Bauhaus: Готикалық рок пионері

English rock band

Bauhaus were an English rock band formed in Northampton in 1978. Known for their dark image and gloomy sound, Bauhaus are one of the pioneers of gothic rock, although they mixed many genres, including dub, glam rock, psychedelia, and funk. The group consisted of Daniel Ash (guitar, saxophone), Peter Murphy (vocals, occasional instruments), Kevin Haskins (drums) and David J (bass). The band formed under the name Bauhaus 1919, in reference to the first operating year of the German art school Bauhaus, but they shortened this name within a year of formation. Their 1979 debut single "Bela Lugosi's Dead" is considered one of the harbingers of gothic rock music and has been influential on contemporary goth culture. Their debut album, In the Flat Field, is regarded as one of the first gothic rock records. Their 1981 second album Mask expanded their sound by incorporating a wider variety of instruments—such as keyboards, saxophone and acoustic guitar—and experimenting with funk inspired rhythms on tracks like "Kick in the Eye". Bauhaus went on to achieve mainstream success in the United Kingdom with their third album, The Sky's Gone Out, which peaked at No. 3 on the UK Albums Chart in 1982. That same year, they also reached No. 15 on the Singles Chart with a standalone cover of David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust", earning them an appearance on Top of the Pops. During recording sessions for their next album, Murphy fell ill and spent much of his time away from the studio, leaving the rest of the band to compensate for his absence. This created a rift between the singer and his bandmates, culminating in the group's dissolution on 5 July 1983, one week before Burning from the Inside was released. Featuring the Top 30 UK single "She's in Parties", it would be their final studio album composed entirely of new material for a quarter of a century. After Bauhaus' breakup, Murphy formed Dalis Car with bassist Mick Karn before beginning a solo career later on, while Ash and Haskins continued as Tones on Tail and, later, reunited with David J to form Love and Rockets. Murphy's solo career enjoyed greater commercial success in the United States than Bauhaus, as did Love and Rockets. Bauhaus eventually reunited for a 1998 tour, again from 2005 to 2008, and in 2019 and 2022.

Daniel Ash, his friend David J. Haskins, and Haskins' younger brother Kevin, had played together in various bands since childhood such as "Jam" and "Jackplug & the Sockets", where they would play cover songs from the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. Ash initially tried to convince his school friend Peter Murphy to be in a band, but nothing came out of it. According to Ash: "Pete didn't think about it at all, it wasn't on his mind as such." One of the longer lived of these was a band called the Craze, which performed a few times around Northampton in 1978. However, the Craze still split up fairly quickly, and Ash once again tried to convince his old school friend Murphy to join him, simply because Ash thought he had the right look for a band. Murphy, who was working in a printing factory, decided to give it a try, despite never having written any lyrics or music. During their first rehearsal, he co wrote the song "In the Flat Field". Ash's old bandmate Kevin Haskins joined as the drummer. Ash made a point of not inviting David J, the driving force in their previous bands, because he wanted a band he could control. Instead, Chris Barber was brought in to play bass, and together the four musicians formed the band S. R. However, within a few weeks Ash relented, and replaced Barber with David J, who suggested the new name Bauhaus 1919. David J. had already agreed to tour American airbases with another band but decided that joining his friends' group was "the right thing to do". With their lineup complete, the band played their first gig at the Cromwell pub in Wellingborough on New Year's Eve 1978. The band had chosen the name Bauhaus 1919, a reference to the German Bauhaus art movement of the 1920s, because of its "stylistic implications and associations", according to David J. The band also chose the same typeface used on the Bauhaus college building in Dessau, Germany, as well as the Bauhaus emblem, designed by Oskar Schlemmer. Bauhaus associate Graham Bentley said that the group was unlike any Northampton band of the time, most of which played predominantly cover songs. Bentley videotaped a performance by the group, which was sent to several record labels, in the hope of obtaining a contract. This approach was hindered partly because many record companies at the time did not have home video equipment, so the group decided to record a demo.

