Suicide (band)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the band. For the 1977 album, see Suicide (1977 album).
Suicide
Rev and Vega before a 1988 concert
Rev and Vega before a 1988 concert
Background information
OriginNew York City, New York, U.S.
Genres
Years active1970–2016 (intermittently)
LabelsRed Star, ZE, ROIR International, Blast First/Mute
Past members

Suicide was an American musical duo composed of vocalist

drum machines, and their early performances were confrontational and often ended in violence.[7] They were among the first acts to use the phrase "punk music" in an advertisement for a concert in 1970—during their very brief stint as a three-piece including Paul Liebegott.[8][9]

Though never widely popular among the general public, Suicide have been recognized as among the most influential acts of their era. Their debut album

synth pop, and industrial rock."[11]

History

Rev and Vega met and became friends in 1970. After the former's

UK and Western Europe. They continued to perform sporadically in the following decades, until playing their final shows in 2015. Shows scheduled for the following year were cancelled, due to Vega's declining health and eventual death.[12]

According to a 2002 interview of Alan Vega, the name of the band was inspired by the title of a Ghost Rider comic book issue titled "Satan Suicide". He further explained, "We were talking about society’s suicide, especially American society. New York City was collapsing. The Vietnam War was going on. The name Suicide said it all to us."[13]

Rev's simple keyboard riffs, which were initially played on a battered Farfisa organ combined with effects units, before changing to a synthesizer, were accompanied by primitive drum machines. This provided a pulsing, minimalistic, electronic backdrop for Vega's murmuring and nervy vocals. It was the first band to use the term punk to describe itself, which the band had adopted from an article by Lester Bangs. Some of the band's earliest posters use the terms "punk music" and "punk music mass".

Early notoriety

Suicide emerged alongside the early

23 Minutes Over Brussels", a recording of a Suicide concert that later deteriorated into a riot
.

The band's first album,

31 Songs, describes the track as something you would listen to "only once".[16]

Other projects

In 1986, Alan Vega collaborated with Andrew Eldritch of The Sisters of Mercy on the Gift album, released under the name of The Sisterhood. In 1996, Vega collaborated with Alex Chilton and Ben Vaughn on the album Cubist Blues.[17] Vega and Rev have both released solo albums.

Return

In 2002, Suicide released their first album in over a decade, titled American Supreme. Sales, however, were slow, and critical reception was mixed.

In 2005, SAF Publishing put out Suicide No Compromise, a "docu-biography" by David Nobahkt, which featured extensive interviews with Vega and Rev as well as many of their contemporaries and famous fans.

In 2008,

Blast First Petite released Alan Vega 70th Birthday Limited Edition EP Series—a monthly, limited-edition series of 10" vinyl EPs and downloads by major artists, honoring Alan Vega's 70th birthday. Among those paying tribute were Bruce Springsteen, Primal Scream, Peaches, Grinderman, Spiritualized, The Horrors, +Pansonic, Julian Cope, Lydia Lunch, Vincent Gallo, LIARS, and The Klaxons. The label also released Suicide: 1977–1978, a 6-CD box set, the same year.[18]

In September 2009, the group performed their debut LP live in its entirety as part of the All Tomorrow's Parties-curated Don't Look Back series.

In May 2010, the band performed the entire first album live at two London concerts, double billed with Iggy & The Stooges performing Raw Power.[19] The band performed their final concert at London's Barbican Centre on 9 July 2015.[20] Billed as 'A Punk Mass', the show featured solo sets by both Rev and Vega before a headlining Suicide performance. Henry Rollins, Bobby Gillespie, and Jehnny Beth made guest appearances. The concert received positive reviews.[21][22][23]

Alan Vega died in his sleep on July 16, 2016, at the age of 78.[24] His death was announced by musician and radio host Henry Rollins, who shared an official statement from Vega's family on his website.[25]

Influences

The duo was influenced by musicians such as

Question Mark & the Mysterians, [27] and Silver Apples.[28][27]

Martin Rev was a student of Lennie Tristano.[29]

