agree with me, but I always try to back up my ideas with information.)

I’ve been wanting to discuss the issue of Amy Lee and Evanescence in respect to Goth for awhile, since it’s a sensitive subject for some people and a confusing one for many more. ^^;  I’m probably spending a little too much thought and effort on just one Tumblr post, buuuuut it’s nice to flex the old research muscles now and again.  Anyway…

So is Evanescence a Goth band?

Well, there’s been a lot of discussion (and disagreement) about that.  You can hear from Amy herself that she’s obviously not interested in being labeled as such. As a music fan and a Goth Rock afficionado of *some* knowledgeability (“BUY ALL THE BAUHAUS!”,) I have to say that the answer is “no”.

Most Goths I know will automatically tell you “no”, but I want to get past that reaction and really explain what’s going on.  As the previous link suggests, Goth Rock is a specific subgenre of Rock music.  There are lots of artists that to the uninitiated may *seem* or just *look* (visually) like Goth Rock, but they’re generally not.  The difference is not about aesthetics or subject matter here.  It’s about actual musical composition.

With that said, I consider Evanescence to be part of the late 90s/early 2000s wave of post-Grunge and Alternative bands that were related to Nu-Metal and similar movements at the time, and their sound has varied a lot over the years.

But is Amy Lee a Goth?

Well, she doesn’t think so, obviously, but I know I’ve met plenty of people who I certainly thought were quite “Goth” but who eschewed or denied the term.

At the end of the day, you can’t make someone identify with something that they don’t want to identify with.  I used to get mad at Lee for not working harder to distance herself from Goth or for not really seeming to care about the whole thing, but these days I look at it a little differently.  While I disagree with the plainly-stated idea that “labels suck”, they *can* suck when they’re applied to someone who simply has a unique or unusual style.  She never asked to be classified, period.

Do *I* think Amy Lee fits the “definition” of a Goth?  Absolutely.  Just from her creative side, her interests, her fashion, even some aspects of her personality.  If she doesn’t want to be part of the subculture, that’s her choice.  A lot of people might call her a “Denial Goth” if they want, and even if she really isn’t, she’s obviously referenced a lot of Goth-related ideas.

So what does that mean for Goths (who want to listen to Evanescence?)

I really don’t think you have to play Goth Rock just because you’re a Goth in a band.  More importantly, I will also contend that bands like Evanescence are what we might call “Goth-friendly”, in that they’re, to quote Lee herself: “epic, dramatic, dark rock”.  Lee herself never makes any claims about being in a Goth Rock band.

Lots of classic “Goth Rock” bands have worked tirelessly to get *away* from the label (among the most famous is the hugely-influential The Sisters of Mercy without whom there might not have *been* a second wave of Goth bands) but that obviously hasn’t stopped the genre from continuing or the subculture from developing.

I don’t think people who are Goths should worry about listening to Evanescence if it makes them feel a certain way or if they just like the music.  I know that when I was in high school and still getting into *classic* Goth Rock, Evanescence was a standby staple for when I wanted to feel particularly “spooky” (along with other, harder bands like I Am Ghost and East West that were reminiscent of more mainstream musical movements but had uniquely “spooky” sounds to my ears.) 

I am personally of opinion that Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance, Steven Juliano of I Am Ghost and Requiem for the Dead, and Wil Francis of Aiden and William Control, among others, may in fact be Goths.  I don’t know how they themselves identify, if they identify as any sort of subculture at all.  I also do not claim that their music is in any respect Goth Rock, but it can be Goth-friendly (I know Gerard Way to have worked with Voltaire) and should not be avoided just because it’s not Goth Rock.  I think Goths need to know their history, but I think we can safely say that if you’re not indulging in your own tastes and ideas, you’re not being very Goth after all.