Head Over to the Dark Side: 8 Proto-Goth Style Icons Inline

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    Photo: Getty Images
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    Alice Cooper

    The theatrics of Alice Cooper’s earliest stage shows—snakes, skulls, and all—long prefigured “shock rock.”

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    Photo: © Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo
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    Vampira

    Horror hostess with the mostess Vampira, née Maila Nurmi.

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    Photo: © Photos 12 / Alamy Stock Photo
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    Cesare in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

    A somnambulist murderer who sleeps in a coffin? Conrad Veidt’s portrayal of Cesare in The Cabinet of Dr. Calgari (1920) might just be the O.G.—original goth, that is.

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    Photo: Getty Images
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    Dave Vanivan (with former wife Lori)

    The Damned are most notable as a punk powerhouse, but even from the band’s earliest days, frontman Dave Vanian’s look brimmed over with a certain vampiric appeal.

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    Photo: Getty Images
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    Lou Reed

    The monochromatic uniforms favored by Lou Reed and John Cale during their Velvet Underground days reached a dramatic new high circa the early ’70s when Reed struck out on his own.