I've had this particular editorial howler sitting on my desktop for awhile, but I decided, it's just too funny not to share here. I came across this kernel from CBS News, while looking up relevant tidbits on Tom Verlaine's passing on January 28, 2023, and how the media were covering it.
Whoever created the headline was in a real rush to make their deadline. Obviously, right? Of course, it could just as easily have been some robo-proofreader's fault, too. From financial mavens, to fast-talking techmeisters, to the fading embers of mainstream journalism empires, AI is fast emerging as today's go-to corner-cutting tool.
Still,"Punk bank" is a powerful phrase, because that's what has happened, to those pioneers who are still sentient enough -- and therefore, lucky enough -- to finally see their ships coming in, via song placements for movies and TV, or the inevitable, "Remember when?" reunion tour, slippin 'n' slidin' through your neck of the woods.
Tom Verlaine fits this pattern. After his pioneering band, Television, broke up in 1978, he maintained a steady, if low-key solo career, putting out four solo albums during the 1980s. 1992 seems to have been a decisive tipping point, when he dropped a third album, with the reunited Television, and his first instrumental solo album, Warm And Cool.
And there matters rested, until 2006, when Verlaine re-emerged with two typically quirky albums, Around, and Songs And Other Things. He continued to tour with Television, only with Jimmy Rip riding shotgun on guitar, instead of co-founder Richard Lloyd, who left in 2007. What happened there?
The band spun Lloyd's departure as an amicable one, even as Verlaine periodically teased the possibility of a fourth album. Presumably, he wanted to square the circle after the muted response to their last effort (entitled Television, naturally). Of course, it never surfaced, which becomes clearer to understand, when you read these comments from Lloyd:
The band spun Lloyd's departure as an amicable one, even as Verlaine periodically teased the possibility of a fourth album. Presumably, he wanted to square the circle after the muted response to their last effort (entitled Television, naturally). Of course, it never surfaced, which becomes clearer to understand, when you read these comments from Lloyd:
"Across Television’s final period, we rehearsed, we played – and we would write new songs. Then Tom would throw them away. For 14 years, from 1993 to 2007, when I finally quit, Tom would talk about us making a new record. But nothing ever came of it.
"We recorded nothing. Tom would always poo-poo the notion. It was like he didn’t want to give anything to Television. Tom never really wants to share credit." (UNCUT, October 2015)
Throughout these Spinal Tap-ish power struggles (see link below), Verlaine periodically guested on other people's records -- notably, those of his onetime romantic partner, Patti Smith -- and put out the odd film score, between those on-again, off-again Television reunion tours. He and Rip also found themselves a dream gig, of improvising music for silent music films -- and there were tours along those lines, too.
Throughout these Spinal Tap-ish power struggles (see link below), Verlaine periodically guested on other people's records -- notably, those of his onetime romantic partner, Patti Smith -- and put out the odd film score, between those on-again, off-again Television reunion tours. He and Rip also found themselves a dream gig, of improvising music for silent music films -- and there were tours along those lines, too.
So he wasn't entirely idle, exactly. You could characterize his later years as a life of touring and recording leisure, I suppose, which makes me appreciate Lloyd's closing observation on his onetime guitar sparring partner: "Tom Verlaine is wonderful to laugh with. Tom can be the funniest guy on Earth. But, often, Tom just doesn’t want to get out of bed. I’ll certainly never do business with him again."
Ironically, Verlaine died on the cusp of scoring a real coup, having been announced as the opener for Billy Idol, on a six-date UK arena tour set for October 2022. But Verlaine had to bow out, after his doctors determined he wasn't medically fit enough to do it. (The slot went to Killing Joke and Toyah, instead.)
But that howler of a headline left me wondering, How much did Tom Verlaine earn, before he shuffled off this mortal coil? All those celebrity net worth sites are notoriously sketchy, due to their wobbly sourcing, of course.
Still, depending on which one you check out, that figure might be $100,000-$1 million (Idol Net Worth) $2 million (Hollywoods Magazine), $3 million (GH Gossip, Popular Net Worth), or even $1-7 million (BuzzLearn). There you go, then! Take your pick, and decide what you want to believe, which seems like a mantra well in keeping with the now-you-see-me, now-you-don't approach that characterized Verlaine's career approach, one dedicated to keeping the outside world at bay.
So what returns did all this recorded leisure yield commercially? I haven't found a lot of hard info to answer that question, though the BestSellingAlbums.org site claims gold status in the UK for Television's groundbreaking debut, Marquee Moon (100,000 sales).
That makes sense, since Television -- like many punk pioneers -- fared better overseas than at home. By contrast, Marquee Moon didn't even make Billboard's Top 200 when it came out in February 1977. I've never seen any figures for the second Television album, Adventure (1978), which is described as selling "modestly."
Generally regarded as the weak kitten of Television's back catalog, we can safely assume that Adventure hasn't match Marquee Moon status. We can probably apply that same yardstick to Verlaine's solo output, since ex-band members -- famous, or not -- end up starting over in the marketplace. Sometimes, they scoop up enough fans to outpace their previous track records, but that's not a lengthy list. I wouldn't expect to see Verlaine's name on it.
Still, whatever Tom Verlaine took home, it apparently was enough to keep him afloat in New York City, whose eye-popping average monthly rents ($3,450 for a studio; $6,995 for a four-bedroom unit) would make a rerun of the gritty '70s punk scene that he inhabited impossible today.
CBGB's closed up shop in 2006; it's now the home of a designer men's clothing shop, an event that would have seemed unimaginable to the denizens propping up the bar. All we have left are the memories and the outsider's music we feasted on, increasingly deemed safe for mass consumption. Case in point? the Stooges' "Down On The Street," whose assaultive instrumental break is currently gracing a Chevrolet TV ad ("Chosen Family") as I write.
I have yet to hear Television songs like "Marquee Moon," or keynote Verlaine tracks like "Kingdom Come," gracing any TV commercial, or serving as backgrounds for some A&E cop show -- yet But cult status or not, I imagine it's only a matter of time; anybody who crafts an album like Marquee Moon is bound to catch the gatekeepers' ears sooner, rather than later, I suspect.
So, in that sense, like many of his pioneering peers, maybe Tom Verlaine did invent the punk bank, as much as the punk band. Only, not in the way that he imagined, or envisioned. Time will tell if my hunch pans out. Somewhere in the ether, I suspect that Tom Verlaine is laughing at all this. And reaching for another cup of coffee. And, as always, one more cigarette. --The Reckoner
Links To Go (Hurry, Hurry,
Before Those Television Albums Go Platinum):
Uncut: The Story Of Television, By Richard Lloyd:
https://www.uncut.co.uk/features/the-story-of-television-by-richard-lloyd-71368/
Before Those Television Albums Go Platinum):
Uncut: The Story Of Television, By Richard Lloyd:
https://www.uncut.co.uk/features/the-story-of-television-by-richard-lloyd-71368/
< Words From The Front (1982): Cover Art
Tom Verlaine stares down the future,
Tom Verlaine stares down the future,
cigarette in hand: "What d'ya mean,
I invented... A punk what?
"Punk bank?
"Punk bank?
"What the hell does that look like?
"C'mon, man...you can't believe
everything you read. Or anything,
for that matter." >
