Tom Verlaine, “Art Rock” Pioneer, Dies at Age 73

Tom Verlaine, the lead vocalist, principal songwriter and one of two interlaced, sheets-of-sound guitarists from the band Television, has died, according to Jesse Paris Smith, the daughter of musician Patti Smith, following “a brief illness.” Though never a commercial success, Verlaine’s influence as an artist and icon of downtown cool has reverberated throughout the decades. The group’s album Marquee Moon, released in 1977, is one of the few things that argumentative, record store-dwelling “rockist” types can all agree on as being a Mount Rushmore-level work of perfection. He was 73 years old. Born Tom Miller to a Jewish family in… Read Full Article