Dialekt entschlüsselt, Video gefunden: Goths in den 80ern Reloaded

Im September letzten Jahres zog ich ein Video über englische junge Goths in den frühen 80ern durch den Kakao. Bitterböse schrieb ich: „Gibt es eine Szene mit äußerlich erkennbarer “Individualität”, gibt es auch Mitläufer. (Poser) Die haben mit der Musik nichts zu tun, sehen lediglich so aus als ob und fühlen sich zwischen den ganzen bösen “Goths” vielleicht ein bisschen besonders. Die meisten von ihnen verschwinden nach ein paar Jahren und wollen auch später tunlichst nicht mehr an ihre “Jugendsünden” erinnert werden. […] Wenn man so möchte, sind die ganzen “Karnevalisten”, “Schauläufer” und “Verkleideten” über die sich die Szene so manches mal ganz trefflich echauffiert, ein Teil der selben. Und das schon seit seiner Geburt.“
Etwas vorschnell geschossen, denn gleich in den Kommentaren wurde ich darauf aufmerksam gemacht, dass ich wohl weniger verstanden hatte, als ich hoffte. Ein intensiver englischer Akzent aus der Gegend um Leeds machte meine Überzeugung, Englisch zu verstehen mit einem mal zunichte.

Seit dem hat sich einiges getan. Leser Saturin machte mich in den Kommentaren auf einen den ursprünglichen Film „The Height of Goth“ (Achtung, Geo und Gema-Fucked) aufmerksam, aus dem dieser kleine Ausschnitt stammt und über den der Guardian bereits 2012 berichtete. Dabei handelt es sich um einen Amateur-Film, der 1984 in einem alternativen Nachtclub Namens „Xclusiv“ in Batley, West Yorkshire gedreht wurde. Es war wohl die Idee der beiden Club-Besitzer Annie und Peter Swallow ein Video über ihr Publikum zu drehen, um später Kopien auf VHS Kassetten für 2 britische Pfund an selbige zu verkaufen.

Eine Weile später stolpere ich über einen Artikel von Patrick Torsney, der das für das 2-stündige Ursprungsvideo verantwortlich zeigt und es bei YouTube hochlud. „Es war 1984, ich war 18 Jahre alt und in einer Band“ beginnt er seinen Artikel, der die Geschichte des Videos erzählt:

We were a bit Bauhaus, a bit Killing Joke, a bit crazy. I couldn’t afford an instrument so I was the singer. I wasn’t a very good singer, but we were a band. We used to go to the Xclusiv nightclub at the weekend. It was down by the railway station in Batley, the town where we lived in West Yorkshire. For sentimental reasons Annie (or could have been Ann) and Pete Swallow, the couple who ran the nightclub, got someone to make a video to capture a typical night at the club. VHS cassettes of the final film were sold for £2 to regulars. I think there were 50 copies in total, but can’t be sure. I never bought one, £2 was a stretch, there were bigger priorities. I was there that night along with the rest of the band, my sister (Nancy) and even a couple of my old flames (Karen and Michelle). If I remember it right it was actually filmed on a Sunday night (with ridiculously bright lights!) so as not to disturb the usual Fridays and Saturdays. It was a ticket only affair for the regulars, although some interlopers did make it in too. Over the years those cassettes eventually got recorded over, broken, lost or thrown away. Everyone forgot. Some 30 years later I’m living in London and by sheer fluke we came across one of the cassettes (this is a bizarre story in itself, but for another time). It was trashed. Mildewed. Beyond junk. My brother worked his magic, rescued it to digital and gave it to me as a gift. I put it on YouTube

Etwa einen Monat später erhielt ich einen recht dicken Brief von Silvia aus Bonn, die sich doch tatsächlich die Mühe gemacht hatte den kurzen Ausschnitt des Films zu übersetzen, ihn auf Schreibmaschine (!) zu tippen und mir zuzuschicken. Ja, sowas gibt es noch. Also Schreibmaschinen und Fleiß. Auch sie bedauert in ihrem Anschreiben, dass einige der Protagonisten so „schlecht weggekommen sind“, was ich aber letztendlich – wenn auch notdürftig – mit mangelnden Sprachkenntnissen entschuldigen kann. (Und mit schlechter Recherche, die aber nicht zu entschuldigen ist) Hier also nocheinmal das Video und das dazugehörigen Transskript:

Teil 1 – YM = Young Man, YW = Young Woman, R = Reporter

R: and yours (name)
Deborah: Deborah L.
R: alright, are you both working or unemployed or what?
Young Man: well I am working
R: you’re working, where do you work?
YM: believe it or not, I’m a nurse.
R: you’re a nurse, where?
YM: Dewsbury
R: What basically does that involve?
YM: well, I’m still training at the moment, so I work about anything in different hospitals in Dewsbury, I’m in Casualties at the moment.
R: yeah, are you working (schaut zu jungen Frau)
YW: well, I’m a part time Student and I’m unemployed besides that, I’m doing some A-levels.
R: yeah, okay. Where do you get your hair done, do you get it done specially in any special places or do you do it yourself or what?
YW: we do it ourselves.
YM: I’ve got a friend who cuts my hair.
R: and what about your clothes, do you have to buy them at any special shop, would you go to a certain shop or…?
YW: I make my own clothes.
R: and what about you?
YM: wll, you get some made and you just look around for whatever you fancy.
R: so what, you just basically buy what you see, if you see, you don’t go anywhere special to buy your clothes or whatever?
YM: no, not really, jumble sales (Trödelmärkte) are pretty good.
YW: second hand shops
R: so you go to a lot of jumble sales and second hand shops to pick up that style of clothing?
YM: yeah, Oxfam is alright.
R: Oxfam? (lacht herablassend) … and what sort of music do… whats your favourite type of music, what’s your favourite records?
YM: I don’t know really, it’s quite vast really…
R: yeah, can you just give us one or two?
YM: well, I like Glenn Miller… I like that sound (überlegt) and Cabaret Voltaire.
R: you say you like Glenn Miller, it’s a bit out of date really, isn’t it? What makes you go for that style of music?
YM: I don’t know, it’s kind of good, it inspires you…
R: you think it’s good music, it’s got a melody to it… to be quite honest with you, I don’t know a lot about that kind of music as far as I can go, most of it hasn’t got a melody to it at all not much of… you know, whatever I like but… I suppose that’s sort of completely different from a lot of the stuff he plays (bezieht sich auf den DJ, dessen Markenzeichen es wohl ist, in diesem Club ab und zu Glenn Miller zu spielen, wie sich aus dem weiteren Zusammenhang ergibt)
YM: well, it’s just whatever gets you, what you like, I don’t know, you just like it.
R: and what about you, what’s your favourite records, you’re favourite style of music?
YW: basically, what they play in here is quite good, it’s why I like Glenn Miller, it’s nice to listen to and dance to.
R: and what do you think about it when he plays stuff like, you know „The Monkey’s Theme„?
YW: it’s good fun isn’t it, it’s nice to dance to and it’s a change.
R: I think it’s brightening the scenery up a little bit – you know, creates more of a party atmosphere, more than anything.
YM: yeah, you can’t just do one style of music, it’s no good at all.
R: ah, quite alright, thanks a lot.
YM: thank you.