They were also influenced by films and directors such as Alejandro Jodorowsky’s El Topo,[30] David Lynch,[31] and John Waters.[31]

Legacy

Musicians who have listed Suicide as an influence include, among others,

OMD, Rocket from the Tombs, Cassandra Complex (and covered "Frankie Teardrop"), Mudhoney,[40] Ariel Pink,[41] Nitzer Ebb,[42] Depeche Mode,[43] R.E.M. (covered "Ghost Rider"),[44] Devo, Ultravox, Massive Attack,[45] Autechre, The Chemical Brothers, Daft Punk, Aphex Twin,[46] The Kills, AFI,[47] and Bruce Springsteen.[48]

Covers

In 1994, The Crow: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack contains "Ghost Rider", covered by the Rollins Band. That same year The Fatima Mansions released a cover of "Diamonds, Fur Coat, Champagne", as part of their 1994 single "Nite Flights". In May 1999, ? and the Mysterians released a cover of "Cheree" on the album More Action.

The riff from "Ghost Rider" was sampled extensively in

M.I.A.'s single, "Born Free", released in April 2010.[49] Martin Rev joined M.I.A. to perform the song on the Late Show with David Letterman
.

In mid-2009, the band The Horrors released a cover of the song "Shadazz", as part of a tribute to Alan Vega and his work. They have performed it many times live, along with another Suicide song, "Ghost Rider". Later that year, Primal Scream and Miss Kittin covered the song "Diamonds, Fur Coat, Champagne" for a limited-edition 10-inch vinyl pressing. A total of 3,000 copies were pressed and released on March 30, 2009.[50]

"Ghost Rider" was covered by the garage punk band The Gories, and released on the album Cheapo Crypt Sampler No. 2.[51] In April 2011, the influential dance-punk band LCD Soundsystem used a snippet from "Ghost Rider" during the song "Losing My Edge", and covered the Alan Vega solo effort "Bye Bye Bayou" during their final concert, held in a sold-out Madison Square Garden. The song was also covered by British duo The Last Shadow Puppets at New York City's Terminal 5, as a tribute to Alan Vega, shortly after his death in 2016.[52][53]

In April 2012, Neneh Cherry released a cover of the song "Dream Baby Dream", which appeared on her album The Cherry Thing.[54] In May 2014, The band Savages, also released a live cover of the song as a b-side of their single "Fuckers"/"Dream Baby Dream" 12". Other artists who covered the song include Bruce Springsteen in 2016, and Many Angled Ones & Guy McKnight, in August 2018.

Discography

Both Alan Vega and Martin Rev have recorded solo albums; see Alan Vega discography and Martin Rev discography.

Studio albums

  • 1977 – Suicide
  • 1980 – Suicide: Alan Vega and Martin Rev
  • 1988 – A Way of Life
    • The 2005 Blast First/Mute/EMI CD reissue has a slightly different mix of the album, most notably the song "Surrender", and includes a live
      bonus disc recorded in 1987 and videos for "Dominic Christ"[55] and "Surrender" by Stefan Roloff
      .
  • 1992 – Why Be Blue
    • The 2005 Blast First/Mute/EMI CD reissue includes a live bonus disc recorded in 1989 and a complete remix by Martin Rev of the original album and different track order.
  • 2002 – American Supreme
    • Initial CD copies included a live bonus disc recorded in 1998.

Live albums

  • 1978 – 21½ Minutes in Berlin/23 Minutes in Brussels
  • 1981 – Half Alive (a collection of live and demo material recorded from 1975–1979; originally released by ROIR on cassette only, with liner notes by Lester Bangs)
  • 1986 – Ghost Riders (a live concert from 1981 – originally released on cassette only)
  • 1997 – Zero Hour (late '70s live recordings)
  • 2004 – Attempted: Live at Max's Kansas City 1980 (soundboard recordings from a New York City rock club performance; with liner notes by Marty Thau)
  • 2008 – Live 1977–1978 (a six-CD box set containing 13 complete Suicide live performances from September 1977 to August 1978 plus bonus material)

