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Suicidal Tendencies

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Suicidal Tendencies
File:SUICIDAL2.jpg
Background information
OriginVenice, California
Years active1982—present
MembersMike Muir
Mike Clark
Dean Pleasants
Ron Brunner, Jr.
Steve Brunner
Past membersMike Dunnigan
Mike Ball
Grant Estes
Jon Nelson
Rocky George
Andrew Evans
Louiche Mayorga
Bob Heathcote
Robert Trujillo
Josh Paul
Sean Dunnigan
Amery Smith
R.J. Herrera
Jimmy DeGrasso
Brooks Wackerman

Suicidal Tendencies are a hardcore punk/thrash metal band, formed in 1982 in Venice, California. Singer and songwriter Mike Muir (a.k.a. "Cyco Miko") has been the only constant member. Sometimes regarded as the progenitors of skate punk, they later incorporated significant heavy metal, thrash metal, and even funk and hip hop elements to create a unique sound that was strictly their own.

Biography

Early career and first hiatus (1982–1984)

File:OGSUICIDAL.jpg
Suicidal Tendencies first line-up (from left): Louiché Mayorga, Mike Muir, Mike Dunnigan, Sean Dunnigan

Suicidal Tendencies were formed in 1982 as a hardcore punk band in Venice, California. The original lineup of the band consisted of Muir, guitarist Michael Dunnigan, bassist Andrew Evans and drummer Sean Dunnigan, Mike's brother. Muir, at the time a student at Santa Monica College, originally only intended Suicidal Tendencies as a "party band" for fun, but as the band grew in notoriety Muir soon found the band at the center of his life. Evans wasn't there for long and was quickly replaced by Louiche Mayorga on bass.

Suicidal had a rough start that included being voted "Worst Band/Biggest Assholes" in Flipside in 1982. Their were many rumors of the band members being involved with gangs (especially the Crips, with Muirs trademark blue bandana as prime evidence) and violence at the bands performances (apparently, a teenage girl was killed at one of their early shows). Even their band name became controversial (although Muir has stated many times that he and the band do not condone suicide). Using the opposition to fuel creativity, they quickly gained a following, performing larger and larger gigs.

They recorded a demo in 1982 and were featured on the Slamulation compilation LP on Mystic Records. The song featured was I Saw Your Mommy, which would later become a classic while featured on their first self-titled album. The Dunnigan brothers quit after these recordings (Mike joined Tony Alva's band The Skoundrelz), though, and were replaced by guitar player Mike Ball and drummer Amery Smith. Mike Ball didn't stay for long and also went to join The Skoundrelz and was replaced by Grant Estes in Suicidal Tendencies.

All this controversy helped the band gain label attention, however, and in 1983 Suicidal signed with the independent label Frontier Records and issued their self-titled debut. It was described by critic Steve Huey as "Fast, furious, and funny... Mike Muir proves himself an articulate lyricist and commentator, delving into subjects like alienation, depression, and nonconformist politics with intelligence and humor."[1]. It contained the song, "Institutionalized", which featured a music video that became one of the first hardcore punk videos to get substantial MTV airplay, and greatly expanded the band's fan base. It was also featured on the Repo Man soundtrack.

The band's rumored gang relations became a problem. In 1983 they were banned from performing in their home city of Los Angeles (they would not play there again until 1991), and Muir was even detained at his home by the U.S. Secret Service, who persuaded him to change the title of the song "I Shot Reagan" to "I Shot The Devil". It also kept them from releasing another full length album for 4 years. Many people began to believe the band had broken up.

First comeback (1985–1989)

By 1984 Estes had fallen out and was replaced by former Neighborhood Watch manager and future The Brood guitar player and singer Jon Nelson and locally infamous drummer R.J. Herrera. Nelson played many shows with the band but never recorded anything with them and was soon replaced by African American metal guitarist Rocky George. Amery Smith left in 1985 and was replaced by locally infamous drummer R.J. Herrera. This new lineup made their recording debut contributing to the Welcome to Venice compilation for Mike Muir's Suicidal Records. The band finally found a new label in Caroline Records in 1987.

With the lineup of Muir, Mayorga, George, and Herrera, the band released their sophomore album, Join The Army in 1987, produced by future Primus mastermind Les Claypool [2]. The album was met with a mixed reaction from long time fans due to its considerably more metal-oriented sound (an element brought to the table by Rocky George), as long time fans were expecting another punk album. Nonetheless, Join The Army spawned classic tracks such as "War Inside My Head" and "Possessed To Skate" (which featured a video, originally intended for an unsuccessful Suicidal movie, which featured Timothy Leary).

Shortly afterwards, the band made some major changes. Rocky George's metal influences (reflected in his Mötorhead-esque songwriting contributions to Join the Army) began in turn influencing Muir, who replaced Kevin Guercio as singer for Mike Clark's speed metal band No Mercy prior to this. First Muir hired No Mercy's guitarist Mike Clark as a rhythm guitarist for Suicidal. Clark helped handle much of the bands' songwriting, and the band went into a new, more thrash oriented musical direction. Then he fired Mayorga, who had been trying to keep the band in punk territory, and replaced him by another metal bassist, Bob Heathcote. Shortly after the band was picked up by Anthrax producer Mark Dodson and signed to the Columbia subsidiary Epic Records. The stylisitc changes and sign to a major label outraged longtime fans, but Suicidal began to pick up more fans from the heavy metal community as well.

