Ranking the five best covers by Bauhaus
From the obscurity of late 1970s Northampton, Bauhaus emerged to shift the course of rock music forever. With an enigmatic blend of post-punk, gothic rock, and art-house sensibilities, Bauhaus became the torchbearers of a subculture that embraced darkness and introspection. The band’s first and most prominent notch on the bedpost of gothic rock was ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’, their debut single of 1979 and the genre’s quintessential masterpiece.
Formed in 1978, Bauhaus comprised vocalist Peter Murphy, guitarist Daniel Ash, bassist David J, and drummer Kevin Haskins. “There was an immediate chemistry between us all in the band. We were always very instinctive. I hadn’t been in a band before, but this was truly like an arthouse. It was a creative atelier. I quickly established, with everybody’s consent, that we split everything equally four ways,” Murphy told Uncut in 2019.
After just a few weeks of jamming goth-infused covers and half-baked ideas, they stumbled upon ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’ as their first viable single. “Danny called me at home and said: ‘Pete, me and David had this idea about writing something on the vampire theme,'” Murphy remembered. “To me, that was really about attraction. There’s an erotic, alluring element to the vampire. We didn’t want to write an ode to Bela Lugosi, ostensibly. The kitsch element was his name because he was the biggest icon, yet he was the most unlikely vampire-looking person. So there was that Brit angle to it, but it wasn’t at all negative. It was perfect. The idea of Bela Lugosi being dead or undead is classic.”
With Murphy often tagged ‘The Godfather of Goth’, Bauhaus were undeniably trendsetters and the architects of something immersive and deeply original. However, their work was profoundly influenced by glam-rock artists of the 1970s and earlier proto-punk groups, like The Stooges and The Velvet Underground.
As Bauhaus steamrolled through the ’80s, they rarely passed up an opportunity to tribute key influences and bookmark their progress. While live covers were ten a penny, only a few made it to the studio. Below, we rank the five greatest covers recorded by Bauhaus.
The top five covers by Bauhaus:
5. Norman Greenbaum – ‘Spirit In The Sky’
Norman Greenbaum created one of the most popular one-hit wonders of the hippie era in 1969’s ‘Spirit in the Sky’. The track’s rapturous, tongue-in-cheek, yet ecclesiastical essence saw it universally accepted as it rose to number three in the US and one in the UK.
Though the song is a cheesy singalong, there’s a dark irony in the image of a Bible Belt family singing the words, “When I die, and they lay me to rest,” with wide grins on their faces. Peter Murphy saw this dark humour and rightly felt it would make for a compelling gothic rock rework.
4. T. Rex – ‘Telegram Sam’
Like many of their post-punk pals, Bauhaus were deeply influenced by the glam era that peaked in the early 1970s. Brought up on a diet rich in glam, Bauhaus enjoyed paying tribute with characteristically darker, caustic soundscapes. While I’d love to have heard Murphy offer his vocals to T. Rex’s ‘Monolith’, this version of ‘Telegram Sam’ certainly goes down a treat.
Marc Bolan originally recorded ‘Telegram Sam’ as the lead single for T. Rex’s seventh studio album, 1972’s The Slider. It became the band’s third UK number-one single and was a popular hit for Bauhaus eight years later. Initially issued as a single, Bauhaus’ cover was added to later editions of In the Flat Field.
3. Brian Eno – ‘Third Uncle’
After departing Roxy Music, for whom he’d been the synth player for over two albums, Bian Eno decided to go it alone. Long before his days of ambient experimentation and his notable production work with Talking Heads, David Bowie and U2, Eno explored avant-pop sounds for several albums.
Between 1974 and ’75, Eno released three albums of experimental pop music that established him as an eminent solo presence and brought a host of memorable tracks. One of the most alluring from this period, and certainly the highlight of 1974’s Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy), was ‘Third Uncle’. In 1982, Bauhaus covered the track to kick off their third studio album, The Sky’s Gone Out.
2. John Cale – ‘Rosegarden Funeral of Sores’
In March 1980, Velvet Underground co-founder John Cale released his hidden gem ‘Rosegarden Funeral Of Sores’ as the B-side to his non-album single ‘Mercenaries (Ready For War)’. Bauhaus saw the gothic beauty in this track and took no time in creating their cover.
‘Rosegarden Funeral of Sores’, as recorded by Cale, already sounded much like a Bauhaus track and hence required very little remodelling. Bauhaus’ beautifully morose rendition arrived on shelves in December 1980 as the B-side to their cover of T. Rex’s ‘Telegram Sam’.
1. David Bowie – ‘Ziggy Stardust’
In their most notable nod to the glam era, Bauhaus covered David Bowie’s 1972 hit ‘Ziggy Stardust’. The song had been a crucial part of Bowie’s conceptual masterpiece of 1972, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, and helped the British legend finally permeate the US charts.
Bauhaus released their brilliant cover of the classic ten years later and rose to number 15 on the UK Singles Chart for their trouble. Although Bauhaus’ remained only on the periphery of American consciousness as a cult act, ‘Ziggy Stardust’ undoubtedly brought their music to the masses over the mid-1980s.
