Club Hypothetical: What's the One Album That a New Goth Fan Should Own?
View classic goth club photos in Shannon Cottrell's "Disko.Nekro @ Monte Cristo" slideshow.
Trends may come and go, but there will always be young people gravitating towards music that's dark, dramatic and a little raw around the edges. Though the kids dressed in black now might be more into Interpol, The Killers and AFI than Joy Division, The Cure and Sisters of Mercy, they're probably ready to dig deeper into the virtual record crates. So we traveled to Koreatown club Monte Cristo for Disko. Nekro, where DJs Xian and Michael Stewart played sets focusing on classic goth and industrial, and posed the following hypothetical question to those gathered on the patio. A fifteen-year-old gothling approaches you and asks you what is the one album that he/she should own. What do you answer?
Yes, it's a tough question and, yes, we received a lot of responses like "Just one?" Still, there were some great, and often unexpected, answers. Check out the list below. 
Shannon Cottrell
Justin Ford (right)
Shannon Cottrell
VNV Nation
Empires
That's what got me started. The lyrics are very powerful, it has a good melody and also it's one of the oldest they have next to Advance and Follow, which is not as well heard of.
Steven Gardner (left)
Bauhaus
"Bela Lugosi's Dead" (single)
"Bela Lugosi's Dead" and then work your way up. That's give-or-take the song that started it. It's a good picture what it really is supposed to be.
Mina de Sade-Fatale (right)
Shannon Cottrell
Crass
Stations of the Crass
If you really want to get into goth music, you have to know a little bit about punk and death rock, which kind of birthed it.
Alumiere Batista (left)
New Order
Republic Substance
It's not quite goth. It's not quite industrial. It's one of the very early, influential electronic, synthpop albums and it's one of those that I cannot live without.
Naren Renz (of Peeling Grey)
Shannon Cottrell
Siouxsie and the Banshees
Juju
It is a really fucking dark and beautiful album.
Andy Smith (of Peeling Grey)
Shannon Cottrell
Joy Division
Unknown Pleasures
It sort of pre-dates a lot of when goth was established as a subculture. They're the roots.
The good thing about Joy Division is that they were very inspired by Velvet Underground. I wouldn't say that [Velvet Underground] are the godfathers of goth, but as far as dark underground music goes, those guys planted some seeds and didn't know how they would flourish.
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