Television Television artist page: interviews, features and/or performances archived at NPR Music

Television

Subscribe to NPR's Up First Email

Verlaine was known for his jagged guitar playing style involving heavy vibrato and distortion and off-kilter lyrics. Gus Stewart/Redferns hide caption

toggle caption

Gus Stewart/Redferns

Obituaries

Tom Verlaine, guitarist and singer of influential rock band Television, dies at 73

January 28, 2023 • The founding father of American punk and a fixture in the 1970s New York rock scene died Saturday as the result of a brief illness.

Moon Tunes: Songs To Celebrate Our Glowing Orb

In this playlist, musicians imagine what it might be like to take a step on that bright glowing ball in the sky. A. Dagli Orti/De Agostini via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

A. Dagli Orti/De Agostini via Getty Images

NPR Music Playlists

Moon Tunes: Songs To Celebrate Our Glowing Orb

July 18, 2019 • To mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing, a far-reaching playlist of off-the-beaten-orbit tracks for your space travels.

Music Lists

Monitor Mixtape: The Underdogs

May 12, 2008 • Monitor Mix blogger Carrie Brownstein chooses a new mixtape, made up of songs originally compiled on a rainy day several weeks ago. They might sound best under gray skies, as part of a mix that could easily be called "The Underdogs."

Music Interviews

Two Helpings of Tom Verlaine

July 2, 2006 • Tom Verlaine shook up the music world with his punk-rock group Television in the mid-1970s. Can he do it again? He's giving it a shot with two new CDs — one an instrumental work featuring his influential guitar style — and a world tour.

Two Helpings of Tom Verlaine

Listen

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5527064/5527508" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

Review

Music Reviews

Rock History: Television

Fresh Air

January 29, 2004 • Rock historian Ed Ward looks at the early days of the Neon Boys who became the band Television. The "lost" third album by Television has just come out on CD — a 25-year old live broadcast, and their first two albums have just been remastered.

Rock History: Television

Listen

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1624191/1624192" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

All Songs Considered

Joe Strummer, June Tabor, Television

October 27, 2003 • A reissued classic from Television; Finger-style guitarist Martin Simpson; Traditional English ballads from June Tabor; Folk music from Finland's Värtinnä. Featured Artist: Joe Strummer.

Joe Strummer, June Tabor, Television

Audio for this story is unavailable.