TV guitarist Tom Verlaine has died at the age of 73

Tom Verlaine, guitarist and co-founder of the original protopunk band TV, passed away at the age of 73 on Saturday (27) in New York City.

Television influenced many bands while playing at CBGB, a downtown New York venue alongside the Ramones, Patti Smith, and the Talking Heads. Kara Hutchison of public relations firm Lede Company said Verlaine died surrounded by close friends after a short illness.

“Tom Verlaine has gone beyond what his guitar always hinted at. He was the greatest rock and roll guitarist of all time and, like Hendrix, could dance from cosmic ambiance to garage rock. That takes special greatness,” tweeted Mike Scott of The waterboys.

Although it never enjoyed much commercial success on television, Verlaine’s inventive playing as part of the band’s two-guitar attack was influential to many musicians. The group released their groundbreaking debut album Moon marquee in 1977 – including the nearly 11-minute title track and Height – And the second album Adventure after one year.

“Moon marquee It has become something of the holy grail of indie rock ever since. He was a clear influence on artists such as Pavement, Sonic Youth, The Strokes and Jeff Buckley,” the magazine wrote. painting in 2003.

Growing tension between Verlaine and fellow guitarist Richard Lloyd led to Television breaking up after their second album. Adventure. The band reunited for an album in 1992 for Capitol Records and sporadic live appearances.

“We wanted to strip everything away from theatrics of flashy bands, blues and dance shows,” Television co-founder Richard Hill wrote in his autobiography. I dreamed that I was a very clean tramp, in a free translation). “We wanted to be tough and broken, as the world was.”

Verlaine has released eight solo albums, the most commercially successful being 1981’s The Second Album dream time, which peaked at No. 177 on the Billboard album chart. He often acted as a sidekick to former teammate Patti Smith.

Online tributes included Susanna Hoffs and Billy Idol, who said Verlaine made music that influenced the punk scene in the US and UK. Smith shared a tribute on Instagram, posting a photo of the two of them together.

Born Tom Miller – he later adopted the surname of the 19th century French poet Paul Marie Verlaine after he met Hell, born Richard Myers, at prep school in Delaware. They were two tall, skinny kids who gave up and went to the East Village, where they worked in bookstores and wrote poetry together.

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“He was known for his angular lyricism and pointed lyrics, witty wit and ability to pluck every chord with his truest feelings,” said a statement from his publicist. “Your vision and imagination will pass away.”