How to cybergoth dance


How Orange Justice Is Tied To A Viral Cybergoth Dance Video

How Orange Justice Is Tied To A Viral Cybergoth Dance Video

SubscribeGive A Gift

Things you buy through our links may earn New York a commission.

Photo: Screenshots via YouTube

Given the internet’s ability to transcend physical borders and language barriers, it’s no surprise that dance videos have always been a cornerstone of meme culture. The online-dance-craze ecosystem started with viral videos like the Numa Numa Guy and Star Wars Kid, and then harnessed by more deliberate efforts like the Soulja Boy dance or Baauer’s Harlem Shake. The next evolution of the viral dance craze is the emote: premade dance animations that players can make their avatars perform.  Because games have a limited selection of dances available, a popular game can propel any move it incorporates into ubiquity.

That’s what’s happening with Fortnite, which has added dance moves like the Milly Rock (in-game name: “Swipe It”), the Carlton dance (a.k.a. “Fresh”), BlocBoy JB’s “Shoot” dance (a.k.a. “Hype”), and Backpack Kid’s signature dance (a.k.a. “Floss”). Attend a middle-school dance or a family wedding or any large gathering of the youth and you’re more likely than not to see these moves performed.

Perhaps the unlikeliest of these well-known moves is a dance called “Orange Justice,” which was popularized by a boy known as Orange Shirt Kid. Last spring, Fortnite held a contest in which contestants could submit videos of dance moves, and the winning move would be added to the game. While Orange Shirt Kid did not win — he placed 23rd — his video was a fan favorite that went viral, leading Epic Games to add the move anyway. His mother, Rachel McCumbers, is now suing Epic on behalf of her son, claiming he is the victim of “unauthorized misappropriation of Orange Shirt Kid’s highly popular signature dance.” (Because he is a minor, Orange Shirt Kid is only referred to in court documents as “C.C.M.” He and his mother reside in Maryland.)

The Fortnite effect is most vivid on platforms like TikTok, the video-sharing platform that lets users recycle each other’s sound bites and remix and iterate upon each other’s posts. If one scans the app’s feed, or watches compilations of memes like “We got ’em,” they are greeted with endless performances of Hype, Floss, and Orange Justice.

The popularity of dance moves and their transmission around the internet can lead to a number of tangled questions that the culture is currently wrestling with. What does it mean to “create” a style of dance? Can someone own a dance move — legally or even morally? If a dance goes viral, who deserves the credit? While Orange Shirt Kid’s role in the popularity of “Orange Justice” cannot be denied, he also owes a debt to his viral forebears: the cybergoths.

Cybergoth is a hybrid aesthetic that emerged in the late ’90s, combining goth and raver fashion. Its color scheme, combining black and neon clothing, was described by Vice as “too creepy for the ravers, too neon for the goths.” There is a bit of rivethead flare too — some cybergoths wear gas masks or goggles. They might also wear bright hairpieces known as cyberlox. The preferred musical style of the cybergoth is techno music, usually operating in the low to mid hundreds in terms of beats per minute.

You are probably at least a little familiar with cybergoths, even if you’ve never heard the word. Google “cybergoth dance” and your top result will likely be a video featuring a group of cybergoths dancing under an overpass in Dusseldorf, Germany. The most popular version, “Cybergoth Dance Party” has received more than 10.6 million views since September 2011. “Goth Underpass Rave” has been viewed more than 5.2 million times since January 2012. Both of them are freebooted versions, ripped from a YouTuber named GothicIke, who posted the original video, “6. Cybertreffen am 12.3.11” in March 2011.

“These meetings started around the time when the Cybergoth scene was at its peak in our area, probably in Germany in general,” GothicIke, known in the scene as Kenji Icarus, told me over email. “Clubs were filled and the dancefloor was crowded. Not the best premise for this particular dance style as it is demanding quite some space. So someone came up with the idea to bring people from underground clubs to places with more space.”

It’s not difficult to understand the need for space. The cybergoths are performing a type of dance known as industrial dance, writhing along to the beat of a remix of Lock ’N Load’s “Blow Ya Mind.” Kenji admitted over email that the style “looks very aggressive on the outside. Many people describe it as ‘fighting an invisible enemy’ because some moves look like throwing a punch or trying to trip someone up.” Dancers flail arms and kick their legs. They perform in wide-legged pants that look like JNCO jeans, and large hairpieces (known as cyberlocks or cyberloxx apparently). One of them is wearing a gas mask. According to Kenji, there isn’t really any set choreography, just a main rule of thumb: “one move per beat,” usually set to songs operating between 120 and 150 beats per minute.

For the six months following Kenji’s uploading of the cybergoth video, there was little activity. He does not have a large YouTube following and most of his other videos have a relative handful of views. “In September 2011,” he recalled “the views for the video had exploded within 24 hours (from a few hundred to over 80,000) and the comments shifted from mainly German to mostly English.”

It was not very difficult to find the source of all of this attention. “After a long moment of disbelief and a bit of research,” he said, “I found my video reposted on a site called Barstool Sports, which confused me even more, as it appeared to be a sports site/blog. From there it, reached Reddit shortly after and took off.”

