‘Frankie Teardrop’: the “single most intense song” Henry Rollins has ever heard
There are many words to describe Henry Rollins, and one of the most fitting is “intense”. From his raw, aggressive lyrics and delivery in Black Flag to his commanding performances and unwavering passion for music, the hardcore icon remains one of the most ardent figures in the industry. A band that played a pivotal role in shaping his artistic intensity was Suicide, the influential duo formed by Martin Rev and Alan Vega.
Although Suicide produced only five albums between 1970 and 2016, the duo’s discordant electronic music set the stage for a harder, more intense sound. Thematically heavy and musically challenging, their chilling use of synthesisers and drum machines often provoked audiences into a confused rage during their peak in the 1970s. Their shows were notorious for erupting into violence, as the band intentionally courted chaos in their mission to reshape music. This antagonistic approach led to extreme reactions, with Alan Vega carrying a bike chain for protection, cutting his face with a broken bottle on stage, and even having an axe thrown at him by a furious audience member.
The duo was one of the first acts to use the phrase “punk” to describe their antagonistic music in an advert way back in 1970. Fittingly, their craft would come to mirror the dark mire that their native New York was trapped in during the decade, offering up a sort of sonic rendering of the violent waking nightmare of life in the ‘Big Apple’. Their revolutionary sound was far ahead of its time, but their 1977 self-titled debut would go on to be influential on the hardcore movement, industrial and other intense forms that were starting to take shape.
Rollins is in no doubt that Suicide produced some of the most extreme music of all time. Being a typical 16-year-old, he was intrigued by the iconic front cover of 1977’s Suicide due to the band’s bleak name and the blood-spattered image. It wasn’t just the front cover either; the photograph of Rev and Vega on the back was also compelling, with the latter looking like he was staring into the gates of hell.
He picked the record up for just $2.99, and he and his friend, another future hardcore pioneer, Ian MacKaye, took the record back to the latter’s flat. The pair had no idea of what was in store. The former Black Flag frontman remembered it all when speaking to The Sound of Vinyl in 2017 and named the extensive ‘Frankie Teardrop’ as “the single most intense song” he has ever heard.
The punk icon said: “The single most intense song I’ve ever heard in my life is contained on this record, it’s called ‘Frankie Teardrop’, try it. It is easily the most intense song you will ever hear.”
Rollins – infamous for being one of the most in-your-face characters in music when in Black Flag – revealed the pair were so blown away by the song and album that they would spend the rest of the night anxiously making fun of it. It was too intense, and he wouldn’t play it again for weeks. But, when he did come back to it, it quickly became “one of the most important albums of my life.”
Given his own tendency to startle, Rollins would naturally become good friends with Suicide. Throughout the years, their debut’s game-changing essence would never dwindle for him. Such a deep connection clearly confirms just how important the duo were for heavy music’s development, a triumph considering Vega’s Elvis-like crooning and their electronic scores.
