richard hell - pioneer or silly old fool

I thought it had been conclusively established that, despite punk's arguable provenance, Hell at least invented the ripped-t look as a self-conscious "look."

By the way, don't sleep on Destiny Street from 1982. Lotsa covers, but they're pretty good covers (see "I Can Only Give You Everything"), and the album also contains Hell's best song/creative swan-song, "Time," and lots more tasty Bob Quine guitar strangling.

Oh, is *THAT* what makes someone "new wave"? The colors? Silly me, I thought it had something to do with the music and the people involved.

which is fucked up.

Next to Punk Rock, they WERE comparatively bland. That doesn't mean they sucked (at least not the Furs), it just means that they weren't quite as exciting as the Punks.

I originally said this joking, but kind of thinking there was something in it, but now I'm really believing it.

"stray cat strut" sounds a lot like "blank generation". maybe that fits in with your your colors/rockabilly/bomp/new wave free association experiment.

voidoids = sonically v.bland (on record) compared to "survivor", but so does all new york "punk" except dolls who are glam

no new york = difft matter, tho DC are rhythmically superior to all but bob burt era s.youth when i saw em at ica in 1982 (= best live show i evah saw)

the thing that makes me laff most abt "PLEASE KILL ME" is that Hell made (te prettier) RICHARD LLOYD wear the T-shirt!! Now that IS punk: more if someone actually had...

Or do I mean less?

Re: New Wave. Please, nobody quote Claude Bessy. Thanks.

Damn, no coke for me.

i kid you not bet Hell heard this and ripped if off

no that there's anything wrong with that...

i kid you not bet Hell heard this and ripped if off

There's an MP3 of "Beat Generation" here.

By the time Richard Hell got around to playing with the Voidoids, he'd already been in two of NYC's seminal punk bands; Television and Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers. The fact that he got kicked out of both bands before they put out records doesn't change the fact that the guy was punk to the bone, ur-punk, proto-punk, like Iggy or Joey Ramone. If ya can't dig that you need a bigger shovel, kid.

Track down Television or The Heartbreakers doing live versions of "Blank Generation" or "Love Comes In Spurts" - if the Voidoids' versions sound "new wave" to you, it was just Hell trying to keep up with the times. Matter of fact, The Heartbreakers' "One Track Mind" is "Love Comes In Spurts" with different lyrics. But you've probably never heard the original mix of L.A.M.F. (not Revisited, and not the Lost Mixes - the original mix on vinyl), one of the most perfect pieces of punk pooped out of NYC's steaming backalley... Plus Robert Quine is among the greatest guitarists, ever, so tread gently with the Voidoids slagging....

Good sources on Hell are Lester Bangs' Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung (couple of good essays, pro and con, on Hell there) and Clinton Heylin's From The Velvets To The Voidoids.

I bought Blank Generation when it came out and was somewhat nonplussed, those guitar lines sounded more like Beefheart than the Ramones, but eventually I learned to love it.

We discussed Hell's writing on a Lester Bangs thread last year, he wrote THE BEST tribute I guess on the 20th anniversary. Skimming the gruesome Go Now made me glad I never did heroin.

What's on that anthology?

Couple of proto noo-wave novelty records, hung out with Johnny Thunders, first to wear a ripped T-Shirt(!) Who cares?

Two Bonus Tracks:
One Dim Stars
One Television - "Blank Generation" (Live at CBGB's)

-- Soukesian (byakheenospa...), September 21st, 2005.

Okay, I'll take the bait.

Hell founded The Neon Boys with childhood friend Tom Verlaine in 1972. Neon Boys became Television in '73. Hell & Verlaine stumbled upon CBGBs and arranged Television's gigs there in '74 - making them the first punk band to play CBGBs. It's their headlining shows that form the backbone of the punk scene in NYC from '74-'76 - they were the big fish in the small pond at that point, along with Patti Smith and The Ramones. McLaren saw Hell and exported his style back to England. You can say "ripped shirt, spiked hair, big deal," but that depends on whether you value punk as a music style, fashion sense, or attitude. At punk's foment, the three were inextricably entwined and Hell was there early on *all* three fronts. Verlaine excised Hell's musical & stylistic influences by the time Television's debut album appeared in '77, but Hell's songs were encore material, show-stoppers.