After only six weeks as a band, Bauhaus entered the studio for the first time at Beck Studios in Wellingborough to record a demo. In rehearsal for the demo, the band experimented with echo and delay on the drums. One of the five tracks recorded during the session, "Bela Lugosi's Dead", more than nine minutes long, was released as the group's debut single in August 1979 on Small Wonder Records. The band was listed simply as Bauhaus, with the "1919" abandoned. "Bela Lugosi's Dead" was strongly influenced by the band's interest in reggae and dub; where the bass and the drums were pushed upfront. It was the band's first recording they ever made and completed in the first take. It was also the first time Murphy ever sang in a studio microphone. Daniel Ash explained how the inception of the song began when he talked with David J in regards to a riff he made: "I was talking to David (J, bass) on the blower one night and told him I had this riff, using these trick chords that had a very haunting quality to it. He went: 'It's so weird you should say that because I've got these lyrics about Bela Lugosi, the actor who played a vampire. David J further elaborated: "There was a season of old horror films on Radio, and I was telling Daniel about how much I loved them. The one that had been on the night before was Dracula [1931]. I was saying how Bela Lugosi was the quintessential Dracula, the elegant depiction of the character." Ash elaborated about the chords: "My riff has these mutant chords – they're not even minor chords – but it's rooted in an old Gary Glitter song, slowed right down. I didn't realize that when I was doing it."

Despite the success of their signature song, the band left Small Wonder Records due to its lack of support for touring due to budget issues. As Stennet put it: "The trouble is we just can't afford to send the bands on tour or anything like that, and a group needs that sort of support". Signing with the 4AD label, the band released two more singles, "Dark Entries" in January 1980 and "Terror Couple Kill Colonel" in June 1980, before issuing their first album In the Flat Field in October 1980. The album cover for the album was chosen by David J and it was a photograph called Homage to Purvis de Chavannes by Duane Michals, which depicts an image of a naked man blowing a type of trumpet. Reviewer Andy Gill from NME described it as "Gothick Romantick pseudo decadence" and ultimately dismissed the band as "a hip Black Sabbath". Despite negative reviews, In the Flat Field topped the indie charts, and made headway on the UK Albums Chart, peaking for one week at No. 72. While the band was satisfied with the album, they admit that it didn't capture everything that they wanted. They felt the LP was a little too intense; however, it was "the purest statement of what [we] were like then". In August 1980, the band traveled to North America to play four dates in cities such as Toronto, Chicago, and New York. One of Bauhaus' first US shows was in a venue called Space Place in Chicago, Illinois in September 1980, booked by Jim Nash and Dannie Flesher, the owners of the independent record label Wax Trax! Records. The band returned to England in October 1980 for a 20 date tour in England and in Europe to promote their first album. In December 1980, Bauhaus released a cover of "Telegram Sam", a hit by glam rock pioneers T. Rex, as a single.

Bauhaus' growing success outstripped 4AD's resources, so the band moved to 4AD's parent label, Beggars Banquet Records. Bauhaus released "Kick in the Eye" in March 1981 as its debut release on the label. The single reached No. 59 on the charts. The following single, "The Passion of Lovers", peaked at No. 56 in July 1981. Murphy said, "One of our loves is to make each single totally different from the last, not to be tied down by a style or sound." Bauhaus released their second album, Mask, in October 1981. The band employed more keyboards, and a variety of other instruments, to add to the diversity of the record. The front and back cover of the album was an impressionistic drawing made by Ash. In an unconventional move, the group shot a video for the album's title track as a promotional tool for the band, rather than any specific song from the record. David J explained the techniques, effects and his reaction regarding the content of the title track: "I can still recall with crystal clarity overdubbing the echoed bass part and using a metal bottleneck to achieve the cascade effect that comes in at the point where Daniel's acoustic twelve string part starts. Hearing these sounds in ultra sharp coke intensified focus through headphones produced an ecstatic heart bursting emotion on the edge of orgasmic release." This intrigued Halkett and he soon wrote to Peel about getting in touch with the band. They eventually met, discussed poetry and decided to work with David by sending a cassette tape that contain Halkett orally citing two of his poems. After listening intensly on the tape, David decided to go a recording studio where he provided the backing music to the tape. This collabroation resulted as a single called "Armour/Nothing" which was released by 4AD. According to David J regarding the correspondence, "He wrote to John Peel when he was playing Bauhaus' first record, 'Bela Lugosi's Dead', and Rene was then in his 70s and was an avid listener to John Peel's show. He heard this and was intrigued that this band of young upstarts had usurped the name Bauhaus and he wrote to John Peel asking for more information. Peel sent me the letter and I was just amazed to be in contact with somebody from that time, so I wrote to Rene and we struck up this correspondence and in the end would meet up and I'd go down and visit him in his little cottage in Cornwall. We ended up making a record together, which was his poetry that I put to music. It was one of the first releases on 4AD. I would just go down and he would enthrall me with these stories of him appearing in these cabaret clubs in Weimar and dancing on the piano and letting off revolvers in the club and this whole sort of barbarous cabaret scene that he was intrinsically involved in. He met Bertolt Brecht and people like that, the surrealists came through and his teachers were Kandinsky and it was just amazing to have a friend from that time so that gave me a real insight, to actually be communicating with somebody that was there." Both Halkett and David were satisfied with the single. Halkett commented on his contribution to the single: "I felt that the two poems required something more than print because they depend on things which can only be expressed in musical signs It (the single) falls between music and poetry and is not entirely either. With "Nothing" David has written a perfect arrangement for what is a quite concentrated philosophical idea and it becomes so much more than the words "

