Suicide was an American musical duo intermittently active between 1970 and 2016, composed of vocalist Alan Vega and instrumentalist Martin Rev. The group's pioneering music utilized minimalist electronic instrumentation, including synthesizers and primitive drum machines, and their early performances were confrontational and often ended in violence.
Though never widely popular among the general public, Suicide have been recognized as among the most influential acts of their era. Their debut album Suicide (1977) was described by Entertainment Weekly as "a landmark of electronic music," while AllMusic stated that it "provided the blueprints for post-punk, synth pop, and industrial rock." Rolling Stone called them "an unmeasurable influence on the industrial dance, noise, techno, ambient, and electronic scenes of the 1980s and 1990s."
(Read more at Wikipedia.)
Links to Peel[]
In summer 1998, Suicide were among the special lineup of favourite artists selected by Peel to play at the Meltdown arts festival he curated at London’s Southbank Centre. Highlights of the band’s live set were subsequently broadcast on the DJ’s show on BBC Radio One.[1]
Peel had regularly played releases by Suicide on his programs over three decades, although not all listeners initially welcomed his support for the New York duo. On 22 August 1978, before airing “Frankie Teardrop” from their self-titled debut LP, the DJ noted:
“Last time I played this track I got a letter from a collective in Cleethorpes threatening to come down and duff me up if I played it again. Well, I'm playing it again.”
The DJ also gave airtime to Alan Vega’s work outside Suicide, including with the Revolutionary Corps Of Teenage Jesus, although it is known he didn’t care for all of the singer’s solo material.[2] In 2010, four Vega solo albums were among the first 100 LPs by artists beginning with V when initial details of Peel’s record collection were first released online.[3]
Festive Fifty Entries[]
- None
Sessions[]
- None
Live[]
- 08 July 1998: Live performance from Royal Festival Hall for Meltdown '98, recorded 1998-07-04.
- White Man
- Girl
Other Shows Played[]
- 1976
- 16 November 1976: Rocket U.S.A. (v/a album - 1976 Max's Kansas City) Ram
- 05 January 1978: Che (album - Suicide) Red Star RS 1
Suicide - Frankie Teardrop
- 1978
- 19 January 1978: Rocket U.S.A. (LP - Suicide) Red Star
- 02 August 1978: Che (LP - Suicide) Red Star
- 18 August 1978: Johnny (album - Suicide) Bronze
- 22 August 1978: Frankie Teardrop (LP - Suicide) Red Star
- 1979
- 06 December 1979: Dream Baby Dream (7") Island
- 1980
- 10 May 1980 (BFBS): Mr Ray (album - Suicide: Alan Vega · Martin Rev) ZE/Island
- 1984
- 25 January 1984 (BFBS): Cheree (album - Suicide) Red Star RED 800
- 1987
- 26 June 1987 (Radio Bremen): Rocket U.S.A. (album - Suicide) Demon
- 04 August 1987: Cheree (LP - Suicide) Red Star
- 1989
- 02 January 1989: Devastation (LP - A Way Of Life) Chapter 22
- 09 January 1989: Sufferin' In Vain (LP - A Way Of Life) Wax Trax!
- 17 January 1989 (Radio Bremen): Jukebox Baby 96 (album - A Way Of Life) Wax Trax!
- 18 January 1989: Surrender (12") Chapter 22
- 20 January 1989 (BFBS): Sufferin' In Vain (LP-A Way Of Life) Chapter 22
- 01 February 1989: Jukebox Baby 96 (CD - A Way Of Life) Chapter 22
- 08 February 1989: Sufferin' In Vain (LP - A Way Of Life) Chapter 22
- 15 February 1989: Devastation (album - A Way Of Life) Chapter 22
- 1995
- 18 November 1995 (vs Revolutionary Corps Of Teenage Jesus): Frankie Teardrop (12" - Frankie Teardrop EP) Creeping Bent
- 25 November 1995 (BFBS) (vs Revolutionary Corps Of Teenage Jesus): Frankie Teardrop 126 b.p.m. (12"-Frankie Teardrop EP) Creeping Bent)
- 1996
- 17 October 1996 (vs Revolutionary Corps Of Teenage Jesus): Protection Rat (Radio Edit) (12" EP Creeping Bent BENT 011
- 02 November 1996 (vs Revolutionary Corps Of Teenage Jesus): Frankie Teardrop 114 B.P.M. (12" - Frankie Teardrop E.P.) Creeping Bent
- 1998
- 18 February 1998: Ghost Rider (album - Suicide) Blast First
- 12 March 1998: Ghost Rider (CD – Suicide ) Blast First
- 18 March 1998: Cheree (album - Suicide) Blast First
- 01 April 1998: Johnny (album - Suicide) Blast First
- 08 April 1998: Johnny (CD: Suicide) Blast First
- Alan Vega
- 16 February 1983 (BFBS): Love Cry (LP - Alan Vega) PVC (Peel reveals that Sheila does not like the Alan Vega track, which he agrees with.)
- 09 September 1985 (BFBS): Outlaw (album - Collision Drive) Celluloid ILPS 9692
- 18 June 1990: La La Bola (album - Deuce Avenue) Musidisc
- 22 January 1994 (BFBS): Outlaw (album - Collision Drive) Celluloid
- 08 May 1997 (BFBS) (with Revolutionary Corps Of Teenage Jesus): Protection Rat (Compilation CDS - Bentism #1) Creeping Bent
- 04 November 1997 (with Revolutionary Corps Of Teenage Jesus, vs Future Pilot AKA: Meditation Rat (7 inch - Split With Mount Vernon Arts Lab) Creeping Bent
- 18 February 1998 (with Revolutionary Corps Of Teenage Jesus): Who Cares Who Dies (7 inch – Singles Club No 7 ) Creeping Bent
Covered[]
(The list below was compiled only from the Cover Versions page of this site. Please add more information if known.)
Artist | Track | First Known Play
- Angel Corpus-Christi: Dream, Baby, Dream 05 November 1985
- Loop: Rocket USA (session) 19 August 1987
- Sods: Ghost Rider 06 August 1979