A Diamond in the Goth

Album: Peter Murphy, Deep, 1989

Best Track: "Cuts You Up"

Lasting Memory: I salvaged this cassette from the detritus of a former D.C. housemate. I'm pretty sure the guy's name is Paul, but I can't swear to that because I've tried to forget as much about him as possible.

The guy was a walking disaster -- psych discharge from the Air Force, failed Scientologist and Mormon, and debtor to several very insistent college loan issuers -- who I voted against allowing to move into the group house in the first place. I remember as much as I do about the guy because I had to gloss over it so he could get a Russian work visa and stay well the hell away Washington and my house once and for all.

Did I mention that the guy actually moved to Russia before he secured his work visa? He was that kind of guy. He was also the kind of guy who left behind his music collection, all but a handful of his books, and a microwave as "payment" for the nearly $1,000 phone bill he managed to roll up during his month and a half in the house.

I eventually tracked him down through the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and got him to pay his phone bill in return for not at least entering extradition processing. I also kept this copy of Peter Murphy's Deep and a wallchart of the young-Earth creationist's time line of world history from Adam and Eve until about 1980 AD.

The wallchart is more interesting than the tape, but you'll probably recognize the hit single "Cuts You Up" from Deep since it was exactly everything a fin-de-80s alternative track should have been and it still gets played on the better sorts of radio stations.

What you won't know, and what I never realized until I gave Deep a listen yesterday, is that whatever appeal Peter Murphy holds, he holds in large measure because he sounds exactly like Neil Diamond. In fact, the similarities between the former leader of goth godfathers Bauhaus and the leather-lunged troubadour are nothing short of eerie.

Compare the vocals on Murphy's "Marlene Dietrich's Favorite Poem" to Diamond's "Heartlight" and then tell me if you have ever seen both men in the same place at the same time.
You hear what I'm saying, right? I'm not just way off base here, am I?

Beyond the voices, both men are partial to wearing pseudo pompadour hairstyles, engaging in-concert theatrics, and sucking blood.* What other proof do you need?

Up Next: Ned's Atomic Dustbin, God Fodder, 1991

*Editor's note: While Mr. Diamond's taste for "red, red wine" is well-documented, it has never been confirmed that Mr. Murphy actually dines on the sweet nectar of humans.