Deathrock
Deathrock is a dark, theatrical offshoot of punk from the Los Angeles scene around 1980, mixing punk energy with horror imagery and eerie guitar.
It grew out of the Southern California punk scene at about the same time gothic rock formed in Britain. Songs pair a driving, repetitive rhythm section with simple chords or eerie, effects-laden guitar and dramatic vocals, with lyrics and stage looks drawn from horror films and the macabre. It is closer to punk than British gothic rock, though the two scenes were mixing by the mid-1980s.
Artists it is known for: Christian Death, 45 Grave, Kommunity FK.
- Family
- Alternative & Indie
- On Spotify
- A current genre
- What it is
- A genre
- From
- Los Angeles, around 1980
- Also called
- death rock
- Trackify listeners who play it
- 2%
About 1,400 of 83,000 Trackify listeners with public profiles have deathrock among their top artists of the last four weeks. Rounded; updated 13 November 2026.
Deathrock artists
Siouxsie and the Banshees
Bauhaus
Sisters of Mercy
London After Midnight
Lebanon Hanover
Twin Tribes
The Cramps
Boy Harsher
Death In June
Strange Boutique
The deathrock artists most Trackify listeners have in their top fifty. Each opens on Spotify.
Sources
The definition is written for this site from open sources, and was checked against them on 13 November 2026.