richard hell - pioneer or silly old fool

For those who think McLaren, Rotten et al. invented Punk Rock, it should be duly noted that "Blank Generation" predates "Pretty Vacant" rather significantly.

Anyway, Richard Hell was New Wave, not Punk. Mad props for Go Now which I read at least twice a year to remind me why I don't want to be a musician.

There's a terrible "Deconstructing Punk" documentary that's the added attraction on the Filth and the Fury DVD, and he comes off as very intelligent, realistic, good-natured,. Not fogeyish at all. Unlike nearly everyone else in the film. But--The junkie beatnik routine was always a bit tiresome. And I find his vocals irritating now. I didn't back then. The band's great, though. Quine's a god.

Too bad they suck at it. *ducks*

You guys can have this dubious honour as punk is really credited with saving our beloved music industry. Thanks a lot.

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?

(^^^would buy, actually)

http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/farid/research/digitaltampering/stalin1+2.jpg

would buy either of them things

(also: in Soviet Russia, photo shops U)

dunno, is this sort of thing EVER a good idea? Think that Hell has fairly decent intentions here -- righting something that he's felt wasn't up to par. But I'm almost positive that every musician who has ever recorded anything has felt like, "hey, i could do that better now" probably ... but that doesn't mean they should go ahead and do it.

First of all, learn to read! Here's what the post says:

A totally new “rescued and re-recorded” version of the Voidoids’ final 1982 album, featuring the original rhythm tracks, with new vocals, and new lead guitar parts from Marc Ribot, Bill Frisell, and Voidoid Ivan Julian. It features the original rhythm guitar tracks by Robert Quine, from tapes just recently discovered by Hell.

Hell was in bad shape when he made this record. I've heard earlier versions of many songs (they're rough and apparently contained finished rhythm section and rhythm guitar, but only rough takes of vocal and lead guitar. The album was a disappointment when it came out, the product of lengthy-wrangling over its "commercial" possibilities and hideous record company influence. You'll recall that Hell basically quit music for about a decade after its long-delayed release. Naux was a mistake - that's obvious - and the vocals and mixes were done poorly and very quickly, due to budget problems. This ought to set it right, and I look forward to it!

hell was bottoming-out at the time of destiny street, "living like a rodent" in his own words. but I wonder how interested he is in music? or how much he's played in recent years?

First of all, learn to read!
easy there, the catbird dude definitely added that bit after i read it.

and anyway, i'd say that Quine's solos are the best part of the record still -- whether the new lead parts are just as good, I dunno.

A stupid idea indeed - I'll stick with my old cassette copy of the original DS, thanks.

Better he should get Mark Arm or whoever to redo his own vocals.

I'm still having a hard time getting over Ned's assertion that "Blank Generation" is a shitty song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yp9MufnUANg

O.G.

Tom Verlaine guest DJ'd on WFMU a few years back and played that one! Funny.

are most of the songs on blank generation just rips of others?

I mean I fuckin love the album but

xpost: "It features the original rhythm guitar tracks by Robert Quine".

OK, I should know, but I don't: why were these taken off in the first place?

http://www.richardhell.com/destline.html liner notes from earlier CD reissue by Hell himself

wow that rod mckuen shit is kind of braeking my heart

Quine re: Destiny Street: "I said 'OK, let's make it quick and painless.' We got a really good band together- Fred Maher, who I had played with in Material, Naux, this really great guitar player, Hell on bass (thank god). We rehearsed about a week, did the basic tracks and it was pretty good. It was done in early '81. There were some financial problems so the studio kept the tapes captive for about a year. Hell disappeared for about a week and a half (due to personal problems) after we did the basic tracks and had the studio booked. We had a week and a half for me and Naux to do overdubs- I did backwards guitar, feedback guitar, speeded-up guitar. I got that out of my system for once and for all. After it got held up, I didn't want anything to do with the mix. There was just this morass of guitars. Considering what they were dealing with, the record isn't that bad. Not nearly as good as the first one. 'Time' was really good."
from over yonder (great interview: http://furious.com/perfect/quine.html)
who knows, Quine was such a curmudgeon that he might've wanted to do this repair job himself if he was still around.

what an interview

yeah, far and away the best RQ interview I've come across.