After Bauhaus disbanded, the members of the band moved on to various solo work. Murphy worked briefly with bassist Mick Karn of Japan in the band Dalis Car, before going solo with such albums as 1986's Should the World Fail to Fall Apart, 1988's Love Hysteria and 1989's Deep. Ash had already started Tones on Tail with Bauhaus roadie Glen Campling as a side project in 1982; after Bauhaus broke up, Kevin Haskins joined the group, and the trio released an album and several EPs before breaking up after a 1984 American tour. During this time, David J released two solo albums and collaborated with other musicians, recording two albums with the Jazz Butcher, and also with comics writer/spoken word artist Alan Moore in the short lived band the Sinister Ducks. During a discussion about the state of their projects at the time, Ash and David J began talking about reforming Bauhaus. All four band members arranged a rehearsal, but Murphy failed to show up on the scheduled day. The other three band members rehearsed regardless, and were inspired by the chemistry they had as a trio. As a result, Ash and the Haskins brothers formed Love and Rockets in 1985. Love and Rockets scored a US hit four years later with "So Alive". The band broke up in 1999, briefly reunited for a festival tour in 2009, then reunited again in 2023. Both Ash and David J released solo albums during the Love and Rockets years; Murphy contributed backing vocals to David J's 1992 single "Candy on the Cross".

Bauhaus reunited for the "Resurrection Tour" in 1998, their stage show opened with Double Dare and Pete Murphy singing to the audience via a TV screen set up centre stage. The tour featured a new song, "The Dog's a Vapour", which was also included in the Heavy Metal 2000 film soundtrack. A live album was recorded during the tour, Gotham, which was released the following year. It included a studio recording of Bauhaus' cover of the Dead Can Dance song "Severance". Bauhaus reunited again in 2005, playing that year's Coachella Festival in Indio, California. They opened their set with Murphy being lowered upside down to the stage, singing "Bela Lugosi's Dead". The performance was critically acclaimed and ranked among the greatest and most memorable performances ever in Coachella. Following Murphy's 2005 tour, Bauhaus embarked on a full tour beginning in North America in autumn 2005, ending in Europe in February 2006. During the tour, Bauhaus covered Joy Division's "Transmission". The band also mentioned that they hoped to record new music. In May they performed as opening act for Nine Inch Nails on the summer leg of the latter's US tour. In 2008, Bauhaus released their first new studio album since 1983, Go Away White (Cooking Vinyl). It marked the band's end and the album had no promotional tour. In late 2007, Kevin Haskins said "We were getting along really well, but there was an incident that occurred," and added that as a result, "Some of us just felt that we didn't want to carry on as a working unit." In early 2008, Murphy claimed that he "was most satisfied with the bonding on an emotional level. It was good to be working together and to put the past behind us and it was very positive. The result was coming out really fast, so it was exciting and it was very enjoyable", but in the end, "that rocky character worked and I think it was a bit right to finish it, really". The same year, David J commented on the breakup: "You have a test tube, and you pour in one chemical, and you pour in another chemical, and something happens. It starts to bubble. Pour in another chemical, and it starts to bubble a bit more. You pour in a fourth chemical, and it bubbles really violently, and then explodes. That's my answer". In 2017, Ash and Kevin Haskins toured as Poptone with Haskins' daughter Diva Dompe on bass. The group performed songs from Bauhaus, Tones on Tail, and Love and Rockets along with cover songs. A live album recorded at various stops on the tour was released through PledgeMusic. In 2018, Murphy and David J announced a tour of New Zealand, Australia and Europe to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Bauhaus, with the pair performing In the Flat Field in its entirety. In September 2019, after a 13 year hiatus, Bauhaus announced a show at the 4,000 seat Hollywood Palladium with all original members on 3 November. A second show was added for the following night, after the first show sold out quickly. A third date at the same venue was then confirmed for 1 December. In March 2022, Bauhaus released their first new song in fourteen years with "Drink the New Wine", which was recorded separately by all four members during COVID 19 lockdown. The recording process used the Exquisite Corpse method whereby each artist adds to the piece without hearing what the others have done. Bauhaus toured the west coast of the United States and Europe in 2022 and was set to return to the east coast of the United States for more concerts before abruptly cancelling the tour on 31 August as Peter Murphy announced that he was entering rehab. On 19 April 2023, Daniel Ash confirmed in an interview the Bauhaus reunion was over, as the remaining remembers reformed Love and Rockets.

