Well, in the period of their career, the term "goth" wasn't thrown around like it is today, with an associated "image". JD's management referred to them as gothic in comparison to the pop music of that time period. Post punk, new wave, gothic- whatever the hell you want to call it, Joy Division's sound was too original and authentic to be classified so simply. Their music, like alot of you have already implied, probably had a major influence on a lot of the "goth" bands that followed.
BTW, ^Bauhaus=Awesome
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