A Short History of Richard Hell

Richard Hell's version of punk was all about the positive power of the music itself. He was just the same as many other punk pioneers in the way he got angry and snarled, but he also managed to inject some much needed humor into the scene. His most famous song was 'Blank Generation'. But whereas it was probably seen as a negative song, with the 'blank' of the title referring to nihilism, the 'blank' actually meant a blank canvas, where all possibilities and avenues were available. His version of punk was utopian.

Before he adopted punk as his avenue, Hell was a struggling bohemian writer. He had moved to New York in the late sixites, from Lexington, Kentucky, with his friend Tom Miller. They both spent some time working in book shops and also set up their own publishing press so they could print their own work, mainly short stories and poetry. Miller adopted the name Verlaine and Richard Myers took on the name Hell. By 1971, both of them gave up their literary quest and went the way of the music. They formed the Neon Boys along with the drummer Billy Ficca.

Even at this point in proceedings Verlaine was showing signs of becoming a truly great guitarist. Hell was a decent bass player also. In 1974 the Neon Boys changed their name to Television. Richard Hell didn't stay in the band too long though. He hooked up with Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan of the New York Dolls and together they formed the Heartbreakers.

Before this the Neon Boys had recorded just two songs. One of them was 'Love Comes In Spurts'. It was a direct and coarse song that featured a good deal of humor. Hell started playing it with his own band who were called the Voidoids. The Voidoids were always a more viable possibility than the Heartbreakers. They seemed to always be pursuing the perfect rock riff. In the band Hell had the chance to simply keep it real. The other members were Bob Quine on guitar, Ivan Julian also on guitar and Marc Bell on drums. The Voidoids signed a deal with Sire Records and made the iconic album 'Blank Generation'. It was full of clever lyrics and worked on more than one level. The songs discussed ideas about relationships, death and identity and were almost always humorous. It's the title track, however, which really stands out as their one and only classic. It features the Fred Smith-like guitar playing of Quine and has a truly great guitar break.

Richard Hell quit the band at this point. He was back again a few years later though when he began writing and recording again with the likes of Thurston Moore and Steve Shelly of Sonic Youth in the band called the Dim Stars. Quite some achievement though, being part of not one, but two, great bands who are remembered as being responsible for helping to define punk and, of course, the generation.