According to David J, the bands Bauhaus related to in the post punk scene were Joy Division, Pere Ubu, Devo, Gang of Four, Cabaret Voltaire, and the Pop Group. David Bowie, T Rex, Roxy Music, Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd, New York Dolls, Velvet Underground, Iggy Pop and the Stooges, the Doors, Ramones, Captain Beefheart, Suicide, Neu!, Faust, the Who, Bob Dylan, King Tubby, Kurt Weill, and Jacques Brel. In terms of early influences from childhood, David J said that he was interested in jazz and its musicians such as Miles Davis, Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk. He has also listed Television's Marquee Moon as one of his all time favorite albums. Peter Murphy cited Doris Day, Simon and Garfunkel, the Beatles, the Everly Brothers and his experiences from Mass in Catholic school as highly influential to his singing. He mentioned that the first 7 inch single he ever bought was "A Hard Day's Night" by the Beatles and also listed Brian Eno's Music for Airports as one of his favorite albums. The first record he bought was Dave and Ansell Collins' "Double Barrel". When Ash was asked about how he developed his playing style and guitar influences, he replied: "My style of playing comes from a mixture of extreme laziness to learn proper scales/chords and a burning desire to sound original and new. Although I am a huge fan of Hendrix and Mick Ronson, Robert Fripp on Bowie tracks is also fab, and what about Earl Slick!" Ash also mentioned his appreciation of bands such as the Only Ones, the Damned, Television, Richard Hell and the Voidoids and said that the Stooges' Raw Power as one of his all time favorite records. Kevin Haskins at 14 years old went to see Led Zeppelin and the drummer's (John Bonham) drum solo impressed him and called it "amazing". Around 1970, David J's was intrigued by the ska music, Roots reggae and dub music coming out of Jamaica. He mentioned that reggae " was the first music that I was seriously into." In particular, dub reggae was highly influential to the band, so far that David J mentioned that their signature song, "Bela Lugosi's Dead", was intended as dub. The band members Daniel, David and Kevin once attended a Rastafarian event that became quite influential to their music. As David explained: "At the time, Northampton had a large Rastafarian population, centred around the Matta Fancanta Youth Movement, which had its base at the old Salvation Army Citadel on the corner of Sheep Street, just across from Derngate Bus Station. It was run by Trevor Hall, whose uncle had started the famed Count Shelly sound system, which Trevor inherited. They would hold monthly events featuring two outfits competing against each other, spinning dub plates—instrumental tracks direct from Jamaica—and blasting them over the huge speakers while their respective 'toasters' took turns freestyling over the top. They would really go to town, painting up the entire place in the red, green, and gold of the Ethiopian flag and wearing suits and outsized hats to match, while the women would dye their hair. There were quotations from Haile Selassie all around the walls, and the air was thick with ganja smoke and the gamey aroma of goat's head soup. It was a true 'temporary autonomous zone', to quote the anarchist writer and poet Hakim Bey, and the police would wisely keep their distance. Daniel, Kevin, and I would be the only white faces in the throng, but there was never any trouble—quite the opposite—and the amazing music that we heard in that place became a big influence on us, 'Bela Lugosi's Dead' being a good example." Brion Gysin, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Bertolt Brecht, Jean Cocteau, André Breton, Surrealism, Ingmar Bergman, Franz Kafka

