Perhaps no other band contributed more to the post-punk pantheon than Bauhaus. If critics were at first eager to peg the Northampton, England foursome as a kind of one- dimensional glam rock band on downers, those same critics had to eat their words as it was revealed that Bauhaus were more experimental, more daring, and more subversively comical than any of their contemporaries.
Founded in 1978 and forever associated with the start of the Gothic Rock movement, Bauhaus were vocalist Peter Murphy, guitarist Daniel Ash, bassist David J and drummer Kevin Haskins. The band's first single invented goth. "Bela Lugosi's Dead," released in 1979, served notice that the glam movement - always vastly more popular in the U.K. than in the U.S. - had taken a dark turn. As a one-song manifesto, "Bela Lugosi's Dead" was somewhat misunderstood lyrically, as what would later become a band trademark in snide, tongue-in-cheek songs was initially overlooked. What wasn't overlooked was the birth of a new style: dark, poetic lyrics, harrowing vocals, bizarre subject matter, and, above all else, screeching, echoing guitar work that only served to increase the tension. Plus, it was damn catchy to boot.
Bauhaus' first album was "In the Flat Field." Released in 1980, the LP continued where the first single had left off, as Murphy and company explored with great aplomb the new territory they had unearthed. The title track veered dangerously between soaring intensity and Murphy's nonsensical lyrics, while other songs ranged from merely sinister (the whispery, low key "The Spy In the Cab") to truly horrifying (the Latin lyrics - laden "Stigmata Martyr"). The trench coat revolution was upon us.
For 1981's "Mask," the band was already shrugging off the pigeonhole they had so adeptly created. Now it was time to indulge in experimentation of form - which largely meant allowing dance rhythms to creep into Bauhaus formidable mix. To that end, "Kick In the Eye" wouldn't have sounded out of place, on, say, a Roxy Music album, and "Dancing" was, well, just what you might think it was. Elsewhere, "The Passion of Lovers" and the title track retained all the menace of the first LP, while the band now felt free to start displaying their unique collective sense of humor. How else to explain the track simply titled with each of the band members' names, and which explored the lyrical realm of "fishcakes?"
It is important to note here that many critics did - and still do - dismiss Peter Murphy as a second-rate David Bowie. In this Murphy was not unique for his time and place; Bowie's influence via his so-called "Berlin Trilogy" on the post punk movement was both undeniable and inescapable. Where bands like Joy Division and The Cure had been content with simply pulling and idea here and there from the Thin White Duke, however, Murphy fuggin' sounded just like him. Therein lay a problem for many a rock writer.
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