It took some time for Television frontman and alt-rock guitar hero Tom Verlaine to warm to the instrument that made him famous. He played piano and saxophone first, but two records changed everything for him.
Verlaine sadly died in 2023, but left behind a legacy whose echoes can still be heard in alt-rock of all kinds today. His unusual approach to guitar made him a pioneering figure in the 1970s in both the punk and new wave scenes, as Television found a way to retain attitude while adding smarts in equal measure. His journey towards six strings wasn’t straightforward.
“I grew up taking piano lessons and liking Wagner when I was in second grade,” he told Guitar World in 1981, talking around the release of his second solo album, Dreamtime.
He compared his symphonies to “a universe of sound”, finding himself drawn to their busy and dense instrumentation.
“And then when somebody turned me on to a Coltrane record around seventh grade,” he continued. “I took up the saxophone.
“Around tenth grade, my brother played me [Four Tops’] Wake Me, Shake Me (When It’s Over), and when I heard it, for some reason, I loved that song.”
As he made his way through high school, Verlaine found his musical tastes expanding. Still, at that point, the guitar had done little to seduce a musician who began studying music at the tender age of four. It was two British riffsmiths who flipped his world upside down.
“Then I heard [the Rolling Stones’] Nineteenth Nervous Breakdown and [the Kinks'] All of the Day (And All of the Night),” he said.
Suddenly, Verlaine, who loved the sophistication of classical music and jazz, started to see past the clangor of rock and roll.
“Those are the records that made me think the guitar could be as good as jazz,” he exclaimed. “Up until then, the electric guitar was a stupid instrument to me. When I heard them, they seemed to be the general sound of those records. That’s when it occurred to me that the guitar was a cool instrument.”
A budget-friendly Danelectro Shorthorn, also beloved by Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton, became a chief weapon in his arsenal as he began exploring rock music through his own lens.
His first band, the Neon Boys, didn’t last long, despite the fact that Dee Dee Ramone and Blondie guitarist Chris Stein auditioned for a spot in the band. Television, born from the ashes of that band, was assembled just months later, and Verlaine didn’t need a third bite of the cherry.
Meanwhile, his former co-guitarist Richard Lloyd recently opened up on their bittersweet relationship.
