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PART I
Los Angeles, the beginning of the 80' on boiling HC scene a new name appears...
SUICIDAL TENDENCIES. The "suicycos" are four of the Latinoamericans, young and
angry members of the lower class who had never compromise nor capitulate to the
demands of style, whether in music or dress. Based and formed by a few street
smart guys from Venice, which is located in southwest Los Angeles, California,
they were put together by singer Mike Muir, who founded the band for fun in
1982. along with school friends Louiche Mayorga on bass, Grant Estes on guitars
and Amery Smith on drums. They dressed in the style of the area in which they
lived; plaid shirts embellished with the unique hand-painted designs and
graffiti. The main detail was the shirt buttoned up only by the first button,
the one around the neck; so called the "Noose" style. By that time ST has
become a relational element for many people. The one who deserves most of the
credits for recognition of the ST amongst mass of the same aggresive HC bands,
was vocalist Mike Muir, with his strong, robust appearance and emblem kerchief
on his head which became, in some way, his trade-mark. They began as a skater/
punk band and quickly added some metal flavoring, but they were forever being
condemned for not fitting into the popular Punk scene of the time because they
had lead breaks in their songs, and never fitting into the Metal scene because
they were too fast. An amazing and fascinating agglomeration of emotions and a
medley of styles is what you'll find within their music and lyrics. As one of
their fans put it: "To speak of SUICIDAL TENDENCIES without aknowledging their
ability to put the most extreme of thoughts into words would be absurd. Unless
your life is all so "lovely" or you've built solid mind walls to protect those
feelings you can't deal with, you might just relate! Yeah, maybe some of their
lyrics are pugnacious, but sometimes that's the only way to get people to
listen. Every album has it's own unique ambiance and I believe it is especially
important to listen to all of their material before misconstruing their
perspectives."
Hounded many times by the moral majority because of their name, vocalist Mike
Muir has always insisted that they don't condone suicide; in fact the name came
about because of all the crazy things that he used to get up to when he was
younger. And whereas most rock bands pose around on Harleys, these guys took to
skateboards for which the name ST has become synonymous.Despite an inauspicious
start, and being voted "...vorst band and biggest assholes..." in "Flipside"
magazine's 1982. pools, the band produced a hardcore classic in:
"Suicidal Tendencies" was their debut album which saw the light of the day on
the American Lesion Music records in 1983. Just after its release they set out
to tour around America to spread the word with not as much as a promotional
budget behind them, which explains why they came back from it a whole lot
thinner than when they set off. The most they were paid for a show was about
$100 and they invariably ended up playing a lot of gigs for free; on some
occasions this wasn't the plan intended, it just happened. Subsequent to their
arrival back home, they found that the local attitudes had changed towards them
they were getting air play on the radio with their first single off the debut
album "Institutionalised". The album atract attention of the fans as well as
the attention of P.M.R.C. and California police because of their name and image
which were easy targets for them. The rumours are that FBI persuaded the band
to change the name of the song "I Shot Reagan" into "I Shot The Devil". That
song, along with the "Subliminal", "I Saw Your Mommy" and, of course, single
"Institutionalised" became their trade-mark. MTV soon picked up the trail,
giving the video heavy rotation from which it gained a 15 week run and made
the top 28 videos of that year. That video was also featured in the SF movie
"Repro Man" as well as series of "Miami Vice", in which the band made an
appearance performing the track. This first album grew in popularity over the
ensuing months and within the first 3 years of its release, has sold around
150.000 copies.
Prior to this ascendancy, no major record companies wanted to know a band with
such a socially unacceptable name, and beside that, the bands consistently lack
of scurples (often violence on their concerts) resulted with five years long
prohibition of public appearances in Los Angeles. But tables always turn; they
were waiting for two years, until the Virgin owned Caroline label and offered a
deal that gave ST total artistic control over everything. They took it.
