Suicide

Two men and a Farfisa

Alan Vega, born Alan Bermowitz on June 23, 1938 and raised in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, graduated from Brooklyn College in 1960 in physics and fine art, and worked as a visual artist and sculptor. In 1969 he joined the MUSEUM gallery at 729 Broadway as Alan Suicide, and saw the Stooges that year. In 1970 he met Martin Rev, born Martin Reverby on December 18, 1947 in Brooklyn, who had studied with the jazz pianist Lennie Tristano, through the Art Workers' Coalition. The name came from a Ghost Rider comic issue. They played their first show on June 19, 1970 at the Project of Living Artists in lower Manhattan and were among the first to call their music punk music on flyers, playing the Mercer Arts Center, Max's Kansas City and CBGB, where they were later banned. Rev played a battered Farfisa organ with effects, later synthesizer, over primitive drum machines, and Vega's vocals were rockabilly-inspired; they cited Elvis Presley, Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, Lou Reed, Captain Beefheart and Silver Apples.

"Rocket U.S.A." on the Max's Kansas City compilation (1976) was their first release. Suicide (December 28, 1977, Red Star) was recorded in four days at Ultima Sound Studios in Blauvelt, New York, produced by Craig Leon and Marty Thau, with Leon using an Eventide delay for the vocal echo; it did not chart. Its tracks include "Ghost Rider", "Cheree" and the ten-minute "Frankie Teardrop", which Vega changed during mixing. Bruce Springsteen said "State Trooper" on Nebraska was heavily influenced by "Frankie Teardrop" and Henry Rollins called it the single most intense song he'd ever heard. Pitchfork gave a 2016 reissue 9.1. In 1978 they went overseas, supporting Elvis Costello and the Clash, a Brussels show turned into a riot and the tape became 23 Minutes Over Brussels, and after Edinburgh, when the crowd danced, Vega said I became an entertainer that night. Michael Zilkha of ZE Records asked to sign them after a tour opening for the Cars.

The second album, Suicide: Alan Vega and Martin Rev (May 1980, ZE), was recorded in January 1980 at the Power Station with Ric Ocasek of the Cars producing, reportedly unpaid, and Zilkha had first wanted Giorgio Moroder. Ocasek gave Rev new equipment, and Springsteen was recording next door and visited. AllMusic gave 4.5 of 5. Half Alive (ROIR, 1981), A Way of Life (1988, Ocasek producing, sessions in December 1987 at Electric Ladyland), Why Be Blue (1992), Zero Hour (1997), the 22/1/98 Reinventing America EP and American Supreme (2002), their last studio album, followed. In September 2009 they played the debut in full at ATP's Don't Look Back and in May 2010 at two London shows alongside Iggy and the Stooges. Their final concert was A Punk Mass at the Barbican on July 9, 2015, with Henry Rollins, Bobby Gillespie and Jehnny Beth as guests. Vega died on July 16, 2016, aged 78.

Radiohead, U2, New Order, Depeche Mode, Daft Punk and Aphex Twin are among those who have cited them, per Wikipedia. M.I.A.'s "Born Free" (2010) samples "Ghost Rider". Kris Needs wrote Dream Baby Dream: Suicide, A New York Story, and Laura Davis-Chanin and Liz Lamere wrote Infinite Dreams: The Life of Alan Vega (2024).