Television - Marquee Moon
On this week's podcast, we have another “Listener’s Choice,” the 1977 debut by Television - Marquee Moon. Formed in March 0f 1973, by high school friends guitarist Tom Verlaine and bassist Richard Hell, after they recruited a second guitarist, Richard Loyd, and their former musical partner, drummer Billy Ficca. The band kicked off a musical renaissance in New York when they became the first rock band to play the birth place of punk CBGBs, opening up the doors for the many acts that followed (the Ramones, Blondie, the Talking Heads, just to name a few).
From the git go, Television stood out as a band with immense talent and a musical style that defied categorization. Verlaine, Lloyd, and Ficca continued to grow musically. However Hell, who embraced lack of practice as a means to stay raw and unpredictable, began to find as the odd man out. The controlling Verlaine didn’t approve of Hell’s stage antics, and Richard Hell was replaced by Fred Smith. Immediately the band began to gel around the new bassist.
Recorded in the fall of 1976 and released in February of 1977, Marquee Moon was a critical darling and a minor hit in the UK. Music fans in the US outside of New York were indifferent. Which is unfortunate because Marquee Moon is an album worthy of attention. Over the melodic yet solid rhythm section, duel lead guitarists Verlaine and Lloyd bring their own distinctive styles to the band’s music, and create something unlike anything coming out of New York or anywhere else at the time. Add Verlaine’s quirky vocal whine, and you have one of the most incredibly innovative and unique albums ever recorded, and one that influenced the music of late 20th century well beyond the limits of its commercial success.
Sadly, Tom Verlaine passed away on January 28, 2023. He was 73 years old.
Recommended on the episode: The Mezzanine By the Nobility.
THINGS WE DISCUSSED ON THIS EPISODE
Tom Verlaine, Richard Hell, and Billy Ficca formed the Neon Boys sometime around 1971/1972. The band eventually called it when they couldn’t find a second guitarist to fill out their sound.
Pictured L to R: Tom Verlaine, Richard Hell, and Billy Ficca.
The Neon Boys actually recorded a couple of tracks "That's All I Know (Right Now)" and "Love Comes In Spurts" before they broke up. Both were penned and sung by Richard Hell. You can listen to “That's All I Know (Right Now)” below.
Richard Lloyd lived with Terry Ork was part of the Andy Warhol crowd, managed Cinemabilia, a movie memorability and book store where Hell and Verlaine both worked.
Terry Ork also allowed the band to practice in his loft. Here is some footage of the band in his loft from 1974. The first song is Richard Hell penned song called “High Heeled Wheels” followed by “Venus. “
Hilly Kristal and CBGBs circa 1976.
Richard Hell (L) was the original bassist for Television before he was replaced by Fred Smith.
In 1974 Brian Eno agreed to help out with recording some demos for band. They recorded five tracks over the course of two days: “Prove It,” “Venus de Milo,” “Marquee Moon,” “Friction,” and “Double Exposure.” TVerlaine hated the production and blamed Eno.
You can listen to the Eno version of “Prove It” below.
Verlaine really disliked how spontaneous Hell was on stage. This was one of the things that led to Hell’s departure from the band.
Television Released a follow up to Marquee Moon in 1978 called Adventure. Unfortunately, while most critics gave it posstive reviewstoo was unsuccessful commercially. This, in combination with substance abuse issue led the band to disband.
They reformed in 1992 and released the self-tiled Television. Even after a 14 year break, critics generally liked the album, finding it engaging and artful.
Television even filmed a video for the song “call Mr. Lee” that received some airplay on MTV. You can watch it below.
Here the band in 1992 playing “Somewhere in 1880” off of their last album.
