Music Mundays - Love And Rockets

Forgive the long post today. Love And Rockets is one of my all-time favorite bands. Danny Ash has one of the greatest voices of all-time. But to get to Love And Rockets, you have to go through a couple of iterations of the band.

Bauhaus was formed in 1978 (and yes, this was way before I started listening to their music!) Peter Murphy, Daniel Ash, David J, and Kevin Haskins created something unique in Bauhaus. Most notably considered the fathers of "Gothic" music, they named themselves after the German Bauhaus art movement of the early 20th century. Dark and stylistic, they created something that was post-punk and even gloomy. Goth kids around the world, to this day know Bauhaus. They were only together for about 4 years, mostly because too many alpha dogs in one band is never a good thing. Bela Lugosi's Dead is their one major hit (although they did a killer cover of Bowie's Ziggy Stardust that I still love almost as much as the original!) You can still hear this song today featured in many vampire movies. It made that much of an impact!! Peter Murphy's voice still gives me chills!


But Peter Murphy left the band, and Ash and Haskins quickly formed a new band called Tones on Tail. Danny Ash took over the reigns as lead singer. It started out as a side project during the Bauhaus years with the addition of Glenn Campling. They only released one album, Pop, but it contained the song Go (or the ya-ya song, as my husband likes to call it!) I couldn't find an actual video for the song, but here is the best I could do:


Love and Rockets formed with all the members of Bauhaus minus Peter Murphy. Like I said before, I LOVE Danny Ash's voice. It is so unique! You can't hear a Love and Rockets song and NOT recognize it. Their first album will always be my favorite: Seventh Dream of a Teenage Heaven. A few of their later songs went mainstream, but Seventh Dream offers up Haunted, just a beautiful song. Again, there is no actual video, but you can hear what an awesome song this really is!!


There next album, Express, offers up such killer tracks as Yin and Yang (The Flowerpot Man), Kundalini Express, All in My Mind, and this fantastic remake of the Temptation's Ball of Confusion:


Most of their videos were done in black and white. Check out that hair! Man, I love Danny Ash!! And you all wondered why I like Adam Lambert from AI so much!! I have a thing for guys and guyliner!! Post-punk, psychedelic, and glam could be an apt description.

Probably their biggest hit, and the one you might have heard before is So Alive, taken from their self-titled album in 1989. The band is still together is some form. They've toured recently as L&R, and even got together with Peter Murphy for a small reunion as Bauhaus, playing Couchella in '08.



One of my favorites for years, this is just a peek at this fantastic band. Check them out!! Love them!! (But stay away from Danny...he's mine!)