this part is especially interesting: "Another influence was Brian Eno. He lived in New York from the late 70's to '84/'85. Pretty good friends with him. I actually recorded a lot with him but almost none of it ever came out. He did On Land, which made me appreciate the ambient stuff even more. It's sort of a nice back-and-forth influence thing. I got him onto 'He Loved Him Madly.'"

is Quine on any Eno records? I can't remember -- he says "almost none of it ever came out"

dude probably just sits in a room like this all day

http://www.slashfilm.com/wp/wp-content/images/arkwarehouse.jpg

Raiders of the Lost ARP

Decide for yourself about the whole "Destiny Street Repaired" thing-- I just put up a streaming album player for it

http://www.mbvmusic.com/destiny-street-repaired

anyone going to this? i'm tempted.

RICHARD HELL
MAKES RARE PUBLIC APPEARANCE
AT NEW MUSEUM (235 Bowery) ON SUNDAY SEPT 13 AT 4:30PM
TO BENEFIT HOWL! FESTIVAL’S NEW EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE AND HEALTH FUND HOWL! HELP

Tix: $6. *Special offer: Attend this event and receive half-priced ($6) admission to the Museu m galleries. Inquire at the Visitor Services desk for details.

On the occasion of the release of newly elaborated editions of his 1973 novelina , The Voidoid (now with drawings by Kier Cooke Sandvik), published in June, and his 1983 Voidoids album (with new guitar parts added by Marc Ribot, Bill Frisell, and Ivan Julian), which is re-released September 1 asDestiny Street Repaired, Richard Hell will make a rare public appearance reading from his self-bio in progress, among other works, and will sing at least one song with guitar accompaniment. Possibly other media will get play, too.
Richard Hell made his reputation as one of the original musicians to bring attention to CBGB and punk music in the mid-seventies. His album Blank Generation (1977) was one of the initial major statements of the movement. In 1984 he retired from music and has since made a reputation as a writer. He's been published in The New York Times and its Book Review, Vice, Art in A merica, Bookforum, The Village Voice, Black Book, Vanitas, The Brooklyn Rail, Flesh World, Toilet Paper, Punk, GQ, andNerve, among many other magazines. He's also appeared in numerous anthologies as an essayist on books, movies, art, and music. His books include the t wo novels Go Now and Godlike; the set of previously uncollected "essays poems lyrics notebooks pictures fiction" Hot and Cold; and two volumes of collaborations, Rabbit Duck (poems written with David Shapiro) and Psychopts (graphics created w ith Christopher Wool).

Novel
Novela
Novelina

Destiny Street Repaired sounds like a mistake, but I can see how it would nag at him how shitty that record sounds. good songs on it.

http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/07/08/richard-hell-repairs-the-voidoids-1982-album-destiny-street/

Can't believe this is the only thread him, christ on a crutch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQJSHY1K80c&feature=related

What's up with this? A Japanese documentary on Hell & the Voidoids? Anyone know anything about this?

Um, pioneer. Founding member of Television, etc........ Evidently has also tried his hand at stand-up comedy along the way, and is a funny mo-fo.

(x-post) Not a documentary (and German, not Japanese.) Although I've known about it for years, I've never seen this.

Blank Generation (1980)

Nada, a beautiful French journalist on assignment in New York, records the life and work of an up and coming punk rock star, Billy. Soon she enters into a volatile relationship with him and must decide whether to continue with it, or return to her lover, a fellow journalist trying to track down the elusive Andy Warhol.

xxxpost
Japanese trailer for a 1980 film by Ulli Lommel? Starring Hell as a punkrocker, haha. Never heard of it before.

xpost there ya go :)

cartoon review of recent dvd issue. really makes me want to see it :)

yah

Okay, I used to have the DVD. The Japanese trailer was confusing because it titled it Richard Hell & the Voidoids - Blank Generation as if it was a documentary.

I saw him "host" the 5 under 35 Festivalin Brooklyn last fall. He seemed pretty damaged and it was sort of hard to understand what he was saying.

Libby Edelson at Ecco has acquired the memoir of Richard Hell, the punk icon who retired from music in 1984 to focus on his writing. It is called I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp.

Mr. Hell is the man behind such tunes as “Blank Generation” and “The Kid with the Replaceable Head.” He was co-founder of the band Television, but left in 1975 after creative disputes with fellow songwriter Tom Verlaine. He went on to found the Voidoids with former members of the New York Dolls.

