Tom Verlaine, guitarist and co-founder of the seminal proto-punk band Television who influenced many bands while playing at New York’s iconic CBGB venue alongside the Ramines, Patti Smith and Talking Heads, died Saturday at the age of 73.
The musician died in New York City surrounded by close friends after a brief illness, said Cara Hutchisin of Lede Company, a public relations firm, quoted by the Associated Press.
“Tom Verlaine went beyond what his guitar always hinted at. He was the greatest rock ‘n’ roll guitarist of all time and, like Hendrix, could dance from the spheres of the cosmos to the ‘rock’ of the garage. That takes greatness .special,” Mike Scott of The Waterboys wrote on Twitter.
Although television never enjoyed much commercial success, Verlaine’s inventive playing has influenced many musicians.
Television released their groundbreaking debut album “Marquee Moon” in 1977, including the nearly 11-minute title track and “Elevation”, and their second album “Adventure” a year later.
“‘Marquee Moon’ has since become something of a holy grail of indie rock, clearly influencing artists such as Pavement, Sonic Youth, Stroes and Jeff Buckley,” wrote Billboard magazine in 2002.
Meanwhile, a growing tension between Verlaine and fellow guitarist Richadr Lloyd led to [banda] Television breaks up after second album”. In 1992, the group reunited for a self-titled album for Capitol Records and sporadic live performances.
“We wanted to take everything even further away from the ‘showbiz’ theatrics of ‘glitter’, ‘blues’ and ‘boogie’ bands,” wrote television co-founder Richard Hell in his autobiography, “I dreamed I was very clean trap.”
Tom Verlaine has released eight solo albums, his biggest commercial success being his second from 1981, “Dreamtime”, which reached number 177 on Billboard’s ‘top’ chart. He even often acted as Patti Smith’s accompanist.
Several tributes to Verlaine are made online and published in various international media outlets, including Susanna Hoffs and Billy Idol, who have stated that Verlaine made music that influenced the punk scene in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Smith shared a tribute on the social network Instagram, posting a photo of the two together: “Farewell Tom, a loft the Omega” [Adeus Tom no alto de Ómega].
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Born Tom Miller, he would later take the surname of 19th-century French poet Paul-Marie Verlaine after meeting Hell, born Richard Meyers, at a Delaware prep school.
Both were tall, thin, sardonic kids who dropped out of school and went to the East Village, where they worked in bookstores and wrote poetry together.
“He was known for his angular lyricism (…), a shrewd intelligence and an ability to pluck any chord to his deepest emotion,” his publicist said in a statement.
“His vision and imagination will be missed,” he concluded.
Source: DN
