Hex Files: The Goth Bible

Rating:
Summary: Please take note
Review: This book is now seven years old. People buying it should either be aware it's been out for ages, or at least appreciate that it predates Net popularity, meaning I had to get info printed in overseas fanzines to get a lot of the International responses I did. The content from certain countries will therefore seem small or incomplete. As to people saying this is pretentious, that's their assessment, which is fine, but I know what bands are Goth and which have simply had an influence on Goth. It isn't a subtle difference, and it shouldn't be hard to work out. The book stands as the best record from its time, of what was possible to find out without bankrupting myself on postal costs. People may look at it now and regard it as curious, but this is now a period piece. It stands on its own merits as having more info than was available to anyone at the time, and beautiful photos, and at no point did it set out to get to the root of what the Goth culture was, as I made it clear at the time that it was an International Guide, following my previous books which had a European bias.

Rating:
Summary: Great info, but it needs a web site
Review: This book was extremely informative, but did not give the depth of cultural perspective and history I was looking for. For this info., check out Gothic, an accompanyment to an exhibition at the Chicago Art Institute.

Rating:
Summary: The pretenciousness of Mercer giving " goth " a bad name...
Review: To keep this short and sweet, Mercer denounces the Cure and the Banshees' influence on the genre ( although both bands are MUCH,
MUCH more than " goth " ), seems to be of the opinion that the current Valor version of Christian Death is indeed the same band
despite the fact it is now third rate metal ( and that the immortal Rozz, Gitane, David Glass, George Belenger, James McGerty and Rikk Agnew all are no longer in the equation ).
At least he has the good taste to like London After Midnight,
even though they, too, are far, far, more than a " goth " band.
And Corpus Delecti, another wonderful band. But Mercer's book in pretencious; sterotyping the genre, and the lack of info on the
subculture is unforgivable; given this egomaniac's know-it-all-attitude. Much of info here is out of date as well. ---Funeral Rites 2