Bauhaus were an English rock band formed in Northampton in 1978. Known for their dark image and gloomy sound, Bauhaus are one of the pioneers of gothic rock, although they mixed many genres, including dub, glam rock, psychedelia, and funk. The group consisted of Daniel Ash (guitar, saxophone), Peter Murphy (vocals, occasional instruments), Kevin Haskins (drums) and David J (bass).
The band formed under the name Bauhaus 1919, in reference to the first operating year of the German art school Bauhaus, but they shortened this name within a year of formation. Their 1979 debut single "Bela Lugosi's Dead" is considered one of the harbingers of gothic rock music and has been influential on contemporary goth culture. Their debut album, In the Flat Field, is regarded as one of the first gothic rock records. Their 1981 second album Mask expanded their sound by incorporating a wider variety of instruments—such as keyboards, saxophone and acoustic guitar—and experimenting with funk-inspired rhythms on tracks like "Kick in the Eye".
Bauhaus went on to achieve mainstream success in the United Kingdom with their third album, The Sky's Gone Out, which peaked at No. 3 on the UK Albums Chart in 1982. That same year, they also reached No. 15 on the Singles Chart with a standalone cover of David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust", earning them an appearance on Top of the Pops. During recording sessions for their next album, Murphy fell ill and spent much of his time away from the studio, leaving the rest of the band to compensate for his absence. This created a rift between the singer and his bandmates, culminating in the group breaking up on 5 July 1983, one week before Burning from the Inside was released. Featuring the Top 30 UK single "She's in Parties", it would be their final studio album composed entirely of new material for a quarter of a century.
After Bauhaus's break-up, Murphy formed Dalis Car with bassist Mick Karn before beginning a solo career, while Ash and Haskins continued as Tones on Tail and, later, reunited with David J to form Love and Rockets. Murphy's solo career enjoyed greater commercial success in the United States than Bauhaus, as did Love and Rockets. Bauhaus eventually reunited for a 1998 tour, again from 2005 to 2008, and in 2019 and 2022.
History
Daniel Ash, his friend David J. Haskins and Haskins' younger brother Kevin had played together in various bands since childhood such as Jam and Jackplug & the Sockets, playing cover songs by the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. Ash initially tried unsuccessfully to convince his school friend Peter Murphy to join him in a band. According to Ash: "Pete didn't think about it at all, it wasn't on his mind as such." Ash's band the Craze performed several times around Northampton in 1978. When the Craze dissolved, Ash once again tried to convince Murphy to join him, simply because Ash thought that Murphy had the right look for a band. Murphy, who was working in a printing factory, agreed to try it, although he had never written any lyrics or music. During their first rehearsal, he co-wrote the song "In the Flat Field".
Ash's old bandmate Kevin Haskins joined as the drummer. Ash intentionally avoided inviting David J, the driving force in their previous bands, because he wanted a band that he could control. Instead, Chris Barber was recruited to play bass, and together the four musicians formed the band S.R. However, within a few weeks, Ash relented and replaced Barber with David J, who suggested the new name of Bauhaus 1919. David J had already agreed to tour American airbases with another band but decided that joining his friends' group was "the right thing to do". With their line-up complete, the band played their first gig at the Cromwell pub (since demolished) in Wellingborough on New Year's Eve 1978.
The band had chosen the name Bauhaus 1919, a reference to the German Bauhaus art movement of the 1920s, because of its "stylistic implications and associations", according to David J. The band also chose the same typeface used on the Bauhaus college building in Dessau, Germany, as well as the Bauhaus emblem, designed by Oskar Schlemmer. Bauhaus associate Graham Bentley said that the group was unlike any Northampton band of the time, most of whom played predominantly cover songs. Bentley videotaped a performance by the group, which was sent to several record labels, in the hope of obtaining a contract. This approach was hindered partly because many record companies did not have home-video equipment, so the group opted to record a demo.
"Bela Lugosi's Dead" and 4AD "Bela Lugosi's Dead"
After only six weeks as a band, Bauhaus entered the studio for the first time, meeting at Beck Studios in Wellingborough to record a demo. In rehearsal, the band experimented with echo and delay effects on the drums. The first of five tracks recorded during the session, "Bela Lugosi's Dead", exceeded nine minutes in length but was released as the group's debut single on Small Wonder Records, in August 1979 according to Alexis Petridis. The BBC archives mentioned that radio DJ John Peel first broadcast "Bela Lugosi's Dead" in his show in September 1979. The single was reviewed in Sounds on 22 September 1979 as a record with "a moody intensity"."Bauhaus Bela Lugosi's dead [single review]". Sounds. 22 September 1979. The band was listed simply as Bauhaus, with the "1919" abandoned.
