My Cultural Diet

It might seem a little on-the-nose for a member of The Cure to write a history of the goth movement. And yet, who better to write such a tome? That said, the title of Goth: A History is a bit misleading. It’s not so much the definitive history of an artistic movement that came into being on the heels of punk and post-punk, as it is the personal history of one goth in particular: Lol Tolhurst, who co-founded The Cure in 1976 with Robert Smith and Michael Dempsey. Tolhurst covers a lot of ground in his book. He reminisces about recording The Cure’s Faith and Pornography albums; reflects on his Catholic upbringing and the influence of Joe Strummer, Sylvia Plath, and Alice Cooper; breaks down Joy Division’s discography; and shares stories about Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bauhaus, and California’s deathrock scene. The resulting book is a bit disorganized at times, but Tolhurst writes with the passion and authority of someone who was actually there, seeing The Clash as a teen, hanging out at London’s Batcave club, and of course, recording some of the definitive goth albums. Tolhurst’s ode to goth may lack the sort of criticism historians might prefer, but his descriptions of a restless adolescence spent in search of new ideas and art that would speak meaning into his life certainly resonated with me, and rang true to my own experiences.

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