EPs

  • 1978 –
    23 Minutes Over Brussels
  • 1998 – 22/1/98 – Reinventing America (recorded live at The Barbican – "Inventing America" launch party)

Singles

References

  1. ^ Segal, David (2016). "Alan Vega, Agitational Vocalist for Synth-Punk Innovators Suicide, 1938-2016". The Stranger.
  2. ^ Ankeny, Jason. "Alan Vega: Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  3. ^ "All-Star Suicide Tribute". Clash. 25 June 2008. Retrieved April 11, 2015.
  4. ^ Greene, Doyle (March 2016). Counterculture and the Avant-Garde, 1966-1970: How the Beatles, Frank Zappa and the Velvet Underground Defined an Era. McFarland. p. 101.
  5. ISBN 9781465421265
    .
  6. ISBN 9781847676436
    . Retrieved 2016-07-17.
  7. ^ "Suicide". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on February 24, 2011. Retrieved 2016-07-17.
  8. Village Voice
    . Retrieved 2010-01-01.
  9. ^ "Suicide - Chronology". From The Archives. Retrieved 2010-04-30.
  10. ^ Romano, Nick. "n Vega, singer of electronic music duo Suicide, dies at 78". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  11. ^ Phares, Heather. "Suicide [First Album] – Suicide". AllMusic. Retrieved June 19, 2013.
  12. ^ "Suicide- Concert Chronology / Gigography". From The Archives. Retrieved 2022-04-12.
  13. ^ "Infinity Punk: A Career-Spanning Interview With Suicide's Alan Vega". Pitchfork. July 19, 2016. Retrieved 2021-07-18.
  14. ^ Moyer, Matthew (January 2003). "Alan Vega". Ink 19. Archived from the original on 2007-01-08. Retrieved 2010-01-01.
  15. ^ Dameron, Emerson. "Ghost Songs - Our Favorite Halloween Tunes". Dusted Magazine. Retrieved 2010-01-01.
  16. ^ Nick Hornby. 31 Songs. McSweeney's.
  17. ^ "Cubist Blues - Alan Vega, Alex Chilton, Ben Vaughn | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
  18. ^ Paul Smith (2008). "Alan Vega Turns 70- Years Old/Box Set". MV Remix Rock. Retrieved 1 May 2010.
  19. All Tomorrow's Parties
    . Retrieved 2010-04-30.
  20. ^ "Suicide: A Punk Mass". Barbican. Archived from the original on 2016-08-04. Retrieved 2016-07-16.
  21. ^ "Requiem For A Scream: Suicide's 'Punk Mass'". The Quietus. Retrieved 2016-07-16.
  22. ^ "Suicide: A Punk Mass: Barbican Theatre, London – review". Louder Than War. 13 July 2015. Retrieved 2016-07-16.
  23. ^ "Suicide, Barbican, review: 'one of the strangest concerts I've ever seen'". The Telegraph. 10 July 2015. Retrieved 2016-07-16.
  24. ^ Yoo, Noah (17 July 2016). "Suicide's Alan Vega Dead at 78". pitchfork.com. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  25. ^ Rollins, Henry. "Alan Vega 7-16-16". HenryRollins.com. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  26. ^
    ISBN 9782367230443
    .
  27. ^
    ISBN 9781783235353
    . With Alan, events which oddly foreshadowed Suicide itself were taking place elsewhere in downtown Manhattan. He had just discovered the world's first two-man electronic band. They were called Silver Apples, and featured Simeon Coxe III singing over the otherwordly noise he coaxed out a pulsing heap of arcane electronic junk he called The Thing, all punctuated by highly creative drummer Danny Taylor. Alan recalls discovering the duo in the late sixties, and being first to spread the word in CBGB and Max's about their monumental place in the city's musical history. "They were so way out, man," he still enthuses. "I loved the minimalism of their stuff. I used to rave about the Silver Apples, but nobody had heard of them. That music was part of me so, from my angle, Suicide stole from the Velvets, Iggy, Question Mark & the Mysterians and the Silver Apples.
  28. ISBN 9782367230467
