Richard Lloyd Dies: Guitarist With Influential Punk Pioneers Television Was 75 — SkimNews
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- Richard Lloyd died at 75 at his home in Chattanooga, Tenn., from bile duct cancer called cholangiocarcinoma after a March diagnosis; his family reported his death to The New York Times.
- Television recruited Lloyd as its second guitarist by the band’s 1974 debut at CBGB, creating its signature dueling Strat-versus-Jazzmaster sound and complicated interplay rather than power-chord-heavy guitar bombast.
- CBGB emerged as the epicenter of a new downtown music scene, with Television’s early residency helping establish the venue alongside Patti Smith and the Ramones as the band helped develop a sound later loosely called punk.
- Tom Verlaine contributed Television’s keening vocals and poetry-driven lyrics, while his sinewy guitar style contrasted with Lloyd’s fiery work in the interplay that peaked on the 1977 masterpiece Marquee Moon.
- David Bowie caught Television during a New York trip and spread the word about the band, later recording its song “Kingdom Come” for the 1980 album Scary Monsters.
- Richard Hell quit Television in 1975 after the bandmates bickered over their music and performance, then formed the Heartbreakers and later Richard Hell and the Voidoids; Fred Smith replaced him.
- Television called it quits in 1978 partly because of Lloyd’s increasingly dire heroin addiction and mental-health issues, then reunited intermittently; Lloyd released nine solo albums, while Verlaine died in 2023.
Why it matters: Lloyd’s death at 75 follows Verlaine’s in 2023, leaving Television without either of the guitarists whose interlocking Strat-and-Jazzmaster sound defined its 1977 masterpiece Marquee Moon. The band’s genre-building legacy now rests on recordings from before its 1978 breakup, including a punk style markedly more intricate than the era’s power-chord norm.
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