Television

Part of the New York punk scene of the late 1970s, Television became one of the city's great cult bands, inspiring the likes of Sonic Youth, The Strokes and Pavement with their angular, new wave rock. Formed by Delaware school friends Richard Hell and Tom Verlaine, who fled to the Big Apple with the intention of becoming great poets, they became regulars at the legendary CBGBs club and grew up alongside The Ramones, Talking Heads and Blondie, before Hell left to form The Heartbreakers and The Voidoids. More technically proficient than most punk acts, the band's classic debut album Marquee Moon (1977) earned huge critical acclaim, drawing comparisons with the Velvet Underground, and still regarded as a hugely influential landmark. They reached Number 7 in the UK with follow-up Adventure (1978), but drug problems took their toll and they split soon after, with bassist Fred Smith joining Blondie and Verlaine pursuing a solo career. They reformed for a couple of years in 1991 and released the well-received Television (1992), and have played regular reunion shows together since 2001.