This is the first comprehensive history of goth music and culture. John Robb explores the origins and legacy of this enduring scene, which has its roots in the post-punk era.

Drawing on his own experience as a musician and journalist, Robb covers the style, the music and the clubs that spawned the culture, alongside political and social conditions. He also reaches back further to key historic events and movements that frame the ideas of goth, from the fall of Rome to Lord Byron and the romantic poets, European folk tales, Gothic art and the occult. Finally, he considers the current mainstream goth of Instagram influencers, film, literature and music.

The Art of Darkness features interviews with Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cure, The Damned, Nick Cave, Southern Death Cult, Einstürzende Neubauten, Bauhaus, Killing Joke, Throbbing Gristle, Danielle Dax, Lydia Lunch and many more. It offers a first-hand account of being there at the gigs and clubs that made the scene happen.

One of Resident Music's Books of the Year 2023

‘Magisterial’ —The Times

‘A treat’ —Uncut

‘This exhaustive book shows why the dark side is not dead and buried.’—Mojo

‘Gloriously knowledgeable and inclusive, rich with words like crystalline, lysergic, spectral, and stuffed with stories about the bands who changed your life as a teenager.’ —Irish Independent

‘A feast for fans of the subculture’ —Hot Press

Author: John Robb
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Pages: 744pp
Size: 5.5 x 8.75 x 1.25
Notes: paperback
Date Of Publication: February 20, 2024
ISBN: 978-1526176769