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Author Topic: Suicide - Again!  (Read 4537 times)
Jason
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« on: December 29, 2005, 05:22:14 PM »

The last time this thread went to 3 pages on the old board. Let's see if we can have at it again here.

Alan Vega on vocals, Martin Rev on keyboards and drum machine, these guys are a founding group of industrial music, punk, and many electronic musics. Incredibly influential, blah blah blah.
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I. Spaceman
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« Reply #1 on: December 29, 2005, 05:36:54 PM »

Have you ever gotten into Spacemen 3, Jason? Big fans of Suicide, they even have a tune called Suicide. Probably my favorite band of the 80's.
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Jason
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« Reply #2 on: December 29, 2005, 05:42:02 PM »

I've listened to a bit, not much. I liked what I heard however.
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Jason
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« Reply #3 on: December 31, 2005, 02:16:32 PM »

It's all about Harlem as recorded in 1981 on the band's 10th anniversary show.
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Jason
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« Reply #4 on: January 04, 2006, 03:33:50 PM »

A piercing scream breaks the deafening silence. Only when a droning note is hit on a cheap Farfisa keyboard, coupled with the grating industrial rhythms of a 1950s model drum machine, do you, the listener, realize that this is actually some kind of music. Welcome to the brash, uncompromising world of Suicide.

Suicide was formed in 1971 in New York City. At its core, the only members of note were keyboardist/drum machine operator Martin Rev and vocalist Alan Vega. Coming off the heels of fellow New York trailblazers The Velvet Underground and coinciding with the revolution about to be sparked by the New York Dolls, Suicide began humbly at The Project Of Living Artists. Alan Vega, born in Brooklyn, was one of the main people at The Project and was a struggling sculptor. Martin Rev, from the Bronx, was a classically trained piano player who used to come in off the streets for a place to sleep. Rev and Vega, like many of the musicians who found solace at The Project, used to jam together, sometimes by themselves, sometimes with other bands. Working with several musicians, Rev and Vega had to let them all go, upon which point they realized they had their own niche to fill with their sound.

In 1975, Martin Rev purchased a used 1950s model drum machine for $30, in his words, "a fortune in those days". Around the same time, Alan Vega came into possession of a two-track tape recorder. On this unit, the very first Suicide recordings were made. Spare, spaced-out, and minimalistic, these early recordings were more in the vein of early Pink Floyd than with the sound they would later be identified with.

In 1976, a new revolution was taking place. It was the time of punk. Suicide, at their core, was a punk band who drew heavy influences from the New York Dolls and the Velvet Underground. Performing around New York at CBGBs and Max's Kansas City, a new element was added to Suicide's sound - the absolute hatred of their audiences. As Vega put it in a 2000 interview -

"I always hated the idea of people going to a concert to be entertained. With us, I always said, 'Look, you're coming off the street. If you think you're getting entertained by us, forget about it! You are coming off the street to come into the street!'...they'd come through the door expecting entertainment and I wanted to give them the street again."

Upon signing to Red Star Records in late 1977, Suicide recorded their first album in a four hour timespan. This first album captured the punk era's thrills and nihilism better than almost any record that came out during this time. Tracks like "Ghost Rider" and "Rocket USA" describe the punk era's attitude in a very unique and icy manner. "Cheree" and "Girl" show off Suicide's chilling sensuality. "Johnny" shows off the band's love for 50s rock 'n roll melodies and imagery. But these tracks are nothing compared to the album's centerpiece, "Frankie Teardrop". An eleven minute pandering about the exploits of a Vietnam veteran driven to murder his family, it is one of the most extreme and harrowing songs ever recorded (and one that led Bruce Springsteen to declare his love for Suicide in an interview). Upon the album's release, it sold less than four thousand copies in the US and even less around the world.

Touring the European continent with Elvis Costello and The Clash in 1978, Suicide's live exploits became the stuff of legend. At one gig, henceforth referred to as "23 Minutes Over Brussels", the audience's distaste and hatred for the noise the band made led to a disaffected performance by headliner Elvis Costello and the eventual riot of the fans in the Belgian capital.

In 1979, Suicide began production of their newest single (Dream Baby Dream b/w Radiation) and album with producer and Cars mastermind Ric Ocasek. Displaying a largely streamlined sound, this second album is preferable to the first in many ways. Ric Ocasek's influence led to more traditional pop songs with that unmistakable Suicide element. Revolving mostly around songs the band had worked out in live performances during 1978 and 1979, the second album displays several rockabilly influences, especially in Vega's vocals. It was also the band's only release on a major label (ZE/Island Records).

As the seventies bled into the eighties, Suicide were well on their way to legendary status, most notably on a landmark tenth anniversary show in Minneapolis on September 19, 1981. Suicide continued to tour and record various solo projects, with Vega scoring a small hit in "Jukebox Babe". Their influence was felt in the burgeoning synth pop movement of the early 80s, typified by Erasure, Yaz, Depeche Mode, and Soft Cell (Marc Almond actually apologized to Alan Vega for ripping off the Suicide mechanics).

In 1988, the band reformed with Ocasek and began work on their third album, A Way Of Life. Showing a much more contemporary sound, the band was now more of their time, yet still ahead of the game. 1992 led to the group's fourth album (and third with Ocasek's production), Why Be Blue?.

In 1998, Suicide's first album was reissued by Mute Records in the UK and greeted with a very warm reception, so much so that space rockers Spiritualized asked Suicide to join them for an encore at a Royal Festival Hall gig that year.

2002 brought the album American Supreme, a chilling look at what was then a newly minted "post 9/11 world".

I can't thank Rev and Vega enough for their music. Their music literally changed my life and influenced the way I make music on my own. For that I am eternally grateful.

As Alan Vega put it in 1985 -

"Suicide was always about life. But we couldn't call it Life. So we called it Suicide because we wanted to recognize life."

Listen, learn, and by all means, dream baby dream.
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I. Spaceman
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« Reply #5 on: January 04, 2006, 03:37:53 PM »

GREAT!
Wonderful essay. I think you should submit that essay to the Smile Shop!
Have you ever heard Springsteen's cover of Dream Baby Dream?
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Jason
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« Reply #6 on: January 04, 2006, 03:39:43 PM »

GREAT!
Wonderful essay. I think you should submit that essay to the Smile Shop!
Have you ever heard Springsteen's cover of Dream Baby Dream?

I did submit it to the Shop.

Haven't heard Bruce do Dream Baby Dream....what album is it on?
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I. Spaceman
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« Reply #7 on: January 04, 2006, 03:42:35 PM »

He did it just recently on his solo tours. It sounds just like the original, except for the voice. He did it at the end of the show, and left the synth howling for a while until someone turned it off.
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Jason
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« Reply #8 on: January 04, 2006, 03:43:24 PM »

I've been meaning to see Bruce live for a long time....if he comes around Philly again, I'll check him out.
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