Bruce Springsteen’s favourite Suicide song: “One of the most amazing records I’ve ever heard”
The 1970s was a pivotal time for Bruce Springsteen, who quickly rose to become one of the most popular American musicians of the era. While his first two albums, 1972’s Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. and 1973’s The Wild, the Innocent & The E Street Shuffle, gained little commercial success, Springsteen persevered and soon came to dominate the rest of the decade.
With 1975’s Born to Run, Springsteen hit number three on the Billboard 200 charts, scoring hits with the titular track ‘Thunder Road’. Since then, Springsteen’s success has only continued into the present day, although he reached his peak in the 1980s with Born in the U.S.A., which has sold over 17 million copies in the United States alone.
Springsteen, who pioneered a style known as heartland rock, is one of America’s most influential artists. However, he cites many different musicians as sources of inspiration, setting him on his musical path. While many of his heroes are to be expected, such as The Beatles, Bob Dylan and Roy Orbison, he also values some artists you might not initially associate with Springsteen’s sound.
The musician was a deep admirer of Alan Vega and his band Suicide, which he formed with Martin Rev. The pair were a vital part of New York’s underground scene, becoming early advocates of electronic music, significantly aiding its development. Their 1977 debut record, Suicide, contained songs that sound undoubtedly ahead of their time, such as ‘Ghost Rider’, ‘Cheree’ and ‘Frankie Teardrop’.
The latter left a lasting impact on Springsteen, who called the song “one of the most amazing songs I ever heard” during an interview with Rolling Stone. He continued: “That’s one of the most amazing records I think I ever heard. I really love that record.” ‘Frankie Teardrop’ is notorious for its haunting quality, with Vega building up a story of murder and suicide before erupting into maniacal, spine-tingling screams.
The song is disturbing yet undoubtedly iconic, with Lou Reed even stating that he wished he had written it. For Springsteen, the song was a significant influence on his album Nebraska, which follows characters akin to Frankie Teardrop. The album opens with the titular track, which tells the tale of the real-life murderous couple Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate, whose story became source material for movies such as Badlands and Natural Born Killers. Evidently, Springsteen was inspired by Vega’s descent into human madness and violence, resulting in one of his most highly acclaimed works.
Upon Vega’s passing in 2016, Springsteen shared a statement expressing his admiration for the musician, calling him “one of the great revolutionary voices in rock and roll.”
He added: “The bravery and passion he showed throughout his career was deeply influential to me. I was lucky enough to get to know Alan slightly and he was always a generous and sweet spirit. The blunt force power of his greatest music both with Suicide and on his solo records can still shock and inspire today. There was simply no one else remotely like him.”
