Little Johnny Jewel is tarnished

[Gangster Octopus]

Tom Verlaine has died.

[Sunderporinostesta]

Awwwwh nnnoooooooo. I was always an Adventure over Marquee Moon myself.

[Voidoid]

I heard the new when in the pub earlier and it threw me how emotional I felt - for me Marquee Moon is the greatest album ever recorded and the first time I heard it genuinely changed my perception on music, and therefore life forever.

[Lang Spoon]

Awwwwh nnnoooooooo. I was always an Adventure over Marquee Moon myself.

wow. I'm really only a Marquee Moon track man myself before the vocals get too much, Adventure I haven't been able to get a grip on at all.

[steveeeeeeeee]

Can't say I'm a massive fan, but the second half of the song, Marquee Moon, is about as perfect as noodly guitar music gets.

[Tony C]

RIP. First sae television in Manchester 1977 supporting (I think) Blondie and they were great. Marquee Moon always a big favourite of mine. Saw them again when they reformed maybe 15/20 years ago and they were great all over again.

[Gangster Octopus]

If it's the same tour that I saw, Blondie were the support.

[Tony C]

If it's the same tour that I saw, Blondie were the support.

Ah, ok,

[delicatemoth]

Can't say I'm a massive fan, but the second half of the song, Marquee Moon, is about as perfect as noodly guitar music gets.

Same, except I prefer the first half. That guitar intro is one of the best in rock and I always sing along. DIDDLEIDDLEIDDLE ANG! DIDDLEIDDLEIDDLE ANG!

[danielmak]

I've always been on the fence about Television. Wanted to like them more than I liked them. But sad news.

[Jah Womble]

TV switched off.

RIP, Tom Verlaine. Bar a few significant moments, I wasn’t a huge fan, either - but I’ll play my old Family Cat CD in his honour.

[ale]

Always liked the fact that however revolutionary Marquee Moon was in 1977 it totally bewildered the growing punk movement. And I was one of that movement.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Always liked the fact that however revolutionary Marquee Moon was in 1977 it totally bewildered the growing punk movement. And I was one of that movement.

I get that. I really liked Marquee Moon, but it sorta sounded a bit of psychedelic throwback to me. Not exactly of course, but I had trouble reading Television in a CBGBs context. Maybe it was the title track's length and and lack of lyrics. I tended to put them on the same shelf as Country Joe and the Fish, or even The 13th Floor Elevators, rather than Blondie, The Ramones or Talking Heads.

[Jah Womble]

I always felt it more ‘prog’ than ‘psychedelic’, but I guess Television were largely uncategorisable. (If that’s a word. Which it isn’t.)

[Lang Spoon]

The title track definitely works well with trips. I think the band were doing a lot of acid at the time as well, and were into the bands Amor listed above.

[Felicity, I guess so]

I was a punk (before you were a punk, except GO) but loved Marquee Moon.
saw them, sans original co-guitarist, just before COVID, it was great

[ale]

I get that. I really liked Marquee Moon, but it sorta sounded a bit of psychedelic throwback to me. Not exactly of course, but I had trouble reading Television in a CBGBs context. Maybe it was the title track's length and and lack of lyrics. I tended to put them on the same shelf as Country Joe and the Fish, or even The 13th Floor Elevators, rather than Blondie, The Ramones or Talking Heads.

From what I have read & understood the NY punk scene of that era was very much arty & incestuous (not in literal sense obviously). And that Television were very much integrated into that. The Ramones were very much the outliers and outsiders who disrupted that order and to the chagrin of the rest became the figureheads of it in UK.

[Lang Spoon]

And everyone laughed at the uncool nerds and provincial rich kids in Talking Heads, according to Please Kill Me at least.

[Amor de Cosmos]

From what I have read & understood the NY punk scene of that era was very much arty & incestuous (not in literal sense obviously). And that Television were very much integrated into that. The Ramones were very much the outliers and outsiders who disrupted that order and to the chagrin of the rest became the figureheads of it in UK.

From a cultural PoV I can certainly see that. But musically, which is pretty much all most of us had to go on at the time, they seemed more of an outlier.

[danielmak]

From what I have read & understood the NY punk scene of that era was very much arty & incestuous (not in literal sense obviously). And that Television were very much integrated into that. The Ramones were very much the outliers and outsiders who disrupted that order and to the chagrin of the rest became the figureheads of it in UK.

Yes. The first wave of what would be called punk in NYC was far more eclectic than what would develop later on. The Ramones were a template for that later development (i.e., hardcore). NYC and San Francisco seemed very different than LA, Boston, and Chicago (among larger US cities). Although all of those scenes were far more eclectic than the more uniform hardcore scenes that would emerge in 79 or 80, NYC and San Francisco seemed very arty. If you read the various oral histories of LA, the early punks will claim that they were also arty but the music seemed more linked to rock n roll (X and The Blasters) or Phil Specter pop (Go Gos) that the more experimental sounds of SF and NYC. Of course, this is a very abbreviated and flattening out of nuances of these different US cities.

[San Bernardhinault]

I really like the whole Marquee Moon album, but similar to what others have said I was baffled when I heard it described as anything bordering on punk. It felt like the kind of muso guitar noodling that I thought punk was thoroughly against.

[diggedy derek]

Who says punks can't do what the hell they like?

I heard Television's 1974/75 demos, made with Brian Eno, for the first time today. They're incredible! They're better than most people's albums!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbeJx2nAclY&t=438s

[Tony C]

If it's the same tour that I saw, Blondie were the support.

It turns out the reformed gig I saw was only ten years ago too. The memory plays tricks..

[delicatemoth]

And everyone laughed at the uncool nerds and provincial rich kids in Talking Heads, according to Please Kill Me at least.

Why are American rich kids cooler than British rich kids? The Byrds and Talking Heads are exhibit A for me, they'd never have been as good if they'd been British groups. Devo and Pere Ubu might qualify too.

Television were prog-punk alright, but so were Wire and XTC and Magazine. Punk was a broad church. I'm gonna listen to those demos.

[Jah Womble]

^There may also be a shout for PiL in that list.

I remember first hearing Marquee Moon played on R1 during its one and only week on the UK Top 30. The percussion is all over the shop - and all the better for it.