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Dark cabaret is a music genre that draws on the aesthetics of burlesque, vaudeville and Weimar culture cabaret, generally played by groups with origins in rock music.
The genre traces its roots to 1930s Weimar Republic experimental cabaret of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, and their influence upon 1960s rock music bands including the Doors. In the 1970s, the dark cabaret genre began to emerge with Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel's The Human Menagerie (1973) and Nico's The End... (1974). During the 1980s, the genre was adopted by groups with origins in post-punk, new wave and gothic rock, including Marc Almond, the Virgin Prunes, Nina Hagen and Sex Gang Children. These disparate forms of the genre were largely codified during the 1990s, through the works of the Tiger Lillies, as well as Rozz Williams and Gitane Demone's Dream Home Heartache (1995). During this decade, the neo-burlesque movement began, which allowed acts in the 2000s such as the Dresden Dolls, the World/Inferno Friendship Society, Jill Tracy and Katzenjammer Kabarett to gain mainstream attention. Amidst this period, the genre's influence from embraced by some prominent groups in the indie rock and emo pop genres.
One of the earliest bands to play mainly or exclusively in a style which might now be described as dark cabaret were the Tiger Lillies, formed in London in 1989. In the 1980s satirical cabaret had been revived and popularised by London-based bands such as Fascinating Aïda and Kit and The Widow but the Tiger Lillies incorporated themes of blasphemy, prostitution and bestiality in their songs, sung by Martyn Jacques in a menacing style with a falsetto voice. A collaboration between Rozz Williams and Gitane Demone – both former members of Christian Death, entitled Dream Home Heartache (1995) – was described by reviewers as "cabaret noir" or "glam cabaret".
Dark cabaret as a distinct musical movement began to solidify around the mid-2000s, notably represented by Projekt Records's 2005 compilation album Projekt Presents: A Dark Cabaret, which largely popularised the genre. The album included "Flowers" from Dream Home Heartache sung by Rozz Williams together with, among others, "Evil Night Together" by Jill Tracy, "Sometimes, Sunshine" by Revue Noir, and "Coin-Operated Boy" by the Dresden Dolls. Formed by Amanda Palmer and Brian Viglione in 2000, The Dresden Dolls described their music as "Brechtian punk cabaret", a term coined by Amanda Palmer in early 2003 in part to preclude being labelled by the media as goths.Speer, Deborah "The Dresden Dolls" Pollstar, 3 April 2006 Nevertheless, with their musical style and appearance in white face makeup and reduced period clothing, the Dresden Dolls and their fans quickly became the most readily identified with the newly evident dark cabaret genre, garnering the most mainstream attention. The band's popularity led to an increased interest in prior acts in the genre namely the Tiger Lillies and the World/Inferno Friendship Society, and bands began categorising themselves and their performance as dark cabaret, such as Katzenjammer Kabarett in France, or Ray Childish in Austria. At this time, elements of dark cabaret also began to be embraced by practitioners of emo pop music, including My Chemical Romance and Panic! at the Disco.
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