There’s only one song that represents 1988 for me, but first, a bit of rock music history to set the scene…
After Bauhaus broke up, everyone wondered what Peter Murphy would do next. After a bit of experimentation in Dali’s Car with the late Mick Karn, he did what he should have done to begin with and went solo. Meanwhile, the other three Bauhaus blokes formed Love and Rockets, a band I must admit to have always disliked.
Peter’s first solo album, Should the World Fail to Fall Apart contains a track that inspired the band name for my boy’s rock band. It also has a great cover of Pere Ubu’s Final Solution. Indirectly, there’s a line in that song that’s meaningful in relation to the origins of my boy, who is not a supernatural creature but human. (I suspect maybe one or two of my friends will get this cryptic clue…)
For my chosen track, we have to move to Peter’s second album, Love Hysteria, my favourite of his. All Night Long has always spoken of hope to me. It is the ONE song I listen to when I am down and/or struggling. It also reminds me of the journey I’ve been on, ever since a lost boy called Julian came to me wanting to tell me his story three years ago. He is the one constant in my life, and it’s him, as well as Peter’s music as inspiration that’s kept me going all this time.
I cannot think of a better post to start this new year…
Peter Murphy – All Night Long
Alannah Murphy is a former rock musician turned writer, currently working on a rock'n'roll novel set in London. 
