Bauhaus unleashes a Goth classic

Bauhaus : Dark Entries

[Purchase]

On January 16, 1980 Bauhaus released their second single, the thundering "Dark Entries" on Axis Records, a label that would soon change its name to 4AD. Raised in the flat fields of Northhampton, singer Peter Murphy wrote lyrics as dark as his hopes.

 "Dark Entries" seems to be about male prostitution with the lyrics "I came upon your room it stuck into my head/ We leapt into the bed degrading even lice /You took delight in taking down /All my shielded pride".

Murphy would tell Kerrang in a  recent interview:

I suppose ("Dark Entries") is dark, but it’s, well—it’s not punk, either. It’s a very unusual writing style. It’s almost like 16th century type of language. Not on purpose! I’m well-read, but I’m not a geek. I’m kind of, very retiring actually. Shy almost. I’m the youngest of seven children. Very emotional and very artistic — and very beautiful. When I was 17 I saw my beauty, and I thought, that’s my way out. I swear to you. Something was calling to me. So that’s where that comes from.

 Sounds magazine will feature the band in February, writing:

 "Whatever it is these Phantoms of The Teenage Opera have got, it's worth checking out. They've got a sound as clean as a razor, and a vision that doesn't need dressing up in angry rhetoric or android accessories to make its point. Their music may have the shadow of the tall steel over it, but there's a heartbeat you can hear throbbing in the background. Not a ring modulator."

The B-side is "Untitled":

Bereft In Deadly Bloom

Bauhaus : Bela Lugosi's Dead

[Purchase]

On January 26, 1979 Bauhaus recorded a nearly ten minute version of "Bela Lugosi's Dead" in their very first studio session. The result is what has often been called the first gothic rock record and for the decade that followed, no college radio DJ could avoid getting requests for the song unless they stopped answering the phone. Especially true after their appearance in the 1983 David Bowie movie Hunger.

But back to 1979. 5000 copies of the original single, difficult to find until recently, were released in August on London's Small Wonder records. That Summer music fans met the lanky Peter Murphy ghoulishly singing “The virginal brides file past his tomb/Strewn with time’s dead flowers/Bereft in deathly bloom.” Brothers Kevin Haskins  and David J set the mood on drums and bass with guitarist David Ash running all the instruments through his delay pedals. J tells Songfacts he wrote the lyrics after watching a few vampire movies. 

"I came up with that first line, 'White on white, translucent, black capes back on the rack.' And it was like, 'Oh, this is interesting.' It's so descriptive - it is about the vampire. It's also about the actor - it's about retiring from the part, but then he sort of plays with the idea. A vampire can never retire from being a vampire, because that's for eternity."

It came out very quickly. It was that night that we had the rehearsal and I just handed that sheet to Peter. We all just launched into it as if it was pre-formed, and it was pretty much as it is on the record. We recorded it a couple of weeks after that first run-through.

Peter Murphy of Bauhaus: My Top 10

From SMASH HITS JUNE 24, 1982 courtesy of Brian at Like Punk Never Happened

Peter Murphy provided this list for Smash Hits around the same time the single "Spirit" had charted. The forthcoming album The Sky's Gone Out featured covers of Brian Eno ( "Third Uncle") and, as a bonus track, David Bowie ("Ziggy Stardust") which may explain why those artists show up twice on this list.




   1. DAVID BOWIE The Bewlay Brothers - The lyrics are abstract but they convey something special to me
2. SCOTT WALKER If You Go Away- A very haunting love song beautifully sung

3. JACQUES BREL My Death- The lyrics are really strange.  They're also very moving because it celebrates death (which is how I think it should be approached because it's a rebirth.
4. JOHN LENNON Working Class Hero- I just totally agree with the lyrics.
5. THE BEATLES Within You Without You- It's a great psychedelic dance and it's way ahead of its time
6. BRIAN ENO Sparrow Fall Part Three- This conveys more in its simplicity than many songs manage in all their complexity
7. PATTI SMITH Horses- It's a strong poem set perfectly to music. Patti Smith sings like she's possessed and sometimes she goes into hysterical, indecipherable sections which amaze me



8. MARC BOLAN Life's A Gas- It's really sad when you think of him not being here anymore. And this is nice to remember him by
9. DAVID BOWIE All The Madmen- "And I'd rather play here with all the madmen for I am quite content they are all as sane as me."
10. DAVID BYRNE AND BRIAN ENO The Jezebel Spirit- This is set to a recording of an exorcism. It's very interesting.