A while back I read a thread were someone suggested that a site should be made for all of goths musical subgenres in the same manner as http://www.metal-archives.com. Myself and a friend have decided to do just that!
See, here is were I need your help. We're going to sort all the music alphabeticaly and by genre. So far the only genre I havre clearly defined is deathrock. I would appreciate your help defining (and give example of) the following genres:
darkwave
Old-school
EBM
Dark Synth
Ethereal
I would also like to ask:
a) Which of these do Nosferatu and Voltaire come under.
b) Should i include Industrial?
c) The info I have all the basic info about the bands, a good picture, a list of their releases, a link to their homepage and The mood/content of their lyrics. Is there anything else that you desire?

Twas I who suggested and I think it`s a capital idea!!!

Well, I think metal archives exists through a whole bunch of users constantly submitting band info and having them approved by the site owner, so something akin to that would be the best way of going about it.
Well, I`ll try to help answer some questions:

Darkwave: the definition varies depending on who you ask, but I guess the general definition is gothic music with more emphasis on synth or electronics than rock music. Examples would be Clan of Xymox, Das Ich, Sopor Aeternus, Oneiroid Psychosis, Android Lust, Diary of Dreams, Love is Colder than Death, and Misantrophe.

Old school: specifically old school goth rock?? Death rock?? Post punk?? Well if you`re looking for bands who initiated gothic music, some of the essentials would be Joy Division, Bauhaus, The Cure, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Sisters of Mercy, Christian Death, and Sex Gang Children.

EBM: Let me say, if you decide to include EBM, I`ll answer your later question and say you MUST include industrial. That`s where the roots of EBM started. EBM was originally like industrial`s clean/melodic sibling based more on dance rhythms. Examples??? well maybe ask Vivisector about this one, as he seems to be the expert here on electronic music, but Front 242, Frontline Assembly, Haujobb, Yelworc, and Wumpscut are all big influential bands.

Dark Synth: I`m not sure what this means.... It could describe many things.

Ethereal: basically the genre that emerged from the darkwave style heavily influenced by classical, folk, and ambient music. Main bands: Dead can Dance, Black Tape for a Blue Girl, Arcana, Lycia, Gothica, Qntal, Machine in the Garden, and some others I`m trying to recall at the moment.

Nosferatu?? I think they`d be considered "gothic rock".
Voltaire?? Well, possibly darkwave or ethereal. In metal archives, bands were able to be listed in multiple genres.

A section for reviews would also be great.

You have a colossal task ahead of you, but my best advice would be to get as many people interested as possible. Hats off to you!! Good Luck!!

I would say that you should include Industrial, since many (if not most) goth clubs tend to play Industrial music, so it is part of our subculture.

What about including Dark Cabaret as well? Artists like Nicki Jaine and the Dresden Dolls (although they refer to themselves more as Brechtian Punk Cabaret) and possibly others.

Sorry i cant help but I would like to say something....
THAT SITE WOULD SOOO ROCK!!!!!

Not to mention that some artists would have trouble in determining which side of the goth/industrial fence they sit on, like alien sex fiend. And both goth and industrial have pretty much the same roots: punk, kraftwerk, throbbing gristle

Thanks for the support!

Anyway here are the genre's as they are planned to be so far (sorry if that doesn't make much sense):
Darkwave: Clan of Xymox
Deathrock:Christian Death, 45 grave
Gothic rock: Sisters of Mercy, Fields of the Nephilin
Post-punk/old school: Siouxsie, Bauhaus, The Cure, Joy Division, Southern Death Cult
EBM: Wumpscut, Front 242
Industrial: My life with the thrill kill kult, Trust/Obey
Ethreal: Dead Can Dance, Voltaire

As for how to gather bands, my friend was worried about spam as there is only the two of us. Any suggestions?

Here's onther thing: I'm not too keen on have NIN on the Industrial. While they are popular amongst goths and they have preformed Industrial, many purists wouldn't consider them industrial and this might undermine my credibility. Also, where I to include mr. Reznor, I would have to include Rob Zombie, Rammstein and... Marilyn Manson(there is NO WAY IN HELL I,m having him on a site about gothic music). If anyone can think of a good reason to include nine inch nails, pray do tell.

Finally, I would like to state that the earliest you'll be seeing any incarnation of this site is in a month. But you can hurry it along a bit!

