At this weekend’s Cruel World festival, goths and new wavers will sweat to the oldies

Had Coachella been held in the early 1980s, its lineup likely would have included many of the artists performing at this weekend’s Cruel World music festival in Pasadena. Bauhaus, “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” There would be no goth movement without “Bela Lugosi’s Dead,” a frenetic, cavernous post-punk masterpiece that, at nearly 10 minutes, was a dance-floor staple in darkened clubs. Blondie, “One Way or Another” Where the ’60s emphasized peace and love and opened its decade with girl-group boy-crush hits, music of the late 1970s and early ’80s used similar Brill Building song structures to tackle opposing themes: revenge, isolation, depression and nihilism. Blondie’s Debbie Harry captured the tension of the time in “One Way or Another.” Featuring lyrics that might have been written by a serial killer — “I will drive past your house / And if the lights are all down / I’ll see who’s around / One way, or another, I’m gonna find you” — the song’s tension is fueled by a catchy girl-group melody totally at odds with the lyrical vindictiveness. Like “One Way or Another,” Morrissey’s “Suedehead” regards desperate, all-consuming and downright creepy behavior.