"Join The Army" was their second album and first for the Caroline label ended
up being almost three years in the making due to various catastrophes that
occured within the ranks of the band. Guitarist Grant Estes was replaced with
respected guitarist Rocky George, and drummer Amery Smith was replaced by Ralph
J.Herrera. It was finnaly released in 1987. to much critical acclaim. This
album, compared to first one, was enriched with very popular icon of streetlife
of that time : the skateboard. The first single, "Possessed To Skate" was
accompanied by another self-made video about a kid who, along with his friends,
trashes his parents house whilst they are away, turning it into a skateboard
heaven along with the swimming pool. The house used in that video actually
belonged to a friends' parents. The deal was that they fixed it up afterwards.
It was also the most famous song from that period, along with the songs like:
"Join The Army", that become something like anthem of that time, "Two Wrongs
Don't Make A Right (But They Make Me Feel A Whole Lot Better)", the song with
probably longest title ever, "Suicidal Maniac" and "I Feel Your Pain" with
their aggresive and raw lyrics. Along with the new fashion trend (T-shirts,
caps, kerchiefs, etc.) skateboard also marks the new genre of HC : skate-core.
Along with D.R.I., AGNOSTIC FRONT and GANG GREEN, ST became one of the most
expressive spokesman of the new genre.
End Of Part I
Part III
"Still Cyco After All These Years" was their seventh album which once again
proved the bands' artistic abilities. It was released in 1993. for Epic records
with Mike Dodson (again) and Mike Muir as the producers. This album was in fact
re-issue of the first one, "Suicidal Tendencies" with two songs from "Join The
Army" ("War Inside My Head" and "A Little Each Day") and one brand new; "Don't
Give Me Your Nothin'". Critics show it as qualitative stagnation of the band,
but it was very well accepted by fans. All the songs on the album were recorded
again and the sound was real good in all the new covers. Album was filled with
aggresive and speed guitar solos and riffs as well as crushing lyrics from the
original one, and the song "Don't Give Me Your Nothin'" was a real blast (both
lyrical and musical). Skate/thrash/HC orgies of the ST have lost nothing of its
fascination during this decade, so the listener still get goose-pimples all
over while listening to them. This is still one of the best works of the ST
although it's in this faultless and matchless publication.
"Suicidal For Life" was their eight and unfortunately last album. The year of
release was 1994. for Epic records and was produced by Paul Northfield and ST.
Some changes in band were made; drummer Jimmy DeGrasso (ex-WHITE LION/Y&T/ALICE
COOPER) came instead of Josh Freese. The album offers hardest HC/Metal sound
ever made by ST and te lyrics are really nasty. The band returned in fast-paced
and profanity-peppered style, while continuing to extend individual talents to
the full. Seems like the members of the ST were sick of it all and wanted this
album to be their last, so they do some really killing tracks. Like: "Don't
Give A Fuck!" which tells you to take it easy, to be cool in spite of all the
shit that happens, "No Fuck'n Problem", song about having no fuck'n problems at
all or really "cyco" track "Suicyco Muthafucka" with its famous quotation: "I
ain't no muthafucker, never had one, never really wanted one...but that don't
mean your daughter's safe...guess that makes me a daughterfucker...". Who could
have forget numbers like; "Fucked Up Just Right!" with really fucked up lyrics
and outro, then "Depression And Anguish" in which the drummer proved his music
skills, real blast! Or balad "Love Vs. Loneliness" with its beautiful and sad
lyrics. This was probably one of the best (maybe even the best) works of the
band on which they said all the things they wanted to without any scurples. But
one of the coolest things that gives a hint of what's on the album (because the
titles of the tracks weren't printed on back sleeve) is title sticker that
says: Contains Profanity.
Shortly after its release, during their recent U.S. tour, news filtered through
that band were no more as well that they're breaking the band up, and a chapter
in hardcore history slammed shut behind them, but SUICIDAL TENDENCIES were,
are, and will be a pure inexorable energy with a steel edge....so now, pledge
your allegiance, be down for suicidal and start your local loco ST chapter
today. Grow cyco!
