Suicidal Tendencies

Since its inception, thrash has always posed as the social conscience of metal. Whether you view this as a surreptitious way for punk to sneak its demands for a better world into the complex sonic architecture of metal, or as metal welcoming the energy and grounded realism of punk with open arms will really depend on which artist you interrogate. The more abstract and removed modern metal becomes from our plastic lives, the more we will scour the 80s – the throbbing, cosmic womb of metal’s bid for cultural hegemony – for clues and signs as to our future. The colliding styles and traditions that exploded when metal met punk – leading to the bluntly direct “crossover” genre tag – gave rise to new battle grounds on both a sonic and conceptual front. The more heavy metal delved into occult and fantastical realms, the more thrash (and later grindcore) resisted, grounding the music in themes pertinent to the everyday experiences of those living through the last decade of Cold War.

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’s 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.

This is also demonstrative of the musicianship on display here. There’s obvious talent behind the guitar leads which rival many contemporary metal bands for their virtuosity. There’s the tight rhythmic underpinning, with drums able to switch from proto blast-beats to rock solid grooves without (literally) missing a beat. And of course there’s Mike Muir vocals, which switch from full throated shouting (‘I shot Reagan’) to passionate spoken word (‘Institutionalized’) to moments of desperately out of tune singing (‘Subliminal’). Others have tried to imitate this style, but there’s a rawness to this performance that is difficult to replicate. There’s no denying its abrasion, but the underlying messages of political disillusionment, mental health crises, the sense of betrayal at the fact that 1980s America was the best the previous generation could offer the world, all find themselves siphoned through this unmistakable pressure valve of desperation.

Their willingness to dilute hardcore punk’s deliberately self-limiting quest to launch blunt sonic projectiles at a society choking on its own nihilism with playful pop sensibilities would ultimately be their downfall. But on ‘Suicidal Tendencies’, the drive to work in playful musical flourishes, to supplement the relentless ambiguity of atonal power chord barrages with catchy pop riffs and unexpected rhythmic breakdowns, all make this album a worthy blueprint that resonated down the generations, a schematic still revisited to this day. Although the actual significance of this album found its outlet in the garish and maligned groove/funk/nu unholy trinity of fiscally motivated crassness, the line that Suicidal Tendencies managed to walk between pop, punk, and metal has much to teach us today.

This is a direct, sincere, and often discomforting expression of the breadth of human emotion and dispositions, profoundly resonant in its imperfections. A complete warts and all recounting of the human condition as experienced by the American youth in the 80s is bound to have more re-listenability than the tunnel visioned surrender to autocracy

Originally published at Hate Meditations

I've been listening to hardcore music for around 2 years now, and metal for around 4-5 years. I've only recently listened to this around Halloween of 2011, and I regret not checking this album out. This is one of the perfect examples of crossover, combining the fast hardcore verses with slower thrash breakdowns and choruses. The vocals are angry, the drums are fast, and at slower parts groovy/upbeat. Not a song goes by on this album that I feel like skipping.

Some of the songs, like Institutionalized, I Saw Your Mommy, and Subliminal, start with slower thrash parts, and then rev the speed up with the fast hardcore riffs and pounding drums. Mike Muir's lyrics and vocal performance are some of the best in the early crossover/hardcore days. Institutionalized, probably the weakest song on the album, is a song that deals with dealing with life and how it can be so frustrating at times. I Shot the Devil is actually about Reagen, a topic no punk band in the early 80's from the US could avoid. Possessed, my personal favorite on this album, is about being possessed, but I feel its about being seen as metalhead/skater/punk in the non-punk/skater world and being seen as "possessed" by something evil.

If Suicidal Tendencies stayed the way they did with this album, I would say they would have been seen as the forefathers of crossover rather then D.R.I. If you like punk you should listen to this album. If you like metal you should listen to this album. Crossover is a genre that can bring two completely different worlds together. Metal and punk should not be separated as much as it is today, and this is really the album that should join the two outcasts of the music world together in strength.

