Deathrock is a name given to a subgenre of early Gothic music largely originating from the early 1980s Los Angeles hardcore punk scene.
In the late 1990s, Deathrock re-emerged as a sub-sect of the Goth scene with the Deathrock.com website and forum, which championed original Los Angeles deathrock bands, and also psychobilly/gothabilly/cowpunk, Australian Swampie, select No-Wave musicians, and early British Gothic rock/Batcave/art punk.
Deathrock Bands[]
Original Bands[]
- 45 Grave - Formed by Don Bolles, who was previously in The Germs and Vox Pop, 45 Grave's original line-up consisted of Vox Pop's personnel on different instruments. Their sound is best recognised by Dinah Cancer's crazed vocals, and lyrically draw inspiration from horror films.
- Christian Death - On Only Theatre of Pain, their sound is considered an epitome of deathrock, though the Catastrophe Ballet and Ashes records clearly laid down a prototype for the Dark Cabaret sound, before returning to a Deathrock sound after Rozz Williams reformed his own version of the band in 1991.
- Rubella Ballet - formed around 1980 by then-teenaged children of the anarcho-socialist leader of Poison Girls. Earliest Rubella Ballet shared anarchist ideologies, but later tended to come off more apolitical.
- Strange Boutique - formed in the mid-1980s by Monica Richards in Washington, DC, after the dissolution of her anarcho-punk band, Madhouse.
- The Superheroines - Eva O's first band, sometimes considered a prototype Riot Grrl band.
- Voodoo Church
Later and Current Deathrock bands[]
- Astrovamps - Initially two former members of LA Glam band, The Babydolls, Astrovamps formed around 1989 with a sound more along the Darkwave sound, but re-emerged in the early 2000s with a Deathrock sound.
- Shadow Project - formed in 1990 by Rozz Williams and Eva O
- Tragic Black
- Scary Bitches
Deathrock as a genre[]
Deathrock is usually a "hard-rock" type of music usually featuring electric guitars, bass, and other rock instruments. The lyrical interpretation of deathrock is what really sets it apart from rock and nu metal, as deathrock's lyrical message is considered to be incorporating both dark metal themes and hard rock themes in most cases.