Because they are dancing to a four-on-the-floor beat, and because the “industrial dance” has one move per beat, the video can fit over a wide variety of music genres. Which is to say, it is very memeable. Clips replacing the original song with other songs went viral on social media — rap songs like Waka Flocka Flame’s “Hard in Da Paint” or Future’s “Mask Off,” but also even more incongruous tracks, like the theme to “Thomas the Tank Engine” or Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”

It wasn’t particularly fun for Kenji and the rest of the cybergoths though: “At first it was really annoying as the only remix they did was with the Benny Hill theme. That joke got old very fast. And yes, people were actually making fun of us. Also most comments reached from mean to distasteful to plain insulting.”

Over time, the pain has dulled. Now Kenji says that “when I see another version or an older one that comes around for the hundredth time, it has more of a nostalgia feeling to me.” At a certain point, the sheer scale of effort put into remixing his video has become impressive. I feel relatively confident in declaring Kenji Icarus’s clip to be the most famous cybergoth footage on the internet.

Years later, the popularity of “Orange Justice” has drawn comparisons to the industrial dance seen in the famous cybergoth clip. In particular, commenters on YouTube have drawn attention to a dancer about 30 seconds into the clip whose moves are stylistically similar to Orange Shirt Kid.

Kenji said that the similarities between “Orange Justice” and industrial dance are obvious. “It appears to be relatively close to Industrial Dance. I’d say it might be an adapted version,” he said. He added a few vital caveats: “Orange Justice is faster, a bit more simplified in its variety of moves (probably due to the higher speed) and overall more fluent.”

Whether Orange Shirt Kid is familiar with the cybergoth underpass rave is not clear. A message sent to Pierce Bainbridge, the law firm representing his mother in the lawsuit, went unreturned. If I had to guess, it’s probably not the best move to publicly acknowledge any similarity between a dance one is trying to claim as intellectual property and a viral video from years prior.

One person who did acknowledge the similarities between newer dances and the old cybergoth clip is Roy Purdy, a social-media star with more than 1.8 million fans on Facebook, 2.7 million subscribers on YouTube, and 3.5 million on Instagram. Urged on by his fans, Purdy also submitted a video of his own signature dance move to Fortnite’s contest.

Like the cybergoths and Orange Shirt Kid (presumably), Purdy has no formal training in dance. The move, in which he rhythmically flails his arms while his knees and hips move from side to side, placed ninth overall, 14 spots ahead of “Orange Justice.”

OKAY SO HERE IT IS. My #BoogieDown submission. @FortniteGame @EpicGames
RT if you wanna see this dance in FortNite pic.twitter.com/uvV8tz52T3

— ROY PURDY (@RoyPurdy) April 9, 2018

In late May of last year, Purdy posted a video of himself doing his signature dance in front of a Fortnite avatar performing “Orange Justice.” The caption, “You vs the guy she tells you not to worry about,” was a slight jab at the moves’ similarities, and the fact that his move predates Orange Shirt Kid’s by a significant amount of time.

You vs the guy she tells you not to worry about pic.twitter.com/Zntu0cY146

— ROY PURDY (@RoyPurdy) May 28, 2018

“I’m not too worried about the whole Fortnite situation,” Purdy said over the phone. “It’s more my fans who are mad I didn’t get credit. To me it’s just like a dance I did for fun, so it doesn’t really bother me who does it or who uses it.”

Before I was able to describe it in detail, Purdy even acknowledge a debt of gratitude to the old cybergoth clip. “That video’s like the first video where you see like that arm motion from the dance. That’s why I don’t really like to say I invented it.”

There’s substantial irony in the fact that recent dance crazes like “Orange Justice,” where real people are imitating behavior seen in computer programs instead of in the real world, feel aesthetically and thematically linked to cybergoth culture. I’d say much of the current, emote-dictated dance culture owes a lot to cybergoth, a musical genre dedicated to probing the relationship between man and machine. In “‘And machine created music’: Cybergothic music and the phantom voices of the technological uncanny,” music scholar Isabella van Elferen elaborates on the tension inherent to this subculture. Cybergoth songs, she writes, highlight “the musical interplay between biological and technological realities on the one hand, and the past, present and future on the other.”

[I]t is the musical ‘digital material’ originating from the convergence of music technology and music culture. But it is, moreover, uncanny digital material, as it dwells in the borderlands beyond those dichotomies of musical experience and self-consciously mediates their in-betweenness. As the phantom voices of the cybergothic sing their uncanny song, the listener is confronted with the undead spectres they conjure up: the simultaneous enthusiasm and skepticism for music technology’s autonomous creative agency.

Likewise, there is an uncanny nature to how emotes like “Orange Justice” work. Because users can trigger them at any point in time, emotes often abide by certain rules — they are granular, looped, and performed in place. The most important of these is that emotes are stationary; the axis running vertically through the performer’s body does not travel. Instead, the body stays in one place instead of moving around the environment. This limitation makes emotes heavily dependent on elaborate physicality, pivoting one’s joints in an exaggerated fashion to compensate, in a fashion very similar to the type of cybergoth dancing that went viral years ago. It also makes them a solitary experience. A bunch of players can gather together and emote at once, but they’re usually dancing within proximity to each other than with each other.