"Bela Lugosi's Dead" was strongly influenced by the band's interest in reggae and dub, styles in which the bass and the drums play prominent roles. The recording was completed on the first take. It was also the first time that Murphy had sung into a studio microphone, although he was sick with a cold when he recorded the song. Kevin Haskins' drumbeat was based on a bossa nova style. Daniel Ash explained the inception of the song: "I was talking to David (J, bass) on the blower one night and told him I had this riff, using these trick chords that had a very haunting quality to it. He went: 'It's so weird you should say that because I've got these lyrics about Bela Lugosi, the actor who played a vampire. David J further elaborated: "There was a season of old horror films on radio, and I was telling Daniel about how much I loved them. The one that had been on the night before was Dracula . I was saying how Bela Lugosi was the quintessential Dracula, the elegant depiction of the character." Ash elaborated about the chords: "My riff has these mutant chords – they're not even minor chords – but it's rooted in an old Gary Glitter song, slowed right down. I didn't realize that when I was doing it." Ash also explained how he was able to achieve the echo effects for the song: "...David had this old HH echo unit, which would crap out on you all the time. We hooked up the guitar and snare drum to this echo unit and I was just sliding the HH amp thing to trigger all these echoes as the song went through." David J explained the song's recording process: "We didn't really talk about what we were doing. Daniel started scratching away on the guitar, Kevin started his rhythm and there was this atmosphere building. I came in with those descending chords and Peter was just prowling up and down, slowly, like a big cat."
Murphy explained: "There's an erotic, alluring element to the vampire. We didn't want to write an ode to Bela Lugosi, ostensibly. The kitsch element was his name because he was the biggest icon, yet he was the most unlikely vampire-looking person. So there was that Brit angle to it, but it wasn't at all negative. It was perfect. The idea of Bela Lugosi being dead or undead is classic." Because the song was nine-and-a-half minutes long, with the instrumental introduction alone longer than many entire singles, the band struggled to find a label willing to release it. Peter Stennet of Small Wonder Records, however, ultimately agreed to do so, having favourably compared it to Velvet Underground's 17-minute improvised noise track "Sister Ray".
The single received a positive review in Sounds and stayed on the British independent charts for two years. It received crucial airplay on BBC Radio 1 and DJ John Peel's evening show. The band recorded a session for Peel's show, which was broadcast on 3 January 1980. After the band introduced themselves on his show, Peel said, "We've got Bauhaus in the studio, they're from Northampton and they have a new single out called 'Bela Lugosi's Dead'. It's nine and a half minutes long and this will probably be the first and last time I'll play this." After the initial broadcast, according to Murphy, "The BBC switchboard was jammed with listeners wanting him to play it again." Of the additional tracks, Classic Rock wrote that, "The rest of the material finds a band fumbling for direction, even touching on ska."
In the Flat Field Despite the success of their signature song, the band left Small Wonder Records because of its lack of support for touring stemming from budget issues. Stennet stated: "The trouble is we just can't afford to send the bands on tour or anything like that, and a group needs that sort of support." Signing with the 4AD label, Bauhaus released two more singles, "Dark Entries" in January 1980 and "Terror Couple Kill Colonel" in June 1980, before issuing their first album In the Flat Field in October 1980. The album's cover image, selected by David J, is a photograph titled Homage to Purvis de Chavannes by Duane Michals, an image of a naked man blowing a horn instrument. NME reviewer Andy Gill described it as "Gothick-Romantick pseudo-decadence" and dismissed the band as "a hip Black Sabbath". Despite negative reviews, In the Flat Field topped the indie charts and spent one week at No. 72 on the UK Albums Chart. Although the band was satisfied with the album, they later admitted that it had failed to capture everything that they had wanted and that its intensity level was too high, but it was "the purest statement of what [we] were like then".
In August 1980, the band travelled to North America to play four dates in cities such as Toronto, Chicago and New York. One of Bauhaus' first US shows was in a venue called Space Place in Chicago, Illinois in September 1980, booked by Jim Nash and Dannie Flesher, the owners of the independent record label Wax Trax! Records. The band returned to England in October 1980 for a 20-date tour in England and in Europe to promote their first album. In December 1980, Bauhaus released a cover version of "Telegram Sam", originally a hit by glam-rock pioneers T. Rex, as a single.
Beggars Banquet and breakup Mask Bauhaus' growing success outstripped 4AD's resources, so the band moved to 4AD's parent label, Beggars Banquet Records. Bauhaus released "Kick in the Eye" in March 1981 as its debut release on the label. The single reached No. 59 on the charts. The following single, "The Passion of Lovers", peaked at No. 56 in July 1981. Murphy said, "One of our loves is to make each single totally different from the last, not to be tied down by a style or sound." David J explained the techniques, effects and his reaction regarding the content of the title track to the album: "I can still recall with crystal clarity overdubbing the echoed bass part and using a metal bottleneck to achieve the cascade effect that comes in at the point where Daniel's acoustic twelve-string part starts. Hearing these sounds in ultra-sharp coke-intensified focus through headphones produced an ecstatic heart-bursting emotion on the edge of orgasmic release."
Bauhaus released their second album, Mask, in October 1981. The band employed more keyboards, and a variety of other instruments, to add to the diversity of the record. The front and back cover of the album was an impressionistic drawing created by Ash.