Teil 2 – TU = Tussi, R = Reporter

R: and you work as a reporter you say, where is that for?
TU: The Dewsbury Reporter
R: right, now your hair is not as bad as the last two, where do you get your outfits from?
TU: (Tussi grinst selbstgefällig) mainly in Leeds but sometimes I just shop around take whatever takes my fancy
R: and you go to any special shops?
TU: not particularly, no. I’m not really bothered about which shops I go, at all.
R: the other two said, they get a lot of stuff off jumble sales and Oxfam shops, do you get anything from there?
TU: ah, no, I try not to… but I say if something takes my fancy at a second hand stall, I buy something. I like doing second hand stalls actually.
R: yeah, okay. Let’s go on to the dancing. What sort of records do you like to dance to?
TU: oh, I absolutely love David Bowie, he’s my favourite, but I like T-Rex, Cockney Rebell, all the older sort of artists.
R: what’s your favourite Bowie single, cause I like Bowie myself.
TU: well, my favourite one to dance to is „Amsterdam“ but I like his current single „Blue Jean“ especially.
R: and where did you learn to dance like this, it’s fairly good.
TU: a lot of people ask me that, I just taught myself. I just went for a few jazz dancing lessons at Leeds, but I didn’t keep that on for very long. I just make it up standing in front of the mirror dancing, watching myself.
R: well it does look very affected you know.
TU: well, people commented on it but I just go out to enjoy myself get on the dance floor, I just lose myself in the music.
R: I suppose that’s why, yeah okay. Anything else about what records you like, what sort of music?
TU: well, I like something I can. Well I love miming, well it’s not really miming, I just love something I can move well to. And I like a lot of the disco records as well, I like a good beat.
R: I suppose a lot of your dancing is a lot of mime, especially to some of the David Bowie records.
TU: oh, yeah, most of it is, I love miming and getting on down there.
R: and you acutally took a couple of dancing lessons?
TU: well, when I was little I took ballet lessons, that’s a very long time ago. So I did Jazz lessons, jazz classes at. I think ist was at the Yorkshire Dance Company in Leeds, they thought me quite a few thing, it comes in handy for Blue Jean: „jazzin for Blue Jean“.
R: I can imagine, okay, alright, thanks ever so much.
TU: thanks a lot, bye.

Teil 3 – MI = Michelle, JO = John, NA = Nancy, R = Reporter

R: and do you work or … unemployed or what?
MI: I go to College, I just failed.
JO: unemployed
NA: I just failed.
R: alright now. I’ve asked the other people I’ve Interviewd, could you tell me about your clothes, your style of dress, where do get the clothes from?
MI: mostly second hand places and stuff and mostly I’m making myself.
R: some of the others said, they get from Oxfam shops and jumble sales, is that right?
MI: it’s the most original places there is four our sort of clothes.
R: is that the same with you?
JO: yeah, I buy dresses and cut them and just do anything with them.
R: you acutally buy dresses and … yeah alright … and your outfit is a bit unusual to say the least.
NA: yeah, I made it of a sheet off her bed.
R: you made it ouf of a bedsheet? yeah, okay. And your hairstyles, do you do them yourselves or do you get them specially done?
MI: well, I went to a hait dresser and the didn’t cut it how I liked it so I just did it my own way.
R: they didn’t cut it how you wanted it to be cut so you spiked it up like that?
MI: yeah.
R: and what about you?
JO: well, I worked at that hairdressers. I didn’t do it, I got sacked the morning she got in to get her hair done.
R: it wasn’t you who cut her hair was it?
JO: I would have done a better job, then the other woman did.
R: yeah, okay. What about you?
NA: he was supposed to do my hair but he got sacked so she did it and it was awful, so I had to do it myself.
R: so you used to work at the hairdressers and you got sacked because you cut her hair badly?
JO: I was sacked the morning when these two were coming in to get their hair done, I was gonna do it but she (the boss) sacked me so she did it and was messin‘ it.
R: so you got your hair cut how you didn’t want it to be cut…? Okay. What sort of music do you like? Obviously you like this sort of alternative style of music but in particular, could you sort of make it a bit more specific?
MI: The Smiths mainly and Echo and the Bunnymaen, stuff like that, no particular taste, just absolutely all.
JO: well I like Alien Sex Fiend
NA: Stranglers, Soft Cell, things like that…
R: couple of the others told me they like Glenn Miller, what do you think, I know it’s about 30 years out of date but, what do you actually think?
MI: (deutet auf NA) she drags me up to the dance floor, I don’t like it at all.
JO: no, I don’t like it, doesn’t agree with me at all, it’s just terrible, it really is.
R: okay, thanks ever so much.

Der Vollständigkeit halber poste ich auch den 2-Stunden-Epos. Der aber leider nicht wirklich anzuschauen ist, da er – wie bereits erwähnt – im Copyright und GEMA Geschwurbsel untergeht und entsprechend gesperrt ist. Aber die Zeiten ändern sich und sicherlich findet sich jemand, der das Video entsprechend der „Vorschriften“ ändert und zur Verfügung stellt. Ich halte euch natürlich auf dem Laufenden.