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Suicide Suicide is an American rock music group intermittently active since 1971 and composed of Alan Vega (vocals) and Martin Rev (synthesizers and drum machines). Much like Silver Apples, they are an early synthesizer/vocal musical duo.
Never widely popular amongst the general public, Suicide are nonetheless hugely influential: critic Wilson Neate writes that Suicide "would prove as influential as the Clash. Listening to their self-titled 1977 debut from the vantage point of late 2002, it's all so obvious: the synth pop, techno, and industrial dance sounds of the '80s and '90s, and now the new New Wave of electroclash, all gesture back to that foundational album."
History
Rev's simple, keyboard riffs (initially played on a battered Farfisa organ before he accquired a synthesizer) were accompanied by primitive drum machines, proving an ideal backdrop for Vega's vocals. Vega owed an obvious debt to Elvis Presley and rockabilly singers, but his muttering, shrieking, nervy delivery was unique, sounding at once both fragile and threatening.
Suicide emerged alongside the early punk scene in New York City with a reputation for ferocious and controversial live shows; Vega stated "We started getting booed as soon as we came onstage. Just from the way we looked they started giving us hell already." The first album was reissued with bonus material including "23 Minutes Over Brussels", a recording of a Suicide concert that deteriorated into a riot. Vega and Rev both dressed like arty, pre-cyberpunk street thugs, and Vega was notorious for brandishing a length of motorcycle drive chain onstage.
Their first album, Suicide (1977), is often regarded as a classic: One critic writes: "'Dream Baby Dream', 'Che', 'Ghost Rider'—these eerie, sturdy, steam-punk anthems rank among the most visionary, melodic experiments the rock realm has yet produced." However, the ten-minute "Frankie Teardrop" might be the album's highlight, telling the harrowing story of a poverty-stricken Vietnam vet pushed to the edge: critic Emerson Dameron writes that the song is "one of the most terrifying, riveting, absurd things I’ve ever heard."
Suicide's albums and performances in the late 1970s and early 1980s are regarded as some of the most influential post punk recordings and helped shape the direction of indie rock, industrial music and dance music. Among others, The Sisters of Mercy, Henry Rollins, Soft Cell, The Fleshtones, and R.E.M. have listed Suicide as one of their influences. Bruce Springsteen is also a Suicide fan: he has performed their songs in concert, and Springsteen's "State Trooper" from his Nebraska album is clearly influenced by Suicide -- sounding almost like Suicide "unplugged".
In 1986 Alan Vega collaborated with Andrew Eldritch of The Sisters of Mercy on the 'Gift' album, released under the name of 'The Sisterhood'. Vega and Rev have both released solo albums, and Suicide released their first album in over a decade with 2002's 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. Also that year, their song "Ghost Rider" was used in a Brazilian deodorant commercial.
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