Though his longtime record company Beggar's Banquet were eager to build on the singer's rising success (following his 1990 album Deep), Peter Murphy himself seemingly wanted a break. He had married his girlfriend, Turkish choreographer and dancer Beyhan Faulkes, and the pair had a daughter in 1988, as well as a son in 1991. The family moved to Ankara, Turkey, and Murphy eventually converted to Islam. Despite the changes, 1992 saw the release of another album of darker-edged pop-rock called Holy Smoke.
Less Than Holy Smoke
There are several reasons why Holy Smoke did significantly less well than Deep. For instance, by 1992 alternative music had gone mainstream and grunge was all the rage; Murphy's brand of haunting goth-pop sounded incongruous.
There was also the infamous cover photo by Anton Corbjin that showed the normally "gorgeous" Murphy looking scuzzy, unshaven, and beat-up. Despite some MTV airplay of the singles "You're So Close" and "The Sweetest Drop," and despite Murphy's first mainstream television appearance (on the Dennis Miller show), Holy Smoke failed to capitalize on its predecessor's momentum, and Murphy decided on a slightly different tack with his follow-up record.
Cascade, Recall and a Bauhaus Reunion
1995's Cascade returned to the more shimmery pop sound Murphy had cultivated early in his career, and the songs bore a much more ambient, electronic influence. Singles "The Scarlet Thing in You" and "I'll Fall With Your Knife" got significant play in goth and alternative clubs, but the album made little splash in the mainstream.
In 1997 Murphy collaborated with members of industrial legends KMFDM on the Recall EP, which contained some electronic remixes of older songs as well as new material. Later that year, Murphy accepted an offer to reunite Bauhaus for what became known as the Resurrection Tour. The worldwide series of shows drew large crowds; some of the venues sold out in less than fifteen minutes. The tour spawned a live CD and a DVD, both titled Gotham.
Just For Love, Dust, and Unshattered
Solo again, Murphy toured the U.S. in 2001, and released an accompanying CD called aLive Just For Love; a retrospective of Murphy's singles called Wild Birds had been released the previous year. Signing to industrial/dance label Metropolis, Murphy then made the startling album Dust, which almost completely dispensed with his former pop sound and instead focused on traditional Turkish instrumentation and song structures, as well as ambient soundscapes. The critics loved it, though some fans had mixed feelings.
In 2004, Murphy made another bid for the mainstream by releasing Unshattered, an unabashedly commercial pop record. The album wasn't as successful as Murphy hoped, but a subsequent tour drew large crowds.
Peter's Recent Solo Work
Since that time, Murphy has undertaken more work with Bauhaus, releasing Go Away White with them in 2008, and doing solo shows, sometimes with Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. In 2009, Murphy was asked to perform a cover of John Lennon's "Instant Karma" for use in a Chase Bank commercial, and this led to a series of other cover versions that included David Bowie's "Space Oddity," Nine Inch Nails's "Hurt," and Joy Division's "Transmission." 2009 also saw Murphy touring the U.S. and playing a great deal of new material, but as of this writing a promised new album has not emerged.
Sources:
- Official Peter Murphy Website at: www.petermurphy.info/
- Shirley, Ian (2001). Dark Entries: Bauhaus and Beyond. SAF Publishing Ltd. ISBN: 0946719136.
- The Sweetest Drop Web Archive at: www.web.archive.org/web/20071016200535/www.sweetestdrop.org
Jenny Ashford - Jenny Ashford is a writer and graphic artist from central Florida. Her main area of interest in her Suite 101 articles is science, with a ...
Join the Conversation