To see those odd digital limitations brought (and adhered) to in our physical realm — as emotes are performed as dance moves at parties and in viral videos more and more frequently — only heightens that uncanny feeling. What seemed like a silly viral video eight years ago has now come to typify youth dance culture, online and off. It turns out the cybergoths really were ahead of their time.

Sign Up for the Intelligencer Newsletter

Daily news about the politics, business, and technology shaping our world.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

A Viral Video of Cybergoths Presaged the Emote Dance Craze

Things you buy through our links may earn New York a commission.

games

games

The World Cup Is the Only Real American Underdog Story

By Will Leitch

Sometimes it’s nice to root for a scrappy up-and-comer, and this year’s men’s team is exactly that.

just asking questions

just asking questions

Why Tom Bonier Knew There Would Be No Red Wave

By Nia Prater

Months ago, the Democratic strategist said this time the midterms would be different because of the backlash to Dobbs. Here’s what he’s learned since.

early and often

early and often

New York Does Not Have a Democratic Party

By Ross Barkan

The midterms show the statewide organization is worse than ineffective; it is practically nonexistent when it comes to electing candidates.

cover story podcast

cover story podcast

Where Does Sex With a Billionaire Land You?

By Intelligencer Staff

We examine a lawsuit, a police investigation, and one woman’s memories.

early and often

early and often

Katie Hobbs Defeats Kari Lake in Arizona Governor’s Race

By Chas Danner

The rising MAGA star and prominent election denier is already signaling she won’t accept the result.

the money game

the money game

5 More Disturbing Revelations About Sam Bankman-Fried

By Kevin T. Dugan

It has been three days since the dramatic crumbling of his crypto empire, but the insane details keep coming.

2022 midterms

2022 midterms

The Mitch McConnell vs. Rick Scott Spat Is Heating Up

By Ed Kilgore

Scott is carrying Trump’s water in an increasingly bitter dispute over who lost the midterms.

the national interest

the national interest

The Right’s Only Regret About Trumpists Is That They Lost

By Jonathan Chait

Don’t mistake tactical critiques for moral ones.

2022 midterms

2022 midterms

Just How Unusual Were These Midterms?

By Ed Kilgore

There are some parallels with 1962, 1998, and a few other years. But the more you look at it, the more 2022 could be unique.

old beef

old beef

It Sure Looks Like Trump Sicced the IRS on His Enemies

By Matt Stieb

A Trump aide says he wanted to “get the IRS on” his political opponents — which is exactly what happened to James Comey.

2022 midterms

2022 midterms

Who Has the Edge in Georgia’s Suddenly Less Momentous Senate Runoff?

By Ed Kilgore

Herschel Walker trailed the rest of the GOP ticket in his state, but beyond that, national investment in this race is now in question.

2022 midterms

2022 midterms

Electability Is Great Again

By Ed Kilgore

Lessons from the midterms could make a Biden-Trump 2024 rematch much less of a sure thing.

foreign interests

foreign interests

Biden’s New Cold War Against China Could Backfire

By Eric Levitz

The U.S. is now officially committed to thwarting China’s development goals. That comes with big risks.

the city politic

the city politic

New Yorkers Rejected the Doom and Gloom About Crime

By Errol Louis

Midterm voters did not accept the premise that crime is an all-consuming battle that New York is losing.

2022 midterms

2022 midterms

Democrats Keep Control of the Senate

By Ed Kilgore

Nevada’s Catherine Cortez Masto defeated Republican Adam Laxalt to give Democrats their 50th Senate vote in the next Congress.

2022 midterms

2022 midterms

Democrats Made Gains in the States, Too

By Ed Kilgore

They flipped two governorships and several state legislative chambers while holding off Republican election deniers.

just asking questions

just asking questions

Donald Trump’s Gift to Democrats

By Benjamin Hart

Cook Political Report’s Amy Walter on the ex-president’s pivotal role in an unusual midterm.

just asking questions

just asking questions

John Fetterman’s Team on How the Stroke Changed His Campaign

By Nia Prater

Senior adviser Rebecca Katz on the health crisis, the controversy, and how they turned a purple state blue on Election Day.

the money game

the money game

It Was All a Game for Sam Bankman-Fried

By Kevin T. Dugan

The boy king of crypto was accustomed to taking the kind of risks he loved to take in e-sports, but the consequences couldn’t be more real.

early and often

early and often

Mark Kelly’s (Likely) Win Is an Indictment of Sinema’s Politics

By Eric Levitz

Turns out, you don’t need to sabotage your president’s agenda to win swing voters in close states.

2022 midterms

2022 midterms

How Many Republican Chokers Is Trump Responsible For?

