Suicide
"Compared with Iggy, whatever I was doing as an artist felt insignificant," Alan Vega recalled of seeing the Stooges in 1969. The New York light sculptor soon teamed up with Martin Rev, and by 1970 their posters were already advertising "punk music".
Rev coaxed pulsing, stark riffs from a battered Farfisa organ, later a synthesiser, over primitive drum machines, while Vega murmured and shrieked on top. Their 1977 debut, Suicide, distilled that menace into 'Ghost Rider', 'Che' and the harrowing ten-minute 'Frankie Teardrop'. Onstage the singer brandished a motorcycle chain, audiences booed, and one Brussels gig descended into a riot.
Never widely popular, the duo recorded sporadically through to American Supreme (2002) and played their final concert at the Barbican in 2015; Vega died the following year. Soft Cell, New Order and Depeche Mode all drew on that rockabilly-meets-machine sound, and Bruce Springsteen covered 'Dream Baby Dream'.
If you like Suicide you should check out: Alan Vega, The Stooges, Iggy Pop, The Velvet Underground, Lou Reed, Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, Spacemen 3, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Depeche Mode