The band's first release with Epic was 1988s How Will I Laugh Tomorrow If I Can't Even Smile Today?. The album was almost completely stripped of the bands punk and hardcore roots, instead emphasizing on a thrash oriented sound with much more complex song structures and more emphasis on instrumental skill than the band had ever shown previously. However, the album was considerably more melodic than standard thrash metal, perhaps a "leftover" of the bands punk past. Singles and music videos were released for "Trip At The Brain" and the title track, which were successful and helped expand the bands audience. That same year the band was thanked by country musician Hank Williams Jr. at the 1988 CMA Awards. William's son was apparently a big fan of Suicidal.

With their popularity and media attention obviously increasing, Suicidal released a compilation of two EPs, Controlled By Hatred/Feel Like Shit...Déjà Vu in 1989. With yet another new member (future Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo, credited as Stymee), the album featured two versions of "How Will I Laugh tomorrow " as the video version (the original song cut down for radio/video airplay) and the "heavy emotion" version (a semi-unplugged, more mellow version of the song). All the rest of the songs on the album came from previously released EPs except "Just Another Love Song" and "Feel Like Shit...Deja Vu" (many of the songs were No Mercy or Los Cycos covers). The album also featured the hit "Waking The Dead", which at 7 minutes long was one of the most progressive tracks the band had released to date, which showed the band further distancing themselves from their punk roots.

Controlled By Hatred... eventually went gold, the first of 3 Suicidal albums to do so, but the best was yet to come for the band in the following decade.

Trujillo-era and second hiatus (1990–1997)

In 1990 Suicidal Tendencies released the album that many fans consider to be their masterpiece, and the album that almost single handedly broke them into the rock mainstream, Lights...Camera...Revolution!. This album featured the same lineup as Controlled By Hatred... (with Trujillo now using his real name) and continued to grow musically. The songs were much more complex than on any other Suicidal album, some songs bordering progressive metal, but also showed a new influence courtesy of Trujillo, funk. This made the band's sound increasingly unique and difficult to categorize.

The album was a smash hit. It featured the major Headbanger's Ball and rock radio hit "You Can't Bring Me Down", a thrash epic which challanged the PMRC, as well as the televangelist bashing funk-metal track "Send Me Your Money", and the melodic thrash song "Alone" -- all released as singles and music videos. All three singles were successful (especially "You Can't Bring Me Down"), and helped Lights...Camera...Revolution! also reach gold status, and the band gained a heavy audience in the thrash metal community despite being commonly accused of "selling out" in the hardcore circle. Today Lights... is widely considered to be a thrash classic. The band's 1991 tour with Queensryche, their first show in Los Angeles in years, and their appearance on the Clash of the Titans tour (and, to a lesser extent, Mike Muir's brawl with Dave Mustaine on the aforementioned tour) only helped expand their popularity. (They also took Pantera on their first national tour, where their tour bus was abused by the members of Pantera). They also released the Lights...Camera...Suicidal! home video in 1991.

Muir eventually became very interested in the funk music that Trujillo had bought to the table of Suicidal's influences. As a result, the two formed a funk metal side project in the vein of early Red Hot Chili Peppers and Primus called Infectious Grooves. Also recruiting ex-Janes Addiction drummer Stephen Perkins and Excel guitarist Adam Siegel, Infectious Grooves released their debut, The Plague That Makes Your Booty Move...It's the Infectious Grooves in 1991. This helped expand Suicidal's fan base into an even wider audience that including members of the alternative rock community (funk-metal was a popular alt-metal style at the time).

R.J. Herrera left Suicidal Tendencies in 1991 due to personal differences. The rest of the band continued as an incomplete 4 piece for about a year, drafting now-famous drummer Josh Freese to record their new album which would become Art Of Rebellion, released in 1992. The album was very different than anything Suicidal Tendencies had done before, but it was actually their most melodic, accessible album to date. It lessened the bands thrash influences, instead focusing on a unique, almost alternative metal sort of sound, emphasizing on more funk and progressive rock influences and traditional metal guitars. Although different, the album was greeted warmly by most fans and many critics.

The album was also Suicidal's most commercially successful album. The first single, "Asleep At The Wheel", did moderately well, but was followed by two smash hits. The metal ballad "Nobody Hears" and the crossover hit "I'll Hate You Better", both of which managed to chart on the modern rock radio Billboards. The album debuted on number 52 on the Billboard Top 100 charts (ST's highest charting album ever) has since gone gold, and the band began performing large stadium shows, where they earned a wide reputation as an excellent live act. By the end of the year Suicidal had finally found a permanent replacement for Herrera, ex-White Lion and Y&T drummer Jimmy DeGrasso.

