Goblin Appearances
Goblins are creatures of European Mythology. Trying to track down all the appearances of this sort of story is something a person could spend a career doing, but it's well understood that most of these classic tropes of European Mythology entered the realm of pop culture thanks to a little series of books you may have heard of...
The Hobbit was published in 1937, and the Lord of the Rings in 1954. Between the two books, J.R. Tolkien basically cemented the framework of pop culture's take on fantasy for all time. Dungeons & Dragons was published 20 years later, and the rest is pretty much history.
Goblins are very likely the most common sword-fodder in all video games. They've been featured in (off the top of my head) Baldur's Gate, Diablo, Neverwinter Nights, Breath of Fire, Dragon Age, Dungeon Seige, Akalabeth, Ultima, Zork, Tibia, RuneScape, World of Warcraft, Warhammer, Heroes of Might and Magic... I'm sure the list goes on. One of the most prolific fantasy worlds depicted in video games is the world of Tamriel from the Elder Scrolls series.
Goblins are so prolific that we're starting to see wide variations on the theme. The goblins in the Harry Potter an insular, surly bunch... but also inventers and bankers.
Of course, the goblins in question are Jareth's goblin minions from the movie the Labyrinth. While these goblins of are certainly up to no good, they seem to be more mischievious than evil, perhaps thanks to the influence of their king.