Since 1984,he has written the novels Go Now and Godlike, as well as the essay collection Hot and Cold.

“Writing this book was complicated and fraught,” Mr. Hell said in a statement, “and took a long time, but all that melts in my pleasure at being taken on by this great publisher.” He also mentioned Ecco’s “do-it-yourself” roots. The press release about the memoir mentions “endless nights with club denizens,” “encounters with literary luminaries like Susan Sontag” and “a long procession of vividly evoked girlfriends.” And heroin.

Rain Taxi published a chapter of this as a chap book earlier this yr (or late last yr) and it was very good, I have high hopes for this book.

Can't believe this is the only thread him, christ on a crutch.

That DVD was worth seeing for footage of the Voidoids but the movie overall was kind of lame. RH complains about the director for pretty much the entire length of his commentary.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51dNaY%2BPmQL._SL500_AA300_.jpg
looks like this is finally coming out. next march. will read!

first chapter: http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/HARPE-Image/idreamediwasaverycleantrampexcerpt.pdf

Ooh cool. I loaded that on my phone for my train ride tonight!

*prepares self for verlaine bashing*

*though probably not in the first chapter*

dean wareham reviews the new memoir - http://thetalkhouse.com/forum/view/dean-wareham-richard-hell
anyone checked the book out yet?

it's a good read. lucky in love, that guy. he personalized my copy at an in-store: "I Dreamed I Was A Very Clean Tramp Panhandling From Jeff."

I saw him read from it just as he was finishing it at Cake Shop. With Colson Whitehead and a few other people. He was all humble about doing a reading, feeling out of place in this literary world, regardless of how small the event was. And he got really choked up, read two passages about Tom Verlaine and was in tears.

wow no kidding! those guys should just hang out and get a cup of coffee or something. they probably live two minutes away from each other.

there is a passage at the end of the book about them bumping into each other recently at a used book store.

The book is really great & maybe in a strange way, what all of his work has been leading to

Yeah, that passage about them at the bookstore is what he read. He was literally crying. Totally not punk.

punk rock died the day richard hell cried at a book reading

what, in his telling, happened at the bookstore?

(i am assuming tv was a cold dick to him)

Meaning to read this soon. Perhaps will vacate the thread to avoid spoilers.

OK, hung around to read the Dean Wareham review since I recently read his book and figured he'd be kind of the perfect person to weigh in and he is.

i saw hell cry once too. they had a memorial event for robert quine at the cbs gallery. hell sang his song "time" accompanied by ivan jullian. very emotional moment; tears down his face. at heart he seems like a nice guy.

Yeah, his relationship with Quine is kind of telling. Obviously they had their ups and downs but he really seemed to like the guy and when Quine passed away, I remember reading Richard's reminiscence in which he really made an effort to paint a portrait of his old buddy, whereas Quine's other famous collaborator, well...

whereas Quine's other famous collaborator, well...

??who?

Hint: It's not Andre Williams to whom I am referring

oh duh lou unless matthew sweet is an unheralded asshole i guess

It's a really good rock memoir - really forthright and honest and self-aware and mostly surprisingly humble. Nice clean writing too.

There's a bit in the book where he becomes aware of the Sex Pistols - "Four guys who look just like you" someone tells him - and I expected him to go into a rant about how he was robbed, but he goes on to articulate exactly why the Sex Pistols became huge while he's something of a footnote.

It fizzles a bit toward the end, naturally.

What a horndog though. Jeez louise.

totally gonna buy this

At Book Court tonight

Report back if you are going, please

Was walking right by when I typed that but I couldn't make it.

there are 2 films titled Blank Generation. How is the one RH wrote/acted in?

http://www.bam.org/film/2015/blank-generation

Not great, but good performance footage if you dig the Voidoids.

Lots of scenes of RH broodily walking around NYC at night, iirc.

Reading at Book Court in about half an hour.

Did you go? How was it...

Walked by beforehand but couldn't go unfortunately

so in the great destiny street v destiny street repaired debate - for a first timer with this rec its obv going to be the first one right? repaired got some decent reviews

There's a bit in the book where he becomes aware of the Sex Pistols - "Four guys who look just like you" someone tells him - and I expected him to go into a rant about how he was robbed, but he goes on to articulate exactly why the Sex Pistols became huge while he's something of a footnote.
― brio, Thursday, March 21, 2013 8:09 PM (three years ago)

I thought Malcolm Mclaren had wanted him to come over and front the band before Johnny Rotten turned up. So surprised he'd only hear about them once they were up and running. Obvioulsy his priorities at the time might have been different and he might have been more focused elsewhere.

