A few days ago I read a solid piece about Bauhaus:
After 24 years, a new Bauhaus album.
Sergej Županić
Maybe the most striking scene in Tony Scott's cult film "Hunger" is when a rock band performs "Bela Lugosi's dead" inside a cage at some seedy club. It's this twisted tribute to the greatest actor to ever play Dracula.
Exactly 30 years ago, a quartet of young debutants played their first show at Cromwell's pub in Wellingborough, right on the outskirts of Northampton. Back then, they were actually going by "Bauhaus 1919"—named after that German art movement—but they dropped the "1919" part just a year later.
That same year, singer Peter Murphy, guitarist Daniel Ash, drummer Kevin Haskins, and his brother bassist Daniel J. recorded their debut single, "Bela Lugosi's dead." It basically kicked off the whole goth-rock era right when post-punk was hitting its stride, and now it’s the ultimate anthem for goths everywhere. What most people don't realize is that the track was actually meant to be just a joke—but it was taken way too seriously, sparking an entire explosion of the darkest underground rock.
Misunderstood irony.
"The song was supposed to be ironic. That part about 'Bela Lugosi is dead, not dead,' it’s honestly hilarious!" Peter Murphy explained back in '94 during an interview with some alternative music mag. "We messed up by playing it with this naive seriousness, so that's how the crowd took us—dead serious." Murphy admitted there was no turning back after that. They got slapped with the "goth" label, leaned into it, and that moment of forced sincerity eventually tore the band apart.
In just a handful of years between 1979 and 1983, Bauhaus managed to cram an entire lifetime of punk, rock, glam, German psychedelic expressionism, experimental electric rock, heavy metal, reggae, funk, and dub into four studio albums. They basically threw every musical idea they ever had at the wall to see what stuck. Honestly, their takes on timeless hits from T-Rex or David Bowie actually ended up sounding better than the original influences themselves.
Their music was melancholy and twisted, sure, but it was also this ominous, threatening, merciless dirge. Every now and then, they’d hit you with a burst of intensity that felt as raw as the punk scene they all grew up in. The lyrics were obsessed with bats, death, horror movie icons, and the tragic ends of artistic geniuses. Even if those themes eventually turned into cheap "goth" clichés, the sheer hopelessness bleeding through their songs was rooted in something real from their everyday lives.
They showed up in the late 70s, emerging from the wreckage of a broken society—which is exactly what gave birth to punk. You had unemployment, racial tensions, and, as they themselves venomously claimed, the absolute worst offender of all: the rise of disco. To make matters even worse, their hometown, Northampton, was just some dreary industrial town with barely 200,000 people living in it. 56 miles Northwest of New York City.
"It was indescribably depressing. Bad food, shitty weather, and an unbearable level of conservatism," Daniel Ash once said about life back then. "We had zero future, zero chance at making it. Just total shit." That’s exactly why we ended up sounding the way we did—that raw, gloomy sound and those dark atmospheres during our shows. We actually put a lot of work into the stage presence and choreography, making them feel more like theater than just some standard concert.
Peter Murphy was the absolute center of attention on stage. Before 1978, he actually tried his hand at a brief stint as a model, using that stage presence of his. But, caught somewhere between the runway and the uncertain future of an Undone alternative rock band, Murphy eventually chose Bauhaus.
He prowled the stage like some kind of nocturnal predator. His whole performance was so perfectionist, so hypnotic, that thousands of his physical clones are still stomping around the world today, calling themselves "goths." He had this massive voice and this wild, unhinged energy—like he might just burst out of his own skin at any second. But the kicker was that he was smart and witty enough to make sure none of it felt cheap. In his private life, though? He was just a mild-mannered, calm guy who was completely devoted to his family.
Leaving a mark on the goth scene
The Bauhaus guys never hesitated to grab anything that caught their eye. They pulled from everywhere—proto-goth Joy Division, the timeless chameleon David Bowie, Bryan Ferry, Kraftwerk, The Damned, Suicide, Can, and even Nico, who ran into Bauhaus in New York City back in '81. While Peter Murphy held her up so she wouldn't collapse, they recorded "Waiting for the Man" by the Velvet Underground.
What Bauhaus really did was bring back a sound passionate enough to pull fans away from new wave, leaving a permanent footprint on the entire 1980s goth scene. Through them, you can trace the influence straight into early '90s industrial music and even certain progressive and black metal bands. Without their body of work, it’d be impossible to imagine acts like Marilyn Manson (who aren't actually goths, despite what people think), NIN, Franz Ferdinand, Smashing Pumpkins, or even Radiohead.
An album after 24 years
Eventually, being labeled "goths" started getting to the Bauhaus crew, and right before their reunion in 1998, they decided to settle some scores with their "bad conscience." “'Goth' doesn't actually exist. In the US, 'goth' was always a joke,” says Daniel Ash, adding: “It just meant huge hair, too much makeup, and zero talent. People usually say the goths were The Cure, Siouxsie & the Banshees, New Order, and Joy Division, but the real goths were Alien Sex Fiend, Specimen, and stuff like that. Maybe Sisters of Mercy. Time proved we actually had more talent.”
And honestly, even with half a century of life under their belts, their music still pulls in crowds of 50,000 at shows. More importantly, it keeps inspiring a whole wave of younger bands today.
On stage, Murphy is still that same wild guy from back in the day, even if he's carrying a few extra pounds and has a little less hair. As for how much songwriting energy they have left, we'll find out on March 10th when they announced their first album in 24 years, titled “go Away White”.
