Television : Marquee Moon

WHAT I WANT,

I WANT NOW

AND IT'S A WHOLE 

LOT MORE THAN

"ANYHOW"

 Marquee Moon

 is the 

debut 

studio album

 by 

American 

Rock band

Television

released on

 February 8, 1977, 

by Elektra Records. 

In the years 

leading up

 to the album, 

Television

 had become a 

prominent act

 in the New York 

music scene 

and generated 

interest from a

 number of 

record labels, 

eventually signing

 a record deal 

with Elektra. 

The group rehearsed 

extensively

 in preparation for 

Marquee Moon

 before recording it at

 A & R Recording

 in September 1976.

 It was produced by

 the band's frontman

 Tom Verlaine 

and sound engineer 

Andy Johns.

For

 Marquee Moon,

 Verlaine and

 fellow guitarist 

Richard Lloyd 

abandoned contemporary

 punk rock's power chords

 in favor of 

rock and

 jazz-inspired interplay,

 melodic lines, 

and counter-melodies. 

The resulting music

 is largely

 hook-driven

 with complex

 instrumental parts 

particularly on

 longer tracks such as 

"Marquee Moon", 

while evoking themes

 of adolescence, 

discovery, 

and transcendence 

through imagery 

in urban, 

pastoral, 

and nocturnal modes,

 including references

 to the geography of

 Lower Manhattan.

 Influenced by 

Bohemian and

 French poetry, 

Verlaine's lyrics 

also feature puns 

and double entendres

 intended to give

 the songs an 

impressionistic quality

 in describing his

 perception of 

an experience.

Released to 

widespread acclaim, 

Marquee Moon

 was hailed by critics

 as an original

 musical development

 in rock music. 

The critical recognition 

helped the album 

achieve unexpected 

commercial success

 in the United Kingdom, 

despite poor sales 

in the United States. 

Among the most

 acclaimed music releases

 in history, 

it consistently features

 in professionally 

curated lists of

 top albums, 

including various

 iterations of 

Rolling Stone magazine's 

"The 500 Greatest

 Albums of All Time", 

on which it ranked 

128th 

in the 2003 list 

and 107th 

in the 2020 list. 

Marquee Moon

 also proved to be a 

foundational record 

of alternative rock,

 as Television's 

innovative instrumentation 

on the album 

strongly influenced 

subsequent post-punk,

 new wave,

 and indie 

rock movements 

of the 1980s 

and rock guitar 

playing in general.

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