By Ed Kilgore

The GOP was supposed to easily win the Senate this year, but it’s had some big misfires.

the inside game

the inside game

The Vindication (for Now) of Joe Biden

By Gabriel Debenedetti

Being underestimated is not new to those who’ve been with him from the start.

screen time

screen time

Welcome to $8chan

By John Herrman

The first days of Musk’s Twitter have been a mess. But they also demonstrate a desire and a will to actually gut renovate.

the national interest

the national interest

The GOP Revolt Against Trump Is More Serious Than You Think

By Jonathan Chait

It’s not going to be like 2016 or 2021.

the money game

the money game

The Rise of Influencer Capital

By Malcolm Harris

How social media, celebrity promoters, and banks looking for a quick buck transformed the markets.

Email You\'ll receive the next newsletter in your inbox. *Sorry, there was a problem signing you up.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Already a subscriber?

What is your email?

This email will be used to sign into all New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us.

Enter your email: Please enter a valid email address.

Sign In To Continue Reading

Create Your Free Account

Password must be at least 8 characters and contain:

This password will be used to sign into all New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us.

You’re in!

As part of your account, you’ll receive occasional updates and offers from New York, which you can opt out of anytime.

Already a subscriber?

What is your email?

This email will be used to sign into all New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us.

Enter your email: Please enter a valid email address.

Sign In To Continue Reading

Create Your Free Account

Password must be at least 8 characters and contain:

This password will be used to sign into all New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us.

You’re in!

As part of your account, you’ll receive occasional updates and offers from New York, which you can opt out of anytime.

Already a subscriber?

Already a subscriber?

Email You\'ll receive the next newsletter in your inbox. *Sorry, there was a problem signing you up.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Already a subscriber?

What is your email?

This email will be used to sign into all New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us.

Enter your email: Please enter a valid email address.

Sign In To Continue Reading

Create Your Free Account

Password must be at least 8 characters and contain:

This password will be used to sign into all New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us.

You’re in!

As part of your account, you’ll receive occasional updates and offers from New York, which you can opt out of anytime.

Already a subscriber?

What is your email?

This email will be used to sign into all New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us.

Enter your email: Please enter a valid email address.

Sign In To Continue Reading

Create Your Free Account

Password must be at least 8 characters and contain:

This password will be used to sign into all New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us.

You’re in!

As part of your account, you’ll receive occasional updates and offers from New York, which you can opt out of anytime.

Already a subscriber?

Already a subscriber?

Email You\'ll receive the next newsletter in your inbox. *Sorry, there was a problem signing you up.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Already a subscriber?

What is your email?

This email will be used to sign into all New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us.

Enter your email: Please enter a valid email address.

Sign In To Continue Reading

Create Your Free Account

Password must be at least 8 characters and contain:

This password will be used to sign into all New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us.

You’re in!

As part of your account, you’ll receive occasional updates and offers from New York, which you can opt out of anytime.

Already a subscriber?

What is your email?

This email will be used to sign into all New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us.

Enter your email: Please enter a valid email address.

Sign In To Continue Reading

Create Your Free Account

Password must be at least 8 characters and contain:

This password will be used to sign into all New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us.

You’re in!

As part of your account, you’ll receive occasional updates and offers from New York, which you can opt out of anytime.

Already a subscriber?

Already a subscriber?

Email You\'ll receive the next newsletter in your inbox. *Sorry, there was a problem signing you up.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Already a subscriber?

What is your email?

This email will be used to sign into all New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us.

Enter your email: Please enter a valid email address.

Sign In To Continue Reading

Create Your Free Account

Password must be at least 8 characters and contain:

This password will be used to sign into all New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us.

You’re in!

As part of your account, you’ll receive occasional updates and offers from New York, which you can opt out of anytime.

Already a subscriber?

What is your email?

This email will be used to sign into all New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us.

Enter your email: Please enter a valid email address.

Sign In To Continue Reading

Create Your Free Account

Password must be at least 8 characters and contain:

This password will be used to sign into all New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us.

You’re in!

As part of your account, you’ll receive occasional updates and offers from New York, which you can opt out of anytime.

Already a subscriber?

Already a subscriber?

It’s World Goth Day: an ode to the cybergoth dancers, one of the best memes

Skip to main content

The VergeThe Verge logo.

The Verge homepage

The VergeThe Verge logo.
  • Culture/
  • Internet Culture

/

As one of the best memes demonstrates, goths can dance to anything, as long as it’s somewhere around 160 bpm

By Devon Maloney / @dynamofire

|

Share this story

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

On September 7th, 2011, the internet was blessed with a diamond in the rough: a home movie of a crew of German cybergoths gathered beneath a concrete overpass, enthusiastically demonstrating their best electro-industrial dancing skills. On this day, the 10th annual celebration of World Goth Day, we humbly thank them for their service.

This scrappy bunch of cybergoths — so-called for their intersecting passions for goth style, industrial aesthetic, and EDM-raver esprit de coeur (not to be confused with Invisigoth, the hacker hero of a 1998 X-Files episode, though she probably would identify as both) — could not have known at the time, but their contribution to the creative spirit of the internet would go on to inspire one of the greatest memes online, when another lone YouTuber discovered something incredible: their masterful performance pairs with any kind of song imaginable.

Okay, so that’s not entirely true. The majority of said song has to come in somewhere around the 160 bpm tempo. But otherwise, the sky is the limit, friends. Behold the magic, and celebrate the joys of the cybergoth dancing meme.

