Classic Rock Special – Goth – 1st Edition – May 2026

Summary

Dave Everley opens the May 2026 1st Edition of Classic Rock Special – Goth with a single question: how did goth emerge from the backrooms and batcaves of Britain to become a global subculture? Across 19 chapters and 132 pages, the special traces the arc from Bauhaus's Bela Lugosi's Dead through Siouxsie And The Banshees, The Cure, The Sisters Of Mercy, Killing Joke, The Cult, The Damned, The Mission, Fields Of The Nephilim, Nine Inch Nails, Type O Negative and HIM, with rare interviews with Peter Murphy, Andrew Eldritch and Wayne Hussey anchoring the narrative.

The album-by-album breakdown covers Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart (page 32), The Cure's post-punk-to-US-conquest story (page 42), The Sisters Of Mercy's fog-shrouded rise fuelled by speed, Steinman and dry ice (page 50), and The Damned's 1985 pivot Phantasmagoria (page 76). Peter Murphy's 2018 interview (page 26) reveals Bauhaus's rollercoaster career; Andrew Eldritch (page 58) opens up as goth's reluctant godfather in a rare 2012 sit-down; Wayne Hussey (page 86) looks back on his pre-Mission days in Liverpool. The Goth Metal chapter (page 96) explains how the scene retreated in the 90s only for bands like Type O Negative and HIM to drag it back. The Crow (page 110) covers the cult comic, the doomed star and the 90s movie that brought goth to the big screen.

Regular features include a multiple-page Black List cast of characters — Roger Nowell, Nik Fiend, Siouxsie Sioux, Kevin Haskins, Robert Smith and more — plus a full discography-oriented guide woven into each chapter. The Type O Negative entry (page 114) focuses on October Rust as the definitive 90s goth-metal statement; HIM (page 118) covers how Finnish heartbreakers reinvented goth for the 21st century. Readers get the complete lineage from 1979 post-punk to 2020s goth-metal, with production credits, key single B-sides and the interpersonal breakups that shaped each band's sound.

Editor's Take

This is the most complete single-volume goth history published in years, and it earns its place on the shelf. The strongest sections are the Andrew Eldritch interview, which is genuinely rare, and the Wayne Hussey pre-Mission backstory, which adds context even long-time fans won't know. The weakest is the Goth Metal chapter — it covers Type O Negative and HIM adequately but skips Lacuna Coil and Theatre Of Tragedy entirely. The layout leans heavily on previously published photos; fans hoping for unseen archive images will be disappointed. This is for the reader who wants one book that connects Bauhaus to Nine Inch Nails without jumping between Wikipedia tabs.

Strengths
• Rare Andrew Eldritch and Wayne Hussey interviews
• Covers the full 1979–2020s arc with strong album-by-album detail
• The Black List character guide is a useful quick-reference tool

Weaknesses
• Goth Metal chapter omits European bands like Lacuna Coil
• Photo selection is largely recycled from earlier Classic Rock issues

Verdict: Essential — The definitive one-volume goth history for anyone who wants the story from Bauhaus to HIM told by the people who were there.