107. Television, "Marquee Moon"

 

Another album whose massive influence far outstripped its actual sales.  This weird little gem emerged from the CBGB scene in Lower Manhattan in the 70s, but instead of the wild simplicity of the Ramones, Television was doing something altogether different.  Is it art-punk?  Post-punk?  Prog-punk?  Who knows?  On the cover, the band looks like aliens emerging from their spacecraft with what could be either good or ill intentions, and the music must have seemed just as weird and otherworldly at the time.

Unlike the slapdash immediacy of pure punk, the band meticulously rehearsed this album until every note was expertly and precisely placed.  Some of the songs, like the title track and "See No Evil," are based around a delicate little guitar riff that is more of a motif than a dominant feature.  The guitar playing throughout is not just expertly done but also so unique that it simultaneously defined the sound of the band and influenced a thousand bands that would come later.  U2's The Edge said that he was trying to get Tom Verlaine's sound when he played.  It was obviously an influence on R.E.M.'s Peter Buck and you can still hear it in the dance-punk of the early aughts.  "Angular," that word beloved by music critics, was invented for this sound.

I'm convinved that it would have been more successful if someone other than Verlaine was singing.  I can hear you hissing but hear me out.  I know that his weird, strangled vocals are just as essential to the Television sound as the syncopated drums or the bursts of buzzing guitar but it had to be off-putting to the casual listener in the US, who was used to something, well, more conventional.  It's no surprise that in the UK, where they are probably more tolerant of weirdness in their vocals (see, e.g., Joy Division), the album sold considerably better.

I think I first encountered this album in high school at a friend's place and I remember liking "See No Evil" but the rest of the record not making much of an impression.  Luckily I came back to it later in life, because it's such a great, weird little gem.  I think it's ascended to god-tier status among my caste of music nerds and that's fine, but it's still just a fun record.

Is this album in my personal Top 500? Yes.