The Suicide Commandos were an American punk rock

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 trio

Trio (music)

Trio is generally used in any of the following ways:* A group of three musicians playing the same or different musical instrument.* The performance of a piece of music by three people.* The contrasting section of a piece in ternary form...

 from Minneapolis

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...

, Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

. They formed in 1975 and released two 7" EPs on an indie label in 1976 and 1977 before signing with Blank Records (a subsidiary label of Mercury Records

Mercury Records

Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...

) in 1977. Their first album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

, Make A Record was recorded and released in 1977, and then re-released on CD

Compact Disc

The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

 in 1996. A live album

Live album

A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...

, The Suicide Commandos Commit Suicide Dance Concert was released in 1979, which was their last performance together before the band broke up. Only 1,000 copies were pressed. In 2000 it was re-released on CD by Garage D'Or Records. The original vinyl release contained 19 tracks while the CD re-release increased this figure, bringing the total number of tracks to 32. Despite their short 4-year stint together, the Suicide Commandos were considered the pioneers for jump-starting a punk rock

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 music scene in the Twin Cities

Twin cities

Twin cities are a special case of two cities or urban centres which are founded in close geographic proximity and then grow into each other over time...

, which eventually produced bands like the Suburbs

The Suburbs

The Suburbs were an alternative punk rock/funk/new wave band from Minneapolis, Minnesota popular in the late 1970s through the 1980s. The band frequently headlined at Minneapolis's most influential music clubs including Jay's Longhorn Bar and First Avenue....

, Hüsker Dü

Hüsker Dü

Hüsker Dü was an American rock band formed in Saint Paul, Minnesota in 1979. The band's continual members were guitarist Bob Mould, bassist Greg Norton, and drummer Grant Hart....

, The Replacements and Soul Asylum

Soul Asylum

Soul Asylum is an American alternative rock band that formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1983.The band originally formed in 1981 under the name Loud Fast Rules, with the original line-up consisting of Dan Murphy, Dave Pirner, Karl Mueller and Pat Morley. The latter was replaced by Grant Young in...

.

Their 1977 song "Burn It Down" inspired a short film directed

Film director

A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

 by rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 pioneer Chuck Statler, which featured the burning of a house the band had used for rehearsing for several years.

The band was a headline act at the Minnesota State Fair in 2007; their music was used for a Target

Target Corporation

Target Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...

 commercial in 2004.

Ahl and Osgood were street corner musicians in St. Paul for the 2008 Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 convention.

On January 17, 2009 the Suicide Commandos played a benefit at Nick & Eddie in Minneapolis for Laura Kennedy, bassist and founding member of the NYC no-wave band the Bush Tetras

Bush Tetras

Bush Tetras are an American post-punk band from New York City, popular in the Manhattan club scene in the early 1980s but never achieving much mainstream success. Their music combined funk rhythms and dissonant guitar riffs.-History:...

, who had recently received a liver transplant. David Thomas

David Thomas (musician)

David Lynn Thomas is an American singer, songwriter, and musician.He was one of the founding members of the short-lived protopunkers Rocket From The Tombs , where he went by the name of Crocus Behemoth, and of punk group Pere Ubu . He has also released several solo albums...

 of Pere Ubu

Pere Ubu

Pere Ubu is an experimental rock music group from Cleveland, Ohio.Père Ubu may also refer to:* Ubu, the enigmatic central figure of a series of French plays by Alfred Jarry, including Ubu Roi, and subsequent plays Ubu Cocu and Ubu Enchaîné...

 was guest vocalist.

Members

• Steve Almaas (bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  , vocals) - he later joined Beat Rodeo
  Beat Rodeo
  Beat Rodeo was a country-rock band from New York City during the 1980s. They released at least two albums, Home in the Heart of the Beat and Staying Out Late With Beat Rodeo...
  
  
• Dave Ahl (drum
  Drum
  The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
  
  s, vocals)
• Chris Osgood (guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  , vocals)

Make A Record

Track listing:

1. "Shock Appeal"
2. "Attacking the Beat"
3. "Mosquito Crucifixion"
4. "Mr. Dr."
5. "Semi-Smart"
6. "Call of the Wild"
7. "You Can't"
8. "I Need a Torch"
9. "Kidnapped"
10. "Premature"
11. "I Don't Get It"
12. "Real Cool"
13. "She" (a cover of The Monkees
    The Monkees
    The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...
    
    ' song)
14. "Burn It Down"
15. "Match/Mismatch"

The Commandos Commit Suicide Dance Concert

CD Track Listing:

1. "Shake"
2. "Journey to the Center of the Mind"
3. "My Little Red Book"
4. "Back in the U.S.A.
   Back in the U.S.A.
   "Back in the U.S.A." is a song by Chuck Berry, which was first issued in 1959 as a single a-side and on Berry's 1962 album More Chuck Berry, . The song's lyrics were supposedly written based upon Berry returning to the USA following a trip to Australia and witnessing the living standards of...
   
   "
5. "The American Ruse"
6. "It's My Life"
7. "Seven Deadly Finns"
8. "Fire"
9. "Real Good Time Together"
10. "Bits and Pieces
    Bits and Pieces
    "Bits and Pieces" is a song by 1960s quintet The Dave Clark Five. The single hit number two in the UK and number four in the US. The song was a success in other countries too. It was number two in Australia and number one in Canada and Ireland. It reached number four in the Netherlands. In Germany...
    
    "
11. "Emission Control"
12. "Cliché Ole"
13. "Monster Au Go Go"
14. "You Play Too Hard"
15. "I Think of You"
16. "There Goes Gladys"
17. "Keep Your Hands to Yourself"
18. "Complicated Fun"
19. "Shock Appeal"
20. "Attacking the Beat"
21. "She"
22. "She Said Yeah"
23. "I'll Wait"
24. "Mosquito Crucifixion"
25. "Three Cool Cats"
26. "Wild In the Streets"
27. "Fireball 500"
28. "You Can't"
29. "I Need a Torch"
30. "Burn It Down"
31. "O Carole / Petticoat Junction
    Petticoat Junction
    Petticoat Junction is an American situation comedy produced by Filmways which originally aired on CBS from 1963 to 1970. The series is one of three interrelated shows about rural characters created by Paul Henning; the others are The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres.The setting for the series...
    
     theme"
32. "Born to Be Wild
    Born to Be Wild
    "Born to Be Wild" is a rock song written by Mars Bonfire and made famous by the Canadian-American rock band Steppenwolf. It is often used in popular culture to denote a biker appearance or attitude...
    
    "

The Legendary KQRS Concert 1976

CD Track Listing:

1. "Intro"
2. "Mosquito Crucifixion"
3. "The Silent Treatment"
4. "Commando Rhapsody"
5. "Premature"
6. "Call Of The Wild"
7. "Nervous Breakdown"
8. "Slow Down"
9. "Plastic Bullets"
10. "Emission Control"
11. "Wipe Out"
12. "Cliche Ole"
13. "Monster Au Go-Go"
14. "Action Woman"
15. "Bits And Pieces"
16. "I Fought The Law"
17. "Tent"
18. "Motorbikin'"
19. "Match/Mismatch"
20. "Shock Appeal"
21. "Personality Crisis"
22. "Search And Destroy"
23. "Anarchy In The U.K."

External links

• The Commandos Commit Suicide Dance Concert album digital download