Television co-founder Richard Lloyd dies at 75
Richard Lloyd, who played guitar in Television from the start, has died at 75. His interlocking guitar work with Tom Verlaine made the New York band stand out among its peers.
A band built on two guitars
Verlaine, Richard Hell and Billy Ficca had played together as the Neon Boys. When that group ended, they added Lloyd as a second guitarist, and Television formed in 1973.
It came out of the first wave of New York City punk. Max's Kansas City and CBGB were the local clubs where it gathered a cult following.
Its sound rested on the elaborate way Verlaine's and Lloyd's parts intertwined. Next to the three-chord tunes of other bands of the time, that was a sharp detour.
Signing with Elektra came in 1977. The label released Marquee Moon, and Adventure followed a year later. Then friction between Verlaine and Lloyd ended the group.
In Pitchfork's review of the two albums, Chris Dahlen heard Lloyd hitting notes hard while Verlaine worked with a subtle twang.
Tributes so far
Since the news broke, several artists have written about him. Johnny Marr of The Smiths called him "a seeker and finder and a true inspiration with and without the guitar."
On X, Lloyd Cole said he had seen Television only once, and that Richard played all the riffs that drive the songs.
A kid from Pittsburgh
Lloyd was born Richard John Alt in Pittsburgh in 1951. His parents separated, his mother remarried, and the family ended up in Greenwich Village.
At seven he picked up the guitar after noticing one at a cousin's sleepover. Beatles records were an early pull. In a January interview with Guitar World, he called the guitar "their magic wand."
He spent brief periods in Boston and Los Angeles. Back in New York in his early twenties, he met Verlaine and Hell for the first time.
After the breakup
Lloyd's solo career was busy: nine albums. He also contributed guitar to records by Matthew Sweet, Stephan Eicher and John Doe of X.
Television reunited once more for an album, Television, in 1992. Verlaine died in 2023.
Lloyd said in the 2017 KEXP interview that Marquee Moon has never gone out of print and still turns up on lists of the best records ever. That made him proud and happy.
For years he avoided Television songs. As the last functioning member, he said he now owed something to fans, and his sets mixed Television songs, his own and some covers.
Illness
The cause of death was cholangiocarcinoma, a cancer of the bile duct. A GoFundMe was launched in August to help pay for treatment.
His family told Rolling Stone that his wife Sheila and his dog Willie Mays were with him at the end. The New York Times reported the death.
Source: Pitchfork