At a glance
- Artist
- Suicide
- Released
- December 1977
- Label
- Red Star Records
- Catalogue number
- RS 1
- Format
- 12″ Vinyl
- Country
- US
- Tracks
- 7, 31:28
In the issue
The first full documentation of the sound that got called punk before the term meant anything, laying groundwork for everything after.
Suicide's self-titled debut, recorded in 1977, arrived as the first full documentation of a sound the duo had been building since 1970. Martin Rev's droning Farfisa and primitive rhythm box lay down a hypnotic, plodding pulse; Alan Vega howls, sneers, and preaches over the top, channeling rockabilly through something closer to dread. It landed at a moment when synthesizers were still associated with prog bands like Yes and Genesis—Rev has said the duo never set out to be an 'electronic band' in that sense, they simply were what they were, and got called punk years before the term meant anything. Songs like 'Ghost Rider,' 'Che,' and 'Cheree' carried punk's spirit while quietly laying groundwork for post-punk, industrial, synth-pop, electro, and techno. Bruce Springsteen was listening closely enough that Alan Vega mistook 'State Trooper,' off Nebraska, for a forgotten Suicide song of his own.
How it was made
Suicide's 1977 self-titled debut arrived as a complete artistic statement despite its modest six-track construction. Alan Vega and Martin Rev had been performing together since 1970, but this album represented the first definitive documentation of their sound and approach. The production is sparse and deliberately primitive—Rev's synthesizer work uses basic oscillators and primitive drum machines, creating a soundscape that feels dangerous and unfamiliar. Vega's vocals, pushed through heavy distortion and delivered with the intensity of a psychotic preacher, dominate the mix.
The album's essential tracks—'Ghost Rider,' 'Rocket U.S.A.,' 'Kemosabe'—show a band indifferent to rock music's conventional pleasures or commercial viability. Sales were dismal. Most critics couldn't categorize what they were hearing. Within the downtown avant-garde and experimental music communities, though, Suicide's debut became a foundational text. It established that rock instruments could be used to create genuinely disturbing soundscapes. That performance could be confrontation rather than entertainment.
Decades later, as punk and alternative rock historians attempted to understand no wave's emergence, they would return to this album as evidence that the most radical transformation of rock music had been underway since 1970, years before punk rock's initial wave had even created space for such uncompromising work.
Listen
Track list
- A1Ghost Rider2:35
- A2Rocket U.S.A.4:18
- A3Cheree3:49
- A4Johnny2:09
- A5Girl3:22
- B1Frankie Teardrop10:24
- B2Che4:51
The label
Released Suicide's self-titled 1977 debut, the record that established the confrontational template of pulse, drone, and scream that later no wave bands built on.