    . Vega, a melting pot of influences. Presley, Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, Johnny Burnette (for the hiccups and chanting), Lou Reed, the wizard of Metal Machine Music (pre- or post-Suicide opus?), Captain Beefheart, the splenetic Dada master who blended rock and jazz, the nasty Garage scene's golden period of 1966-1967; pre-krautrock beep-obsessives Silver Apples, the heathens of Mississippi blues, like Hooker and Hopkins especially, the rap avengers Public Enemy and their formidable Bomb Squad; and of course the radicalism of what has been called free jazz since 1960.
  29. ISBN 9782367230443
    .
  30. ^ Jonathan Monovich (22 March 2023). "Suicide's Music in Film: An Interview with Martin Rev". PopMatters. PopMatters Media, Inc. Retrieved July 14, 2023. Interviewer: "Growing up during a high point in the history of counterculture with shared disapproval of the Vietnam war, was Easy Rider an important film for you and Vega?" Martin Rev: "I'm sure Alan saw that picture. I saw it and certainly related to it as it was very much a part of the times and the war in Vietnam for many years. I think one picture we found closer to what we were feeling and doing at that time was Alejandro Jodorowsky's El Topo. It came out around the time that we first started. It was maybe within a year of the beginning of Suicide. I think he [Jodorowsky] was feeling a lot of the things that we were feeling. It was in the same kind of spiritual ambiance and extremism. We didn't see ourselves as being extremists, but the film also showed experimentation and innovation. We didn't set out to be innovators either, but we set out to do what we felt we needed to do to express ourselves."
  31. ^ a b Jonathan Monovich (March 23, 2023). "Suicide's Music in Film: An Interview with Martin Rev". PopMatters. PopMatters Media, Inc. Retrieved 14 July 2023. Interviewer: "Given that El Topo was famously played for midnight screenings at New York City movie theaters in the '70s, were you also interested in any of the other midnight movies of that era?" Martin Rev: "Filmmakers like John Waters and David Lynch, yeah, their movies were all in that scene. I don't think I saw everything of theirs. I saw a few films from each, maybe two each, but that was all part of that period, especially the early '70s."
  32. ^ Suicide related Television, Chrome, Wire, PiL, Gary Numan, Richard Hell, Pere Ubu, Patti Smith, Talking Heads. Retrieved 23 March 2022
  33. ^ Vish (August 10, 2016). "Ep. #275: Incredible Love – Alan Vega & Suicide Remembered by Steve Albini, Jehnny Beth, Brendan Canty, Kid Millions, Robyn Phillips, Priya Thomas, & Mike Watt". Kreative Kontrol. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  34. ^ Rob Sheffield (July 17, 2016). "Remembering Suicide's Alan Vega: Screamer of Truths, Dreamer of Dreams". Rolling Stone. Penske Business Media. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
  35. ^ Sisters of Mercy song 23 March 2022
  36. ISBN 9780195313734
    . This US duo was an important influence on Birthday Party , Soft Cell , Sigue Sigue Sputnik , Nine Inch Nails and the Sisters of Mercy with their potent fusion of rockabilly and electronic music on cheap equipment...
  37. ^ Daniel Dylan Wray (October 14, 2015). "People Would Boo, and I Would Scream Back at Them: "I Hate Your Fucking Guts!"". Vice. Vice Media Group. Retrieved 21 December 2020. "Go and see Suicide, everybody go and see Suicide NOW!" So screamed Nick Cave on stage at the end of Grinderman's set at Primavera Sound in Barcelona, 2011
    Conor McCaffrey (August 4, 2017). "No Compromise: Remembering Suicide's Alan Vega – A True One-off". Moo Kid. Retrieved 21 December 2020. . One memorable festival moment of the last few years for me was Grinderman finishing on one stage at Primavera and Nick Cave ordering the crowd to rush over and see Suicide across the way, as "none of us bands would be here without them".
  38. ISBN 9780946719716
    .
  39. ISBN 9780946719716
    . By the end of the eighties, Suicide's influence could be heard in the output of the industrial dance/ rock/noise bands that emerged during that era. DAF's Die Kleinen UndDie Bosen album had much in common with Suicide. There was also The Neon Judgement, Dirk Ivens' Absolute Body Control, Nine Inch Nails, Ministry, Die Krupps and Front 242.
