Tom Verlaine, guitarist, singer and co-founder of Television, a 1970s New York rock band that influenced many bands, died on Saturday January 28 at the age of 73.
It was Jesse Paris Smith, daughter of Patti Smith, another major figure in the music scene of the time, who made the announcement to the New York Times, without specifying the cause of death, except that it resulted from a “short illness”.
“Tom Verlaine has passed into the afterlife that his guitar playing always foretold,” tweeted Mike Scott of the Waterboys. “He was the best rock and roll guitarist of all time and, like Hendrix, he could twirl from the spheres of the cosmos to garage rock. It requires a particular grandeur,” adds the Scottish musician.
Tribute to the French poet Paul Verlaine
Born Thomas Miller, the American decided to make himself known under the name of Tom Verlaine, in homage to Paul, the French poet whose lyricism he will try to breathe into his texts.
Although Television never had great commercial success, the inventive and aggressive playing of Tom Verlaine, who was part of these two-guitar groups, influenced many musicians, especially during his performances at the legendary concert hall CBGB. from central New York, alongside the Ramones, Patti Smith and the Talking Heads.
Television released their debut album, Marquee Moon, in 1977 – featuring the almost eleven-minute title track of the same name, as well as Elevation.
“Marquee Moon became something of a holy grail of indie rock in the years that followed,” Billboard magazine wrote in 2003. “He clearly influenced artists like Pavement, Sonic Youth, The Strokes and Jeff Buckley. »
Growing tensions between Tom Verlaine and fellow guitarist Richard Lloyd led Television to disband after their second album, Adventure, released a year after Marquee Moon. The group reformed for an album bearing their name in 1992 and a few sporadic appearances on stage.
“We wanted to strip everything down, get away from the theatrics of glitter bands, blues and boogie,” writes Television co-founder Richard Hell in his autobiography I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp. “We wanted to be austere, tough and torn, like the world was,” he explains.
Dark month of January for rock
Tom Verlaine then released a dozen solo albums, while collaborating with many artists, such as David Bowie and Patti Smith. The latter shared a farewell message on Instagram, posting a photo of them, along with the caption: “It was a time when everything seemed possible. »
Many online tributes have also been paid, from Thurston Moore, ex-leader of Sonic Youth, to Stuart Braithwaite that of Mogwai, two groups who owe him a lot. Susanna Hoffs and Billy Idol have said that Verlaine’s music influenced the American and British punk scene. And The Edge (Davis Eowall Evans) says he was inspired by his guitar playing to shape the sound of U2.
The disappearance of Tom Verlaine adds to the dark character of the month of January for the rock world, after those of Jeff Beck and David Crosby recently.