By the time Hell is in the Heartbreakers in '76, he's a continuing influence on the Sex Pistols and the rest of the English punk first wave. Just as in Television, Hell isn't just holding the big guy's (Johnny Thunders) coat. His presence / songs / attitude were a big part of The Heartbreakers; after all, they kept playing his songs even after he left. Again, you say "who cares" because his influence was never committed to vinyl prior to '77, but by that time he had written the book on being punk, not to mention selling the movie rights.

I agree wholeheartedly that Hell went to junkie seed pretty quickly after '77, but that has nothing to do with his impact at punk rock's epicenter. Your casual dismissal of him is so off-base I'm halfway to thinking it's provocative posing.

I've just always been a bit underwhelmed by the vinyl to rep ratio, and you may have a point that he was too busy being a punk to really get it together on record.

http://s46.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2TRIAM5N1ZH6W0MOXB0WPVFSMV

The Neon Boys (1972) - Sounds a lot like the Velvet Underground
Heartbreakers (1975) - IMO the best version, from a demo recording
Voidoids (1977)- Hell finally gets a record deal and his guitarists get their freak-on
Heartbreakers - One Track Mind (1977) Nervy bastards; they just took Love Comes In Spurts and put different words to it! The album is so good you forgive them.

uhhh http://www.insound.com/Richard_Hell_and_the_Voidoids_Destiny_Street_Repaired__PRE-ORDER_LP%2BCD%2BPoster/productmain/p/INS61199&from=99939/

Pretty weird, really - he's de-Quining the record! Quine was the best thing about that record!

link's not working but wtffff at de-Quining

http://www.mbvmusic.com/richard-hell-and-the-voidoids-destiny-street-repaired/11718

i mean, ribot, frisell and julian are pretty tasty choices, but this seems kinda star wars special edition here.

http://geek-tastic.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/george_lucas17.jpg
godfather of punk

^1st bounty hunter to rip breast plate up

NO QUINE NO CREDIBILITY

what next, Lou Reed replaces RQ on The Blue Mask with Pat Metheny?

i got Hell’s autobiography for xmas :D

i’m only halfway through but i don’t want it to end. dreamy and detailed and wistful (sidebar: also wow he is singularly obsessed with vaginas isnt he lol jeez)
the stuff about him and tom is so so good, as expected

yeah that book is great, pairs well with Patti Smith's "Just Kids"

yeah otm
god i love Just Kids, and def has the same vibe - i’m going to reread that next

i liked the autobio a lot but the sex stuff does become a bit ott. iirc there were a few bits towards the end where he goes a little too far in the telling imo, and appears to make a point of naming names in a way that seems to cross the line into being unnecessary and demeaning to the people in question. but that was my only quibble. wish he would do another one that picks up where it left off.

i think his overwhelming horniness overrides his sense of propriety in most cases

i don’t know why i am so forgiving in Hell’s case?

it reminds me of writer Danielle Henderson describing listening to Van Halen: (paraphrasing) the lyrics are total sexist garbage like any other glam metal group and SHOULD make me furious but somehow the personality and panache and sexiness is so over the top and the music fucking rocks so I have to crank it up louder please don’t make me explain why

richard hell is david lee roth i guess is what I am saying

*long loud record scratch*

As a dude of a certain age I can find it a bit crepey but not really going to argue with anyone who doesn’t seem to mind it.

i really can’t account for why it doesn’t bother me when it normally absolutely would

The book was really enjoyable and I especially liked what little he was able to write about his father - I knew little of his upbringing so it was all new - but it definitely threw me to see him write in a leering way. It reminded me of Nicolas Cage’s monologue when he hosted SNL - you kind of wish an editor would have also taken him aside and have a little talk.

i liked the autobio a lot but the sex stuff does become a bit ott.

