Why Tom Verlaine Was the Ultimate New York Guitar God - Rolling Stone

Farewell to Tom Verlaine, for immoderate of america the top American stone guitarist not named “Hendrix.” Verlaine, who died Saturday astatine 73, could deed cosmic heights that nary different guitar virtuoso could reach. He made his bones successful the 1970s with Television, the store set who created a caller benignant of psychedelic sublime successful the CBGB punk scene. Television made 2 of the Seventies’ champion guitar albums, Marquee Moon and Adventure, until they fell apart, conscionable arsenic they were hitting their philharmonic peak. But the euphony Verlaine got retired of his Fender Jazzmaster remains a guiding light.

In 1974 Patti Smith wrote, “He plays pb guitar with angular inverted passionateness similar a 1000 bluebirds screaming.” For erstwhile successful her life, Patti was blameworthy of understatement. Tom Verlaine ever had his ain sound, whether jamming with Television successful “Marquee Moon” and “Kingdom Come,” oregon solo successful “Breakin’ In My Heart” oregon “Days connected the Mountain.” If you’re looking for a cheat expanse to sum up everything that made him a legend, conscionable perceive to the archetypal 3 minutes of “Little Johnny Jewel,” the definitive 1978 San Francisco mentation from Live astatine the Old Waldorf — his urgent upper-register twang sounds similar it’s ripping holes successful the sky. 

This is simply a achy nonaccomplishment for anyone who loves the guitar, particularly since his last years proved that Verlaine ne'er mislaid a changeable arsenic as a virtuoso, close up to the end. He proved it (just the facts) each clip helium was successful the temper to prime up his axe and stroke radical away, which was ne'er often enough. But astatine each show, helium did thing you’d ne'er heard him bash before. As Verlaine told Rolling Stone successful 1977, “There are immoderate fig of ways to get from 1 spot to different connected the cervix of the guitar that I don’t cognize about.” Every clip helium played, helium was looking to spell determination new. 

Verlaine was the eventual New York guitar deity and Television were the eventual New York band, mystic guitar boys dressing up similar punks and singing similar poets. With Richard Lloyd connected Strat and Verlaine connected Jazzmaster, they jammied similar CBGB’s reply to the Grateful Dead. They didn’t past long, but they’ve been hugely influential ever since. Tom Verlaine’s guitar was the lightning that struck itself, giving disconnected sparks that kept turning into large caller bands, each implicit the world: R.E.M. down successful Georgia, U2 successful Dublin, Wilco successful Chicago, Pere Ubu successful Cleveland, Pavement successful California, Sonic Youth connected the Lower East Side. But these bands don’t truly dependable similar Television, due to the fact that cipher other ever duplicated the unsocial shimmer of his guitar. One of the highlights of Pavement’s 2022 reunion shows was however they would crook “Folk Jam” into a medley with “Marquee Moon,” with Stephen Malkmus and Spiral Stairs lashing distant astatine the guitar groove that made them and truthful galore others situation to imagination large connected guitar.

Editor’s picks

He grew up arsenic Tom Miller successful Delaware, getting kicked retired of prep schools with his champion person Lester Meyers. They ran disconnected to New York to go decadent poets, changing their names to Tom Verlaine and Richard Hell. Naturally, they started a band, the Neon Boys, with fantastic glam-trash nuggets similar “High Heeled Wheels” and “That’s All I Know Right Now.” The Neon Boys got tougher erstwhile they turned into Television, obsessed with the Velvet Underground and John Coltrane. They famously started the NYC downtown stone country astatine CBGB, wherever they collared proprietor Hilly Kristal, talked him into giving them a play gig astatine his biker bar, and virtually built the stage. They decorated their fliers with quotes from the early-adopter fans they drew, from manager Nick Ray (“four chill cats with a passion”) to David Bowie, who called them, “The astir archetypal set I person seen successful New York. They person it.”

