Album: Suicide
Artist: Suicide
Release Date: December 28, 1977
Genre: Electronic Punk
Length: 0:32:07
Label: Red Star Records
Producer: Craig Leon/Marty Thau
Rolling Stone Top 500 (2012): #498
Rolling Stone Top 500 (2020): #441
1,001 Album Book: Yes
All annoying sounds put into a cake pan, baked at 500°, slapped onto your plate like the middle school lunch lady and forced to gag it down...
Popular in the UK but not in the US, Suicide is the debut album by the band, Suicide. Mixing early punk sounds with electronic music, this album eventually went on to influence many genres and artists after the release.
Suicide opens up with a barebones rock beat with consistent beat pounding kick drum, an electrical sounding distorted guitar, a muffled melodic bass all with the metalized sound emitting from the vocals, "Ghost Rider" is surely a unique song. Combining effects on the vocals after some phrases and the sound of crunchiness the instruments make, this song doesn't focus so much on the lyrics rather than an intense feeling of dread within your heart that evokes new emotions out of the listener.
The second song, "Rocket USA", features more of the same from the first track. A timid vocal sound, enhanced by production effects, this song heavily relies on its intensity from the bass and drums. The constant driving force behind the instruments is needed for a while but it eventually starts to become too intense. The dependable sound of the guitar, constantly buzzing in the background would typically be annoying for most songs but somehow the electrical sound this album brings is needed and serves its purposes to the fullest.
"Cheree" brings forth a slightly different sound from Suicide but even then it sounds exactly the same as the last ones. Technically a ballad, "Cheree" has extremely basic lyrics with a wall of noise throughout. There are some interesting sounding distorted organs which aren't found commonly, but overall thematic are similar. The song rarely changes, and when it does it may be a slight addition of an instrument that continues throughout the rest of the track.
The lyrics throughout the album are far from complex. This does serve the band's purposes very well but the simplicity is laughable at times, especially in the song "Johnny" and "Girl". The latter of the two, adopting another semi-new sound but still keeping the very same repetitive beat, and headspace of noise. "Girl" does add interesting synthetic drum beats, but with the notorious constant sound of the hi-hat chipping away. There is a section at various times throughout with a clean organ sound that provides a changeup of the otherwise dreary repetition.
The musical peak in many albums that have long songs (meaning any song that is 4+ minutes) is typically the longest song, which usually contain the most creative ideas, the most interesting sounds for the listener to enjoy, and the most complex patterns, rhythmically and melodically. Suicide takes that typical idea, looks at it, and throws it in the trash and decides to do what they want. Unfortunately for them, it results in the song "Frankie Teardrop", a nearly ten and a half minute song that features nothing new except for an occasional pterodactyl screech, ominous noise, random guitar notes and lyrics that actually tell a story. The song fills your mind with constant nails-on-a-chalkboard type of sound. An unsettling noise throughout the entirety, the song hurts to listen to, and offers nothing creative that they didn't do in the previous songs except for the prehistoric screeches.
The album sounds no different from each song to the next: the constant drone of the drums, consistently banging away at your head, the drill-like sound of the "hi-hat" (if you can even call it that), the obnoxious vocal performance, and the boring lyrics make this album something I would not recommend to anyone, unless you are building a haunted house and need some frightening warehouse music, then in that case I cannot recommend it enough. Be prepared to get no patrons in your haunted house though because once they hear Suicide, they will quickly exit stage left...
Favorite Songs: "Ghost Rider"
Least Favorite Song: "Frankie Teardrop", "Johnny", "Girl"
Production Quality:
Mix = 2.5/10
Innovation = 7.5/10
Songwriting Quality:
Arrangement = 0/10 (Nothing new throughout, just the same constant noise)
Lyricism = 1.5/10 (Elementary lyrics with no change throughout)
Instrumentation Quality:
Vocal Timbre = 7/10 (Decent sounding vocals sometimes with some horrid additions, like the screeches in "Frankie Teardrop")
Instrumental Timbre = 5/10 (Overall decent sounding instruments but the overarching noise ruins them)
Group Chemistry = 5/10
Overall Likability:
My Personal Rating = 1.5/10
Overall Rating: 3.4/10
Any confusion on how the rating is weighted/calculated, please look at my "About" page.
Remember this is all my opinion! Let me know if you agree, disagree or have any comments!