Dom Joly Goth or Not?

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Archive on 4: Dom Joly - Goth or Not?

Dom Joly - Goth or Not?

BBC Radio 4 - Archive on 4, Dom Joly - Goth or Not?

Dom Joly used to be a goth - or did he? He journeys through the archive to find out.

Dom used to be a goth - or did he? And what is a goth actually? He searches for answers in the archives and talks to other recovering goths. With Lol Tolhurst and Wayne Hussey.

Dom Joly used to be the award-winning presenter of Trigger Happy TV. But before that he used to be a goth.  Looking more like Robert Smith than Robert Smith, he joined the ranks of what would turn out to be one of Britain’s most enduring sub-cultures.

But looking back, Dom’s not really sure whether he really was a goth, because he doesn’t really know what being a goth meant or even what it was all about. So could he really be part of a sub-culture he couldn't actually define? What does goth stand for, what are the membership rules and was he ever really part of that club?
 
To get some answers to his questions he trawls through the BBC archive, hearing what Siouxsie thought of Robert Smith’s lipstick, and from Gary Numan on who he think was to blame for panstick. 

He talks to gothdom experts like Wayne Hussey, John Robb and Lol Tolhurst about what exactly goth is. Kirk Brandon discusses why he's the only person he talks to who claims to be a goth and why Dom thinks he's the only who's not. 

Jo Whiley tells Dom about the pitfalls of being a blonde goth and he talks to Marcus Brigstocke about how this bunch of introverted extroverts came to his rescue. 

And Dom steps back into his youth when he goes to the goth weekend in Whitby. .


Written and presented by Dom Joly
Contributors; Lol Tolhurst, Kirk Brandon, Wayne Hussey, Jo Whiley, Marcus Brigstocke
Archive material from:
A Brief History of Goth, BBC 6Music 2017
Rock Family Trees, BBC 2 1998 
London Plus, BBC1 2014
The G Word, Radio 2 2009
The People's Songs: Love Cats A Particularly British Style, Radio 2 2017


Producer: Alison Vernon-Smith
Production Coordinator: Ellie Dobing
Executive Producer: Julian Mayers

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