Bauhaus combined these influences to create a gloomy, earnest and introspective version of post punk, which appealed to many music fans who felt disillusioned in the wake of punk's collapse. Its crucial elements included Murphy's deep and sonorous voice, Ash's jagged guitar playing and David J's dub influenced bass. Their sound and gloomy style would eventually come to be known as gothic rock or simply "goth". According to David J, the band were " always keen not to be a traditional 'rock' band, and we would go to great pains to avoid that well trodden road." To achieve some of the sound effects in their songs, various instruments were implemented such as bottlenecks, echo units and a Syndrum. Another song, Dark Entries tells the story of title character Dorian Gray from Oscar Wilde's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, which is Murphy's favorite novel. Murphy explains: "It was the first book with real substance that I chose for myself. It's a story of great narcissism and esoteric interior, and brilliantly written. It's a window into this personality, this Oscar Wilde chap I'd heard about. The language is so opulent. It's a rock star's story, really." The song A God In An Alcove was about " the story of a fallen idol." They predominantly used black and white lighting for their live shows. When they were asked why in early interviews, David J responded, " coloured lights are for Christmas trees." Their lighting was so minimal that sometimes the band would play in almost complete darkness where they were glimpsed rather than seen in their shows. Their manager Graham Bentley helped with the lighting, "I started doing lights for Bauhaus – which obviously came about because I was the person who was there – I got into it very much from the start. I love the shadows. I used to call it a dark show rather than a light show. The essential emphasis was less light." Bentley used industrial lights for the lighting and put the lights on the floor rather than the ceiling. Also, a strobe light would be used for Murphy to hold on to his body and move around with it on stage.

Bauhaus are frequently considered to be the inventors of goth; however, the band rejected this label, preferring to describe their style as "dark glam". Peter Murphy said he felt their contemporaries had a larger hand in solidifying what became goth. Likewise, Kevin Haskins felt that bands such as Siouxsie and the Banshees were more influential to goth subculture than themselves and mentioned that Bauhaus were " more three dimensional, more art rock". Ash nevertheless admitted: "if you wear black and your first single is "Bela Lugosi's Dead", you've pretty much got a stamp on you. That's always been one of our strongest songs, so it's sort of undeniable". Various bands and artists with goth associations pointed to Bauhaus as an inspiration, including Type O Negative, Alien Sex Fiend, Zola Jesus, Deine Lakaien, AFI, Buck Tick, Lycia, Jaz Coleman (of Killing Joke), the Cult, Glenn Danzig (of Misfits), Greg Mackintosh (of Paradise Lost), She Wants Revenge, the Dresden Dolls, Soul Merchants, She Past Away and Wolfsheim. The Mission's Wayne Hussey even sang with Murphy on stage in 2013. Bauhaus were also influential upon many industrial rock groups and artists, like Ministry, Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, Nitzer Ebb, and Skinny Puppy. In addition, Bauhaus were hailed by various alternative/indie rock performers and groups, including the Flaming Lips, Steve Albini (of Big Black), Jehnny Beth of Savages, Stephen Malkmus (of Pavement), Alan Sparhawk (of Low), Bradford Cox (of Deerhunter), Mark Lanegan (of Screaming Trees), Jesse Hughes (of the Eagles of Death Metal), Courtney Taylor Taylor (of the Dandy Warhols), Jeff Ament (of Pearl Jam), Alex Henry Foster (of Your Favorite Enemies), Nicholas Thorburn (of Islands), Matt Noveskey (of Blue October), Jane's Addiction, Soundgarden, the Smashing Pumpkins, A Neon Rome, And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, Hole, whose lead singer Courtney Love admitted that a lot of her songs are "complete Bauhaus rip offs", Interpol, My Chemical Romance, the Twilight Sad, Shearwater, and Elliott Smith. The group have been namechecked by several other prominent musical acts from other genres, including Jello Biafra (of the Dead Kennedys), Jonathan Davis (of Korn), the extreme metal band Celtic Frost, the lo fi musician Ariel Pink, Maynard James Keenan (from Tool), electronic act Carl Craig, American record producer DJ Premier (of Gang Starr), the American comedian/musician Reggie Watts, the Iranian musician Azam Ali, the Japanese Visual kei musician Hide (of X Japan), the Japanese post rock Mono, the Japanese heavy metal band Dir En Grey, whose lead singer Kyo listed Press the Eject and Give Me the Tape as his top record he would take to a desert island, the electronica act Moby, the trip hop band Massive Attack, the crust punk band Amebix, the shoegaze band Drop Nineteens, the psychedelic rock band White Hills, the noise rock band Today Is the Day, the nu metal band Coal Chamber, the extreme metal band Behemoth, the grindcore band Napalm Death, Randy Blythe (of Lamb of God), Fred Durst (of Limp Bizkit), Serj Tankian (of System of a Down), Sean Yseult (of White Zombie), Bilinda Butcher (of My Bloody Valentine), Stuart Braithwaite (of Mogwai) Blink 182 namedropped Bauhaus on their song "She's Out of Her Mind" on their California album. Duff McKagan of Guns N' Roses listed the Bauhaus compilation Bauhaus 1979–1983 in his 100 favorite albums list. Alternative Press included Bauhaus in their 1996 list of "100 underground inspirations of the past 20 years." The Bauhaus song "All We Ever Wanted Was Everything" (from The Sky's Gone Out) was covered by several artists and bands, including John Frusciante (guitarist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers), MGMT and Xiu Xiu (who recorded it in 2006 for their Tu Mi Piaci EP). Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins sang T. Rex's "Telegram Sam" and "All We Ever Wanted Was Everything" live on stage with Bauhaus in 1998. "Double Dare" was covered by the alternative rock band the God Machine. "Hollow Hills" was covered by System of a Down. "Silent Hedges" (along with "Double Dare") was covered by the power metal band Nevermore. "Bela Lugosi's Dead", was covered by numerous acts, including Until December (1986), the Electric Hellfire Club (1996), Opera IX (on 2000 album The Black Opera: Symphoniæ Mysteriorum in Laudem Tenebrarum), Sepultura (on 2001 album Nation), Nouvelle Vague (on 2006 album Bande à part), Chris Cornell (2007), Nine Inch Nails (2009), Trent Reznor with Murphy and TV on the Radio (2013), Massive Attack (2013), David J with Jill Tracy (2013), Chvrches (for the 2014 Vampire Academy soundtrack), Dead Cross (on their 2017 debut album), the Damned (2019). and A Plague On Both your Houses (covering both "Bela Lugosi's Dead" and also a 2 part dub reggae version of "She's In Parties" in 2023).

