This weekend Alan Vega, frontman and one half of the pioneering proto-punk duo Suicide, died peacefully in his sleep at 78. The news was first announced by Henry Rollins, who shared a statement from Vega’s family via his website. “Alan’s life is a lesson of what it is to truly live for art,” it read. “The work, the incredible amount of time required, the courage to keep seeing it and the strength to bring it forth—this was Alan Vega.”
Vega formed Suicide with his friend Martin Reverby shortly after seeing Iggy and the Stooges perform at the New York State Pavilion in 1969, naming the group after a Ghost Rider comic book issue called Satan Suicide. Featuring Vega’s vocals over Reverby’s minimal synths and drum machines, the pair developed a sound that went on to influence everyone from Aphex Twin to M.I.A. to Bruce Springsteen. Savages and Arcade Fire have both covered the band’s “Dream Baby Dream” live in the past, and now, in honor of Vega’s passing, Win Butler has shared a new cover of the song under the guise of his DJ Windows 98 moniker.
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Listen to the cover and the original below.