Is it in England's Dreaming where several of the first wave UK punk bands are trying to make the direct nicks from Hell material in their songs once he's turned up in the UK?

I know i read it somewhere anyway.

What a timely revive, as I just read this 1997 PFS interview with Quine where he talks about the McLaren offer (talking about '75-'76):

After about a year, he'd come over to my house and listen to records. He was quitting the Heartbreakers at that point. He wanted to have his own band. He had an offer from England from Malcolm McLaren. We would have been the Sex Pistols. He wanted us to go there to start a band. I don't know why that didn't happen.

I was not aware of a repaired Destiny Street! Will check it out. At 220 grams, the Munster reissue of the original is the heaviest album I own.

Err, the "he" in that first line refers to Hell, to be clear.

Yeah I think the story is that Mclaren had these 2 yobboes i.e. Steve Jones and Paul Cook coming into his clothing shop to attempt to shoplift clothing. They'd been playing together for a while and wound up with the shop's Saturday boy Glen Matlock joining them on bass but they didn't have a frontman cos Jones didn't like his voice. But Mclaren was interested in seeing what he could do with them.

So even with it just being Hell, as I thought, there would have been some duplication of instrument players. Hadn't realised Quine was supposed to be part of the same deal

Can't imagine Malcolm McLaren wanting someone looking like Robert Quine anywhere near any band he was involved with.

Looks like the sourcce for taht info is an interview with Quine for Perfect Sound Forever that's been up for years.
I don't remember taht bit of it but it has been about a decade plus since i remember reading it.

That interview is an ur-text.

Oh right, was wondering if it was an original interview for the online zine but its done by the editor.

Not sure how long Quine's been dead though. Was it shortly afterwards?

Feel like it came out right about when he died yes.

RICHARD HELL AND THE VOIDOIDS
CELEBRATE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF BLANK GENERATION

40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition Of The Influential Punk Album
Includes A Remastered Version Of The Original,
Plus Rare And Unreleased Studio And Live Recordings

Available On Limited Edition CD And Vinyl On November 24

http://image.e.wbr.com/lib/fe8e137075670c7572/m/1/Richard_Hell_Blank_Generation_40th_Anniversary_Deluxe_Edition_2397526_PR.jpg

LOS ANGELES -Richard Hell and the Voidoids' Blank Generation is an iconic album that has influenced countless rock bands with its image, its attitude, and its blistering performances. Released in 1977 on Sire Records, the album was received ecstatically by critics such as Lester Bangs and the New York Times' Robert Palmer (who called it one of the ten best albums of the decade), but as was the case with most original "punk" albums, it wouldn't get mainstream recognition for decades. Now its place in music history is secure as one of punk's most significant records. Recently, Rolling Stone magazine lauded Blank Generation as one of the "40 Greatest Punk Albums of All Time," giving the innovative and literate band its well deserved credit on the cusp of its 40th anniversary.

This seminal album is being recognized on its 40th anniversary this year with limited edition double-CD and double-LP deluxe editions to be released on Record Store Day's Black Friday. BLANK GENERATION: 40th ANNIVERSARY DELUXE EDITION will be available at independent music retailers worldwide November 24 on CD (limited to 5,250 copies) for $19.98 and vinyl (limited to 4,500 copies) for $31.98.

Produced for release by Richard Hell, the album has been expertly remastered-by Greg Calbi of Sterling Sound, who mastered the original LP-as well as restored to its original 1977 track listing and sleeve imagery. BLANK GENERATION: 40th ANNIVERSARY DELUXE EDITION includes a second disc, with previously unreleased, alternate studio versions, out-of-print singles, and rare bootleg live tracks from the band's first appearance in 1976 at CBGB. The booklet also contains many previously unpublished photos of the band by Roberta Bayley (the renowned CBGB photographer who shot the LP's original cover), a revealing essay by Hell along with compelling images from his notebooks and private papers, and an extensive new interview with Ivan Julian by Hell.

