Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-Worthy Acts #1 - Bauhaus

Tweet

There are many bands in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame not only due to their music, but their influence as well (The Sex Pistols spring immediately to mind, for instance.) I've been counting down, in no particular order, ten acts that I feel deserving of inclusion into the HOF, and #1 was as influential as can be: Bauhaus. The world, as we knew it at the time, became a much darker place in 1978 after four fellows from Northampton, England - vocalist Peter Murphy, guitarist/saxophonist Daniel Ash, bassist David J, and drummer Kevin Haskins - formed a band called Bauhaus 1919 (Ash recruited Murphy, who had never written a lyric in his life and was working in a printing factory, simply because he looked like he belonged in a band.) After just six weeks as a group, they dropped the "1919," recorded, live and in one take, a nine-minute demo called "Bela Lugosi's Dead," and voila! Goth music was born! (It's now 2019. Many, many outstanding goth tunes have been recorded since then. "Bela Lugosi" is STILL the greatest goth song ever made. I will not argue about this.) Not counting a couple later reunions, Bauhaus was only together from 1978-1983. In total, they released five studio albums, four EP's, four live albums, three compilation albums, and only 11 singles, six of which failed to chart ANYWHERE. "Hell, even crappy bands can do that," you say? You're missing the point. Whether or not it was their intention (more than likely not,) These. Guys. Invented. An. Entire. Sub-genre. A dark, gloomy, glorious, fantastic, most awesome sub-genre. Whether or not you consider goth a good thing is kind of irrelevant. It's a valid musical style and a way of life for a lot of people, same as punk, rockabilly, ska, reggae, and heavy metal. And we have Bauhaus to thank for that. I salute you, gentlemen! (Oh, and their entire catalog is damn good. Really damn good!) (Info verified by Wikipedia)