There are plenty of notable punk albums of 1983. The Exploited released Let's Start a War!... Said Maggie one Day. D.R.I. released the Dirty Rotten LP. Social Distortion released Mommy's Little Monster. But the album that made the biggest impact on the punk scene was probably Suicidal Tendencies' first album. It is full of memorable songs and riffs that will get you listening to this album over and over again. Yes, it really is that good.

The album starts off with "Suicide's an Alternative/You'll Be Sorry" which appears to emphasize on everything that sucks about society. There are plenty of fast tunes on this album such as my personal favorite "Two Sided Politics", the rather noisy "Memories of Tomorrow", "Possessed", and the somewhat humorous "Won't Fall in Love Today". This album also has it's share of slower and mid paced songs as well, such as "Subliminal", "I Want More", "Fascist Pig", the morbid "I Saw Your Mommy" and "Suicidal Failure". "I Shot Reagan" has an interesting story behind it. Apparently the F.B.I. or some stupid government organization forced front man Mike Muir to change the title of the song, it was then renamed "I Shot The Devil". And last but not least this album contains the classic song "Institutionalized" which is pretty much about Mike's personal issues, and it's just a great punk song.

The overall sound is your typical gritty, raw, buzzsaw sound that you would hear on most early 80's hardcore albums. If you listened to this album and you don't know what I mean by gritty then listen to Minor Threat's self titled EP, and the Circle Jerks' Group Sex album and you would hear the same gritty sound in the guitars that you hear here. Mike Muir's vocals are much different on this album than they are on the albums that followed after, this is probably due to his young age. Most of the songs are short, I believe the longest song is "I Saw You Mommy" which is around 5 minutes long.

If you are a punk or metalhead and do not have this album then I suggest that you get it. You can probably find it at your local record store and if not then you can definitely find it online. Don't wait any longer, get it now.

Who would've thought the best hardcore punk album ever would manifest itself from skating gang bangers in Venice, Ca? Odd in every sense yet accurate. Nothing I've listened quite has this blend of entertaining lyrics and addicting melody driven by blasts of ferocious anger. The speed, aggression levels and tempo changes are on par with the thrash acts of the day. Concise shredding solos sprinkled about are also a welcomed surprise that any metal head will enjoy.

The general formula of the album is if a song is over 2:30, it is followed by a 1:00 traditional kick in the mouth style hardcore track. I liken them to short intervals that plague more popular music genes, only these kick ass and aren’t a complete waste of time. The extended tracks are definitely the choice cuts of this piece of raw meat though. "Suicide's an Alternative/You'll be Sorry" has an entertaining melodic break section after a hectic opening pace. “I Saw Your Mommy" is probably the best song ever to listen to while stoned. "Subliminal" has an awesome tempo change to the chorus section that will please punk and metal fan alike. No need to delve into "Institutionalized", we all know and love the shit out of it.


If you don't find amusement in someone bragging to another guy that he saw rats make a nest out of his dead mom’s hair, then this album probably isn't for you. Otherwise, purchase and commence head banging.

Take the sound of Black Flag, add a dash of Minor Threat attitude, and finish it up with dashes of Bad Brains, Anthrax, and Stormtroopers of Death and chances are you’ll end up with this band: Suicidal Tendencies. You could describe this, their first album, as a collection of noisy angst-y hardcore but you’d be missing something. This record just has that special something though it is not solid and established. It may be the dark humor the band shows to have in songs like the cry of insanity, “Institutionalized” and the hopeless yet hilarious “Suicidal Failure” or maybe the obvious fact that its thrash-influenced, but I guess that all depends on the listener.


The overall sound? Well as mentioned before, it has the sound and attitude of most ground-breaking hardcore acts (along with the ‘nothing-special’ vocals that symbolize the hopelessness of a generation) with hints of Anthrax shown in various shredded guitar solos in some songs like “Suicidal Failure” when the bridge kicks in and Grant Estes busts a wicked fast solo. The records tempo is also not monotonous. In one song, the band can go from playing mid-tempo “My War”-era Black Flag influenced punk to playing insanely fast Minor Threat tempo songs.


