Line #18 Music/Television


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/television_band_5932.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:300:Left to right: Fred Smith, Tom Verlaine, Richard Lloyd and Billy Ficca.]]
3	[floatboxright:
4	Influenced:
5	+ Music/{{REM}}, Music/JoyDivision, Music/{{Felt}}, Music/EchoAndTheBunnymen, Music/{{U2}}, Music/SonicYouth, Music/{{Pixies}}, Music/JohnFrusciante, Music/TheStrokes, Music/{{Wilco}}, Music/RedVox]
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7	Television were a cult PunkRock[=/=][[NewWaveMusic New Wave]] band from New York City, active between 1973-1978, 1992-1993 and since 2001. Its core lineup included guitarist/vocalist Tom Verlaine, guitarist/vocalist Richard Lloyd, bassist/vocalist Fred Smith and drummer Billy Ficca. Early on, their line-up also included bassist Richard Hell, who would go on to front the Voidoids, another influential punk group.
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9	Lloyd left the band in 2007, and Jimmy Rip became his temporary, then permanent replacement. Verlaine died of an unspecified illness in 2023.
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11	The band were famous for being more technically proficient than the punk scene they were associated with, with their SignatureStyle involving complex, interlocking guitars (influenced by Music/VelvetUnderground, Music/{{Love\|Band}}, Music/BuffaloSpringfield, and the Music/NewYorkDolls) and extended {{Improv}}s and jamming.
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13	!!Studio Discography:
14	* ''Music/MarqueeMoon'' (1977)
15	* ''Adventure'' (1978)
16	* ''[[SelfTitledAlbum Television]]'' (1992)
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18	----
19	!!Tropes:
20	* AlbumTitleDrop: "Marquee Moon".
21	* CityNoir: The setting of most of Verlaine's lyrics. "Broadway looks so medieval", to quote "Venus."
22	* CoverVersion: The band's live repertoire included Music/The13thFloorElevators' "Fire Engine", Music/BobDylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door", and Music/{{The Rolling Stones\|Band}}' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction".
23	* EpicRocking: In the studio: "Marquee Moon" (10:47), "Torn Curtain" (7:10), "The Fire" (5:57), "The Dream's Dream" (6:45), "Little Johnny Jewel" (7:09), the instrumental demo of "Ain't That Nothin'" (9:48). In concert, any track could become this due to the band's penchant for jamming. As but one example, ''The Blow-Up'' has a 6:13 "Ain't That Nothin'", a 7:50 "Knockin' on Heaven's Door", a 14:56 "Little Johnny Jewel", a 14:45 "Marquee Moon", and a 7:18 "Satisfaction".
24	* GratuitousPanning: Their records had Lloyd's guitar panned to one channel and Verlaine's to the other, though subverted in that it wasn't really gratuitous - it made it much easier to sort through the complex guitar interplay.
25	* LeadSingerPlaysLeadGuitar: Verlaine was the lead singer and shared lead guitar duties with Lloyd.
26	* LighterAndSofter: Downplayed with ''Adventure'', which has a slightly more melodic, poppy sound compared to their first album, not that their sound was particularly hard to begin with.
27	* LoudnessWar: Averted or downplayed at worst, even on the remasters of their music - the 2003 Creator/RhinoRecords remasters of ''Marquee Moon'' and ''Adventure'', probably the most widely available versions these days, come out to [=DR9=] and [=DR10=], respectively, with no tracks on either scoring below [=DR8=]. The original [=CDs=] were still slightly more dynamic ([=DR13=] for ''Marquee Moon'' and [=DR12=] for ''Adventure''). A 2015 [=HDTracks=] release of ''Marquee Moon'' splits the difference and comes out to [=DR11=]. The closest thing to an offender in the band's discography is a 2006 Japanese remaster of ''Marquee Moon'', which is still not very bad at [=DR8=] overall, with no track scoring below [=DR7=]. The SelfTitledAlbum, meanwhile, is the most dynamic release in the band's discography at [=DR14=].
28	* MeaningfulName[=/=]RedOniBlueOni: According to one story, youngsters Thomas Miller and Richard Meyers ran away from a boarding school and set fire to a field. When questioned by the cops, Miller (who would later rename himself Verlaine after the [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Verlaine 19th century French poet]]) said he [[{{Angst}} just wanted to feel warm]]; Meyers (who would later rename himself Hell, after the poem ''[[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/168499.A_Season_in_Hell?from_search=true A Season in Hell]]'', by the poet [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Rimbaud Arthur Rimbaud]], who was Verlaine's lover) said [[PyroManiac he just wanted to see it burn]].
29	* NonIndicativeName: They were a band, having nothing to do with TV at all.
30	* PerishingAltRockVoice: Verlaine.
31	* ProgressiveRock: Despite being associated with the punk scene, they were ironically much closer to this, with often lengthy and complex compositions that took heavy influence from jazz and featured complicated counter-melodies as a SignatureStyle. If it wasn't for their ties to Richard Hell, they would have never had any connection to punk, at least in the studio. Their live material, which tends to be a lot more energetic, is still something of a crossover between punk and this, with perhaps a bit of jam bands à la Music/GratefulDead thrown in.
32	* ReCut: On the original LP release of ''Marquee Moon'', the title track, right in the middle of the album, had to be significantly edited to fit on the disc. For the CD re-release, the song was restored to its full length.
33	* SelfTitledAlbum: Their 1992 reunion album.
34	* ShoutOut: The "[[SpellingSong F-R-I-C-T-I-O-N]]" in "Friction" is a ShoutOut to [[Music/VanMorrison Them's]] "Gloria." Verlaine dated Music/PattiSmith, who did a famous cover of the song.
35	* TechnicianVersusPerformer: Richard Lloyd (technician) vs. Tom Verlaine (performer). Lloyd's guitar solos tend to be more legato, melodic, and complex (i.e., "See No Evil", "Elevation", the short solo in "Marquee Moon"), while Verlaine's guitar solos tend to be more jagged, noisy, and unpredictable (i.e., "Friction", the long solo in "Marquee Moon").
36	* ThreeChordsAndTheTruth: Completely averted, despite Television's frequent categorisation as a PunkRock band (this may be because they played it when it was still an UnbuiltTrope). While some of the band's songs have standard verse/chorus/verse structures, they still manage to be more complicated than your average punk song, and some leave all semblance of normal structure behind entirely and take off into the stratosphere (good examples of this being "Marquee Moon" and "Little Johnny Jewel").
37	* TitleDrop:
38	** Every song on ''Marquee Moon'' drops their title at some point.
39	** Verlaine stealth-drops the band's name in at least two songs - "Elevation" ("'Elevision, don't go to my head") and "Little Johnny Jewel" ("He just had to tell-a-vision")
40	* TitleTrack: ''Marquee Moon'' has one. One was recorded for ''Adventure'', but it was left off the initial releases of the album and wasn't released until the 2003 Rhino remaster. This is an AvertedTrope on the band's SelfTitledAlbum.
41	* TropeCodifier: Along with The Music/VelvetUnderground, for many an AlternativeRock band. Similarly, Richard Hell often counts as the TropeCodifier for PunkRock.
42	* UnbuiltTrope: For a band that's considered one of the very first punk bands, they don't sound very punky at all with the complex songs full of jams. If they had more keyboards, they probably would have been classified as a ProgressiveRock band.
43	* VitriolicBestBuds: Tom Verlaine and Richard Hell were this for a long time...
44	** WeUsedToBeFriends: ...Until their personal and professional relationship fell apart. Factors included Verlaine gradually taking creative control of the band and Hell's heroin use.

Context Music / Television