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Suicidal Tendencies

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Suicidal Tendencies is an American hardcore punk and crossover thrash band, founded in 1980 in Venice, Los Angeles, by the singer Mike Muir. Muir is the only member who has always been part of it. At first he saw the group as a party band, but it soon became the centre of his life. The early years were bumpy: in 1982 the magazine Flipside chose them as the worst band, and a year later as the best new band.

Music and breakthrough

The debut album Suicidal Tendencies from 1983 brought the single Institutionalized, one of the first hardcore punk videos to get heavy play on MTV. Join the Army from 1987 was the first album on the Billboard 200 and showed a heavier sound that helped to shape crossover thrash. At Epic Records came How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can't Even Smile Today, Controlled by Hatred/Feel Like Shit... Déjà Vu and Lights... Camera... Revolution!, the last two gold. The Art of Rebellion from 1992 was their greatest success, with Asleep at the Wheel, Nobody Hears and I'll Hate You Better. In those years the band broadened its sound, from thrash metal to progressive music and funk. Still Cyco After All These Years and Suicidal for Life followed.

Influence

In 1995 the group stopped, but Muir re-formed it a year later with Mike Clark. Albums followed such as Freedumb and Free Your Soul and Save My Mind, and later 13 from 2013 and World Gone Mad from 2016. Together with D.R.I., Corrosion of Conformity and Stormtroopers of Death, Suicidal Tendencies is regarded as one of the fathers of crossover thrash. Musicians who played in it include the bass players Robert Trujillo and Stephen Thundercat Bruner.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Institutionalized. Notice how Muir tells the story as the monologue of a discontented teenager, over a tight, fast accompaniment that keeps getting harder.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

See also

Categories: Artists