Tom Verlaine, Guitarist And Television Co-Founder, Has Died

tom verlaineguitarist and co-founder of the seminal proto-punk band TVHe has died at the age of 73.

The influential musician died on Saturday in New York City, surrounded by close friends after a brief illness, public relations firm The Lede Company confirmed.

Although Television was never very commercially successful, Verlaine’s fitfully inventive playing as part of the band’s two-guitar assault influenced many musicians as he played at New York’s ultra-cool CBGB music venue, along with the Ramones, Patti Smith and Talking Heads.

Television released their groundbreaking debut album, Marquee Moon, in 1977, which featured the nearly 11-minute title track and Elevation.

Their second album, Adventure, followed a year later.

“Marquee Moon has become something of the holy grail of indie rock in the years since. He has been a clear influence on artists like Pavement, Sonic Youth, The Strokes and Jeff Buckley.” billboard magazine wrote in 2003.

Increased tension between Tom and fellow guitarist Richard Lloyd led to Television disbanding after their second album.

The group would reunite for a 1992 self-titled album for Capitol Records and sporadic live appearances.

“We wanted to strip it all down even further, away from the showbiz theatrics of the shiny bands and away from the blues and boogie,” Television co-founder Richard Hell wrote in his autobiography, I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Bum.

“Us…