I went to a concert of these guys without really knowing them. My boyfriend is a rather big man and in order for him to join me to a Prince-concert, I promised to go with them to a Bauhaus concert.

I must say I really enjoyed the retro new wave/gothic sound. I can't say the musicians were outstanding, but Peter Murphy sure has an aura to go on stage with. They performed an excellent Joy Division-cover, that was the best moment of the concert for me.

What are your thoughts on this group?

my very first boyfriend played bauhaus records all during
the night he was waving a knife at my face, so i've kinda
formed an antipathy for them ever since

IstenSzek said:

Sounds like he took this dark music way too serious.

Bauhaus is probably the best gothic rock band ever. Peter Murphy turned his early Bowie mimicry into something unique at the time and started an entire subgenre. I've seen them live three times and while Peter is no longer the showman he once was, the band sounded very crisp live and put on a good perfromance. Their early video releases have been recently rereleased on DVD (Shadow Of Light/Archive) so you can see what they were like during their heyday.

i love bauhaus! they're one of my favorite bands!

i also love peter murphy's solo stuff, and love & rockets' albums!

i think they got the "goth" label slapped on them a bit too hard and a bit too quickly. they have a lot of very danceable, very silly, and very straightforward rock songs to their credit. to just see them as some kind of 'goth' novelty would be a shame.

Anx said:

I think if they had made it a little longer before breaking up, they might've broken out of that mold/label. If The Cure had broken up after "Pornography", which they basically did, I'm sure they would be considered a goth novelty. But then they made "Let's Go To Bed" and completely shed what they were about. I'm sure with the leanings of Love and Rockets and Peter Murphy's solo stuff, if they had combined forces, it would be far removed from the goth scene.

GangstaFam said:

I dunno. I think all the Bauhaus studio albums are in a similar vein, but there is nothing goth about that first Cure record. Because of that if The Cure had broken up after Pornography I don't think they would have been looked at the same as Bauhaus.

sextonseven said:

Yeah, perhaps. But that trilogy of "Seventeen Seconds", "Faith" and "Pornography" was so extreme and so increasingly bleak, that if Robert had died (like he was hoping for) or if they had broken up, I imagine their memory would be etched in a certain way, a la Joy Division.

GangstaFam said:

I totally agree with you there that if Pornography was the last Cure album ever, the band would be in the same league as Joy Division.

There are other bands that began with a solid goth foundation and moved on to other things like All about Eve, The Cult and Gene Loves Jezebel, but I can't see Bauhaus being like them if they hadn't broken up so early.

"Spirit" is such a lovely tune, isn't it?

NWF said:

yes...both versions!

NWF said:

My favorite Bauhaus song.

Anx said:

Will you please stop posting the exact same time as me?

sextonseven said:

maybe.

i do love peter's music..

My sister was really into them and I have to say some of their songs are pretty good.