Rigging up a makeshift rehearsal space, Ash played an echo 12-bar blues, while Murphy sang a series of newspaper articles. "After 15 seconds," Ash says , "I knew we'd have some sort of success. Four weeks after, we formed Bauhaus, and we recorded 'Bela Lugosi's Dead'." That song, issued in 1979, became the cornerstone of the goth rock movement. After nearly five years of trailblazing recording and performing, Bauhaus broke up and Ash put together Tones on Tail with Bauhaus drummer Kevin Haskins. After several EPs, the full-length Pop, and a club hit in "Go!," the group mutated into the highly influential Love and Rockets in 1985, when Bauhaus bassist David J came on board. The band became one of the biggest alternative bands of the '80s, issuing respected LPs like 1986's Express and 1987's Earth, Sun, Moon, and finally enjoying a worldwide Top Ten hit with 1989's "So Alive."

While Daniel Ash's first solo album, Coming Down, was a moody, late-night rumination written in the aftermath of divorce, Foolish Thing Desire, his second, was a celebration of life's perils and pleasures, recorded at Woodbine Street Studios with longtime collaborator John A. Rivers. It's essentially positive, presenting a rush of passionate and powerful rock riffs. In 2002, he released a self-titled album that flirted with electronic dance, and three years later issued a live album, So Alive. Also, both Bauhaus and Love and Rockets reunited for tour dates as well as recording.