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 used 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 their very brief stint as a three-piece including Paul Liebegott. 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." History Rev and Vega met and became friends in 1970. After the former's avant-jazz band broke up, they decided to form a band together. The initial line-up was Vega (a.k.a "Nasty Cut" or "Nasty Punk") on guitar, trumpet, and vocals, Rev (a.k.a "Marty Maniac") playing drums and keyboard and Paul Liebegott (a.k.a Cool P) on guitar. Their first show was June 19, 1970 at the Project of Living Artists in lower Manhattan. They soon began billing themselves as "punk music". Liebegott left at the end of 1971, and they continued as a duo. By that point, Vega was no longer playing any instruments, and began performing only vocals. Rev stopped playing drums and blowing whistle by early 1975. By 1973, they had become part of lower Manhattan's underground music scene, and played shows with the likes of the New York Dolls and the Fast. Their first release was Rocket U.S.A., which was included on the 1976 Max's Kansas City compilation. The following year, they recorded and released their debut album. They played their first overseas shows in 1978, supporting Elvis Costello and the Clash in the UK and Western Europe. They continued to perform sporadically in the following decades, until playing their final shows in 2015. Shows scheduled for the following year were cancelled, due to Vega's declining health and eventual death.