Pioneers of gothic rock, Bauhaus originated a stark and relentlessly somber strain of post-punk propelled by angular guitar riffs and frosty, remote synthesizers. Across their short existence the quartet examined every facet of that desolate sound, weaving in touches of glam, experimental electronics, funk, and heavy metal. Though their audience stayed confined to a devoted cult following, that audience remained loyal well into the 1990s, ten years after the band dissolved.
The four musicians came together in Northampton, England, in 1978. Guitarist and vocalist Daniel Ash, bassist and vocalist David J (born David Jay Haskins), and drummer Kevin Haskins had previously performed as the Craze before uniting with singer Peter Murphy to launch Bauhaus. The group first billed itself as Bauhaus 1919 in tribute to the German art movement, then shortened the name by 1979.
Their first release, the single “Bela Lugosi’s Dead,” appeared on the independent label Small Wonder Records in August 1979. Although it never entered the pop charts, the track functioned as the defining goth-rock anthem and remained on the U.K. independent listings for several years. Three months later the band signed with 4AD, the Beggars Banquet subsidiary. Their next single, “Dark Entries,” arrived in January 1980. After completing an initial European tour, they issued the summer single “Terror Couple Kill Colonel,” another independent-chart success.
Following their first American dates in September, Bauhaus covered T. Rex’s “Telegram Sam.” October brought the debut album In the Flat Field, which topped the independent charts and reached number 72 on the pop listings. The album’s momentum produced the band’s first mainstream entries: both “Kick in the Eye” and “The Passion of Lovers” entered the U.K. Top 60 in 1981. October also saw the release of the second album, Mask, whose broader palette incorporated metallic edges and electronic textures while retaining the group’s dark, ominous core; the record climbed to number 30 on the U.K. charts.
March 1982 brought the EP Searching for Satori, which peaked at number 45, followed by the successful single “Spirit” that summer. That autumn a cover of David Bowie’s “Ziggy Stardust” reached number 15, lifting the third album, The Sky’s Gone Out, to number four.
At the start of 1983 Murphy was sidelined by pneumonia and missed the sessions for the fourth album, Burning From the Inside. Ash and J therefore supplied substantial songwriting and atmospheric contributions. Once Murphy recovered, the band toured Japan and then returned to Britain to promote the summer release of the album, which reached number 13. Bauhaus disbanded the following July.
After the split Murphy formed Dali’s Car with Japan’s Mick Karn and embarked on a solo career. Ash continued Tones on Tail, the side project he had begun in 1981, and was joined by Kevin Haskins. J issued solo recordings and spent time with the Jazz Butcher. In 1985 Ash, Haskins, and J formed Love and Rockets once a proposed Bauhaus reunion collapsed after Murphy declined to participate. More than a decade later, with both Love and Rockets and Murphy’s solo work stalled, the original lineup reconvened for concerts in Los Angeles and mounted a full tour in 1998; the double album Gotham captured a performance at New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom. The band resurfaced once more in 2008 with Go Away White, a studio album they announced as their final statement.
