Tom Verlaine, known as a 1970s punk era icon for innovating and redefining the rock guitar genre, died at the age of 73 in Manhattan, according to Variety.
The Television rocker was confirmed dead to the New York Times by his daughter Jesse Paris Smith, whom he shared with former girlfriend Patti Smith.
She revealed that the musician had passed away following “a brief illness”.
In Rock & Roll: An Unruly History, critic Robert Palmer detailed: “When the punk rebellion began taking shape in the mid-seventies, Television in particular carried on the [Velvet Underground’s] legacy of street-real lyrics and harmonic clang-and-drone, with appropriate nods to John Coltrane’s modal jazz and the Byrds’ resonating raga-rock from lead guitarist Tom Verlaine.”
While the punk rock band never received mass public acclaim or great commercial success, Verlaine’s disregard for conventions, high regard for inventiveness and Television’s aggressive two-guitar strike would leave its mark on music for years to come. Rock devotees such as the Feelies, Sonic Youth, Steve Wynn of The Dream Syndicate and Nels Cline of Wilco are a testament to the band’s handprint on rock n roll.
