Television was an American rock band from New York City that formed in 1973. Its most prominent lineup comprised vocalist and guitarist-keyboardist Tom Verlaine, guitarist Richard Lloyd, drummer Billy Ficca, and bassist Fred Smith.
An early fixture of CBGB and the 1970s New York punk rock scene, the band is considered influential in the development of punk rock and alternative rock.
members: Tom Verlaine, Richard Lloyd, Billy Ficca, Richard Meyers, Jimmy Rip, Fred Smith
formed in: New York City
labels: Capitol Records, Elektra
genres: art rock, new wave, proto-punk, post-punk
awards: MOJO Awards
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Television's roots can be traced to the teenage friendship between Tom Verlaine and Richard Hell. The two met at Sanford School in Hockessin, Delaware, from which they ran away. Both moved to New York, separately, in the early 1970s, aspiring to be poets.
Television were contemporarily regarded as an art punk band. The band broke from standard rock convention by omitting blues influence and instead incorporating elements of jazz, while retaining the "raw energy" that was influenced by garage rock. According to Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic, "With its angular rhythms and fluid leads, Television's music always went in unconventional directions."
Underlined songs have their story further down.
"Marquee Moon" is a song by American rock band Television, recorded for their 1977 debut album of the same name. It was written by the band's lead vocalist and guitarist Tom Verlaine.
Each of the song's three verses begins with a double-stopped guitar intro before Billy Ficca's drums come in, and after the second chorus Richard Lloyd plays a brief guitar solo. After the third chorus, there is a longer solo by Tom Verlaine, based on a jazz-like Mixolydian scale, that lasts for the entire second half of the song. On the original vinyl edition of the album, the song faded out just short of ten minutes, but the CD reissues have included the full 10:40 of the take. In concert, the band has sometimes extended the song to as long as fifteen minutes.
Despite its length, which would typically have been too long for most popular music radio formats, the song was released as a single in the U.K. and was a minor success, reaching number 30 on the UK Singles Chart. Because of its length, the song had to be divided between the two sides of a 7" record: "Marquee Moon" (Part I) (3:13) b/w "Marquee Moon" (Part II) (6:45). The song was also released in the UK as a limited edition 12" vinyl single. A mono recording of the song served as the B-side of the 12" single, and an alternate take was issued in 2003 on the remastered CD version of the album, Elektra/Rhino R2 73920.
"Prove It" is a song by American rock band Television. It was released as the second single from their 1977 debut album, Marquee Moon.
NME ranked it 40th on the magazine's year-end list of the best singles from 1977.
Like its preceding single, "Prove It" was a staple of Television's early live shows, often as a set closer. The lyrics relate to a detective story.
In the United Kingdom, "Prove It" was released as a single on July 22, 1977. The first 15,000 copies were pressed on light green vinyl, and the next 15,000 were in dark green vinyl. The single charted for four weeks and peaked at number 25 on the UK Singles Chart on July 30, 1977.