Performers

Suicide’s Alan Vega: A Punk Pioneer Who Shoved The Streets Back In People’s Faces

The late musician inspired violence and respect in equal measure – from having an axe thrown at his head to influencing Bruce Springsteen and Soft Cell

Desire to provoke … Suicide’s Alan Vega, left, and Martin Rev in 1980. Photograph: Ebet Roberts/Redferns

In 1969, the year before he formed Suicide, a sculptor called Alan Bermowitz went to see the Stooges play live in New York. “Iggy came out and he’s wearing dungarees with holes, with this red bikini underwear with his balls hanging out,” he later remembered. “He went to sing and he just pukes all over, man. He’s running through the audience and shit … He was just wild looking – staring at the crowd and going ‘Fuck you! Fuck you!’… It was one of the greatest shows I ever saw in my life. It changed my life because it made me realise everything I was doing was bullshit…………………