Not read the memoir yet but I remember Go Now was steamier than I was prepared for as a teen (and also dark as fuck).

circling back after re-reading patti smith, one of the great throughlines of both Hell’s and Patti’s books is the whole subculture of ny booksellers and used books etc, they both talk about in a lot of detail & i really loved it

like patti finding flipping rare books to make rent etc

and of course tom verlaines book collection and ongoing sales kind of a post script for that whole world et.

Richard usually doesn't post about politics on his website's "What's New" section (it's usually about his own work or print appearances) but given the past two weeks, he's had to make a big exception. Succinct and straight-to-the-point.

Interesting

He's giving another reading, this time in his hometown of Lexington, Kentucky.

You need to get tickets, but they're only $12 and they haven't sold out yet. (FYI per Institute 193's IG account, last time they had a reading, tickets sold out pretty quickly.) He'll also do a Q&A and book signing afterwards.

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/richard-hell-favourite-bob-dylan-song/

New post from his website:

Some more dubious and, in this case, illicit photos of Richard from his trip to Paris to walk for fashion house Enfants Riches Déprimés (Depressed Rich Kids), here at his fitting in the apartment of the fashion business's owner and designer, Henri Alexander Levy. Illicit because Hell agreed to the unplanned shoot only on condition that the pix couldn't be published without his permission. He did not grant permission. He likes some of the pictures though.

dude is still a handsome mfer

Forgot to post this, but Hell's doing readings and book signings on the West Coast to promote the New York Review Books Classics publication of his 2005 novel Godlike as well as his 2023 book of poems from Winter Editions, What Just Happened...

Should be March 9 at Elliot Bay Book Co. in Seattle, March 11 at Powell's Books in Portland, March 13 at Green Apple Books in San Francisco, March 16 at Stories Books in L.A., and March 19 at Beyond Baroque in L.A.

hey bird, did you see him last night in brooklyn? he read the first two chapters in godlike and a smattering of poems including the one on verlaine. he looked well.

Yes! He seemed pretty happy and so friendly. I mentioned him reading the poem about Verlaine 2 1/2 years ago but he was still grieving then - this time, he seemed very much at peace.

And you can tour his apartment:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/03/04/realestate/richard-hell-east-village-apartment-tour.html

apartment tour is fascinating. feel like I read that he bought another apt in the same building at some point and turned into a duplex. still looks like a classic east village pad, complete with bathtub in kitchen. his book collection is one of a kind, would love to spend an afternoon or two browsing. and he looks DAMN good, hope I'm half as well-preserved at 78 (which isn't all that long from now tbh.)

oops age 76 but still

Here's a bypass link I saw elsewhere for those of us lacking a subscription to the NYT

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/03/04/realestate/richard-hell-east-village-apartment-tour.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Q1A.3T2X.28da6nSoqJyx&smid=url-share

I definitely remember that duplex detail from somewhere as well

love the apartment article so much

I have been in that apartment, in the sense that in 1994, he buzzed me in, i walked up to whatever floor it is, he opened the door, I walked in, we conversed about the reissue for Destiny Street he and I were working on, he handed me something germane to the reissue, I said "thank you, talk to you soon" and went back to the office, or my own apartment on 7th street. Couldn't really scrutinize what it was like. But for sure I could tell it was unusually capacious for the neighborhood. Like, vastly so…

What I can infer is that he bought both units when the getting was good, but in terms of the maintenance that any other owner of such a property would keep up on w/r/t a sale at some point, he doesn't bother with it. He's not going to sell it, he's going to die there, and it does what he wants it do, he doesn't need to see to every crack in every corner…

"deferred maintenance" in real estate lingo, yes, haha I just fixed a broken (interior) window in our house after 25 years