Patti Smith was an creator (and romantic) comrade successful the 1970s, erstwhile she and Television shared galore bills — helium played connected her debut medium Horses, successful the classical “Break It Up.” In 1974, she wrote astir Television successful the mag Rock Scene, hailing the set arsenic “a question of inspired mutants that volition instrumentality the slop retired of rock.” But she singled retired the weird dude up front. “Tom Verlaine (initials TV) has the astir beauteous cervix successful stone & roll,” Smith wrote. “Real swan similar — fragile yet strong. He’s a carnal of opposites. The mode helium comes connected similar a ungraded husbandman and a prince. A languid lad with the confused grace of a kid successful paradise. A feline worthy losing your virginity to.” She added, “He is blessed with agelong veined hands reminiscent of the large writer alien jack the ripper.”

Related

Right from the start, they loved to jam. “It was conscionable being onstage and wanting to make something,” Verlaine said successful Clinton Heylin’s 2005 book From The Velvets to the Voidoids. “So I would play until thing happened. That overmuch much comes from jazz oregon the Doors oregon the Five Live Yardbirds medium — that benignant of rave-up dynamics.” His code was cleanable to the constituent of feeling eerie, invoking the Byrds (especially Fifth Dimension), Mike Bloomfield (especially “East-West”), Jerry Garcia, oregon Quicksilver Messenger Service — truthful overmuch of his dependable comes from John Cippollina’s interruption successful “How You Love.”

Television released a section azygous successful 1975, connected the indie Ork label, “Little Johnny Jewel.” (Just a shadiness of the unrecorded monster it would become.) Hell and Verlaine had a bitter falling retired by the clip Television made their classical debut. But their 1977 debut medium Marquee Moon was a full-blown masterpiece, with comic lyrics swiped from movie noir and symbolist poets successful “See No Evil,” “Guiding Light,” and “Prove It.” Verlaine’s strangled dependable was cleanable for deadpan lines similar “If I ever drawback that ventriloquist/I’ll compression his caput close into my fist.”

“Marquee Moon” is rightly his astir celebrated song, translating the late-night municipality dread of Bob Dylan’s “Visions of Johanna” into a guitar solo — what Dylan would telephone “that bladed chaotic mercury sound.” In truthful galore ways, Television were to NYC punk what Eric B. & Rakim were to NYC hip-hop — ever looking to instrumentality disconnected into the mystic, dropping abstract poesy connected an assemblage that came to dance, and Marquee Moon ever sounds similar a duplicate to Paid In Full.

“Marquee Moon” was an existent Top 30 azygous successful the U.K., wherever their follow-up Adventure made the Top Ten. Adventure was astir arsenic great, with frantically comic raves similar “Glory” and “Careful” (“Your vino is conscionable sour grapes/Pour maine a solid immoderate clip I’m not there”), on with fragile ballads similar “Carried Away” and the R.E.M.-inventing “Days.” They kept getting fiercer connected the roadworthy successful 1978, arsenic documented connected bootlegs. The champion “Marquee Moon” ever is the 17-minute mentation from the Portland amusement of July 1978; the champion “Little Johnny Jewel” is the 11-minute mentation from San Francisco a fewer days earlier. The posthumous unrecorded portion The Blow Up has their mentation of Dylan’s “Knockin’ connected Heaven’s Door.” But 1 time successful 1978, Verlaine mumbled, “I conscionable privation to bash thing else,” for nary peculiar reason, and that was that.

Verlaine ever had a estimation arsenic a high-strung power freak, particularly since helium didn’t bash drugs, which made him look downright weird astatine a spot similar CBGB. But helium shrugged disconnected his reclusive image. “People who deliberation I americium a hermit are radical who got to clubs each the time, and I conscionable ain’t brainsick astir sittin’ astir clubs,” helium told Rolling Stone. He ever seemed to instrumentality pridefulness successful coming disconnected frosty, adjacent connected occasions that seemed to telephone for a small sentiment. Television played a shared measure with Patti Smith astatine the Roseland Ballroom successful 2004, which she treated arsenic a expansive reunion of kindred spirits, yet Verlaine remained his ornery, hard-to-please, eager-to-split self.

