Guitarist Tom Verlaine.
Tom Verlaine, leader of the band Television, which emerged from the late 1970s New York underground punk rock album Marquee Moon, died in New York on Saturday at the age of 73, his family said. The American singer and guitarist “died after a short illness,” Jesse Paris Smith, daughter of singer Patti Smith, told the New York Times, although the cause of death was not given. “This is a time when anything seems possible,” Patti Smith wrote in an Instagram post Saturday, below a vintage photo of her with Verlaine. Patti Smith once said that Tom Verlaine sounds “like a thousand howling tiles”. Born Thomas Miller, Verlaine took his surname from the French symbolist poet Paul Verlaine, whose poetry he sought to incorporate into his compositions while playing the guitar in an ethereal and aggressive style. Among his musical references he always showed a fondness for the free jazz of John Coltrane or Eric Dolphy.
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Verlaine, born in Wilmington, Delaware in 1949, went to high school with another punk icon, Richard Hell, and co-founded Lloyd Television with guitarist Richard Lloyd in 1973. According to Rolling Stone magazine, their debut album “Marquee Moon” is considered “one of the best of the punk era”. At almost 10 minutes long, the album’s self-titled single exemplifies the richness of a musical movement that has inspired many groups, from the Ramones to the Talking Heads to Blondie. They all went to the same punk rock mecca, CBGB, a club on New York’s Lower East Side that saw the best of the music genre in the city. Although Marquee Moon was acclaimed by critics such as Rolling Stone, NME and Pitchfork, Television was short-lived.
After two albums, the band broke up and Verlaine released a dozen solo albums beginning in the 1980s while collaborating with numerous artists including Smith and David Bowie. Tributes from fellow artists who remember Verlaine have rained down on social networks. “I was walking by the book stalls in front of the beach yesterday and thought I’d see you as usual, have a cigar and chat about rare poetic finds for a few hours,” he tweeted. Thurston Moore, by Sonic Youth. “I’ll miss you Tom. Rest in peace”.
Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Flea posted that he’s heard Marquee Moon 1,000 times and “will be hearing it 1,000 more times.” “Tom Verlaine is one of the greatest rock musicians of all time,” he tweeted.
Heard Marquee Moon 1000 times. And I mean, HEARD, sit still, keep the lights low and take it all in. amazed and amazed every time. Will hear 1000 more. Tom Verlaine is one of the greatest rock musicians of all time. He has immeasurably influenced the way John and I play. Fly on Tom.
— Flea (@flea333) January 29, 2023
“His role in our culture and his genius on the electric guitar were legendary,” wrote Mogwai’s Stuart Braithwaite. “Name 10 minutes of music as good as Marquee Moon. It can’t. It’s perfect”.
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