[Perndog]

The Gothic period of history was somewhere in the late Middle Ages - knights, castles, superstitions about dragons and vampires and all that. That's where goths originally got their imagery from, and then it kind of spiraled downhill with more pop-culture, pagan, and Satanic influences. It's associated with cry-babies because those are the kind of people who it appeals to; anyone can become a goth and have sort of a sense of belonging and a justification for being an outcast everywhere else, so whiners who are universally disliked can become goths and either feel better about their sorry asses or be proud of their misery.