Suicide – Suicide (UK Original) Vinyl rip in 24 Bit/96 Khz + CD-format

Proof that punk was more about attitude than a raw, guitar-driven sound, Suicide's self-titled debut set the duo apart from the rest of the style's self-proclaimed outsiders. Although they barely receive credit, Suicide (singer Alan Vega and keyboardist Martin Rev) is the source point for virtually every synth pop duo that glutted the pop marketplace in the early '80s. Without the trailblazing Rev and Vega, there would have been no Soft Cell, Erasure, Bronski Beat, Yaz, you name 'em, and while many would tell you that that's nothing to crow about, the aforementioned synth-poppers merely appropriated Suicide's keyboards/singer look and none of Rev and Vega's extremely confrontational performance style and love of dissonance.–Allmusic

Frankie Teardrop is a song who tells a story of a young father and poverty-stricken factory worker. He is very depressed about this, and eventually drifts into insanity. One day, Frankie comes home from work, murders his wife and then commits suicide. The narrative then continues to follow him into hell. The music backing this is sparse, featuring just a simple keyboard riff, drum machine, and the vocal line, creating a chilling atmosphere. Singer Alan Vega's "Dark, inhuman screams" add to the claustrophobic nature of the piece.
The track has had many reviews for its unique nature, both in its disturbing nature (Nick Hornby in his book 31 Songs described it as something you would listen to "Only once"), and for its political viewpoint, by Allmusic as "More literally and poetically political than the work of bands who won their radical philosophies on their sleeve". Bruce Springsteen has cited that he loves this song in interviews, and that it was an influence on his album Nebraska. Pitchfork cited it as "[The track that] gets most of the ink" in terms of critical acclaim, and jokingly as "Taxi Driver: The Musical" when citing the album Suicide in their "100 Greatest 70s Albums" list.