His onetime champion person Richard Hell ends his memoir I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp with a bittersweet communicative astir accidentally moving into Verlaine connected the sidewalk, extracurricular the East Village’s Strand Bookstore, rummaging done the dollar bins. The 2 men chat, marque awkward jokes, debar saying thing the slightest spot personal, past stumble distant successful antithetic directions. At a 2011 NYC literate event, Hell work this section to a hushed room, saying it had conscionable happened the erstwhile week. He sobbed each the mode through. “We were similar 2 monsters confiding, but that wasn’t what shocked me,” Hell wrote. “It was that my feeling was love.”

When Verlaine ended Television, his “something else” decidedly didn’t mean being a stone star. His 1979 solo debut had gems similar “The Grip of Love” and “Souvenir From a Dream.” It climaxed with “Breakin’ In My Heart,” with slayer bushed guitar from the B-52s’ Ricky Wilson. “Kingdom Come” (different from the Television opus of the aforesaid title) inspired David Bowie to screen it connected Scary Monsters. Any different creator mightiness person milked the Bowie fandom for immoderate publicity — but decidedly not Verlaine. 

He kept refining his dependable successful cult faves similar Dreamtime and Words from the Front, which has the herky-jerky rocker “Present Arrived” and the bizarrely beauteous ballad “Postcard from Waterloo,” his skewed thought of a emotion song, crooning, “There was thing successful that look of yours/Something similar a play connected words”). His astir underrated solo medium is Cover from 1984, a synth-pop experimentation with glossy grooves similar “Dissolve/Reveal,” “Rotation,” and “Swim.” Fittingly, helium played connected Patti Smith’s 1996 comeback Gone Again arsenic good arsenic the soundtrack of Todd Haynes’ Dylan fantasia I’m Not There, with a spooky mentation of “Cold Irons Bound” from Time Out of Mind. 

But adjacent arsenic Verlaine opted retired of the stone hustle, his guitar dependable became a imperishable portion of the stone soundscape. As the Edge of U2 told Rolling Stone successful 1989, helium was inspired by “guitar bands who didn’t usage blues cliches. I was listening to Tom Verlaine to fig retired however to marque pugnacious music.” You tin perceive Verlaine each implicit Wilco (“Impossible Germany”) oregon Yo La Tengo (“I Heard You Looking”) oregon Parquet Courts (“She’s Rolling”) oregon Horsegirl (“World of Pots and Pans”). Verlaine summed this up perfectly successful 1993, erstwhile helium told Rolling Stone, “Maybe it’s seeing everything arsenic 1 elephantine opus that you tin instrumentality pieces retired of, which past besides go songs.”

Television reunited successful 1992 for a self-titled one-off album, with witty grooves similar “No Glamour For Willi,” past broke up again. But they resumed successful the 2000s, doing shows that were sporadic but excellent. In 2002, they played their archetypal NYC gig successful a decade, the aforesaid week their aged CBGB pals Talking Heads and the Ramones went into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Verlaine was successful a playful mood, introducing himself arsenic movie noir pugnacious feline Richard Widmark. And of course, they took everlastingly tuning up betwixt songs. “We haven’t changed,” Verlaine told the crowd. “The clip betwixt the songs is longer than the songs.” 

Trending

The past clip I ever saw him unrecorded was July 2018, astatine the Brooklyn nine Elsewhere. He was furious aft the set played “Marquee Moon,” complaining they made a mistake during his epic solo break. So helium made them play it again — but only his epic solo break. It was an eccentric infinitesimal — perfectly nary 1 successful the assemblage noticed thing incorrect with that “Marquee Moon.” But then, cipher was huffy astir proceeding that solo again, and yes, it kicked adjacent harder the 2nd time. Then helium sent america each location blessed by wiping the ceiling cleanable with “Psychotic Reaction.” (He besides thanked the nine for their fantabulous dependable system, possibly a vocation first.) I was already looking guardant to the adjacent gig. But sadly, it turned retired to beryllium the past NYC amusement helium ever played.

The country was packed with superfans who knew his euphony wrong retired — the instrumentality lasting adjacent to maine was Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo — but cipher was looking for (or getting) immoderate benignant of nostalgia. All anyone cared astir was seeing wherever Verlaine would instrumentality these songs tonight, simply knowing it would beryllium determination new. Nobody could marque that hap similar Tom Verlaine.