Suicide

Suicide was an American musical duo composed of vocalist Alan Vega and instrumentalist Martin Rev, intermittently active between 1970 and 2016. The group's pioneering music fused stream-of-conscious, rockabilly-inspired vocals with minimalist electronic instrumentation, including synthesizers and primitive drum machines, and their early performances were confrontational and often ended in violence. They were among the first acts to use the phrase "punk music" in an advertisement for a concert in 1970, during its very brief stint as a three-piece including Paul Liebegott.

Though never widely popular among the general public, Suicide has been recognized as among the most influential acts of its era. The band’s 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."

History

In 1969, Alan Bermowitz became involved with the publicly funded MUSEUM: A Project of Living Artists—an artist-run 24-hour multimedia gallery at 729 Broadway in Manhattan. Producing visual art under the name Alan Suicide, Bermowitz graduated from painting to light sculptures, many of which were constructed from electronic debris. He gained a residency at the OK Harris Gallery in SoHo, where he continued to exhibit until 1975. Barbara Gladstone continued to show his work well into the 1980s.

Later that year, Bermowitz saw the Stooges perform at the New York State Pavilion; an epiphany for Bermowitz. He would later say, "It showed me you didn't have to do static artworks, you could create situations, do something environmental. That's what got me moving more intensely in the direction of doing music. Compared with Iggy, whatever I was doing as an artist felt insignificant."

In 1970, Bermowitz, now referred to as Alan Vega, met Martin "Rev" Reverby through the Art Workers' Coalition. With Rev, Vega began experimenting with electronic music, and formed Suicide, along with guitarist Paul Liebgott. According to a 2002 interview of Alan Vega, the name of the band was inspired by the title of a Ghost Rider comic-book issue titled "Satan Suicide". He further explained, "We were talking about society's suicide, especially American society. New York City was collapsing. The Vietnam War was going on. The name Suicide said it all to us."