During that time, their decision to break up seemed to be definitive, but...as
we all know, a little faith goes a long way. Thanks to a good friend of mine,
Maria Simoneau, who lives in Canada and saw a interview on TV about ST's new
lineup, I began to hope that they'll release something soon. And there it was;
"Prime Cuts" was the release I was waiting and looking forward for and it. It
was released on Epic in 1997. and made like greatest hits album with couple new
songs; "Feeding The Addiction" and "Berserk!". The lineup of the band was again
changed, and this time it was a big change. Real big. Rocky George was in band
no more. He left ST and joined a band called WHITE DEVIL, so he was replaced by
Dean Pleasants (who played guitar in INFECTIOS GROOVES). Josh Paul came instead
of Robert Trujillo (who is currently playing with OZZY OSBOURNE), and Brooks
Wackerman (also from INFECTIOUS GROOVES) came instead drummer Jimmy DeGrasso.
So the only members from the "old" ST who are well known were Mike Muir and
Mike Clark. But, as Mike Muir put it of Suicidal circa '97.; "It doesn't matter
who's left, it matters who's taken their place." And once again Muir was right.
The compilation offered us 15 tracks: 2 completely new tracks and 2 re-recorded
songs; "Possessed To Skate" became "Go Skate! (Possessed To Skate '97.)" and
"Join The Army" became "Join The New Army". The rest of album were 11 "classic"
tracks... And the cover of the album was pretty simple; it featured a hand from
the wrist down and the wrist was slashed with a razor pictured right below it.
The thing was that ST didn't wanted this compilation to be released, because
they wanted to release a full-lenght album, but it seems that Epic wanted to
make a quick buck, so they released it without ST permission. That has resulted
with SUICIDAL TENDENCIES breaking their contract with Epic. So the new ST full
lenght album should be on the way soon.
The End (for now)
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Part II
"How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can't Even Smile Today" was their third
album. That was major label exposure with the first album for Virgin records in
Britain and Epic records in America in the year 1988. By this stage in the game
the muscial approach of the band had improved considerably although some
personnel changes had taken place, in that they had decided to add the rhythm
guitarist in the band. Mike Clark came as the rhythm guitarist and bassist
Louiche Mayorga had been replaced by Bob Heathcote. The influence of the Mike
Clark on this album is obvious, because he did about 70% of the song writing.
The album was produced by Mark Dodson (known for his work with ANTHRAX) who was
credited by many people for enchancing ST's overall sound. This marked the
debut of Mike Clark as the group's sound exploded extending from a baladic
title-track "How Will I Laugh Tomorrow" to the furious and outstanding numbers
such as the first single "Trip At The Brain" and the call to the faithful in
"Pledge Your Allegiance", or superb instumental "Surf And Slam", which brought
them incredible reviews and helped swell their already burgeoning ranks of
followers.
"Controlled By Hatred / Feel Like Shit...Deja-Vu" was their fourth release that
came out in 1989. It was released for Epic and was, in fact, consisted from two
EP's. One was "Controlled By Hatred" which contained four songs; one of them
was "How Will I Laugh Tomorrow", but video-edited. The other was "Feel Like
Shit...Deja-Vu" which contained five songs, and one was the third version of
"How Will I Laugh Tomorrow", but this time it was heavy-emotion version, which
was played with acoustic guitars and sounded really full of emotions. The
changes in band were made, bassist Bob Heathcote was replaced by Stymee, and
album was no longer produced by Mark Dodson, but by Paul Winger and ST. The
sound on this album was really heavy and destructive, the pure HC sound; the
drums are beating HC beats, but unfortuanately vocals and guitar solos can't be
heard too well. The noise of the drums and bass is too loud. The light spots of
this double EP are two before mentioned versions of "How Will I Laugh Tomorrow"
then "Just Another Love Song" with its "girlie" lyrics, or society dangerous
"Controlled By Hatred" and of course "Waking The Dead", which differs from all
the others songs written by ST because of its morbid grave digging stuff.
