Bauhaus Compared ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’ to 1 Legendary Led Zeppelin Song
Bauhaus’ “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” is one of the most influential classic rock songs ever. In addition, members of Bauhaus compared the track to a famous Led Zeppelin song. The comparison is a little off for one very specific reason.
Bauhaus said ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’ was like a 1980s version of 1 Led Zeppelin song
During a 2019 interview with Uncut, Bauhaus’ Peter Murphy compared “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” to one of the all-time classic rock songs. “‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’ just happened to be a seminal song,” he said. “It was the ‘Stairway to Heaven’ of the 1980s.”
Fellow Bauhaus member Kevin Haskins agreed with this assessment. “It definitely has a timeless quality,” he opined. “On reflection, I marvel at what we did. We were just four young kids who wanted to make something unique, without really having much idea what we were doing. But that song came out of it.”
Of course, the idea that “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” was the 1980s equivalent of “Stairway to Heaven” is a tad dubious. After all, “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” came out in 1979. Perhaps Murphy and Haskins meant that “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” had the same impact on 1980s music that “Stairway to Heaven” and other Led Zeppelin songs had on 1970s music.
Bauhaus said the song changed the band’s career and their public perception
The same way “Stairway to Heaven” became the prototypical power ballad, “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” became the prototypical gothic rock track. “It’s funny, because I sometimes say that we weren’t goth,” said Bauhaus’ Daniel Ash. “But I was in Bauhaus and our first single was ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead.’ Well of course we were goth! But that term was a bit of an insult in England back then. We were lumped in with Alien Sex Fiend, Sex Gang Children and Specimen, who we all thought were really crap.”
The song had a positive impact on Bauhaus as well. “To a certain extent, ‘Bela’ gave us traction,” Murphy recalled. “But we were just running hard. Songs were coming out of us all the time. In my own mind we were big already.”
How ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’ and ‘Stairway to Heaven’ performed on the charts
“Bela Lugosi’s Dead” never charted on the Billboard Hot 100. In fact, none of Bauhaus’ songs did. The tune appeared on multiple Bauhaus compilation albums, but none of those compilations reached the Billboard 200.
On the other hand, “Stairway to Heaven” wasn’t a single, so it never charted on the Billboard Hot 100. The song appeared on the album Led Zeppelin IV. That record peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, staying on the chart for a total of 287 weeks.
“Bela Lugosi’s Dead” went on to inspire some interesting reinterpretations. The indie synth-pop band Chvrches recorded an electronic cover of the song for the film Vampire Academy. That cover is clearly indebted to the theme from John Carpenter’s Halloween. Bauhaus’ David J released a reinterpretation of the song that sounds almost like a spoken word piece with avant-garde instrumental backing. That version is called “Bela Lugosi’s Dead (Undead is Forever).”
“Bela Lugosi’s Dead” is forever and so is “Stairway to Heaven.”
