R.I.P. Tom Verlaine

1ThoughtKnown said:

GlowGirl said:

1ThoughtKnown said:

brianlux said:

GlowGirl said:

RIP Tom Verlaine. Television was an amazing band. I never met Tom Verlaine but for several years in the late 1990s/early 2000s I was pretty good friends with Richard Lloyd from Television. We used to hang out quite a bit. I lost touch with him a while ago (but recently found his old landline number when I was cleaning out some stuff). He used to tell me some great stories about Television and the early days of CBGBs. I will be thinking of him today as well. 

How cool that you and Richard Lloyd were friends.  I can imagine he had some great stories.  He's another one of those amazing musicians who surely paid his dues but was never really paid his due in recognition for his work. The same thing is true of the band Television itself, and Tom Verlaine.  I don't mean to sound reprimanding, but I'm a bit perplexed by the lack of response on this forum to Verlaine's passing. He was one of the best of that group of people just following boomer musicians- a small but powerful wave who forged new paths in rock that were fundamental to moving the music forward.

Sadly, I never had the chance to see those guys.  I have the album Television, Live at the Old Waldorf- San Francisco, 6/29/78.  When that album finally came out in 2003 I thought, Oh my God, I lived just down the road from the city, I've been to the Old Waldorf, I could have gone to this show! Ah well, at least we have the record, and it is phenomenal! 

Thanks for sharing your story.

I just finished reading the “Please Kill Me” uncensored oral history of punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain. Definitely an eye opening read and Television is included, including quotes from GG’s friend Richard Lloyd. Highly recommended .

I have to admit, Television was not a band that struck a chord with me despite wanting to enjoy them. Having said that, Tom Verlaine and Television made their mark in music history. RIP Mr. Verlaine

“Television was doing pretty good until we went on tour with Peter Gabriel. We would go into record stores and not be able to find our record, which is aggravating to any artist. Then Elektra sent over a bunch of tapes while we were on tour. When we heard the first Cars record we said ‘uh oh. This is like our music only right down commercial alley. This is gonna take our place’. You know, they’re gonna sell a million of these Card records, and they’re gonna tell us we should like them, which is almost what happened. They never told us to be like them - they didn’t give us the chance. 

We’d always been quirky. Tom writes lyrics that are triple entendres, and he didn’t have a singers voice. I think if you slit a goat’s throat it would sound like that. Anyway, he would never take singing lessons, so what are you gonna do? It’s not a radio-friendly voice, that’s for sure”
Richard Lloyd in Please Kill Me Chapter 35 - Sonic Reducer pg 372. 

Funny you should mention Legs McNeil. The reason I met Richard Lloyd was because I worked as a personal assistant for Legs. He lived in my neighborhood and I was between jobs so he hired me for about a year. I met a lot of cool people through him. Interestingly, Richard Lloyd was not happy about the way he was portrayed in the book and he had a huge falling out with Legs. Not sure where they stand now. Legs did give me a signed copy of his book. It is a great read. 

Awesome. Although I am not sure how Legs could be blamed for portraying anyone in that book. It is all their own quotes, pieced together. 

Book is pure genius.  But Mr. Lloyd is entitled to his feelings.  For what it’s worth, he came off looking better than a lot of people in there lol

GlowGirl said:

1ThoughtKnown said:

GlowGirl said:

1ThoughtKnown said:

brianlux said:

GlowGirl said:

RIP Tom Verlaine. Television was an amazing band. I never met Tom Verlaine but for several years in the late 1990s/early 2000s I was pretty good friends with Richard Lloyd from Television. We used to hang out quite a bit. I lost touch with him a while ago (but recently found his old landline number when I was cleaning out some stuff). He used to tell me some great stories about Television and the early days of CBGBs. I will be thinking of him today as well. 

How cool that you and Richard Lloyd were friends.  I can imagine he had some great stories.  He's another one of those amazing musicians who surely paid his dues but was never really paid his due in recognition for his work. The same thing is true of the band Television itself, and Tom Verlaine.  I don't mean to sound reprimanding, but I'm a bit perplexed by the lack of response on this forum to Verlaine's passing. He was one of the best of that group of people just following boomer musicians- a small but powerful wave who forged new paths in rock that were fundamental to moving the music forward.

Sadly, I never had the chance to see those guys.  I have the album Television, Live at the Old Waldorf- San Francisco, 6/29/78.  When that album finally came out in 2003 I thought, Oh my God, I lived just down the road from the city, I've been to the Old Waldorf, I could have gone to this show! Ah well, at least we have the record, and it is phenomenal! 

Thanks for sharing your story.

I just finished reading the “Please Kill Me” uncensored oral history of punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain. Definitely an eye opening read and Television is included, including quotes from GG’s friend Richard Lloyd. Highly recommended .

I have to admit, Television was not a band that struck a chord with me despite wanting to enjoy them. Having said that, Tom Verlaine and Television made their mark in music history. RIP Mr. Verlaine

“Television was doing pretty good until we went on tour with Peter Gabriel. We would go into record stores and not be able to find our record, which is aggravating to any artist. Then Elektra sent over a bunch of tapes while we were on tour. When we heard the first Cars record we said ‘uh oh. This is like our music only right down commercial alley. This is gonna take our place’. You know, they’re gonna sell a million of these Card records, and they’re gonna tell us we should like them, which is almost what happened. They never told us to be like them - they didn’t give us the chance. 

We’d always been quirky. Tom writes lyrics that are triple entendres, and he didn’t have a singers voice. I think if you slit a goat’s throat it would sound like that. Anyway, he would never take singing lessons, so what are you gonna do? It’s not a radio-friendly voice, that’s for sure”
Richard Lloyd in Please Kill Me Chapter 35 - Sonic Reducer pg 372. 

Funny you should mention Legs McNeil. The reason I met Richard Lloyd was because I worked as a personal assistant for Legs. He lived in my neighborhood and I was between jobs so he hired me for about a year. I met a lot of cool people through him. Interestingly, Richard Lloyd was not happy about the way he was portrayed in the book and he had a huge falling out with Legs. Not sure where they stand now. Legs did give me a signed copy of his book. It is a great read. 

Awesome. Although I am not sure how Legs could be blamed for portraying anyone in that book. It is all their own quotes, pieced together. 

Book is pure genius.  But Mr. Lloyd is entitled to his feelings.  For what it’s worth, he came off looking better than a lot of people in there lol

Agreed. I love the book. I think he felt some of his quotes were taken out of context and edited with other people’s quotes to portray a certain viewpoint - similar to how reality show people sometime say their parts are edited in a certain way to make them look like a villain. I agree that Richard was fine in the book. I am not sure what pissed him off about it so much.  I don’t know all the real stories so creative editing may have happened here and there. 

I am sorry I derailed this thread. We should focus on Tom Verlaine. A lot of members of those seminal NYC 1970s CB’s bands have passed. He was a big part of that scene.