We hate you, Peter Murphy.
Well, OK. Not really. Murphy is a good guy who is a joy to interview and who still puts out amazing music. That being said, we are getting thoroughly sick of his trademark voice. Our two-year-old daughter requests his song "The Line Between the Devil's Teeth (And That Which Cannot Be Repeat)" on a constant, unending loop during every car ride that we take. Don't get us wrong, it's a good tune, but it's gotten to the point that we hear it in our sleep.
That made us wonder what other goth songs people's kids had become fans of. After the darklings had been put to bed we summoned the Gothic Council to ask. Joining us this week is artist Darla Teagarden, blogger at Night's Plutonian Shore Sarah Fanning, co-founder of the Age of Decay festival Alethea Carr, DJ Regen Robinson, and stylist Carol Simmons.
Darla Teagarden: My kid who is seven doesn't like goth music.. He likes weird new electronic music that makes me feel a thousand years old. But he does love Queen, closest it's probably going to get. I sing fake opera at him and he in return. We make lots of crazy noisy singing, but very little real singing and certainly no lullaby action. I'll sing something like "Stayin' Alive" like Ethel Merman, for example. He thinks it's hilarious and annoying all at once.
Sarah Fanning: I don't really sing to my kids -- I have a terrible singing voice. My husband does sing Billy Bragg songs to them... However, both of my kids have iPods which are filled with songs from my music collection that they like. The seven-year-old girl child loves Echo & the Bunnymen. Her favorites are "Killing Moon," "Lips Like Sugar" and "Bedbugs and Ballyhoo."
She also has a good amount of older Cure songs (she loves "Charlotte Sometimes" and "Love Cats"), three albums of the Birthday Massacre (favorites are "Happy Birthday," "Blue," "In the Dark," and "Shallow Grave"), Switchblade Symphony's "Gutter Glitter," Ending the Vicious Cycle, Rasputina (particularly "Transylvanian Concubine," and their covers of "Bad Moon Rising" and "Fire and Ice"), she also has a couple Sisters of Mercy songs and some Nox Arcana as well.
My five-year-old son really likes Siouxsie and the Banshees. His favorites are "Face to Face," "Peek-a-boo," and "Christine." He loves Voltaire, particularly "Goodnight Demon Slayer." He has some old Cure as well and Echo. He really likes the Dresden Dolls quite a bit.
I will have to look through their iPods later to see what else they've put on them. They are learning to update their music themselves.
Gothtopia: Isn't "Peek-a-Boo" about a blowjob? That's what Lynda always says, and we're not one to argue with her on Siouxsie.
Sarah Fanning: Yeah... the kids don't know that, though. They can't understand 90% of the lyrics. Besides, we listened to weird songs about sex when we were younger... hell I had no idea what "Little Red Corvette" was about until years later.