Future’s “Mask Off”:

The Bill Nye the Science Guy theme:

A holiday flavor, with Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You”:

Meme-inception edition, with the Walmart yodeling boy’s sweet melody:

Even the theme song for Guile from Street Fighter:

They even inspired several spinoffs:

And, lest we overlook it, it’s important to note that the meme only works thanks to the unbridled enthusiasm of the dancers themselves. So have fun out there, cybergoths. Enjoy your day. You earned it. And you earned this, too:

Update May 23rd, 9:23AM ET: It’s 160bpm, not 106bpm — we regret the unconscionable error.

Most Popular

  1. Elon Musk says he fired engineer who corrected him on Twitter


  2. Amazon mass layoffs will reportedly ax 10,000 people this week


  3. Here’s why Elizabeth Holmes thinks she shouldn’t go to prison


  4. Elon Musk ignored Twitter’s internal warnings about his paid verification scheme


  5. Meta Quest Pro review: get me out of here


Cybergoths: how a mixture of styles gave birth to a new subculture

As you already understood, today we will introduce you to the cybergoth subculture. True, today you can see Cybergoths only in clubs at theme parties or at some cosplay festivals. But who cares.)

How did the Cybergoths appear?

The term " cybergoth " was first used in 1988 by the role-playing game company Games Workshop in their game series: "Dark Future". Analysts say that this was nothing more than a marketing ploy on the wave of cyberpunk popularity: publishers connected two diverse areas with each other (Gothic & Science Fiction) to reach an even larger audience.

However, the subculture itself and its style were formed only a decade later on the wave of rave parties, industrial and cyberpunk aesthetics. The goth subculture, with its addiction to dark, gloomy extreme makeup and melancholy, was placed in the world of the future - cyberpunk with digital technology, implants and artificial materials.


“Post-industrial, being an actively developing and promising direction of music, but , which does not have any subculture at its core, connected like two ideal pieces of a puzzle with visual and aesthetic cybergothic - an emerging subculture that at that time did not have its own, clearly defined, musical component ”- Konstantin, a representative of the cybergothic crowd


- Advertisement -

Konstantin: “The Cyber ​​Goth movement started in England and America at the same time. The English part of it is former gothic rock bands that stopped playing mournful gothic rock, added futuristic lotions to their look and made the sound more electronic, in places generally moving into some kind of electrogoth (electrogoth), as well as electroclash and other experiments .


And, taking into account the new specifics, fans of hanging out began to reach out to their performances, i.e. already ravers. It was some kind of balance between gloom and brightness, traditionally associated with raves, discos. A very strange mixture, but it is this aesthetic that has taken root. But the music is not. It was several years of experimentation. It was really experiments, because each of these groups did something completely “own”.

Practically rivethead

By 2005, probably, and maybe even earlier, everything completely rotted away and no one remembered these bands, but they gave an impetus - the image and the idea had already been invented, everyone liked the aesthetics, it was new and cool. But there was no musical background. And that's where the rivetheads come in. Industrial, and more specifically post-industrial, EBM, and the like. Postindustrial dance styles. This music did not have any subculture or organized movement of its own. There were rivetheads, but again, it’s even difficult to call them a subculture, because. industrial is not a genre, but a colossal collection of genres. Cybergoths, on the other hand, were interested in just that part of the post-industrial, which was the least popular among rivethead industrialists - dance!

Cybergoths, ravers and rivetheads: style elements

Western youth of the late 1980s and early 1990s actively experimented with various subcultural styles. One of the predecessors of the Cybergoths was the Gravers (Gothic Ravers). Since 1988, raves have been called mass discos and club parties, which performed electronic music in the style of techno and acid house. The appearance of the ravers was characterized by the use of fluorescent paints and artificial materials (vinyl, plastic, latex). Cybers can be found in clubs where they dance to: trance, d'n'b, techno, dark electro, industrial, etc.

Another subculture that influenced cybergothic was the industrial subculture (industrial), whose adherents also call themselves rivetheads or rivets. Men usually cut their hair short and wear goggles - goggles, black trousers or camouflage pants, high heavy boots or boots, respirators, industrial symbols (biological, radioactive hazard badges). It is the post-industrial scene that today is more associated with cybers.


As a result of the synthesis of symbols, norms and values, the Cybergoths arise, most often considered as a direction or trend within the Gothic subculture ( although the Cybergoths do not think so ). Thus, this synthesis is seen as a syncretic youth "post-subculture", a mixture of styles.


Cybergoth appearance

Cybergoth subculture attributes are very peculiar, especially in clothes where black color is combined with bright accessories of acid colors. Particular attention is paid to hairstyles of various colors. Cyberlocks are popular - hairpieces made of plastic, rubber, foam tapes and other maximally, emphatically synthetic and unnatural materials. Anyone can wear dreadlocks, but it is cyberlocks that are the hallmark of cybergoths, a unique feature

Also in the cyber-goth's wardrobe are welding goggles, respirators, and metal fittings. Often there are elements of military style, signs of radioactive and biological hazards, biohazard are often used. Piercing is also welcome.

