In the Flat Field

Bauhaus recorded their first album at Southern Studios in Wood Green after a 30-date tour. They had a clear idea of how it should sound and produced it themselves, with Tony Cook engineering. The cover is a reproduction of Duane Michals' photograph Homage to Puvis de Chavannes, chosen by David J. The title song was inspired by the dull routine of life in Northampton and the wish to escape it. Dark Entries retells The Picture of Dorian Gray, Murphy's favorite novel.

Gill's NME review called it nine meaningless moans and flails, and the band as a hip Black Sabbath. Ian Shirley, the band's biographer, said the weekly press absolutely slated it. It topped the UK independent albums chart and reached number 72 for a week. AllMusic's Ned Raggett later wrote that few debut albums ever arrived so nearly perfectly formed. Rolling Stone put it at number 61 on its 2020 list of the 80 greatest albums of 1980, and Steve Albini called it a masterpiece in an interview that year. 4AD and Beggars Banquet reissued it as an Omnibus Edition on 19 October 2009.