  40. ISBN 9780946719716
    .
  41. Pitchfork. Archived
    from the original on January 8, 2021. Retrieved December 15, 2014.
  42. ISBN 9780946719716
    . There was also Bon Harris and Douglas McCarthy's band Nitzer Ebb, who had their own style of 'take no prisoners', beat driven electronic rock 'n' roll that came to form on their 1990 album Showtime.
  43. ISBN 9780946719716
    . Amongst the synth bands that emerged at the start of the eighties was Depeche Mode. Suicide's influence on their sound is indisputable. Martin L Gore of Depeche Mode told The Times newspaper, "The synthesizer before Suicide was always a clean-cut instrument, whereas they brought in a punk element." He went on to say, "That was a very important step in the history of electronic music, they were way before The Prodigy and the whole industrial scene." Alan Wilder, Depeche Mode's music director and keyboard player from '82 to '95, had taken notice of Suicide's sampled and manipulated guitar sounds whilst recording the 1990 album Violator. Wilder later commented on his Shunt Website. "When we recorded the track "Blue Dress" it was based around using washy sounding, drone guitars (a la Suicide) which formed the backbone of the track."
  44. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "R.E.M.: The Automatic Box > Overview". Allmusic. Retrieved September 28, 2015.
  45. ^ Ben Ratliff (September 29, 2013). "A Big, Booming Show With Space for Reflection: 'Massive Attack V Adam Curtis,' a Film and a Concert". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 April 2014. During all of this, Massive Attack — along with the guest singers Horace Andy and Liz Fraser — acts as a kind of house-band mood setter. The band covers at chronologically or thematically specific places songs you may associate with The Shirelles, the Archies, Dusty Springfield, Bauhaus and Suicide.
  46. ISBN 9780946719716
    . Suicide's influence on electronic music was to carry on into the next decade with the Aphex Twin, Autechre and Two Lone Swordsmen having their Suicide-like moments.
  47. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "AFI - What's in My Bag?". YouTube. Amoeba. Retrieved 21 December 2020. Davey Havok: "I can pull out the Suicide record. What a rough past year we had, because we lost Alan, amidst other great, hugely influential artists. Safe to say that we're all fans here of their work and this record, which is just so wildly ahead of its time and cutting edge in what they were doing with electronics and soundscapes and mood and creating darkness within this minimal crunchy noise art sound."
  48. ISBN 9781742731483. Suicide's heirs – Devo, Ultravox, Depeche Mode, Jesus and Mary Chain, Sisters of Mercy, Daft Punk, Air, Chemical, Nick Cave to name but a few – benefited from their pioneering sheets of industrial music.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link
    )
  49. ^ Brown, August (August 23, 2010). "Snap Judgment: M.I.A. drops new track, "Born Free" (and gets Suicide paid)". Los Angeles Times. Hiss & Pop blog. Retrieved 2010-04-26.
  50. ^ "Primal Scream cover Suicide for new single". NME. 2009-02-11. Retrieved 2011-02-26.
  51. ^ "Various - Cheapo Crypt Sampler No. 2! (CD) at Discogs". Discogs.com. 1997. Retrieved 2012-07-31.
  52. Brooklyn Vegan
    . August 3, 2016. Retrieved 2022-08-17.
  53. ^ Curley, John (August 3, 2016). "The Last Shadow Puppets deliver a sensational show at NYC's Terminal 5". Goldmine Magazine. Retrieved 2022-08-17.
  54. ^ "Various Artists: "Dream Baby Dream"". Pitchfork. 2012-04-11. Retrieved 2012-07-31.
  55. ^ "R&R". When6is9.de. Retrieved 2016-07-17.

Further reading

External links
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