Post-punking And Early-gothing
The late 70's and early 80's had a wealth of great music. Anything venturing close to a standard "pop" sound that I listen to with any regularity tends to come out of that time period. As the title suggests, I am particularly fond of Post-Punk and early Goth rock. While they are not entirely the same they do share a lot of sonic similarities and a few bands on this list kind of overlap both "Genres". Industrial related acts have been intentionally omitted. Similar recs are encouraged! But don't rec me NIN, Marilyn Manson, Type O Negative and other shit like that. They don't count. |
| 1 |  | Echo and the Bunnymen
Ocean Rain
A very cool band. Early goth-rock without the sheer bleakness of Joy Division. My dad saw them play a show with The Church back in the day. His words: Great show! Lotta long black coats in the crowd. |
| 2 |  | Joy Division
Closer
Joy Division are a must and this album Barely edged out Unknown Pleasures for inclusion on this list. Both albums are fantastic but something feels just a little more complete about this album. The soundtrack to an emotional collapse and a true classic! |
| 3 | | The Sisters of Mercy
A Slight Case of Over Bombing
I just picked this one up at a used music shop in my area. I have seen the Sisters recommended many times but my first couple of spins have left me disappointed. It's not bad but in my opinion there is a lot of music from the same time period that is much more interesting. To be fair, I have not given Floodland or their other full releases much time yet. Let the bashing begin. |
| 4 |  | The Smiths
Hatful of Hollow
The Smiths are always a mandatory inclusion on a list like this. I can only stand so much Morrissey in one sitting but his iconic and overwrought vocals mixed with Johnny Marr's excellent guitar playing make for key moments of early 80's goth. This is another compilation (bad me) but really any Smiths album is a good one. |
| 5 |  | The Church
Starfish
Kind of an unsung hero of Post-punk I think. Lots of great tunes on this album including the outstanding "Under the Milky Way Tonight". It might be carryover from my, ahem, Donnie Darko days but I'll never get tired of that track! |
| 6 |  | XTC
Skylarking
This band writes excellent pop tunes that manage to stay just subversive and strange enough to keep them interesting. The mainstream band that never totally went mainstream. |
| 7 |  | Christian Death
Only Theatre of Pain
This is a cool album. Technically classified as Deathrock it is still an early goth staple. Turn this on around Rozz Williams fan-boys and they will immediately begin blowing wide, arcing loads all over the room. While I personally find his vocals a little over the top, the lyrics work and I am very intrigued by the musicianship. Stripped down and very punky. Definitely different than most of this list. |
| 8 |  | Cocteau Twins
Treasure
I love this album! An excellent mix of post-punk and dream pop. Elizabeth Fraser's dreamy, nonsensical vocals are a perfect complement to the airy atmosphere of the music. |
| 9 |  | Bauhaus
In the Flat Field
You can't talk Post-punk and early goth without talking Bauhaus! If you disagree, then you don't really know goth now do ya? Peter Murphy totally wants to be David Bowie, which is not really a bad thing. This is my favourite album by Bauhaus but the essential track to check out is the "Bela Lugosi's Dead" single. |
| 10 |  | Dragons
Here are the Roses
This is an interesting inclusion as this album was actually recorded in 2007! It is a fantastic throwback to hey-day of post-punk. Usually when bands wear their influences too clearly on their sleeves it ends up sounding trite and hacky, but Dragons make it work effortlessly. There are tracks on this album that sound like covers of Joy Division songs that were never written. They have kind of a lame name, but this release is great! |
| 11 | | Blessure Grave
Judged by Twelve Carried by Six
This is another new band paying homage to the old-school. It's not nearly as consistently good as the Dragons album above but it does have some excellent moments. The vocals are a high point for me and it is recorded in a lo-fi fashion that gives it a great isolated atmosphere. I can't see this one capturing attention for its entire duration for most people but it is very cool in small doses. |
| 12 | | Big Country
The Crossing
This album features more moments of, I guess we could say guitar heroics, than most of the rest of this list but it still keeps itself away from the perilous sound of arena rock. Their primary single "In a Big Country" will always be an outstanding song. I thought this album would be fairly well known on Sputnik but it isn't even listed! Go figure. Strictly post-punk but mostly rock on this one. |
| 13 |  | The Birthday Party
Prayers on Fire
I feel like Nick Cave's work with the Bad Seeds doesn't quite fit this list. That being said, the Birthday Party is chaotic enough to almost not qualify as well. To be fair, I don't think either totally jive with what I am going for on this list, but I would have felt bad not having his name on here somewhere. |
| 14 | | Siouxsie & the Banshees
The Scream
I'll be honest, I am not very familiar with this album yet. I know, I am an asshole, but not having Siouxsie show up on this list would have been a glaring omission. You can all rip on me in the comments section. |
| 15 |  | The Cure
Pornography
You didn't think I was going to get all the way through this list without including a Cure album did you? I even copped out and included Pornography! Nothing much to say about The Cure other than that they are iconic and essential! This is my favourite album because of its oppressive bleakness but any of their early albums would work here. Hell, their later more Pop driven albums would work too. Great band! But you all knew that, didn't you? |
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