Books

Book review: How a prince of Goth found salvation in the gloom

Former member of The Cure, Lol Tolhurst, explores the genesis of the subversive, dark-hued yet comforting genre whose cultural legacy lives on

Author Lol Tolhurst highlights what he describes as Goth music’s ‘mixture of strangeness and vulnerability’ in Goth: A History. Picture: Carsten Koall/Getty

Despite its age, the cultural legacy of Goth music continues to be felt. Forget Barbie’s smooth pink – think more along the lines of Wednesday, the darker-hued, spikier offspring of the Addams Family.

Of course, the author of Goth: A History is no stranger to the music or the background he writes about. Lol Tolhurst was a co-founding member of The Cure, one of four British punk/post-punk bands he terms the “Architects of Darkness” (the ...