One Of The Best 'Films' You'll See All Year: 'Two Hours In A Goth Club, 1984'

"'Do I own every Cure album?!' What do you think?'

The internet is great for finding things you would have never in a million years found or seen otherwise. For some of us sheltered by circumstance, YouTube literally gives us the adolescence we never had. I may not have lived in Britain as a teen, but, by golly, I've seen every Top of The Pops and BBC music documentary from that period!

It was during one such search on YouTube that I was "recommended" a YouTube clip with the rather attention-grabbing title "The Height of Goth: One Night At The Xclusiv Nightclub, Batley, West Yorkshire, UK". I click hoping it is what I think it is and, for once, it turns out to be exactly that: two hours of footage of goth kids dancing and interacting at a club in England circa 1984.

Not only are those of us unlucky enough to not have born under the tyranny of Queen Elizabeth able to catch up on all the great TV we've missed, now we can actually put ourselves in the same room with other like-minded kids a world away.



Watching it now, the most jarring part is seeing how we used to interact with one another that we don't do now for fear of being too "in your face". That made me feel kind of sad. Other than that, though, there was joy and wistfulness to be found in heavy measures, even during the slow parts.

Even more importantly, you actually get to see who you would have been had you grown up in Batley, West Yorkshire in 1984, and who you know you would have danced with, wanted to dance with, or, in true goth fashion, which corner you'd have made yours and done nothing.

The music, of course, is what it's all about here. Back then, our whole life evolved around music. It informed our clothing, our vocabulary, and our identity unlike any decade since. Need proof? Thirty two years later, and those working in the entertainment biz are still trying to recreate the '80s.

After watching this, can you blame them?

Those wanting the inside story on the taping of this great '80s artifact can CLICK HERE to read more.