Richard Lloyd, Torrential Guitarist of Television, Has Died

Richard Lloyd, Television’s co-lead guitarist and a major figure in New York’s 1970s punk scene, died at 75 at his home in Chattanooga from bile duct cancer. Alongside singer-guitarist Tom Verlaine, he helped shape a sound that joined punk’s urgency to intricate rhythms, jazz-influenced chords and extended guitar interplay. Television emerged from the CBGB scene, but its adventurous music set it apart from the era’s more stripped-down punk bands. The group’s 1977 debut, Marquee Moon, became a widely celebrated rock record despite modest U.S. sales; its ambitious, roughly 10-minute title track exemplified the band’s reach. The follow-up, Adventure, also found greater success in Britain than in the United States.

Born in Pittsburgh and raised partly in Greenwich Village, Lloyd began playing guitar as a child and eventually joined the band formed by Verlaine, bassist Richard Hell and drummer Billy Ficca. After Hell’s departure, Fred Smith took over on bass. Lloyd left Television in 1978 amid drug addiction and creative tensions with Verlaine, then released nine solo albums and played on records by artists including Matthew Sweet and John Doe. Television reunited in the early 1990s, releasing a self-titled album whose single reached Billboard’s alternative chart. Lloyd and Verlaine remained estranged for years, though Lloyd recognized Verlaine’s songwriting gifts and regarded his own guitar playing as the stronger part of their partnership.