Song · Bauhaus
“Third Uncle” by Bauhaus
From the album The Sky’s Gone Out (1982)
“Third Uncle” by Bauhaus appears on 3 radio countdowns from 2 stations between 1982 and 2003. It was first released in 1982 on the album The Sky’s Gone Out. Its best result is #46 on the John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1982. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #138 alternative song of 1982 and #3,361 alternative song of all time.
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"Third Uncle" was Brian Eno's song first, cut in 1974 for Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy), and Bauhaus turned it into their own nervy stampede in 1982 on The Sky's Gone Out. Of all the covers the song has attracted, theirs is the one most people remember.
The band produced it themselves, with Mike Robinson engineering. David J drives it on bass, Kevin Haskins handles drums and percussion, Daniel Ash is credited on instruments, and the vocals are split among Ash, David J and Peter Murphy, so the thing comes at you from every direction at once. Eno's original was already a jittery, chattering machine; in Bauhaus's hands it sounds like the machine has slipped its bolts and is heading for the dancefloor.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | 46 | John Peel (BBC Radio 1) | John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1982 | 50 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 351 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) | 2002 |
| 2003 | 248 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003) | 2044 |
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