Top 100 Songs of all time: Marquee Moon

The Song: Marquee Moon.
The band: Televison, Tom Verlaine (gtr/voc), Richard Lloyd (gtr), Fred Smith (bass), and Billy Ficca (drums).
The Album: "Marquee Moon." From 1977 comes Televison's debut and masterpiece. Looking back this makes me feel so ancient as 'marquee Moon" is over 30 years old.

From the first hammering chords of "I see no evil" to the end song wistful notes of "Torn Curtin" this album is a real time capsule of grandeur. One song that stands alone, is the title track which is great in clearing out the cobwebs of life when played really loud, especially early in the morning.

The history of Televison, they were part of the New York/CBGB/late-70s scene. They are often lumped into punk & new wave bands of that era, but this was mostly an accident in history, just like "Patti Smith" around the same time. Television’s brand of virtuosic, cinematic rock was a different sound to bands like Ramones or Blondie. This debut recording had its whipcrack rhythms and strategically interwoven guitar lines, may come across to-be the most structurally perfect guitar-based music ever made.

Some people find Tom Verlaine’s voice—technically suspect and borderline whiny—to be an obstacle. I think it fits the music perfectly, and anyway, with a different singer Television would have been a different band. And that would have been unfortunate, because no one was qualified to take their place in history recording one of the best albums of all time. Let alone the song "Marquee Moon" being in my top 100.