4.

Television – Marquee Moon

To me this record sounds like electricity. It’s sorta arty-punk. Tom Verlaine sounds on the verge of a nervous breakdown and his singing and lyrics are so dreamy and elliptical. It’s brutally stark and spare. The guitar playing is so amazing, so different – there’s this tension, this raw clean air playing in the guitars – it’s just so well arranged and yet unlike any record I’ve ever heard.

The album never really had any commercial success but it’s such a seminal record. I think it influenced a lot of bands along the way. It opened everyone’s ears to what you can do with an electric guitar.

Both Duke and Steve (of Garbage) are huge fans of Marquee Moon and every now and then this record will pop up on our references. Sometimes we’ll say, “You should do a guitar that sounds like a Television riff, that real tall angular sound." One of the songs off our new album, Man On A Wire, has a little bit of a Television influence to it.