But as the band's stature increased, so did their problems. Their name and
image were tagrets for P.M.R.C. which blamed them for teenage suicides and
California police which didn't permit their performance because they were
feared that ST were an L.A. gang. Naturally, the outspoken Mike Muir fought
vehemently against these bizarre accusations and such a bad treatment towards
them.
"Lights Camera Revolution" was their fifth album which was released in 1990.
for Epic records. It brings very clear production (again with Mark Dodson),
changes in band again (bassist Stymee was replaced by Robert Trujillo) many of
the video clips on MTV, and, of course, wider popularity. But fans immediately
start to accuse the band for "softening" and "sale", what Mike Muir immediately
deny. Of course that it wasn't really no more real HC, but conjuction of Metal,
Funk, and HC... As the matter of fact, the members of the band were no longer
insisting on definite music style, HC, but on all kinds of music idioms from
their own living enviroment. And their enviroment is L.A. California, the state
with the minority of white population, and don't we forget that the most of the
members of ST are (or were) Latinoamericans. But despite that, the album kept
charachteristics of hard and coherent sound: "Send Me Your Money", that tells
about phony TV saints and preachers, "Alone" and "You Can't Bring Me Down" are
well known hits from that album. With this album ST showed once again a real
rebellion against hypocricism and an invitation to live. As Mike Muir put it in
their video release "Lights Camera Suicidal"; "Suicidal is a way of life, a
speed one, because life is too short and there's a lot of things to enjoy in
this world." By 1991. there was a funk/metal twist thrown into the emotion pool
of SUICIDAL TENDENCIES. There was also funkadelic side band called INFECTIOUS
GROOVES that was put together by Mike Muir and Robert Trujillo. After releasing
the album, it turned out that they were quite direct, and that's why they were
banned from Los Angeles in the end of the 80' as you can see in their clip of
"Can't Bring Me Down".
"The Art Of Rebellion" was their sixth album, released in 1992., after two
years pause, for Epic records. Some changes in personnel were made; Mike Muir
changed his name into "Cyco Miko" Muir, Ralph J. Herrera left the band because
of family reasons, but tha rest of the band accepted it well (no hard feelings)
and instead of him came Josh Freese, but only as the additional musician. There
was also inscription on the album in which members of the band thank Ralph J.
Herrera for eight outstanding years spent with ST. The producer of the album
was Peter Collins and the record brings no qualitative shift in terms of
already proverbial intensity of the band because of the slow and weird songs
like "Nobody Hears", "I Wasn't Meant To Feel This / Asleep At The Wheel" and to
some point "Monopoly On Sorrow" as well. Although it was a more ambitious,
diverse work, and rather more light-weight project then previous albums, it was
just one of the great ST works which confirm them as multi-layered and complex
artists. Any fears that the band were mellowing, were dispelled by furious live
shows.
"F.N.G." was the release that followed in the 1992. It was released by Virgin
Records, which was no longer ST's label, so it's released like greatest hits
collection from first three albums; "Suicidal Tendencies", "Join The Army" and
"How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can't Even Smile Today". Release was compiled
by Harris Greenfield and it was re-mastered by Francis Arkwright. It contains
22 tracks, and one of them is "Suicyco Mania", but this time in instrumental
version, not like on the album, where it, in fact, had lyrics! That is one of
the things that's OK about this release. The other things that are OK are some
of the photos of the band as well as photos on sleeves of album, and cool text
about ST written by Peter Grant (from the Riff Raff magazine). This is the
release I'd reccomend to all the people who want to meet ST for the first time,
and of course to those who are still cyco and want to have this unique piece of
plastic in their possession.
End Of Part II
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