Bauhaus have always indulged in having things their very own way: not only did they renounce the support of the music press, but also objected the help of a record producer. They tried to bring in a producer once during the recording session for the single "Spirit", but the band were so unhappy with the result that they recorded the song again and put it on their forthcoming album "The Sky's Gone Out".

At last their eccentric behaviour turned against themselves: during the recording sessions for "Burning from the Inside" vocalist Peter Murphy suffered from pneumonia, and the rest of the band decided to continue the sessions without him - Murphy was replaced by David Jay. The recordings did not sound like a Bauhaus album any more, but rather like the product of four individuals accidentally jamming together. "Burning from the Inside" was a real bastard: it randomly combined various musical styles and fluctuated between hypnotic and melancholic ballads, spheric sounds, and metallic rock sounds (Peter Murphy later declared "Burning from the Inside" was not a true Bauhaus album).

The tensions within the band however had become very obvious at this point, and in 1983, just before the release of the album that was to gain Bauhaus international success, the band decided to split up. Peter Murphy, Daniel Ash, David Jay and Kevin Haskins would henceforth walk separate ways. The Bauhaus-cult however survived and when Daniel Ash, David Jay and Kevin Haskins formed the band "Love and Rockets", this was regarded as heralding the reunion of Bauhaus. Peter Murphy never was enthusiastic about a Bauhaus revival though: he had been busy with some quite successful solo projects over the years.

It was not until 1998 that Murphy changed his mind and agreed in reviving Bauhaus, twenty years after launching the band. Bauhaus started an international tour called "Resurrection" along the release of a new live-CD with the tongue-in-cheek-title "Gotham" and a live-video/-DVD (all on Metropolis/KK Records). The CD disappointingly did not contain any new Bauhaus songs, but only a new cover version of Dead Can Dance's "Severence".

The tour proved to be a huge success for the band, Bauhaus however have not managed to come up with any new material ever since. And some doubt if that will ever be the case. Peter Murphy meanwhile has released a double live CD entitled "Alive just for Love" featuring some old Bauhaus songs, so Bauhaus the band might have finally ceased to exist again.

(ml MMI, a&t: rh)
 
> Bauhaus Discography

 

Peter Murphy live with Bauhaus at Birmingham NEC (1998)