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Reissued for the first time in vinyl by Tunnel Vision Records!
From '' Ame Triste ''
Label: Not On Label (A Gethsemani Self-released) -- none
Format: Cassette, C60
Country: France
Released: 1987
Tracklist
A1 Real Life
A2 Liverpool Night House
A3 Totenstill
A4 Impressions
A5 De L'Autre Côté Du Miroir
B1 Carroussel
B2 Spasme
B3 Cherree
B4 Cithyse
B5 Mangeneva
B6 Etape Mortelle
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The song was written by Alan Vega and Martin Rev.
Suicide is an American, electronic protopunk musical duo, intermittently active since 1971 and composed of vocalist Alan Vega and Martin Rev on synthesizers and drum machines.
They are an early synthesizer/vocal musical duo.
Never widely popular amongst the general public, Suicide are highly 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 synthpop, 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.\"
In a November 1970 flyer the band was the first ever to use the phrase \"punk music\" to advertise a concert.
History
Suicide took their name from the title of a Ghost Rider comic book titled Satan Suicide, a favorite of Alan Vega.
Rev's simple keyboard riffs, (initially played on a battered Farfisa organ combined with effects units, before changing to a synthesizer), were accompanied by primitive drum machines, providing a pulsing, minimalistic, electronic backdrop for Vega's murmuring and nervy vocals. They were the first band to use the term punk to describe themselves, which they had adopted from an article by Lester Bangs. Some of their earliest posters use the terms \"punk music\" and \"punk music mass\".
Suicide emerged alongside the early glam punk scene in New York City, with a reputation for their confrontational live shows. Many of their early shows were at the Mercer Arts Center, alongside bands like the New York Dolls and Eric Emerson and the Magic Tramps. David Johansen once played harmonica with Suicide in an early show there. Vega and Rev both dressed like arty street thugs, and Vega was notorious for brandishing a length of motorcycle drive chain onstage. Vega once stated \"We started getting booed as soon as we came onstage. Just from the way we looked they started giving us hell already.\"
This sort of audience confrontation was inspired by Vega's witnessing of an Iggy and the Stooges concert in the early '70s, which he later described as \"great art\". After the collapse of the Mercer Arts Center in 1973, Suicide played at Max's Kansas City and CBGB, often sharing the bill with emerging punk bands. Their first album was reissued with bonus material, including \"23 Minutes Over Brussels\", a recording of a Suicide concert that deteriorated into a riot.
Their first album, Suicide (1977), is regarded a classic. One critic writes: \"'Che\", \"Ghost Rider\"—these eerie, sturdy, proto-punk anthems rank among the most visionary, melodic experiments the rock realm has yet produced.\" Of note is the ten-minute \"Frankie Teardrop,\" which tells the story of a poverty-stricken young factory worker, 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 of the late 1970s and early 1980s are regarded as some of the most influential recordings of their time and helped shape the direction of indie rock, industrial music and dance music. Among others, Steve Albini (Shellac, Rapeman, Big Black), Panthére, Gang Gang Dance, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Sisters of Mercy, She Wants Revenge, Henry Rollins, Joy Division/New Order, Soft Cell, Nick Cave, Cassandra Complex, Sigue Sigue Sputnik, Radiohead, Kap Bambino, Spacemen 3, Spiritualized, Michael Gira, MGMT, Sonic Boom, Loop, The Fleshtones (both of whom have recorded cover versions of \"Rocket USA\"), Ric Ocasek of The Cars, Mi Ami, R.E.M. and The Kills have all listed Suicide as an influence. Bruce Springsteen was also influenced by the band, as evident by the song \"State Trooper\" from his album Nebraska. Furthermore, Springsteen also used a solo keyboard version of \"Dream Baby Dream\" to close the concerts on his 2005 Devils & Dust Tour.
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.
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