Welcome friend and a Happy (?) World Goth Day to you! Yes, it’s the Halloween in Spring when we rally to the black banner of our subculture, celebrate our heritage and ensure it continues by gathering to support the events and artists that are the lifeblood of the goth scene.

What is goth? Oh, you’re just here to cause trouble aren’t you? OK, well goth is an alternative music-based subculture that formed and enjoyed a golden age through the 1980s. But where other niche genres and youth tribes came and went, goth remained undead and even flourished after it faded from popular view and its bands departed the charts.

Longevity is maintained mainly through the fact that goths don’t have to age out of the subculture; it can be a life choice! Additionally, by splintering into various sub-genres like industrial, gothic metal or cybergoth, the subculture survived in a mutated form with new adherents joining all the time, inspired by predecessors to pick up instruments (or a laptop) and make new music themselves. This attracted newer fans, who were themselves inspired, and so on…

In the UK, almost every town had its goth night and I maintain to this day that they represent the basic building blocks of the subculture, and a vital albeit fragile life support system for goths even in the furthest fringes beyond urban centres. Here you could meet other goths, hear alternative music, even see a band if you were lucky.

Before the dominance of the internet, it was the music papers that truly united the black-clad tribe across the country. From following the pioneering bands on tour to attending the first festival, the goths seized on this nascent network to sustain a subculture. Little surprise then that we also made the earliest jump to the internet, and you can still see the bones and ruins of the earliest online outposts in places like NetGoth. The influence of the FAQs and groups on NetGoth on me was massively helpful, and probably a huge motivator for me starting the blog in the first place!

As the internet evolved, so did the goth scene that used it, and even on the creaking boomer behemoth that is Facebook, groups dedicated to the subculture are vast. Lest I be accused of hypocrisy, I enjoy an audience of some 50k myself and regularly cross-post there from the blog. However, I’m not blind to the exponential growth of online polarisation, and the inevitable reflection that has had in a goth community that has become perhaps terminally online.

“Goth stands on queer shoulders”
– DJ Batboy Slim, co-founder, World Goth Day

Rival communities have sprung up on both the left and the right, marred by vicious and petty bickering, name-calling, vendettas and grudges. Clout-chasing content creators flirt with outright racism and are rightfully called out for it. There are verbal knife-fights in comment threads that spiral into pointless childish name-calling, all driven by and benefitting in turn the insidious algorithms that pump up engagement on ad-dominated social media by stoking division and conflict. In the face of this grinding, demoralising and ongoing noise, I am very pleased to read these motivating words from DJ Batboy Slim, co-founder of World Goth Day.

If you can’t sell division, then you can sell its opposite. The rise of adult content has with callous capitalistic intent tapped into the “big tiddy goth gf” trend, and the hashtag #gothgirl on TikTok has over 2 million hits, many of which draw on the same engagement-bait script. The accomplished subcultural YouTuber Angela Benedict posted an enlightening takedown online, and I shared it to my page to start a discussion.

I’m grateful to those wise souls who cautioned us against swerving too hard into gatekeepery, shaming women for exercising their right to their own sexuality and indeed condemning sex workers. At the same time I think we were largely united in our contempt for a soulless trend of selling us a grim, cartoonish distortion of the subculture we love as a tantalising and non-threatening ‘kink’ for outsiders. Feel free to share your thoughts as well!

It may seem ironic for an online goth commentator like myself to be so critical of the internet. I think being such a commentator binds me with a responsibility to interrogate and flag my concerns about places, people and popular trends, rather than pretend they’re all entirely safe havens. Your community is only as safe as the work you put in to maintain it as an equitable home.

Speaking of community, long-time readers will know how energetically I support the flourishing array of events the UK has to offer. Consider above, just a selection of major festivals still to come this year – and that’s notwithstanding the regular nights available from DJs scattered all around the country. Check out what’s on near you and support your local scene!

That said, this year I think it’ll be a more modest affair. Tonight I’m checking out a bijou little night near me (and no guesses for which goth idol I’ll be emulating!) and on Sunday my local promoter extraordinaire is putting on a dedicated tradgoth night before the Bank Holiday! In between I’ll be resting, maybe catching up on my podcast editing, and giving thanks that I have so much quality goth entertainment right on my doorstep.

I feel for people who have to suffer without a regular night, promoter, DJ or band – here’s where the internet can actually serve as intended, and connect you through streamed events to other goths, internationally. It’s where a close community can truly thrive, if it can resolve some of the issues we’ve discussed above. The responsibility lies with us all to make sure this is the case.

No matter how you interact with our scene, I hope it supports and nourishes you, as you support it. Just time for me then to note that a co-founder of this annual event of celebration, and a UK goth scene legend, DJ martin oldgoth is in need of our help as he battles a rare and incurable liver disease. Let’s demonstrate some of that goth solidarity and support one of our own.

Happy World Goth Day 2026 to you all!

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