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Harriet Brewis
Jan 29, 2023
Patti Smith forgets lyrics during Nobel Prize performance as she accepts Bob …
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Legendary guitarist Tom Verlaine has died at the age of 73, leaving an impressive legacy and countless bereft fans and admirers.
The musician rose to fame as the co-founder of punk band Television, who made a name for themselves in the 1970s New York punk scene, working the circuit alongside the likes of the Ramones and Patti Smith.
In fact, it was Smith’s daughter Jesse who announced Verlaine’s death on Saturday, saying he had passed away surrounded by close friends after a “brief illness”.
And although Television didn’t achieve the same commercial success of some of their peers, the guitarist’s inventive style and the band’s groundbreaking debut album Marquee Moon have been profoundly influential on a number of household names.
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“‘Marquee Moon’ has become something of a holy grail of independent rock in the years since,” Billboard magazine wrote in 2003. “It has been a clear influence on such artists as Pavement, Sonic Youth, the Strokes and Jeff Buckley,”
As the music world mourns the loss of one of its greats, we take a look at some of the most moving tributes to the punk-rock legend:
\u201cTom Verlaine 1949-2023\n\n"I've lost a hero.... You introduced me to a world that flipped my life upside down. I am forever grateful." - Michael Stipe\u201d— R.E.M. HQ (@R.E.M. HQ) 1674955125
\u201cRIP Tom Verlaine. Along with Patti Smith\u2019s Horses, Marquee Moon ranks as one of if not THE best New Wave album of the 70\u2019s punk era. I bought it when it came out and saw them on their first tour with Blondie opening! It was a great gig. I still play the album to this day \u2764\ufe0fM\u201d— Simply Red (@Simply Red) 1674980172
\u201cIt\u2019s impossible to overstate the majesty of this record. Perhaps the purest rock guitar record ever. RIP Tom Verlaine.\u201d— Simon Grigg (@Simon Grigg) 1674974281
\u201clistened to Marquee Moon 1000 times. And I mean LISTENED, sitting still, lights down low taking it all in. awe and wonder every time. Will listen 1000 more. Tom Verlaine is one of the greatest rock musicians ever. He effected the way John and I play immeasurably. Fly on Tom.\u201d— Flea (@Flea) 1674956332
\u201cRIP Tom Verlaine of Television, who could make a guitar sound like lightning striking itself, a virtuoso of restraint & the negative void, a spare & elegant lyricist like his symbolist namesake. His stage alias, band name, and style defined punk cool. Artistic elevation perfected\u201d— Otto Von Biz Markie (@Otto Von Biz Markie) 1674956938
\u201cA couple of minutes of Tom Verlaine on The Tube in 1987. He was some talent. With risk of sounding like a twat, I remember asking the Edge who his guitar heroes are and he said Tom Verlaine. It stuck in my head at the time. He said it without hesitation. RIP Tom Verlaine #legend\u201d— Joe Donnelly (@Joe Donnelly) 1674948882
\u201cWell there I stand neath the Marquee Moon \ud83d\ude4f All quiet at Bowery and Bleeker tonight, maybe tomorrow there\u2019ll be flowers and candles, or maybe it\u2019ll be like nothing ever happened here \ud83d\ude4f\u2728\ud83d\udc9a #tomverlaine #cbgbs\u201d— C\u00e1it O'Riordan (@C\u00e1it O'Riordan) 1674966791
\u201cAppears to be true: Tom Verlaine has passed over to the beyond that his guitar playing always hinted at. He was the best rock and roll guitarist of all time, and like Hendrix could dance from the spheres of the cosmos to garage rock. That takes a special greatness. #TomVerlaine\u201d— Mike Scott (@Mike Scott) 1674943487
\u201cI\u2019ve spent my whole life as a writer trying to write stories as good as the guitar solo in \u201cMarquee Moon.\u201d RIP Tom Verlaine.\u201d— Tom Junod (@Tom Junod) 1674945733
Verlaine was born Tom Miller — later taking the last name of the 19th-century French poet Paul-Marie Verlaine.
He met Television co-founder Richard Hell, born Richard Meyers, at a Delaware prep school. They were tall, skinny, sardonic kids who dropped out and made their way to the East Village, where they worked in bookstores and wrote poetry together.
Speaking of their shared vision for their band, Hell wrote in his autobiography, 'I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp": “We wanted to strip everything down further, away from the showbiz theatricality of the glitter bands, and away from blues-iness and boogie. We wanted to be stark and hard and torn up, the way the world was.”
However, increasing tension between Verlaine and fellow guitarist Richard Lloyd led Television to disband after its second album 'Adventure'. The group reunited for a self-titled 1992 album for Capitol Records and delighted fans with sporadic live appearances over the following years.
Verlaine released eight solo albums, his most commercially successful being his 1981 sophomore solo album 'Dreamtime,' which peaked at No. 177 on the Billboard album chart.
“He was noted for his angular lyricism and pointed lyrical asides, a sly wit, and an ability to shake each string to its truest emotion,” his publicist said in a statement. “His vision and his imagination will be missed.”
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