Suicidal Tendencies - Still Cyco After All These Years

When Suicidal Tendencies formed in Venice in 1982, they ravaged southern California with a completely unique brand of visceral street punk rage. The original latino hardcore band, their 1983 self-titled debut was magnificently well-rounded, complete with hilarious, poignant lyrics, excellent song writing, and fantastic musicianship. Mike Muir and the band articulated teenage angst as clearly as anyone before or since, creating a definitive album for the ages. Fast-forward 10 years. It's 1993, and Mike Muir was prevented to reprint copies of Suicidal Tendencies’ debut, as its original label, wasn’t willing to give him rights over the material, so the band re-recorded it as a whole, re-recorded two more songs from Join the Army, slapped in an outtake and released this. Mike Muir's sense of humour is out of this world. The lyrics are full of critique and fine sarcasm. The vocal delivery is absolutely convincing, hardcorish, but not senseless shouting, there are lots of memorable passages here, the songs are full of hooks, also musically and vocally speaking. Lyrically my point is clear, it's sheer brilliance.
The remade songs sound cleaner, more even-tempered, and the guitar solos stick out as slightly more lavish. But what good does that do when you've lost the genuine frustration and anger that inspired the original material? These songs deal almost exclusively with teenage issues. The well-known track, "Institutionalized", satirizes parents who don't listen to their children. When Mike Muir's voice cracked during the original chorus, it fit perfectly within the context of the song. The new version sounds comparatively slick. And, coming from a 28-year-old rock star, it just doesn't seem quite as authentic. Without question, it's great music. But if you want to hear it what makes it so spectacular, be sure to check out their classic debut album.

Suicidal Tendencies - Lights...Camera...Revolution!

Lights...Camera…Revolution! was the fourth album released by Crossover/Thrash band Suicidal Tendencies and shows the band departing from their hardcore punk roots and also shows them further straying away from the “skatepunk” sound in which they helped pioneer in the early 80’s. With their past releases, they had proven themselves to be vital force in the hardcore/crossover scene, but in the early 90’s with the release of L…C…R, they had yet again released another gem, but this time making their transition from crossover to pure thrash complete.

Suicidal Tendencies - Suicidal Tendencies

Suicidal Tendencies are something of an enigma. With the release of their self-titled debut in 1983 they were at the forefront of punk’s burgeoning expansion into sonic abrasion and metallic leanings, along with D.R.I. and S.O.D. in the states and The Exploited and Discharge in the UK. We’ll omit the commercial direction that Suicidal Tendencies took in later years for the sake of brevity. What concerns us here is the overt vulnerability couched within music of nihilism and aggression that just screams Reagan era discontent. I’d hesitate to call this a precursor to metal’s move toward emotional sincerity that gained a foothold in the late 90s, for the simple reason that ‘Suicidal Tendencies’ the album is such a sloppy, honest, urgent articulation of young disaffection that grew out of capitalism’s final form under Reagan. It’s there in the artist’s name after all. There is naivety to the execution here that stands in stark contrast to the slick alt metal of the following decade.
The music displays a greater scope of influences and emotive variety than their contemporaries. There are plenty of high-speed thrash onslaughts, replete with dirt simple atonal riffing, air-raid siren like high-end fretboard murder, and stream-of-conscience lyrics belted forth quicker than conscious absorption will allow. But Suicidal Tendencies are not afraid to indulge their poppy side, working to fully integrate this into the thrash elements, to the point where they present as the most natural thing in the world. Many of the songs drop into a groove or swing breakdown, supplementing the intensity with bluesy whimsy and humour, tempering the emotional barrage of the lyrics.