After establishing his reputation as founder of legendary bands the Heartbreakers and Television, Hell went onto to lead the Voidoids which included Robert Quine (who later played in Lou Reed's Blue Mask band, as well as for Tom Waits, John Zorn, and many others), Ivan Julian (who would record for Matthew Sweet and numerous other artists) and Marc Bell ("Marky Ramone"). Along with the Ramones, Television, Blondie and Talking Heads, Hell and his band helped to define the early New York "first wave" punk scene. The song "Blank Generation" became a slogan and an anthem and later was emulated by the Sex Pistols for their track, "Pretty Vacant."

Such songs as "Love Comes In Spurts" and "Blank Generation" were originally recorded at Electric Lady Studios, but were re-recorded prior to release at Plaza Sound during Sire Records' transition to Warner Bros. Records in 1977. At Plaza Hell reworked the album, leaving behind alternate versions and outtakes from Electric Lady that now appear on the second discs of these deluxe editions. The music sounds as fresh and abrasive today as when it was first released.

Hell retired from music in 1984, refocusing on writing as his vocation. He's the author of two novels and several books of nonfiction including his acclaimed autobiography, I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp.

For more information about RICHARD HELL AND THE VOIDOIDS please contact Jessica Giordano in the Rhino Media Relations Department at jess✧✧✧.giord✧✧✧@rh✧✧✧.c✧✧ or 818-238-6403.

BLANK GENERATION: 40th ANNIVERSARY DELUXE EDITION
CD Track Listing:

Disc One: Original Album Remastered
1. "Love Comes In Spurts"
2. "Liars Beware"
3. "New Pleasure"
4. "Betrayal Takes Two"
5. "Down At The Rock And Roll Club"
6. "Who Says?"
7. "Blank Generation"
8. "Walking On The Water"
9. "The Plan"
10. "Another World"

Disc Two: Bonus Album
1. "Love Comes In Spurts" - Electric Lady Studios Alternate Version
2. "Blank Generation" - Electric Lady Studios Alternate Version
3. "You Gotta Lose" - Electric Lady Studios Outtake Version
4. "Who Says?" - Plaza Sound Studios Alternate Version
5. "Love Comes In Spurts" - Live at CBGB, November 19, 1976
6. "Blank Generation" - Live at CBGB, November 19, 1976
7. "Liars Beware" - Live at CBGB, April 14, 1977
8. "New Pleasure" - Live at CBGB, April 14, 1977
9. "Walking On The Water" - Live at CBGB, April 14, 1977
10. "Another World" - Ork Records Version
11. "Oh" - Original 2001 Release
12. 1977 Sire Records Radio Commercial

LP Track Listing
Side One
1. "Love Comes In Spurts"
2. "Liars Beware"
3. "New Pleasure"
4. "Betrayal Takes Two"
5. "Down At The Rock And Roll Club"
6. "Who Says?"

Side Two
1. "Blank Generation"
2. "Walking On The Water"
3. "The Plan"
4. "Another World"

Side Three
1. "Love Comes In Spurts" - Electric Lady Studios Alternate Version
2. "Blank Generation" - Electric Lady Studios Alternate Version
3. "You Gotta Lose" - Electric Lady Studios Outtake Version
4. "Who Says?" - Plaza Sound Studios Alternate Version
5. "Love Comes In Spurts" - Live at CBGB, November 19, 1976
6. "Blank Generation" - Live at CBGB, November 19, 1976

Side Four
1. "Liars Beware" - Live at CBGB, April 14, 1977
2. "New Pleasure" - Live at CBGB, April 14, 1977
3. "Walking On The Water" - Live at CBGB, April 14, 1977
4. "Another World" - Ork Records Version
5. "Oh" - Original 2001 Release
6. 1977 Sire Records Radio Commercial

weird, they left out the alternate "R+R Club" that was on the old CD version

No!! I love that version!!

Didn't Richard Hell regret switching the versions?

I'm surprised there isn't further discussion about this. I was reluctant to pick this up because of the complaints posted elsewhere, but the CD version is still easily found and I came across a really good used one for $10. The package is pretty nice but I have to agree with many of the complaints I've heard. Leaving aside minor quibbles that shouldn't be dealbreakers for most people:

1) The bonus tracks are inadequate. I'm glad they separated them out into a separate disc, and for historical reasons it's nice that the original LP as released has been restored with the reinstatement of the "correct" version of "R+R Club," but as mentioned, the bonuses leave out the alternate "R+R Club" found on the old CD (and I've seen quite a few writers and critics who prefer that version). They also leave out the two bonus outtakes found on the same, older CD, and even though they include the Ork EP version of "Another World," they left off the other two tracks from the same EP. As is, the entire two CD set clocks in well below 80 minutes, so there was certainly plenty of space left to include these tracks.