Now at their commercial peak, Suicidal Tendencies released Still Cyco After All These Years in 1993. This album was actually a re-recording of Suicidal's then out-of-print self-titled debut album with 3 additional songs (two re-recorded from Join the Army and the B-side to the "You Can't Bring Me Down" single). It featured singles for the new versions of "Institutionalized" and "I Saw Your Mommy", and managed to do quite well, as did the album. That same year also saw the release of another Infectious Grooves album, Sarsippius' Ark.

However, disturbed by their recent commercial success and fame, and fear that the band was no longer relevant in the underground, Suicidal Tendencies released Suicidal For Life in 1994. The album was designed by the band to be the least accessible album the band had ever released, starting out by having 4 consecutive songs with the word "fuck" in the title, and switiching to a more aggressive style than on their previous studio album. Suicidal For Life was widely considered to be a disappointing album by critics, many of which claimed Muir had dumbed down his lyrical apporach from previous albums, although the band still sounded good. Fans also had a generally mixed reaction, although their reaction was more favorable than critics.

Muir's strategy worked, however. The album did not sell nearly as well as the past 4 Suicidal records (although it did sell decently, on the bands reputation alone) and the only major single, "Love Vs. Loneliness", featured a very disturbing music video that hurt the song's airplay.

Unfortunately it was also around this time the band, whose contract with Epic had expired, began to fall apart, and folded after a tour in 1995, leaving many fans disappointed. Muir and Trujillo continued Infectious Grooves, releasing Groove Family Cyco later that year, but they eventually folded as well, with Trujillo joining Ozzy Osbourne's band (and later Metallica) and Muir performing as Cyco Miko, releasing Lost My Brain Once Again. Rocky George played in 40 Cycle Hum and Cro-Mags after Suicidal's breakup, eventually joining Fishbone. Mike Clark joined a band called Creeper, while Jimmy DeGrasso joined Dave Mustaines side project MD.45, and eventually replaced Nick Menza in Megadeth.

A greatest hits compilation, Prime Cuts was released in 1997, apparently against the band's will.

Second comeback and third hiatus (1998–2002)

To the excitement of many, Suicidal Tendencies returned in 1997. However, Rocky George, Robert Trujillo, and Jimmy DeGrasso were all unable to rejoin as they were busy with other projects. Muir and Clark called in new lead guitarist Dean Pleasants (formerly of Infectious Grooves), new bassist Josh Paul and new drummer Brooks Wackerman (formerly of Bad4Good and Infectious Grooves) to replace them.

The band released their first album of new material in almost half a decade, the Six The Hard Way EP in 1998. Released on Suicidal Records, this EP saw the band switching back to their original hardcore punk and skatepunk style (with songs originally recorded by Cyco Miko covered). This, along with the absence of Rocky George and Robert Trujillo, upset many of the bands "metal" era fans, but fans of the older, more punk ST warmly welcomed the new style.

The band stuck a similar formula for Freedumb, released in 1999. Despite generally bad reviews from critics (who claimed that the band had "dumbed themselves down" not only lyrically, but musically as well), it was considered by fans of the band as their "comeback album", with the title track and "We Are A Family" becoming fan favorites (although no singles from the album were released).

The following year Suicidal Tendencies released Free Your Soul And Save My Mind. Unlike its predecessor, which was more straightforward hardcore, this album saw the band covering most of the styles they had dabbled with in the past. Some songs were punk, but many of them were also thrash-oriented, and this was by far Suicidal's funkiest album yet. Fans and even critics greeted the album warmly, and a new single, "Pop Songs", was released.

They also appeared on the Friends & Family, Vol. 2 compilation in 2001.

After the release of the last two albums, the band remained silent again and Muir released his second solo album, as Cyco Miko, Schizophrenic Born Again in 2001.

Muir's second band Infectious Grooves released their fourth and comeback album Mas Borracho in 2000.

Third comeback and recent history (2003—)

Paul and Wackerman left Suicidal Tendencies when the band remained silent, and have been replaced by the Brunner brothers (Ron on drums and Steve on bass).

There has been a rumor of a new studio album since around 2004, but nothing has surfaced. The band is still in the process of working on it and is slated to be announced in 2007.

In 2006, Muir stated that his second band Infectious Grooves are currently recording their fifth album as their follow-up to 2000's Mas Borracho.

Lineup

Current

Former members

Guitarists

Bassists

Drummers

Session Musicians

Discography

Full-length albums

EPs and Singles

  • Possessed To Skate (1987)
  • Institutionalized (1988)
  • Trip At The Brain (1988)
  • How Will I Laugh Tomorrow (1988)
  • Waking The Dead (1989)
  • How Will I Laugh Tomorrow (Heavy Emotion Version) (1989)
  • You Can't Bring Me Down (1990)
  • Send Me Your Money (1990)
  • Alone (1991)
  • Asleep At The Wheel (1992)
  • Nobody Hears (1992)
  • I'll Hate You Better (1993)
  • Love vs. Lonlieness (1994)
  • Six the Hard Way (1998)

Compilations

See also

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