Torn Curtain by Television

[AlNaafiysh]

The world's best "closing" song (and I don't give a toss about Beatles). And the guitars are completely INSANE. The end of a perfect album. I'm so amazed.

[KeganLovel]

and chryslerpoet is completely correct. New York rock music was about energy and not holding back - it was never intended to be some sport where everyone acts as tough or daring as they possibly can. The word punk, at the time, was a sort of demeaning term. It was like a word attached to someone who was arrogant and stupid. So embracing that is almost halfway a joke anyways, and I don't think there were any CBGB icons who sat around arguing semantics or staging history.

Just relax and listen.

[TheEnchantingWizard1]

Tears... tears rolling back the years

Years... Flowing by like tears.

[chryslerpoet]

Television, Blondie, the Ramones, Patti Smith, Suicide, Talking Heads, et al, were the bands that opened up the space for punk to exist. A good reminder to the younger generation that at one time, "punk" was about the attitude and energy you brought to the stage as opposed to the style you played. At one time the label embraced a lot of different stuff. It was the greatest time in my life, I can tell you. Thanks for posting this.

[MichaelLoveGun]

What a great band!

Thanks for posting.

[AlNaafiysh]

The guitar solo in this song makes me go berserk. In a good way

[TrueDamage999]

best coda of all time.period.

[gobeco]

Can anyone tell me what punk influence is in this song?. Well, it was done in 1977 but....... Tom Verlaine said he hate all those punk scene. Maybe Richard Lloy the other guitarris is more influencied by punk but not much. They start in 1972 and the covers they made were of Bob Dylan, Rolling Stone, 13th Eleveitors.......punk?.

[KeganLovel]

@gobeco

Television helped invent the punk aesthetic and attitude. By attitude, I don't mean that they were aggressive for the sake of aggression; rather, they broke some major musical barriers (blending genres like jazz and surf rock) and put sexual innuendo in their early songs (See a song called "Love Comes in Spurts"). They also were perhaps the first band to wear torn clothing, and Richard Lloyd famously wore a shirt captioned, "Please Kill Me," which is kind of interesting. Hope that helps

[gobeco]

@KeganLovel Yeah, thats right but it´s common to every young musical movement. Stooges or N.Y Dolls were too much punk and they were before. Verlaine alway deny about punk. He is too much lyric for punk. Richard Hell was few time in TV and yes he always has felt punk. I alway thought that TV was a personal project of Tom Verlaine. Now that R.Lloyd has leaved TV he declare TV always has been a tom Verlaine dictatorship.

[KeganLovel]

@gobeco

I'd definite agree about the Stooges. They're often overlooked in punk history because they were so far ahead of the game. Television WAS punk though. Listen to Foxhole or Double Exposure for evidence.

Later on their sound cleaned up.

It was never a Tom Verlaine dictatorship. He can be a controlling or dictatorial guy at times, sure. But Richard made it quite clear that he decided to leave because he thinks he has the best guitar record in the world up his sleeve. (see his website)

[t85heavy]

@gobeco You lack undertanding young padewan.

[ms44blues]

i woke up with the need to play this album, particularly this song, over and over..

[aushuntsman]

i love television! this is no doubt one of the best albums and bands of all time. this song suits any mood and feeling. talent is shown in every part of this song from such a talented group. if only this song went for half an hour

[guybrushnl]

@manconoo

I would trade the entire catalogue of all of those bands for one more Television song.

[Elijah2x]

Yes, a great Album

[manconoo]

Simple. No televison = No U2, No Smiths, No Sex Pistols, No Ramones, actually No Punk per se, No talking Heads, No Blondie, No Simple Minds, and the list goes on and on and on....

[XxVampireKazumixX]

@manconoo Actually Blondie was before this. The bassist for Television used to be the bassist for Blondie. But I so agree.

[Dooglemcdan]

@manconoo the band television is post-punk era so yah punk would still be what it was

but i do agree amazing band

[MyBeautifulZygote]

@manconoo I would honestly say Joy Division did a lot more of that influence. Television was a bigger cult hit which had a lot less influence. But which one would I rather jam? Television by far!!! No offense to Joy Division, great band just not my cup of tea so much.

[Hawk0009]

@MyBeautifulZygote It's funny, I just went through a huge Joy Division phase, followed up by my first real exposure to Television. I like Joy Division a lot, but this shit is just pure genius. I started with Marquee Moon and Friction and Elevation, couldn't get off those three tracks, then I migrated to the rest of the album. Just a brilliant piece of work through and through. Some of these songs get so much better the more I listen to them. So happy I finally found this band!

[K7vn]

My mind is so hooked by the song that I cannot think of words to describe it.

[Noodleydoo]

Brilliant. If you do not own this record--get it.

[WePandas]

One of the best albumclosers ever. Beautiful in an almost hauting way.

[SirPwn4lot]

@WePandas COUGH** A Day in the Life - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band ** COUGH**

[WePandas]

@SirPwn4lot Brilliant as well (not as good as Tomorrow Never Knows though)!

[Megajosh2]

This shit is the best song on the album.

[TheRanTanWaltz]

We are big fans of Television and the new wave scene. If you could have a listen to our stuff (click our name and it will take you to our videos) and let us know what you think it would be much appreciated. Thanks

[julie223783]

Every young band is having a stab at doing this stuff - classic

[desasterz]

@julie223783 Yeah, I did. I had to go with applying it to my experiences. WHat is true is all the bands in my area (Teeside, England) all try to sound like Joy Division. They totally fail because they just take the sounds and track them down. What you need todo is make a sound that spells how you feel.

[smeejit]

Marvellous track from a classic album.....

[weechi1987]

wow...never heard Television before

this is purely genius

[maclennan73]

@weechi1987 Glad you made it, and genius it is!

[deSadetheImpaler]

ill say it until the government silences me..this album is so brilliant these dudes must have been aliens from the future..word up

[owsleythebear]

sometimes when I listen to them I imagine them playing with picks that look like little light sabers

[24liam24]

One of the best albums of all time.

[discomadame]

I love this song, it's the darkest one of the album IMO. The guitar play is amazing. As usual.

[bananimalistic]

tom verlaine, one of the most unerrated guitar players.

[the215renaissanceman]

A masterpiece.

[Zerms4]

Word...

[LolloGoldJack]

I LOVE THIS SONG!

[flavorbud]

I bought this cassette tape in 1977 at the ship's store onboard the USS MIDWAY (CV-41) homeport Yokosuka, Japan. A long way from club CBGB NYC. But I was there in mind.

[SimplyShadow]

shyea..