Bruce Springsteen and Suicide

I just picked up a vinyl copy of Bruce Springsteen's classic 1982 album Nebraska, consisting entirely of tracks that he recorded as demos but decided to release them as-is. My favorite song is "State Trooper" and after all these years, I only found out today that it was influenced by the song "Frankie Teardrop" by the pioneering proto-punk/performance art/electronic duo Suicide, available on their self-titled 1977 album. I had missed that the Boss was apparently a huge fan of Suicide's Alan Vega and Martin Rev. Indeed, back in 2008 he released a live version of Suicide's classic "Dream Baby Dream" for a Suicide tribute EP. The recording includes Springsteen's dedication to Alan Vega who was in the audience that night. Small world.

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1136839800 Chuck VanWinkle

Springstein??? Mazel Tov to the Boss!!
- David Pescovitz
  
  Er… I was trying to claim him as a Jew.
lilinski

Bruce Springstein ?!? Damn, beaten to the bush by a minute.
Navin_Johnson

I remember hearing about this for the first time years ago too. Mind blown. Especially considering I loved both records/artists.
Radiodiffusion Internasionaal

I just finished reading Will Hermes’ “Love Goes to Buildings on Fire: Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever”. In it, he talks about how Springsteen would hang out at CGBGs with Patti Smith. He supposedly was a big fan of Suicide.
- David Pescovitz
  
  Wow, that book sounds up my alley!! Thanks!
- RadioSilence
  
  Added to my to-buy list, thanks.
Teller

Steve Earle also does a pretty badass version of State Trooper.
- sdmikev
  
  Indeed.
  Also, Nebraska is pretty much his best work, right along side Darkness on the Edge of Town. Two of the best records ever, and from one dude. Not bad..
- valiant66
  
  So do the Cowboy Junkies on their possibly-best-album-name-ever first release: “Whites Off Earth Now.” That version still makes the hairs on my arms stand up.
http://www.facebook.com/aachrisg Chris Green

This is a pretty cool cover as well
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kY_zYZyCCA
franko

this is the album that made me love and respect bruce springsteen. such a haunting, brilliant album… still my favorite of his.
Pope Ratzo

I saw Suicide play in a small Chicago club back in 1978. There was nothing else like them at the time. The only time I ever feel something like I felt during that show is when I have a very high fever. In a good way.

I had an old Serge suitcase synth at the time, and a little Korg MS-20. I ran out and bought a drum box and spent the next three years playing in joints trying to get that kind of feeling. It never really went anywhere, but I got to open for Bauhaus on New Year’s Eve and for Magazine at a place called Gaspars (which is now a sports bar, I think).

Damn, the Suicide really brought it all back.
- David Pescovitz
  
  Wow, that’s fantastic! Thanks for sharing that story.
- Abelard Lindsay
  
  Yes, great story! What name did you perform under? And what happened to the Serge!?
  
  Only band I remember seeing at Gaspar’s was Barbie Army. Good show, but no Magazine.
  - Pope Ratzo
    
    Still have the Serge. Still works & still in use. Filters so resonant it’ll rip your head off. No keyboard, just patch cords and little knobs. No memory. I made up special sheet diagrams so I could remember settings. Used to take minutes for me to switch from song to song, so I came up with long intros.
Chesterfield

You might want to follow your own link and pick up a copy on CD. Vinyl is nice if you are into artifacts, but the CD version is better.
- David Pescovitz
  
  Sure, but the record was only $3. And y’know, as a matter of fact I am into artifacts.
- petsounds
  
  You do realize Nebraska was recorded on a cassette 4-track? The magic of CD is not going to make that tape sound any better. The vinyl sounds great.
Pope Ratzo

One other thing. In ’77 or ’78, Suicide was on network television on a Saturday night show called “Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert”. I’d never heard of them. I was just a kid and it blew my mind.
http://www.facebook.com/fred.talmadge.1 Fred Talmadge

An interesting cover of that album is “Badlands” State Trooper is sung by Deana Carter. I especially like Hank Williams III version of Atlantic City.
http://www.spellingmistakescostlives.com darrrrrrn

You might be interested in my band’s cover of Ghost Rider. I emailed Martin Rev about the ins and outs of releasing a cover of his band & was surprised to find he wrote back like a normal person. Not sure what I’d expected.

http://soundcloud.com/ageofconsent/ghost-rider-suicide-cover
http://profiles.google.com/jakesulli Jake Sullivan

Tangent – State Trooper was the inspiration for The Indian Runner, a film by Sean Penn.
- http://twitter.com/MagikRat K Manos
  
  Jake, that was actually Highway Patrolman :)
orangedesperado

Springsteen also covers Suicide’s “Dream Baby Dream” using a harmonium. I don’t know if it is on any albums but there is are several live concert clips of this on YouTube.

On the same touched-by-Suicide topic, have a listen to the Cars “ShooBe Doo” from Candy-O:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhSui7Qa6gQ

Suicide was definitely exerting some influence !
- http://www.gyrofrog.com/ Gyrofrog
  
  (Maybe you knew this; though I didn’t know about “Shoo Be Doo”)
  Ric Ocasek was a Suicide fan and produced their second album, along with Vega’s solo albums. Didn’t Suicide open for The Cars during one tour?
Alex Carlson

Great article, David. I had no idea of the connection either, and now I’ve gone way down the rabbit hole. (And I think it’s about time to start screwing around with my Portastudio again!)
chadmulligan

Not many people notice, but I’d bet cash money that “Frankie Teardrop” takes quite a bit from Dylan’s “Ballad of Hollis Brown.” I am a No Wave junkie and Suicide is one of my fave bands but hearing is believing….