Happy Birthday to and remembering Alan Vega (June 23, 1938 - July 16, 2016) R.I.P. 🖤🥀💔 @officialalanvega Born Boruch Alan Bermowitz in Brooklyn, although he was best known as the front half of the legendary electronic proto-punk/synth punk duo band Suicide who incidentally were among the first bands to use the phrase “punk music”, he was also a prolific poet, visual artist, painter and light sculptor constructing pieces out of electronic debris. Aside from Alan Vega’s menacing and growling vocals, Suicide was assaulting ears with Martin Rev’s piercing battered Farfisa organ (initially, which was replaced shortly after with synthesizers) and primitive drum machines. His early inspirations and enthusiasms were Elvis Presley and Roy Orbison which can be heard in his singing style as well as Marvel Comics’ Ghost Rider series. His menacing, volatile and confrontational stage presence and antics can be traced back to being highly influenced by Iggy Pop after witnessing The Stooges at the New York State Pavilion in 1969 who left him in awe with an epiphany. “It changed his perspective totally,” Mr. Rev recalled in a phone interview. “He said to himself he could no longer be an artist unless he performed. That was the transition.” His musical contributions especially the debut self titled Suicide album in 1977 have been indelible and and impacted various genres which inspired and influenced many notable artists namely, The Sisters of Mercy, Sigue Sigue Sputnik, Nine Inch Nails, Ministry, Björk, Daft Punk, Depeche Mode, O.M.D., Spacemen 3, The Vacant Lots, D.A.F., Nitzer Ebb, Bauhaus, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Soft Cell, Nick Cave, Joy Division, Devo, Dead Kennedys, Henry Rollins, Thurston Moore, Ric Ocasek, Bruce Springsteen to name a few as the list goes on… ⚡️🧷🎹🔪⚡️ 🏴☠️ 🏴☠️ 🏴☠️ #AlanVega #BoruchAlanBermowitz #SuicideBand #SynthPunk #ElectroPunk #ProtoPunk #TheSisterhood #Pioneer #GroundBreaking #AvantGarde (at Brooklyn, New York City) https://www.instagram.com/p/CByWrIVB6dA/?igshid=h1f29au4s7g7
