Peter Murphy

In his four decades of service in the post-punk culture wars, Peter Murphy has confounded fans, critics, even himself. As the mainman of the acclaimed outfit Bauhaus, he helped usher in ground breaking opaque moods and atmospheres into the post-punk landscape. When the band broke up for the first time in 1983, the singer set off on a solo career that found him challenging his audiences in numerous ways. When the music press tried to tag him as “the new David Bowie,” he’d close his shows with a vamping of the Thin White Duke’s disco classic “Stay,” only to switch into a cover of Bauhaus’ funky punch-up “Kick In The Eye,” followed by a cover of Pere Ubu’s “Final Solution,” which ended with a burly roadie physically picking up the singer and putting him in an airplane spin.