Rocker Tom Verlaine has died at the age of 73. Photo / Getty Images
Rocker Tom Verlaine has died at the age of 73. Photo / Getty Images
Tom Verlaine, known as a 1970s punk era icon for innovating and redefining the rock guitar genre, died at the age of 73 in Manhattan, according to Variety.
The Television rocker was confirmed dead to the New York Times by his daughter Jesse Paris Smith, whom he sharedwith former girlfriend Patti Smith.
She revealed that the musician had passed away following “a brief illness”.
In Rock & Roll: An Unruly History, critic Robert Palmer detailed: “When the punk rebellion began taking shape in the mid-seventies, Television in particular carried on the [Velvet Underground’s] legacy of street-real lyrics and harmonic clang-and-drone, with appropriate nods to John Coltrane’s modal jazz and the Byrds’ resonating raga-rock from lead guitarist Tom Verlaine.”
While the punk rock band never received mass public acclaim or great commercial success, Verlaine’s disregard for conventions, high regard for inventiveness and Television’s aggressive two-guitar strike would leave its mark on music for years to come. Rock devotees such as the Feelies, Sonic Youth, Steve Wynn of The Dream Syndicate and Nels Cline of Wilco are a testament to the band’s handprint on rock n roll.
I met Tom Verlaine when he just arrived in NYC I guess '72. He had long hair and came to my apartment with an acoustic guitar and played some songs he'd written. Both Tom and Richard Hell have told me that I auditioned for the Neon Boys but I don't remember.
Wynn reflected on the rock star and the impact he had on his musical career: “He was my guitar hero at a time when I needed one most.”
Television's 2013 line-up (clockwise from top left) Fred Smith, Tom Verlaine, Jimmy Rip and Billy Ficca.
“I spent the entire year of 1981 practising daily to Marquee Moon. Tom Verlaine’s soloing (and Richard Lloyd’s as well, of course) showed me you could be a virtuoso and dangerous at the same time, more Coltrane or Ornette than the arena rockers of the day. It was a revelation and I was hoping my Jazzmaster could somehow channel his when I played the solo on Halloween on the first Dream Syndicate album. Such an immeasurable influence on me and, of course, on so many of fellow guitarist friends.”
Television released its groundbreaking debut album Marquee Moon on February 8 1977. The collection’s ambitious 10-minute title track was written, played and sang by Verlaine. The rocker played a lengthened guitar solo and sang a characteristically throttled lead vocal that became distinctive of the band’s sound. The song itself was a deviation from the conventional, establishing the band as trailblazers within the music industry and labelling Verlaine as a musical wonder.
Although renowned as a musical genius, Verlaine was always a reluctant rock hero. Ben Sisario wrote in a 2006 New York Times story: “When asked how his own life should appear in a biography, Mr Verlaine thought for a moment before offering his preferred self-deprecating epigram: ‘Struggling not to have a professional career.’”
The rock star was born in New Jersey with the name Thomas Miller. Verlaine had a strong love of symphonic music, which resulted in him playing the piano as a child. In 1963, after developing an interest in jazz music avant gardists Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Roland Kirk and Albert Ayler, he quickly learnt the saxophone.
The now-iconic guitarist only swayed towards the instrument when his twin brother John played 19th Nervous Breakdown by the Rolling Stones and other contemporary rock albums for him.
“Up until then, the guitar was a stupid instrument to me,” said the rocker in a Mojo interview in 2001. “Those records made me think the guitar could be as good as jazz.”
