"The 18th century style, old vampire stories."

"Well, my really big influence was Robert Smith of The Cure."

"Music and people retreating from the average mundane way of life and thinking."

"I've heard Marylin Manson as an influence but probably celebrity figures of the past and present. Religious even."

"Music and musicians are the biggest influences."

"Sorry, I haven't got the faintest idea. I don't get out much."

"Influences? I'm not sure. I suppose music is the biggest one. For me, though, it's people I know (or want to know.) Looking at all the young kids (I'm 21) I can't but wonder why they do what they do. I mean, are they Goth? Did they do it just to do it? Do they even know what Goth is? It confuses me sometimes."

"I don't think there really are influence on goth, unless you count the collective unconscious."

"The people around you."

"Corporate oppression and Hollywood, or the entire entertainment industry."

"Marylin Manson is bringing a lot of goth wanna-be's. Don't get me wrong, I like Manson, good group, but too many people want to be like tham, or like NIN, to many people don't realize that goth has nothing to do with what others do, it's all you."

"Other goths! The look. I think people tend to get into the fashion first and music later."

"The bands... Dead Can Dance, Bauhaus. But more importantly the net... Goths from everywhere, including those previously isolated, can get with the "scene" as it were and communicate."

"The entire world and its constant degregation of human, plant, and animal life drive us to be influenced in what lies beyond the fairytale that the institution begins feeding us at birth. Some may say influences arise from individuals, musicians , artists etc. but look closely at what influences them."

"Nore people are accepting goth. They may not like it but understand that everyone is different. A big influence on goth is the music and the fact that people are looking for something different."

"It's a fasination...then it leads to a lifestyle."

"The internet."

"Sometimes it's music, but I think it's the individual. There have always been people who think the way we do, but they were usually put into insane asylums."

"Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe."

"Are there really any big influences today? I prefer myself!"

"Me. ha ha I influence myself. Goth just seems to be the place in which I best fit."

"Individuality. I think there is no real influence but the fact that people are sick of looking the same and instead find a way out of it."

"Emotion and midnight."

"The state of the world."

"Music, pain, & society, but mostly music and pain."

"I guess there are a lot of 'goth' clubs out there, and those clubs could influence many."

"Vampire novels and each other."

"Stronger mind altering chemicals, and the media."

"Who: The Crow and Edward Scissorhands. What: A desire to deviate from the norm."

"Nobody, being this way (goth) is coming from within you."

"Society as a whole for the more that they push us to conform, the more set in our ways we become and further into the darkness do we slide."

"The goth and vampire movement go hand in hand. Both representing the need for the darkness."

"Realistically: media. Ideally: thought."

"Music... and (groan painfully) Marilyn Manson."

"I would hope that 'goth' and 'influence' are oxymorons. The two shouldn't be used together. Goth isn't influenced. Goth isn't created or nurtured by exterior sources. If a person is influenced by an outside force to become gothic, that person is a liar. Goth is something that blooms within the truely dark at a young age, when a person desires to be separated from the rest of society, knowing that society itself is a lie by definition."

"19th century, the survival of cathedrals to the infamous human hand, the survival of swordsmanship, and the struggle between science and magic."

"I don't think that one can suddenly decide 'Hey! I think I'm going to be a goth!' It just happens."

"Imagination."

"As much as I dislike those who bemoan the fact that 'things aren't as good as they used to be' I think quite a few influences are bad ones. There seems to be a 'Shock Goth' movement underway that eschews the internal and says anything is ok, as long as it's gonna offend someone. (re: Marylin Manson)"

"Industrial music which is now moving into the goth realm. With that comes very young 'baby or kindergoths.'"

"Movies influenced me - the Crow, Rocky Horror, etc."

"Music & Religion."

"Trent Reznor (that's right, you pretentious 80's Goths out there) - Ann Rice - All the dozens of minor Goth bands - The Past"

"Actually if had had to look around me a choose who the role model is for most goths (I'm talking about the one's I see) I guess I'd have to say (though I dread it so) Marilyn Manson just because most people discover the gothic sub-culture through Marilyn Manson. Of course it changes over time, but it usually starts off w/ Manson."

"Nothing and no one is influencing goth in my opinion. I think that if you consider yourself a goth you are your own influence."

"Marylin Manson -- he gives real goths a common hatred."

"Trent Reznor, Brandon Lee (The Crow), Paganism."

"Music is the number one influence on goth today because you can relate to the feelings that are generated through music, whether you speak the same language or not."

"Hmm . . . there are a lot of movies and television shows that have been drawing in a bigger crowd, but I figure they're temporary. Robert Smith will always be an influence, and as much as I hate to say it, probably the Sisters of Mercy as well."

"The sadness in peoples faces."

"For awhile, i think it was a fad, and lots of teens were walking around in black levis, 6-hole Doc Martens, and band tee-shirts... *sigh* ...that's a really pathetic attempt..."

"The Germans are doing some good work, the English have always been influencing the culture, thus promoting it or is that promoting it thus influencing it? Who knows? Where's my eye-liner?"

"Unfortunately, Marylin Manson, who is NOT a goth but has all those damn spooky kids who follow him calling themselves goths. I also think, for *real* goths, the fact that society is getting even more and more conforming."

"Society, violence, art."

"The largest known 'goth icon' was, is, and always will be DEATH himmself! The fascination and fantasy of facing him is a driving force for many goths."

"Gothic authors, Gothic musicians, Fashion Industry."

"My influences are old horror films, but now for 'poseurs,' its a Hollywood thing!"

"As goth has diversified so much (i.e. truly become a subculture of sub classes) I don't believe any one or few persons can be claimed to have a great influence on goth today."

"Those who embrace that which has always been and share their expression of this with the world; that is, through music, poetry, and other forms to alchemically transmutate the world that is becomming."

"People's own minds and realizations make people wake up to Goth. If a person decides to conform due to media or peer influence, they are in no way genuine."

"Music, the urge to be different, to be scary, to have attention."

"James O'Barr (creator of The Crow comics), Robert Smith (singer for The Cure), and all the true goths expressing themselves in society."

"People get into it because of music, and others like the clothes they see other goths wearing."

"Dreams."

"Trent Reznor, Twiggy, and those people who give you those gratifying dirty looks."

"Vampyrism, a need for the darkness of a spiritual/mystical/psychic oulook on 'life.'"

"I have no idea, I'm old school."

"Music, literature, computers."