One could argue that its not the sound that made this album a timeless crossover classic, but rather the attitude. As said before, Suicidal Tendencies manages to express their ‘suicidal tendencies’ and other dark and depressing topics and mix them with comedy in such a way that you are not left with an album made by a bunch of angst-y emo pansies (I mean, how can you look at the cover and not find it the least bit comedic?). The utter genius of this combination can be seen in lyrics of songs like “Institutionalized” (They say they’re gonna fix my pain/alleviate my suffering and my pain/but by the time they fix my head/mentally I’ll be dead), “I Saw Your Mommy…” (I saw your mommy and your mommy’s dead/I saw her lying in a pool of red/I think it’s the greatest thing I’ll ever see/Your dead mommy lying in front of me), and Suicidal Failure (I’m a suicidal failure/I’ve got to get some help/I have suicidal tendencies/But I can’t kill myself). The album also doesn’t stray too far from the political focus of hardcore with songs like “I Shot The Devil” (Originally titled, I Shot Reagan) and “Fascist Pig”.


Sufficed to say, this album is a classic of its time filled with emotion, comedy, and all the ingredients that would give this album an even more developed character than most found in a crossover record. I recommend it to any fan of hardcore, any of its derivative forms, and thrash metal. And if you think this was a great album, you’ve still got more to hear.

Suicidal Tendencies are the people next door that everyone hates but secretly admire the brashness they have to be who they are. That describes Suicidal Tendencies self titled debut album in a nutshell: simple but deep, brash but honest, funny but serious, loud and obnoxious at times, just like those annoying neighbors.

At first glance Suicidal Tendencies self titled release seems almost a pain to listen to. The dissonant guitar shreds in the background, the discordant harmonies, the suicidal, (go figure) satirical, and all over "unwholesome" lyrics make for a one helluva trip. But is that trip a good one? You bet your life on it.

Once the initial shock of how blunt these young guys are is over you start to get the real depth of the lyrics and the music. These guys are speaking for a plethora of disenfranchised, unwanted generation of ignored teens. All the angst and all the hallway drama of a typical teenager’s life is apparent here. From fighting with parents over what is good for them to being a "suicidal failure", it's all here.

The lyrics themselves are a bit depressing and sad at times but other times they provide a helluva good laugh. The song "Suicidal Failure" is perhaps the funniest song about suicide I've heard. In fact Mike (lyricist and singer) takes the dreadfully serious subject of suicide and makes into a painfully clever satire making Mike a modern day Voltaire of sorts (Candide anyone?).

On whole Suicidal Tendencies show a lot of potential too improve on an already impressive showcase of musical prowess. The one thing that keeps this album from being better than it could be is in fact all the suicide on it. Too much of anything is a bad thing. Let's face it, we'd all (well most of us) would rather not hear about someone hanging themselves off a bridge in every song. However this is not enough to make this a bad album by any means. It really only gets tiresome towards the very end and for a band's first album that alone is more than one can ask for.

"All I wanted was a pepsi! Just one pepsi! And you wouldn't give it to me!"

Teenagers are some pissed off motherfuckers. And youthful angst + fast guitars = Suicidal Tendencies' first album. They'd later turn thrash, but on their first album, the sound is pretty much frenzied skate punk along the lines of peers Minor Threat and Black Flag. The production and performance are pretty amateur but they have one thing million dollar producers can't add: fire.

The more noteable songs (I Saw Your Mommy, Institutionalized) are kinda atypical of ST's style... Suicide's An Alternative, I Shot Reagan, and Possessed ... songs like that are fast punk punctuated with random leads. This sets them apart from other bands from their scene. It doesn't hurt that their guitarist is really god damn good. Institutionalized turns into one big solo at the end... badass. Mike Muir is an entertaining frontman, and his half rapped, half sung vocals are what made the band.

"I Want More" has a melodic vocal style that really surprised me when i got this CD.. hints at what was to come on How Will I Laugh Tomorrow... ,etc. Kind of out of place on Metal Archives, but this album rules, and even a metalhead can appreciate good shit (right?)