Bauhaus were formed at art college by Peter Murphy (vocals), Daniel Ash (guitar/sax), David Jay (bass), and Jay's younger brother Kevin Haskins (drums).

Their debut single, "Bela Lugosi's Dead" (1978) was released on the same Small Wonder label responsible for the first Cure single. Its dub-informed bass and lyrics of gleeful morbid fascination made the band an instant hit in Britain, and set them apart as a more esoteric outfit than many of their punk contemporaries.

The band's androgynous appearance and camp theatrics owed much to The New York Dolls and more to David Bowie; apart from having their biggest UK hit single with a cover of his "Ziggy Stardust" (1982), they also made a brief appearance playing their debut single in the film "The Hunger" , in which Bowie starred. Their persona also owed a lot to grainy monochromatic late-night horror movies, a trait manifested in their live renditions of the song "In Heaven (Everything Is Fine)" from David Lynch's cult flick, Eraserhead.

The music relied heavily on the machine-tight rhythm section, leaving the pouting Murphy and Ash to flaunt their anarchic flash. Ash's idiosyncratic guitar playing provided splashes of sounds and textural noise rather than actual tunes, and at times almost competed with the warped sexuality that Murphy's vocals evoked. Not surprisingly, given their striking visual appearance, Bauhaus made some excellent promo videos right up to the feigned decadence of "She's In Parties" (1983). All their promo clips are available on the video Archive , while a live video, Shadow Of Light , amply captured their undoubted showmanship. Bauhaus released four studio LPs, beginning with In The Flat Field (1979), issued on 4AD, and moving to Beggars Banquet for Mask (1981), The Sky's Gone Out (1982) and Burning From The Inside (1983). (All four CD reissues also feature singles and B-sides as extra tracks.) They also made a live album, Press The Eject And Give Me The Tape (1982), while a double LP compilation was released in 1988, followed by Swing The Heartache (1989), a collection of BBC radio sessions. Bauhaus consistently managed to create music of genuine substance and invention - The Velvet Underground's John Cale rated them enough to write a song about them, and Nico actually guested with the band. In their time they had a huge cult following, and when they split up, still in their early twenties, they left behind a little magic that would remain absent from their subsequent projects.

The band reformed briefly in 1998, 15 years after their break-up for the aptly titled "Resurrection Tour" to support the greatest hits compilation Crackle.

-some text from the Rough Guide To Rock