Extreme make-up and no less extreme shoes make cyber goth style unsuitable for everyday use.

Dreadlocks can be made from artificial hair, thick plastic bands, yarn, and more exotic materials such as computer cables, foam strips, and tubular creen. Dreadlocks made from artificial materials can be made in many styles. They can be intertwined with each other or a variant is possible when one color goes into another (transistor dreadlocks).

The main footwear used is military footwear, high boots with thick soles and lots of straps, studs, etc. Skinny black or foil vinyl pants, branded t-shirts, tops, synthetic zip-up vests, vinyl raincoats, or one-piece bodysuits. Welding goggles (goggles) or flying goggles are popular on the head.

The suit also contains high-tech paraphernalia: microcircuits, chips, barcodes, plastic belts and bracelets, collars, patches with electrical symbols, knee pads and shields, wires, sensors, connectors, sockets.


Philosophy of cybergoths

The lifestyle followed by cybergoths is a kind of look into the future of what a person will become in a few tens or hundreds of years: the absence of natural colors and materials, technology, without which it will be difficult to take a step. Unlike the classical Goths, their philosophy and aesthetics are based not on the past, but on the future. On a future that has ultraviolet light, progressive fashion, huge boots, unusual hair extensions, glasses, cybernetics, body modifications.

Cyber ​​Goths is a specific performance, an important aspect of which is the rapid development of a technogenic society. This is a kind of lifestyle with the lack of natural materials, they will be replaced by synthetics and latex. This is a total development of technologies, without which a person cannot live, this is cyberspace instead of real life and computer chats instead of live communication.

One of the foundations of this lifestyle is literary genres - cyberpunk (and later post-cyberpunk styles: nanopunk and biopunk), as well as post-apocalyptic. The world of cyberpunk is high technology combined with a low moral level of society and general marginalization. The idea of ​​the death of mankind from some man-made or natural disaster is especially relevant.

Cybergoth music

Cybergoths' musical preferences include industrial and post-industrial, noise, dubstep, darkwave, trance, techno and electro (EBM, Futurepop, Trance, IDM and other electronic dance music). The musical tastes of cybergoths are clear rhythmic dance marches with bewitching "inhuman" vocals and bright admixtures of electronic ambient.

Synthpop-like Front 242, Nitzer Ebb, Leaether Strip, Front Line Assembly appear online as examples; in the style of Techno-industrial and Dark Electro - Project Pitchfork, Funker Vogt, Decoded Feedback, In Strict Confidence, Solitary Experiments; Snog, Wumpscut, Velvet Acid Christ, Suicide Commando, Hocico, Noisuf-X, X-Fusion.


In general, the first cybergothic musical groups appear only in the late 1990s - Goteki (1997, by the way, the name of the group was also borrowed from the game - Wipeout for Playstation), EverEve, Nekromantik and others. And it is from this moment that the formation of a full-fledged subculture with its bright representatives begins.

Below is an excerpt from an interview with GOTEKI


“I don’t consider GOTEKI to be a 100% cybergothic band anymore, but I’m glad to know that we contributed to the creation of cybergothic” — GOTEKI.

GOTEKI: This direction appeared around 1997-1999. There were a lot of goth bands in the UK and it was nice to be part of the local scene, but we didn't want to play that kind of music anymore. Therefore, bands began to appear with a more modern, futuristic view of the world, at the same time belonging to the goth scene. Among them are such groups as NEKROMANTIK, NARCISSUS POOL, KATSCAN, MECHANICAL CABARET, etc.

Now everything has changed again. Many of the cybergoths have gone over to the camp of Electroclash, a very interesting new musical direction that combines new wave, electro-punk and fashion culture. I love this style! I love it!

RGP: So, in your opinion, cyber gothic is more of a fashion trend, or does music play a significant role in it?

GOTEKI: I believe that the "blow" came from both sides at the same time - both on the musical and on the "fashion" front. It's like a road that allows fans of gothic music to take the first step into the big world of musical culture! Of course, there is a lot of good in the “cybergothic” fashion itself, a well-made thing can look just amazing!


We also advise you to watch the video below, which almost completely reflects the aesthetics of cybergoths and reveals them as a club subculture.

Industrial Rave Party: Nocturnal Nightmare B-day


And another video from an important event for cybergoths, Amphi Festival is a music festival that takes place annually in Cologne, Germany in the second half of July. The main focus of the festival is Alternative Rock, Medieval Metal, Symphonic Metal, Electronic Music (futurepop), Neue Deutsche Härte, Gothic Rock and Darkwave. Orkus magazine has been the official sponsor of the event for many years.

One of the latest industrial albums. Amphi Festival 2017 — Aftermovie

Industrial Dance: cybergoth dances

Maxim, a member of the cybergoth community.

Industrial dance is dances to EBM\darkelectro music for many years being an integral part of the culture (it should be noted that on the threshold of the emergence of culture, the cybergoths did not consider post-industrial as “their music” at all). The German cybergoth community (the largest in the world) can’t imagine life without industrial dance at all, it’s worth watching YouTube videos from their Amphi festivals, of which there are tens of thousands, and everything will be clear with this question”


  • For a more detailed look at the dance style, we advise you to look at the Academy of Industrial Dance group

Industrial dance battles are also widespread.