I have my music files organized by music genres and subgenres (I have alot of free time). Not the most accurate but it's the closer I've come to it, though it still needs alot of work.

*Darkwave
-Darkwave
-Electro Goth (Is this even a proper genre?)
-Neo Folk
*Ethereal
-Ethereal
*Gothic Rock
-Death Rock
-Gothic Rock
*Synthpop
-Synthpop
*Industrial
-Industrial
-EBM

A few notes, alot of people and bands will make up stupid genres to try to sound original, try to avoid that, most of them can be labeled pretty easy. So avoid "Dark vampiric wave/folk" or something like that.

Genres, many times, go by sound not the lyrics. The lyrics sometimes mark a subgenre. Also some bands are good crossovers (and a good pain in the ass) so something like Darkwave/ethereal, would do well. Also bands have alot of influences but avoid something like "Darkwave/ethereal/synthpop/industrial with a little bit of punk", that will just confuse people and destroy the point of the web-site. Make it simple, put the most sounding genres.

Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson are metal. TRY TO AVOID PUTTING METAL BANDS. If you're going to put a gothic metal band, then why not put death or black metal? Both are as metal as each other, so avoid anything that ends with metal at all costs.

Be objective, just because you love one band that's "close" to being goth doesn't mean that it should go there. Also if you're going to let people put in information, some moderator has to check out the bands and make sure that it's gothic music or the genre is correct. So you guys will have to sharpen up those ears, and be able to make out a genre just by listening to it.

Also avoid putting "old school", that term is just far too technical since almost everything was oldschool at some point. Be more specific.

I think thats enough of my rambling.

Thanks for the tips!

You've confirmed my disition to leave NIN out of the site. Regarding Gothic metal, the site is actualy going to have a notice on the homepage stating that gothic metal is NOT on the site because, although it carries the gothic label, it is NOT part of the goth scene. Rather, it is part of the metal scene.

Also, I'm going to remove the "old-school" label as it refers to Post-punk as well as deathrock and would therefore confuse people. Bauhaus etc. are now listed under post-punk.

Heh, Rob Zombie and Manson are rock not metal, just thought I`d clear that up....

Yeah, try not including too much metal, as that would kind of open the gates for a whole other scene to flood in with it`s multiple genres and create a big mess.....
Exceptions could be "hard goth rock" or gothic bands with some metal influence: Devil Doll, Dreadful Shadows, Lacrimosa, Virgin Black, Love Like Blood, 69 Eyes, Danzig, etc. are all examples of suitable bands.

I would like to know why they're not metal. I hope your answer isn't along the lines of "They're rock because nu-metal kids like them!".

The genre "hard goth rock" is non existant, if someone's making a site for gothic information, then they should stay with legit information. Most of the bands you mention are metal, eliminating the point of just keeping it gothic. How about instead of not too much, none at all?

Well, because when dealing with metal, we`re talking about more than just distorted guitars and screaming.... if that was the definition, we might as well call hardcore punk metal. There`s more of a riffing style/song structure behind metal that defines it.
Manosn doesn`t use it. White Zombie was definitely metal, but solo Rob Zombie isn`t so much.

Actually the bands I mentioned have their roots in the gothic/darkwave scene, and only have a small bit of metal in the fact that they use distorted guitar riffs, and not all that much more than Sisters of Mercy or Christian Death did.

And the gothic genre is quite immensely diverse and liberally open itself, judging by how diverse events like Wave Gotik Treffen have become.

And I got the impression D-Raven wanted to create some massive/immense site exploring ALL facets of gothic music(if you`ve seen metal-archives.com you`ll know what I mean, as they also are quite liberal about who they include), rather than creating some narrowly defined site with something like ten bands.

Hey D-Raven when you put the site up please post it here or give it to me somehow. I would like to check it out. Oh and is it going to have a forums?

Sorry. No forums, purly because I don't have the time and people to adiquatly moderate it!

You could probably link it to here if blood rose agreed. I mean if its accurate and all but it's not my desicion.....

He could provide a link to it in the User Submissions section (since that's where such things belong) whether or not blood_rose approves it (by the way, BR doesn't own the site; Lilith & Prez do). Of course, if/when the link is provided, we will all be permitted to voice our opinions on it, and if a moderator or administrator deems it to be of high enough quality, it may be pinned somewhere.