#441 - Suicide - Suicide (1977)
MUSIC HISTORY WRITTEN BY HEAD WRITER DJ MORTY COYLE:
Released in December 1977 and produced by Marty That and Craig Leon this is the debut album by the New York minimalist, Electronic-Rock, Synth-Punk, Synth-Pop, No Wave, duo of Alan Vega and Martin Rev.
Vega, the Brooklyn-born Baroch Alan Bermowitz and Rev, the Bronx-born Martin Reverby first met in the late ‘60s.
Vega was a visual artist and sculptor at the downtown New York public arts-funded workshop, the Project of Living Artists and Rev was a veteran of several avant-jazz ensembles.
After Vega saw Iggy Pop and The Stooges in concert in 1969 he was inspired to perform but was scared shitless about being onstage.
However one night while watching Martin Rev playing with his jazz-funk fusion group Alan Vega found himself inching closer to the stage, eventually grabbing a tambourine, and feverishly playing along.
Afterward Rev turned to Vega and said, “We’re going to do something together.”
In 1970 shortly after starting as a trio with a soon to depart guitarist the two restarted from scratch with limited funds and limited venues for exposure.
Martin Rev bought a ten dollar Japanese keyboard and after running it through a bunch of bass and treble boosting processing pedals to jack up the limited volume, it gave them a uniquely huge, musical, noise.
Over that loud, electronic, wall of sound Alan Vega spoke, sang, and screamed improvised lyrics inspired by his ‘50s rocker heroes like Elvis Presley, Eddie Cochran, and Gene Vincent.
The duo started playing shows with early glam and proto-punk bands like the New York Dolls.
Dressing like arty thugs they were immediately polarizing.
According to Vega, ”We started getting booed as soon as we came onstage. Just from the way we looked they started giving us hell already."
By 1975 Martin Rev added a primitive hybrid keyboard/drum machine to his set up that he nicknamed, “The Instrument” and which gave their songs a bit more articulation and shape.
However their loudly chaotic mix of menacing, repetitive, synthesizer throbs, white noise and reverb-drenched whispers and yelping still drove their audiences into fits of violence.
Sometimes Alan even locked the doors to trap their enraged audiences in and further build the tension.
During their confrontational shows they were regularly pelted by bottles, coins, ashtrays, shoes, fists, and once in Glasgow, Scotland they even had an axe thrown at them.
After seven years of that they got signed to independent punk-pioneering record label Red Star Records and put out this debut.
While their recorded songs were easier to hear as well as listen to their unique, experimental sound frequently became known as “No-Wave” due to their rejection of all conventions of popular music.
Unsurprisingly this record didn’t chart at all or sell well.
However the influence from this and further records was monumental to punk, synth, and industrial artists like Nine Inch Nails, Daft Punk, New Order, Depeche Mode, Radiohead, Devo, and even U2 and Bruce Springsteen.
Vega and Rev continued to make music and art for decades after, both together, alone, and with various collaborators.
Sadly on July 16th of 2016 Alan Vega died in his sleep at the age of 78.
His death was announced by punk rock legend and radio host Henry Rollins and he was publicly mourned by the countless musicians who were influenced by him.