by Gregor MacKenziePART ONE
The Suicide Commandos / Jay's Longhorn 1977
Sometime in 1977 I went downtown to Jay's Longhorn to see The Suicide Commandos. I believe I read an article about them in the newspaper and they sounded interesting. During the last year or so, my friends and I had been going to the Bronco Bar in Chanhassen (part of the dinner theater complex) where they had live bands on the weekends. I recall one of the popular bands that played there was Prizm, a band from Chicago, that did mainly cover tunes.
Jay's Longhorn had country/western decor and it was very strange that this place would be the location of a rock and roll revolution. And The Commandos were indeed revolutionary, in every aspect, their sound, their songs, their attitude and their appearance. They were the leaders of a new kind of rock and roll, some called it punk rock, and some called it new wave. I prefer to call it rock’n’roll and leave it at that. They were faster, louder and tighter than any local band I had ever heard and they played almost all original songs. The majority of local bands at that time played mainly cover songs, most of which fell into the 70s easy listening style or disco. The Commandos original songs were short and to the point, there was no dead space in them and their topics were usually humorous, even a little bit twisted. Their cover songs were unique. Two of my favorites were She by The Monkees and Bits and Pieces by the Dave Clark Five.
I loved the Commandos right away and started going down to The Longhorn on a weekly basis. Usually The Commando's played Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. Sometimes, they had an opening band and then played two sets, sometimes they played three long sets with no opening act. They had a small, devoted group of followers. I would say they averaged from 100 to 200 people there every time they played. The Commandos had short hair and wore tennis shoes, t-shirts and jeans. (The typical local musicians in the mid-seventies had long hair, big sideburns and quite often beards and or mustaches). The Commandos did not look like rock stars at all and they certainly did not act like rock stars. They were always humble, humorous and polite, always thanking the audience at the end of a song or a set. They had a magical aura about them, it was as if they had made a secret discovery, as if they had concocted this new sound in a garage or basement somewhere and were now set to unleash it on the world. There was a spark of electricity in the air, every time I saw them play. They were very consistent. I never once saw them have a bad night.
I know that I saw them dozens and dozens of times and I never tired of the band. I only wanted to come back again for more. It was strange to wander into the midst of a revolution. It was exhilarating and also a little bit scary. You could sense that things were changing rapidly and exactly where this was all headed, nobody knew for sure. I wanted to be at every one of their gigs, so that I wouldn't miss out on anything, but of course I was not able to do that. (the story continues)
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