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Bauhaus are an English rock band, formed in Northampton in 1978 by Peter Murphy (vocals), Daniel Ash (guitar), Kevin Haskins (drums) and David J (bass). The band took their name from the German Bauhaus art movement, originally going by the name Bauhaus 1919, dropping the latter portion within a year of the band's formation. The typeface used by the band for the band name on album covers and other products is the same typeface used on the Bauhaus college building in Dessau, Germany. With their dark, gloomy sound and image, Bauhaus is considered to be one of the first gothic rock bands. Bauhaus broke up in 1983, with the band members going on to greater commericial success in other projects than they had in Bauhaus. Bauhaus reunited for a 1998 tour, and reunited again on a more permanent basis in 2005 with plans to record another album.


Daniel Ash, David J and Kevin Haskins had known each other since childhood, and used to play together in various different bands, often not lasting more than one gig. One of the most long-lived of these was a band called The Craze, who did a few gigs around their native Northampton. They soon split up too however, and Ash once again tried to convince his old school friend Peter Murphy to join him, simply because Ash thought he had the right look for a band. Murphy, who was working in a printing factory, decided to give it a try, despite never having written lyrics or sung. His old band mate Kevin Haskins came along for the drums. However, Ash made a point of not inviting Kevin's brother David J. J had very much been the driving force in their previous bands, and this time Ash wanted a band he could control. After only a few weeks though, Ash reconsidered and invited David J to replace original bassist Chris Barber. The line up was now complete, and David J named the band Bauhaus 1919, later shortened to just Bauhaus.

Bauhaus debuted with the single, "Bela Lugosi's Dead", which was released in September 1979. Over nine minutes long and recorded "live in the studio" in a single take, it did not enter the UK pop charts, but remained on sale for many years thereafter. By far their most famous work, its minimalist, free-form nature evoked a mixture of The Doors, early Pink Floyd and experimental Krautrock bands such as Can and Neu!. The song was used to score the first ten minutes of the 1983 Tony Scott vampire film "The Hunger" which starred Catherine Deneuve & David Bowie.

After recording an early John Peel session for BBC Radio One, Bauhaus performed some local gigs in and around Northampton at small venues. A notable early gig was performed at Newport Pagnell (Milton Keynes) Youth Centre, attended by an audience of about fifty people consisting of some local skin-heads and sixth formers. Murphy would feed off the mood of the audience using any crowd tension to enhance his eclectic performance. Bauhaus used these early gigs to mold their stage persona and quickly became known as a must see Live act. Adopted by the Goth-Punks they soon became press favourites with such publications as the NME.

The band released three more singles, "Dark Entries," "Terror Couple Kill Colonel," and "Telegram Sam" (originally written by glam rock icons T. Rex) before the debut of their first album In the Flat Field in 1980. It has been suggested (in Simon Reynolds' Rip It Up and Start Again: Post Punk 1978-1984) that a swelling of their fanbase around this time was at least partly due to the defection of a large number of ex-Adam and the Ants fans who had become disillusioned with the Ants new image and direction; dropping their earlier S&M, bondage and kabuki imagery in search of pop success. Whatever the case, In the Flat Field topped the indie charts and made headway onto the British pop charts (peaking at number 72), despite containing none of the singles. Bauhaus second album Mask followed the next year, and was a step in a new direction compared to the debut. Its sound was less dark and intense, and they started to use keyboards and different instruments to add to the soundscape. The Searching for Satori EP and their third full-length The Sky's Gone Out were released in 1982. Also in 1982 Bauhaus scored their biggest hit with another nod to their glam roots, a cover of David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust", which reached number 15 in the charts. This led to their first appearance on Top Of The Pops, something of a childhood dream for Bauhaus. Thanks to the success of the single, the album also became the Bauhaus's biggest hit, peaking at number 4. However, they had no follow-up single ready, and opted to use an old song, Bite My Hip, originally written (but never released) in 1979, now renamed to Lagartija Nick. It only reached number 44 in the charts.

Prior to the recording of Bauhaus fourth and final album Burning from the Inside Peter Murphy was stricken with pneumonia, which prevented him from contributing much to the album. Daniel Ash and David J took the reins and became the driving forces behind the record, and even did lead vocals on a few tracks. Due to Murphy's health problems and the creative strains felt by the constrictions of the goth label on their music and image, the Bauhaus broke up in 1983, before the album was even released. One last single was released in April, "She's in Parties", taken from the album. Bauhaus played their last show on July 5 at the Hammersmith Palais in London. The dedicated fans had been warned by the Bauhaus's crew that this might be the last one. After a long encore consisting of some of their early songs, David J left the stage with the words "rest in peace". Immediately rumours began circulating in the music press that Bauhaus had split up, but this was denied by the record company. In August however, they confirmed that Bauhaus had gone their separate ways.

from Wikipedia licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.

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