Industrial Dance Battle Mexico 2016

Summary

Thus, cybergoths are a symbiosis of three styles framed by cyberpunk philosophy. In addition to science fiction, board games and cyberpunk, ravers , who, in addition to their passion for dancing and clubs, gave the Cybergoths part of their wardrobe - acid-colored strands of hair, clothes, latex, as well as rivetheads - adherents of the industrial subculture, who gave the Cybergoths respirators, welding goggles and industrial symbols (biological, nuclear hazard).

Gothic ideals, combined with the aesthetics of futurism and urbanization, gave rise to a new subculture, in which only the name and aesthetics of death remained from Gothic. Skillfully combining all these trends into an individual performance, the cyber-goths became very bright representatives of their special darkly attractive style.

Red and black dreadlocks in synthetic hair and red wool.

Cyber-goths refer to a branch of the gothic movement originated in the early 2000s.

Summary

  • 1 History and development
  • 2 Patchwork
    • 2.1 Dress and color choice
    • 2.2 Hairstyles and extensions
    • 2.3 dreadlocks synthetic
    • 2.4 Cyberlocks
    • 2.5 V foamies
    • 2.6 Stores
  • 3 Music and dance
  • 4 Controversy
  • 5 links

History and development

The cyber gothic movement refers to a fashion that appeared in the late 90s. In both clothing and music, this style combines elements of industrial, techno and gothic. The importance of appearance and atmosphere can be compared to visual kei. The dance steps are similar to those of the tectonics.

Cybergoth clothing elements are also inspired by the cyberpunk genre. The term "cybergoth" may have been used for the first time as part of the "Dark Future" role-playing game at the Games workshop in Berlin at 1988 year. Broadly and stereotypically, these are dystopian anticipation stories in which the environment has been partially destroyed. . So in the cybergoth world, the hair is synthetic because it doesn't grow naturally anymore, the air is unbreathable (hence the gas masks), and you need to protect yourself from sunlight that has become too harsh on the eyes. When it comes to cyberdance, some members of the subculture believe it's the last thing to do before the apocalypse, while others dance like they've just been infected with a virus (where the jerky moves are). The fact that dance is connected with catastrophic imagination is reminiscent of the dances of 1518 in Strasbourg.

Patchwork Fashion

Cyber ​​asserts that the style of clothing follows certain futuristic stereotypes, while borrowing many elements from other fashion trends or movements. In particular, he connects the stylistic elements of the rave and techno scene with the dark scene (black is the dominant color in all clothing). The style also finds influence from the Asian visual kei movement. Hermaphroditism is often a feature of this movement without being decisive. Due to some similar elements, such as corsets or vinyl pants, cybernetics is often confused with the aesthetics of fetishism, which it has nothing to do with.

Dress and color choice

This style is partly expressed by highly contrasting color themes, sharp and responsive to neon lights, such as red, blue and neon green, chrome or hot pink combined with black or white; however, this is the dominant color in most cases, as some cybers are fully dressed in neon colors, but there are also two-tone black and white cybers. To accentuate the effect of the artifact , you can mix matte or shiny black materials and create building compositions of foam rubber and shiny black PVC . Equipment popular among cybers to wear in nightclubs consists of tight black trousers and jackets, colored and wide rave or techno style trousers and a bib, t-shirts, usually cut in thick fabric or with mesh. They also like to use bondage accessories to enhance their image. When it comes to footwear, cyber prefers large, heavy boots (e.g. transformerboots or jump boots or even platform shoes, but the use of sports shoes is common for more comfort when dancing.

Hairstyles and extensions

The black monochromatic color association can come in various forms - for example, in bright hair, fake makeup, LEDs, circuit boards, body modifications, gas masks, masks and goggles (or swimming or pool goggles) commonly worn on the forehead, arm and back of the neck instead of eyes. Hazard-related symbols, such as the radioactivity symbol or the biohazard symbol, are displayed repeatedly, but in the meantime, custom-designed symbols are in vogue. Color themes are often used for hair styling or eye makeup. The hairstyle is usually provided with special extensions called cyberlocks or cyber-falls or falls to highlight the extra effect. Women most often wear chignons on each side, while men usually use chignons as a back braid. Cyberlocks can be made from a variety of materials, from wires to electrical cables and fluorescent hoses; but most of the time we find synthetic dreadlocks so - is called cyberlox and also foamies .

Dreadlocks synthetic

Commonly known as dreadlocks, these dreadlocks are usually made from synthetic hair and come in a variety of colors. In fact, black dreadlocks are found in combination with several colored dreadlocks , however, there are also two-tone dreadlocks, usually a combination of black and another color of your choice to match the outfit. There are two other varieties0228 dreadlocks : on the one hand, woolen , and on the other hand, thin . For the first category, these are felted wool dreadlocks, and thin are tubes sewn from fabric, which also has a terrible look. The advantages of these two options are that they are significantly lighter and much better fixed than the synthetic hair option, but the process of creating these two options is much more complicated and requires a lot of investment. In addition, at The right choice of fabric Fine fabrics are more prone to shine when exposed to UV light, making them extremely popular.

