#498: Suicide - Suicide (1977)

The Abrahams are back at it again with #498: the self-titled debut from the synth-punk duo Suicide. Abraham (Chenzie) and AbraHAM (Guy) brace themselves for a journey into the dark heart of 1977 New York, immediately questioning Rolling Stone's description of the band as "rockabilly" (spoiler: it sounds more like a broken vacuum cleaner than Elvis).

They dive into the duo's unlikely origins, a jazz pianist and a sculptor living in a museum, and how they built a "drum machine" out of junk from a furniture store. The hosts discuss the album's minimalist, "uncomfortable" sound, comparing Alan Vega's vocal performance to a "controlled chaos" art installation rather than traditional singing.

Is "Frankie Teardrop" the most terrifying 10 minutes of music ever recorded? Did Alan Vega really get hugged by The Boss? And why did opening for Elvis Costello cause a literal riot in Brussels? Plus, a surprise recommendation for Patricia Taxxon’s Rainbow Road as a palate cleanser for the madness.

In This Episode

• (00:00:00) - Welcome to The Abraham Records
• (00:01:34) - This Week's Album: #498, Suicide - Suicide
• (00:02:00) - Genre Confusion: Is it Rockabilly, Punk, or just "A Device"?
• (00:06:00) - Producer Craig Leon & The "Indie" Label Context
• (00:07:45) - Peter Hammill’s Nadir’s Big Chance as a Proto-Punk Influence
• (00:10:40) - Band Origins: Visual Art, Light Sculptures, and Living in a Museum
• (00:12:00) - The "Dream Baby Dream" Perfume Commercial (Thanks, Obama?)
• (00:15:00) - The "Drum Machine": Building beats from broken keyboards
• (00:18:25) - Idiosyncratic Production: "Bad" Mixing as an Artistic Choice
• (00:24:14) - Track Attack: "Ghost Rider" (America is Killing Its Youth)
• (00:25:12) - Track Attack: "Frankie Teardrop" (The "Turn Down The Volume" Warning)
• (00:28:00) - 23 Minutes in Brussels: The Elvis Costello Riot & The "Booing" Album
• (00:36:42) - The Final Verdict: An Important Album, but is it a Good Album?
• (00:41:10) - A Surprise Recommendation: Patricia Taxxon - Rainbow Road

About The Abraham Records

Welcome to The Abraham Records, where we cover the 500 “greatest” albums of all time according to Rolling Stone Magazine, but certainly not according to us.

Join us on an odyssey of discovery to determine which albums are truly great and which ones will hurt your face.

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