David J (Bauhaus/Love and Rockets) | The Magnificent Others with Billy Corgan
5/13/20261 hr 37 min
Billy Corgan sits down with David J of Bauhaus /Love and Rockets, one of the quiet architects of alternative music. David shares stories about growing up in working-class England, discovering reggae and punk, the accidental genesis of "Bela Lugosi's Dead," and Bauhaus' mission to dismantle the conventions of traditional rock.
Billy reflects on hearing Bauhaus for the first time and how the band permanently reshaped his understanding of music and artistic freedom. David recalls the surreal night Iggy Pop appeared front row at Danceteria, reveals what it truly took to reunite with Peter Murphy after years of estrangement, and reflects candidly on releasing more than 20+ solo albums for a niche-but-devoted audience, driven less by ambition than by an unstoppable need to create.
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Clips
Showing 10 of 12Transcript preview
First 90 secondsDavid J· Guest0:00
A guitar is not necessarily something that you, you strum. You know, you can hit it with a, with a stick. Whatever it takes to get the right sound out of the thing.
Billy Corgan· Host0:10
To fanboy for a second, uh, to me, Bauhaus is one of the greatest bands ever.
David J· Guest0:14
Well, the big thing for us was not doing the obvious and, um, not, not being rock.
Billy Corgan· Host0:21
[laughs] I'm always impressed at by how confident your musical life has been to let things be simple or, or imperfect, or just be what they are.
David J· Guest0:31
When we started, I mean, we got a lot of resistance, and we really relished kicking against that.
Billy Corgan· Host0:37
Did you guys have an intellectual kind of conversation at the beginning? You are named for an art movement.
David J· Guest0:43
Yeah. No.
Billy Corgan· Host0:44
[laughs] I love it. Dave, nice to see you. Thank you for being here today. You honor me with your presence.
David J· Guest0:52
Thank you, Billy.
Billy Corgan· Host0:52
Um, where can we begin? Oh, okay. Uh, I'm fascinated because of the music that came out of the UK in the '60s, '70s, '80s, this kind of post-war gloom. You weren't necessarily born right after the war, but you were born in '57.
David J· Guest1:12
Mm-hmm.
Billy Corgan· Host1:12
Uh, what was the environment that you grew up in? You know, if you were to just kind of give me a postcard view of it.
David J· Guest1:19
Yeah. Well, I come from a, a town called Northampton. It's right in the middle of, middle of England. It's the Midlands. It's the center. Furthest place from the sea in England,