Cyberlox

So - is called cyberlox comes from tubular Bolduc tapes from the United States. Due to the braided form, these tapes are elastic and when stretched, they return to their original shape when released. The advantages over synthetic dreadlocks are that they are significantly lighter and look more artificial. They are available in all colours, not only in solid colours, but also in two-tone stripes, as well as in metallic, matte or UV-reactive colours. For do-it-yourself extensions, locs are often purchased from shipyards to be cut to length and are usually secured with tape or pliers. There are suckers in different sizes, the most commonly used Cyberlox is a normal size with a diameter of about 2 cm , and mini lox has a diameter of about 0. 75 cm .

in

foamies

In foamies are strips cut from foamed rubber. The most commonly used combination is black and colored rubber, with the stripes having an average width of 1 to 4 cm and a total length of 20 to 40 cm. Manufacturing foams are relatively simple and inexpensive, hence the increased interest in using these tapes. Often they are decorated with foam rubber collages or paints.

stores

Companies specializing in this trend include Cyberdog & DANE in London, Lip Service in Southern California, Diabolik store in Montreal, and Robotic Kitty Fashions in Chicago. In addition to international companies, there are also German companies on the market. In the textile and fashion sector, there is Deecom eK based in Kehl. The store produces and distributes brand Amok . The clothes of the Mode Wichtig store located in Duisburg are produced and distributed under the label Sektor1 . In terms of accessories, the Cyberlox store has also established itself in Duisburg under the brand of the same name. The company not only deals with wholesale and mail order, but also operates a shop in Duisburg, which is famous for its hairpieces. In Essen, there is an online store Cyber ​​City at Leo Store . This store, whose area exceeds 150 m 2, incorporates new forms of event marketing into its sales concept. live performances of regularly take place on the big stage. Every Saturday, the music of famous DJs from the group sounds here.

Music and dance

Cyberculture is, first of all, dance. She prefers more specific forms of techno and trance (and especially Hardstyle) inspired music such as Future-Pop, Aggrotech (Hellectro) or Rhythm'n Noise. However, he does not have his own musical style. The most important thing is, first of all, the ability to dance on it, in particular on the musical temporal structures of 4/4 rhythms, mostly to the bass drum. Cybers are mostly encountered during dark culture events, but also occasionally during various tech events. In this case, we can clearly see the differences between dance styles according to the groups within the dark scene: the cybers especially attach importance to fast and rhythmic hand movements in accordance with the tempo (that is, for example, stretching, turning or clapping the hand to the side or in body), sometimes combined with rhythmic footwork, although footwork plays a secondary role. Dance performances in clubs are often accompanied by props such as glow sticks or LED rings.

controversy

The growing development of the movement, often referred to as the cyber-goth movement, is finding resistance among supporters and movements originating from the goth culture, which for many years caused much controversy on this issue. These derivative movements developed in stages from the Gothic-Rock and Dark-Wave environments and are therefore inseparable from Gothic/Wave music, while the Cybers are often seen as proponents of a movement-close patchwork culture. Techno, and they are defined primarily by aspects of clothing. The real goth part, in terms of clothing and music, is therefore considered insignificant. The use of the word industrialism to refer to a movement towards cyber dance style and music helped create further controversy, as there is no direct link to industrial culture. It is, like the name Ambient, an avant-garde and audiovisual concept rather than a technoid form of dance music. Unlike the latest styles of industrial music, most of them are experimental in nature and not suitable for nightclubs and traditional music events.

Recommendations

  • (de) This article is taken in whole or in part from the German-language Wikipedia article titled "Cyber ​​(Jugendkultur)" (see list of authors) .
  1. ↑ " In 1518 the desperate inhabitants of Strasbourg danced to death ", on www.rue89strasbourg.fr,
  2. a b c d e f g and h (de) Alexander Nimes, Schillerndes Dunkel. Musikunabhängige Strömungen , Plöttner Verlag, 2010, (ISBN 3-86211-006-0) , p. 180
  3. (in) Nancy Kilpatrick, Gothic Bible: A Compendium for the Dark Prone , UK, Plexus, , 281 p. (ISBN 0-85965-365-X)
  4. ↑ The Age: Dead fashionable . September 13, 2002
  5. a b and c (de) Valerie Steele, Gothic: Dark Glamor , Yale University, 2008, pp. 49–50
  6. (in) Nancy Kilpatrick: Gothic Bible: A collection for the dark. Griffin St. Martin, New York 2004, (ISBN 0-312-30696-2) , s. 35–36.
  7. (in) Kilpatrick (US edition), S. 34-35.
  8. (de) Stefan Koberg, " Künstliche Welten im Cyber-Shop ", at Der Westen (de) (accessed 4 June 2013)
  9. (de) Stefan Gnad: Schillerndes Dunkel , Plöttner Verlag, 2010, (ISBN 3-86211-006-0) p.

    Learn more

.