Bauhaus's fanbase extends beyond music; the American novelist Chuck Palahniuk was influenced by the Bauhaus song "Bela Lugosi's Dead" when writing his 2005 novel Haunted. In James O'Barr's 1989 comic book The Crow, the facial features of Eric Draven were based on those of Peter Murphy. In Neil Gaiman's series The Sandman, Dream's face and appearance were also based on Murphy. Additionally, comic book writer Alan Moore wrote the sleeve notes of Mask and contributed an anonymous Bauhaus review called "Phantoms of the Teenage Opera" to the UK music paper Sounds. The 1984 music video of the song "You're the Inspiration" from the American band Chicago featured lead singer Peter Cetera wearing a Bauhaus T shirt. In an interview at the CBGB, Axl Rose from Guns N' Roses is seen wearing a Bauhaus T shirt. In the Beavis and Butt head season 3 episode "Meet God, Part II" (1993), they view and comment on a music video for Bauhaus' Bowie cover, "Ziggy Stardust". Susie Lewis, the co creator of the American animated series Daria, is a fan of the band and used their song "1. David Jay 2. Peter Murphy 3. Kevin Haskins 4. Daniel Ash" in the closing credits of episode 213, "Write Where it Hurts". In the 2003 South Park episode "Raisins", Henrietta Biggle (one of the "goth kids") had a bedroom poster of "Blauhaus", a parody version of the band. In the 2015–2016 American Horror Story season "American Horror Story: Hotel", "Bela Lugosi's Dead" is used in the opening episode, in line with the underlying horror/vampire theme of the series. In the 2017 The Americans episode "Darkroom", the Bauhaus song "Slice of Life" is played in the background of the red room scene. It was ranked #8 in Vulture's list of "The 10 Best Musical Moments in The Americans". Saturday Night Lives recurring "Goth Talk" skit used "Bela Lugosi's Dead" as its theme song. Bauhaus' performance at Coachella in 2005 has been ranked #5 among LA Weekly as one of "The 20 Best Coachella Sets of All Time". Bauhaus' appearance in the Tony Scott film The Hunger has been ranked #20 by Rolling Stone as "The 30 Greatest Rock & Roll Movie Moments". and #17 by Time Out as "The 50 Best Uses of Songs in Movies".