When I was 13-14 in 1989-90 my personal definition of “punk” was very informed by the Sessions catalog and t-shirt ads in Thrasher and other skate magazines. As far as I was concerned punk meant you liked bands like the Smiths, D.R.I., KMFDM, R.E.M., Operation Ivy and the Police. Simple as that. Sonic Youth? Punk. Echo & the Bunnymen? Punk. The Clash? 7 Seconds? the Dead Milkmen? Yes, yes and yes. Things got more complicated when hipper people started telling me some of what I liked was lame and not punk, and other things were even more punk because they were “hardcore.” I also learned that it was decidedly not cool to have to ask if and where a certain band should fit in. You should already know. So when I remarked to an older, wiser friend that I really liked the look of the girls I’d see at shows with the dyed black hair that was shaved around the sides and back and the choker necklaces and black clothes, he let out a sigh, took me aside and explained what “goth” was. Apparently it was a very complicated issue for him and he almost seemed like a dad whose kid had just asked him where babies come from. I don’t remember specifically what his explanation was but I remember learning that as long as “goths” were at a show with cool bands, they were cool, but under no circumstances should I go to a show or buy records that were specifically “goth.” Goths as a rule were pretty lame, unless you were also a goth and that means you were a mopey outcast who didn’t like fun. Ally Sheedy’s character in The Breakfast Club was given to me as an example and made perfect sense.
As I continued my journey in the world of “alternative” music, punk, etc I, like a lot of people, became so obsessed with adjectives and sub-genres that I often couldn’t take things at face value, I had to immediately decide whether or not to give something a chance based on what category I thought it fell into. Thank god I grew out of this by the time I graduated high school (at least I think I did?) because if someone in the late-90’s tried to explain to me why straight edge hardcore meatheads were obsessed with Morrissey my head might have exploded. Even so, with more of an open mind and the understanding that I couldn’t rely on band t-shirts to provide my identity I still clung to certain stereotypes when choosing what music I listened to, what records I bought and what shows I went to. Thinking the goth scene wasn’t cool wasn’t hard to shake as it seemed like its participants really relished being painted as depressed outcasts that no one understood (except each other). Sure I flipped through some issues of Propaganda now and then and accidentally spent money on an Alien Sex Fiend LP or two but it only confirmed that this wasn’t my world and it was probably best if I didn’t try to pretend it was. I’m positive my typecasting and refusal to give a lot of things a chance just because I thought they were goth caused me to miss out on a lot of cool experiences and possibly even relationships but I was a teenager and I didn’t know any better and I barely do now that I’m in my forties.
I’m not positive, but looking back I can only imagine that the co-workers at the record stores, the friends-of-friends, the people I’d see at art galleries or coffee shops, all those truly living that “goth life” must have been absolutely appalled at what Hot Topic, The Craft, Tim Burton and others turned their lifestyle into in the mid to late 90’s. Hollywood’s portrayal of “punk rockers” and Green Day playing an awards show on MTV seemed to really only effect “real punks” in that a lot of their idols, friends and colleagues could suddenly afford personal healthcare and real estate. After goth became grist for the same mill it was almost universally portrayed as pretty goofy, pathetic and the complete opposite of dark or serious. Just like a lot of subcultures (in my lifetime) that ended up manifesting themselves among teenagers that are sort of attempting to live their lives based on their ill-informed perception of what their older siblings or classmates were up to when they were kids that weren’t allowed to leave the house. This is the same weird world where fans of “emo” music seem to think that in the 90’s you could go down to the local club and see Cap’n Jazz, Weezer and the Get Up Kids play to a packed house of 5000 people. It never happened, but it might as well have because it’s happened so many times in the minds of kids who rewrote history based on what they wish they could have experienced that it might as well be the truth now. To a generation of young people who grew up on Lenore comics, Rose McGowan and Marylin Manson and Hackers, being goth was a phase that was easy to buy into, only took a little commitment and was just non-threatening enough to be acceptable in suburban schools. The goth characters on Portlandia might not even make sense to someone who graduated high school in 2005. They might think they’re making fun of people into black metal. Telling everyone you’re a “witch” on twitter and showing pictures of yourself dressed up as Edward Scissorhands for Halloween passes for goth nowadays and as someone who wholeheartedly rejected goth as a subculture as a teenager in the early 90’s, I for some reason find it really….depressing.
I have no idea if the band Incomplete Monday ever considered themselves goth or any other category of music for that matter. When I first bought this record years ago the shop had written “PAISLEY UNDERGROUND” on the dust sleeve and I noticed they have a song titled “Green On Red” so I bought it despite it looking (to me) like, well, some boring “goth” band. I could say the same about the Mood of Defiance LP and that’s always been one of my favorites. I’ve never been able to find any info on this band or release at all but seeing as it’s from California in 1985 I always expected some connection to Brad Laner or the L.A.F.M.S. or even Savage Republic and the Independent Project Records world. Sound wise, they have their darker moments but I wouldn’t categorize this LP as goth anymore than I would The Cult on their first record. Above all it’s a solid ’80’s guitar-driven post-punk record that even flirts with power-pop (“Boyfriend Girlfriend World”). The closest they even get to goth is a piano-led instrumental called “Lighter Side of a Nightmare” that sounds more like an interlude than anything. The whole album is 8 songs and is over in a tidy 24 minutes. Hardly enough time to get too mopey or introspective.
Just to throw my original perception of this band off even more, as of February 2020 they have a new Bandcamp page up with a single called “1 to 2 and Poor” which was “Originally written in 1985, this track has been re-recorded and is the first release by Incomplete Monday since they dis-banded in 1989”. The song is an upbeat instrumental surf track that begins with a fake FM radio Huntington Beach surf report and ends with a sample of an explosion. https://incompletemonday.bandcamp.com/releases
And here’s the full Incomplete Monday “I Am” album:
