"Ghost Rider" is a song by the

protopunk Proto-punk (or protopunk) is rock music played mostly by garage bands from the 1960s to mid-1970s that foreshadowed the punk rock movement. The phrase is a retrospective label; the musicians involved were generally not originally associated wi ...

band Suicide appearing on their debut album. The song is based on the

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

Cover versions

* 1979: Danish punk band Sods (later Sort Sol), covered the song on their debut album, '' Minutes to Go''. * 1981: Suicide's lead vocalist Alan Vega re-recorded the song for his second solo album, '' Collision Drive''. *1983:

Soft Cell Soft Cell are an English synthpop duo who came to prominence in the early 1980s. The duo consists of vocalist Marc Almond and instrumentalist David Ball. The band are primarily known for their 1981 hit version of "Tainted Love" and their pla ...

(

Marc Almond Peter Mark Sinclair "Marc" Almond, (born 9 July 1957) is an English singer. Almond first began performing and recording in the synthpop/ new wave duo Soft Cell where he became known for his distinctive soulful voice and androgynous image. ...

& Dave Ball) perform Ghost Rider live at various shows featuring guest vocalist Clint Ruin (aka

JG Thirlwell James George Thirlwell (born 29 January 1960), also known as Clint Ruin, Frank Want, and Foetus, among other names, is an Australian musician, composer, and record producer. He is known for juxtaposing a variety of different musical styles. ...

, including a performance for UK television programme '' The Tube'' which also features

Gary Barnacle Gary Barnacle (born 1959 in Dover, England) is an English saxophonist, flautist, brass instrument arranger, composer, and producer. Barnacle is primarily noted for his session work and live work, including various Prince's Trust concerts a ...

on saxophone. * 1987: American musician

Henry Rollins Henry Lawrence Garfield (born February 13, 1961), known professionally as Henry Rollins, is an American singer, writer, spoken word artist, actor, and presenter. After performing in the short-lived hardcore punk band State of Alert in 1980, Roll ...

, formerly of the

hardcore Hardcore, hard core or hard-core may refer to: Arts and media Film * ''Hardcore'' (1977 film), a British comedy film * ''Hardcore'' (1979 film), an American crime drama film starring George C Scott * ''Hardcore'' (2001 film), a British documen ...

group Black Flag, recorded the song for his debut album, '' Hot Animal Machine''. * 1987:

Electronic rock Electronic rock is a music genre that involves a combination of rock music and electronic music, featuring instruments typically found within both genres. It originates from the late 1960s, when rock bands began incorporating electronic instrum ...

group The Cassandra Complex performs Ghost Rider live and it appears on their live album Feel the Width. * 1988: Alternative rock band

R.E.M. R.E.M. was an American rock band from Athens, Georgia, formed in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the first alternati ...

released a cover of the song on the B-side to their 1988 single "

Orange Crush Crush is a brand of carbonated soft drinks owned and marketed internationally by Keurig Dr Pepper, originally created as an orange soda, Orange Crush. Crush competes with Coca-Cola's Fanta. It was created in 1911 by beverage and extract chemi ...

". It later appeared on the band's 1993 compilation album '' The Automatic Box''. * 1990: Detroit garage rock band

The Gories The Gories are an American garage rock trio that formed in Detroit, Michigan, United States, in 1986. They were among the first 1980s garage rock bands to incorporate overt blues influences. The band features Mick Collins (of The Dirtbombs), Dan ...

included the song on their second album. * 1994: Henry Rollins also re-recorded the song with the Rollins Band for the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack ...

to the film '' The Crow''. * 2008: Industrial rock band

The Young Gods The Young Gods are a Swiss industrial rock band from Fribourg, formed in 1985. The original lineup of the band featured singer Franz Treichler, sampler player Cesare Pizzi and drummer Frank Bagnoud. For most of their history, the band mainta ...

did a cover version of the song on their album '' Knock on Wood''. * 2010: British rapper M.I.A. sampled the song on "

Born Free ''Born Free'' is a 1966 British drama film starring the real-life couple Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers as Joy and George Adamson, another real-life couple who raised Elsa the Lioness, an orphaned lion cub, to adulthood, and released her in ...

". * 2010:

Gavin Friday Gavin Friday (born Fionán Martin Hanvey, 8 October 1959) is an Irish singer and songwriter, composer, actor and painter, best known as a founding member of the post-punk group The Virgin Prunes. Early life Friday was born in Dublin and attend ...

and David Ball covered the song for the ''

Alan Vega 70th Birthday Limited Edition EP Series ''Alan Vega 70th Birthday Limited Edition EP Series'' is a series of eight EPs with contributions from various artists paying tribute to Alan Vega and his band Suicide. The individual 10" vinyl EPs were pressed in limited quantities and released t ...

'' * 2014: British musician

Anna Calvi Anna Margaret Michelle Calvi (born 24 September 1980) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. Her accolades include three Mercury Prize nominations, one Brit Award nomination, and a European Border Breakers Award. She has been noted by ...

covered the song on her '' Strange Weather'' EP. * 2018: The American two piece Rock band

Big Business (band) Big Business is an American heavy metal band from Seattle, Washington, founded by bassist/vocalist Jared Warren ( Karp) and drummer Coady Willis (The Murder City Devils). They have been based out of Los Angeles since 2006. Their music is chara ...

recorded the song for their ''Tour E.P. 4'' * 2019: Japanese alternative rock band The Novembers covered the song, releasing it as both a single, and a track on their album ''ANGELS''. * 2022:

Andy McCoy Antti Hulkko (born 11 October 1962), better known as Andy McCoy, is a Finnish musician. He is best known for his role as the lead guitarist and main songwriter of the rock band Hanoi Rocks, but has also played with Iggy Pop and a variety of oth ...

plays a loose version of the song live on tour as an interlude to his version of

Hanoi Rocks Hanoi Rocks was a Finnish rock band formed in 1979. They were the first Finnish band to chart in the UK and they were also popular in Japan. The band broke up in June 1985 after drummer Nicholas "Razzle" Dingley died in a drunk driving accide ...

song "Taxi Driver". According to YouTuber Joe Smith the performance of the song is "Andy's comment on US school shootings".

Accolades

(*) designates unordered lists.

Personnel

Adapted from the ''Suicide'' liner notes. Suicide *

Martin Rev Martin Reverby, better known by his stage name Martin Rev, (born December 18, 1947) is an American musician and one half of the influential synth-punk band Suicide. Rev has also released several solo albums for a number of record labels, includi ...

– keyboards,

drum programming Programming is a form of music production and performance using electronic devices and computer software, such as sequencers and workstations or hardware synthesizers, sampler and sequencers, to generate sounds of musical instruments. These ...

* Alan Vega –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

Production and additional personnel * Larry Alexander –

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

Craig Leon Craig Leon (born 7 January 1952) is an American-born record producer, composer and arranger currently living in England.International Who’s Who in Classical Music 2005'', Routledge, 2005. Leon was instrumental in launching the careers of many ...

–

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

Marty Thau Marty Thau (December 7, 1938 – February 13, 2014) was an American rock 'n' roll entrepreneur and music producer. He was best known as the founder of indie punk— new wave label Red Star Records in 1977, and for being the manager of the New Yo ...

– production

References

1977 songs Suicide (band) songs Songs written by Martin Rev Songs written by Alan Vega Songs about fictional male characters {{punk-song-stub