My personal favourites are The Cure, Sisters of Mercy, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cult and The Mission - in that order. I've never heard Fields of the Nephilim, but from the look of them, they look a bit like The Mission. Or perhaps The Mission took their fashion cues from Fields rather ..

Yeah, I'm thinking of the hats. Were cowboy hats ever really goth?

If we're speaking strictly of Goth that evolved in the 80s, I'd go with The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Mission, The Sisters of Mercy, and Christian Death.

I think the best Goth Rock ALBUM is Christian Death's Only Theatre of Pain, choosing the best band is more difficult... Probably Siouxsie and the Banshees due to the consistent quality of their albums.

For some reason they had this spaghetti western look that came from their early days and as a little footnote the photography on their first full album was by Richard Stanley who became a film director of massive cult status who should have made more films (Hardware, Dust Devil).

I could bang on about The Nephilim all night as I have been a fan for well over 20 years now. Awesome live band and probably the most Prog band of them all. This live version of At The Gates Of Silent Memory is simply superb:


Other decent bands apart from the usual suspects mentioned here:

London After Midnight
All About Eve (Moreso the Ultra Violet album)
The March Violets
Nosferatu

I could never exactly grasp what Goth rock IS, after all...

Don't even get me started on goth rock. There are so many bands I'd love to mention here! But as well as the classics that really shaped the genre (Siouxsie, Bauhaus, Joy Division, etc.) there are loads of bands that aren't always considered part of the subculture but I feel made really good contributions to genres like post punk and new wave. I think Killing Joke and The Chameleons deserve more recognition within the subculture, for example. The goth band I'm listening to the most at the moment is probably Children On Stun.

london after midnight is great

Sad Lovers and Giants were a great band. Their 1983 album Feeding the Flame is worth checking out for some good gothic rock/dark post-punk.



And Also the Trees are a very inventive and unique band with amazing lyrics. Their music feels dark, strange and otherworldly.



Lycia are one of my favourite dark discoveries of recent years. Their sound has a more ethereal wave feel and can be very despairing. Check out the album Cold.

The Cure is one of my favorites. However, I've never thought that there much more great Goth Rock bands.
Well, they worth listening! Thank you for your suggestions - my play lists are going to become longer!