Alan VEGA

In 1970, Alan Vega formed the band Suicide with Martin Rev, who played keyboards while he sang. They first became known through their live performances. Many bands and singers from the 1980s and 1990s claimed to be from Suicide, or were inspired by it: Depeche Mode, Radiohead, Daft Punk, Bruce Springsteen, MIA, etc. Then the word “punk” made a timid appearance in the musical world in the 70s. Alan Vega was one of the first to take it up, presenting his concerts as “punk masses.”

Underground
If Suicide would influence several generations of bands, their music was, and remains today, much more punk than that of their descendants. Vega does not hesitate to claim the paternity of the term. They were discovered in France at the Olympia, on June 18, 1978, as the opening act for Elvis Costello. They were booed and disappeared after thirty minutes. Marc Zermati, the boss of the Skydog label, who would become a friend of Vega, was present: “It was difficult to make more punk than Suicide. As Alan told me, 'a successful Suicide concert is when everyone leaves after ten minutes'.”

In 1980, Vega went solo and achieved unexpected success. But only in France with a minimalist rockabilly song, “Jukebox Babe”. His second album, Collision Drive, includes the classic “Viet Vet”. It was recently brilliantly adapted into French by Mendelson under the title “La Dette”, on the album Sciences politiques.

From the 1990s onwards, Vega chose independence and produced a large number of albums. Six of these records have now been reissued by the Digging Diamonds label, from Deuce Avenue (1990) to Station (2007), including New Raceion (1995). Although the general public is not very familiar with him, Alan Vega is admired by many artists who are much more famous than him, such as Bruce Springsteen and Lou Reed.