So why is The Suicide Machines’ Destruction By Definition on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
When I think about New York City, I often think about the locations that align with certain times in my life that form what I think of as my New York City.
And one of those very specific locations is the corner of 4th Street and Broadway in downtown Manhattan.
When I lived in NYC, I worked in that area – which is a fantastic area, as aside, with easy access to the East Village, SoHo, Washington Square Park, Union Square, and all kinds of other cool stuff – and that very corner became the spot where I would often meet up with friends (more on this below).
And during this era, there also happened to be a Tower Records* on the corner of Broadway and 4th. I have fond memories of browsing through the compact disc and record racks there, and the really cool thing was that they had a number of listening stations where you could check out new releases.**
* For anyone not aware I: Tower Records shut down in 2006, but according to Wikipedia, it may be on the way back!
** For anyone not aware II: this was way before the days of Spotify and YouTube and SoundCloud, which now allows us to easily browse nearly any music that has ever been recorded.
And so it was that I discovered a band called The Suicide Machines by way of their debut album, Destruction By Definition. While their sound would become slightly more refined and expansive over the years – with some tremendous triumphs to come – all of the incredible components were there from the beginning: aggressive yet melodic punk rock with a thrashy skate punk edge, an outstanding ability to layer in ska rhythms, and most importantly: real skill at consistently putting together tuneful and catchy songs.
“New Girl,” the lead track, is a pretty good proxy that will let you know whether or not you’re into The Suicide Machines. It’s fast and frantic yet tightly controlled at the same time, pivoting deftly back and forth from punk to upbeat ska modes. I also think one of the reasons that elevates this song and this album is the really nice use of organ throughout.
Speaking of “new girls” and going back to that same corner of 4th and Broadway where that Tower Records used to be: with the countdown on for my (and my man Adam’s) move to California, I received a phone call from a young woman with a heavy German accent that I had never met before. Turns out that she was friends with another German gal that we had met during our European travels a year or two earlier.
We met her in Spain, and she invited us to crash at her apartment in East Berlin.* Being young and carefree, I suppose, we – and by “we” I mean Adam, Nirav, and I – took her up on it when we were in Germany, and had a great time with her and her German and Dutch friends in Berlin for several days.
* Yes, my last name is also Berlin. Fun, right?
So this other gal was looking for a place to stay for a while in New York City, and decided to call me, ostensibly a stranger, but a stranger validated as not a completely insane person (perhaps) by our German/Dutch friends abroad.
Where did I meet up with this new girl for the first time? You got it: in front of the Tower Records on 4th and Broadway.
So it was that this gal moved in with me, Adam, and two other roommates at our place in Astoria, Queens for six weeks or so before Adam and I decamped for western climes. Adam was cool with the entire arrangement, my other roommates, well… that’s a story for another day.
Back to Destruction By Definition.
“Hey” is probably my favorite song on the record, with its very Devil’s Night Out-era Mighty Mighty Bosstones vibes. That’s very high praise from me, indeed, and I still love its infectiously relentless pace and hyper-danceable ska punk vibes. The section at the end, where the tempo slows down dramatically, is also really fun.
If I were to pick a single song to represent the sound of The Suicide Machines across their entire career, I could do worse than “Islands.” Which is to say: it’s good!
Destruction By Definition is a remarkably consistent album, which means there are so many other songs I’d love to call out, but I’ll leave things with the outstanding, “S.O.S.”
Some stats & info about The Suicide Machines – Destruction By Definition
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rock Music, Alterative Rock, Punk Rock, Ska Punk, Third Wave Ska Revival, Detroit Bands, Pop Punk
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 4 out of 5 stars
- When was Destruction By Definition released? 1996
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #230 out of 1,000
The Suicide Machines’ Destruction By Definition on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from The Suicide Machines’ Destruction By Definition that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
All my dreams were just islands in the sky.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.