# Punk Rock history:  Alan Vega of the band Suicide just died

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punk-rock-history-alan-vega-of-the-band-suicide-just-died/760205>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [July 18, 2016, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punk-rock-history-alan-vega-of-the-band-suicide-just-died/760205 "2016-07-18T13:10:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punk-rock-history-alan-vega-of-the-band-suicide-just-died/760205/1 "2016-07-18T13:10:31Z")

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News here: [Alan Vega Dead: Suicide Singer Dies at 78 - Variety](http://variety.com/2016/music/news/alan-vega-dead-suicide-1201816050/)

Okay, you may pause here and make jokes about a guy in the band Suicide dying at age 78.

Past that, Suicide were one of the earliest groups on the NY scene to embrace the punk, provocative ethos. They never got very big past the insider scene but were a big influence to a lot of bands and a lot of genres that came after them.

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**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punk-rock-history-alan-vega-of-the-band-suicide-just-died/760205/2 "2016-07-18T15:02:45Z")

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Actually, it was yesterday, but I didn’t have the heart to start a thread about it. 😉

When I young and sitting around a friend’s record store with yet another friend, trying to figure out what the idea behind our next band would be, we came up with the idea of “Industrial Rockabilly”. The friend who owned the record store pulled out Suicide’s first record, put it on, and told us we about 10 years too late. Indeed, we were.

At the synth show I was at yesterday (where I got to see Gil Trythall!), they played Alan Vega/Suicide for the first two hours as a tribute to him.

See ya, Mr. Vega. You did a lot for us, [Ice Drummer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GnLtfDSAYQ) was probably my favorite. Synths rocked more thoroughly and more often after you came on the scene. Thankya, we owe you.