2) The sound is much worse than expected. This is due to the mastering - lots of compression, excessive treble boost - but it's even worse for the bonus tracks because very poor sources were obviously used. For example, the Electric Ladyland outtakes sound like cassette dubs. That's especially disappointing because Richard Hell decided to re-record the album at Plaza Sound when the release was delayed, and though some of the original Electric Ladyland recordings remained on the album, many believe the Plaza Sound recordings in general were inferior to the Electric Ladyland recordings (albeit still great). Then there's the Ork EP version of "Another World" - it sounds very poor as well. A year or two before this set was released, Numero Group in Chicago released an amazing box set of Ork recordings - it's worth getting for the hardcover book alone, but the discs include all three tracks from the "Another World" Ork EP. It's definitely mastered from a vinyl copy, but the track "Another World" sounds far better on that Ork box set than it does here. (The Ork set also sounds much better than the limited edition EP reissue from 1994, which got a vinyl and CD release.) Sadly, we'll have to presume the master tapes for that EP are lost forever, but at least the Numero Group did a commendable job remastering it. It's just stunning how bad the one track sounds a few years later on the Rhino anniversary reissue.

thanks for that breakdown, much appreciated. I haven't heard the newer 2CD, but I have the Numero Ork box, the 1994 7" EP Overground reissue, an OG US Sire vinyl LP, and the CD reissue from 1990 or so with "All The Way". I've never A/B'd the EP with the Ork version, will check that.

another missing piece is the Radar 7" version of "Kid With The Replaceable Head"

Listening now to something called “Time (Destiny Street Demos)” -Live - Bonus Track

his best song probably? prefer the outtake that was on a recent comp. here's a cover:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kzuNNBumAY

Maybe one day I will read his memoir, which I was reminded of again on one of the other threads.

TIL that Minutemen song was a cover.

!

I love "Time." It's definitely one of his great songs. He's made several great recordings but my favorite was collected on Spurts: The Richard Hell Story so it's possibly the one most people will hear anyway.

Maybe one day I will read his memoir, which I was reminded of again on one of the other threads.

It's really good, in maybe even preferable to Patti Smith's Kids. For the most part, I enjoyed her book, but I didn't like the mythologizing and Hell's memoir felt like a good antidote for it.

There's a new version of Destiny Street that's just been released on vinyl - Nick Zinner remixed it I think?

Has anyone heard that?
The reissue on Munster Records that I bought 20 odd years ago is the heaviest album in my possession, 220 grams!

lol I already bragged about that >4yrs ago I see

ha, i think i have some other Munster release thats 220, what was up with that?

's really good, in maybe even preferable to Patti Smith's Kids. For the most part, I enjoyed her book, but I didn't like the mythologizing and Hell's memoir felt like a good antidote for it.

yeah, Kids left me cold for just that reason. Hell's is lighter on the self-mythologizing, although in a few places he goes too far in the other direction - theres some demeaning stuff about his sex conquests that i found unnecessary. but its a good read. I actually got a bit more out of his crit collection Massive Pissed Love though.

looking at this thread i see i missed the 40th anniversary blank gen set? i never thought richard hell of all people would be one of those artists where i would be buying copy after copy of their same releases over and over

He seems like a smart guy but the music leaves me cold and I hate hate hate the sound of his voice. Maybe I should give one of his books a chance.

The Blank Generation deluxe edition contains a song named "Oh", recorded with the reunited group in 2001. It must have the worst vocal I've ever heard on an official release by anyone, I can't believe he thinks it was adequate. Not that his singing was ever his selling point.

I didn't like "Oh" either, just as I didn't like Destiny Repaired but it's kind of understandable. I can't be too optimistic when he suddenly comes back decades later and cuts a record.

Anyway, he's a great figure in rock, but he wasn't necessarily a great recording artist. I think his first EP, the Blank Generation LP, and a handful of additional recordings collected on Spurts: The Richard Hell Story are genuinely great records, but they didn't come easy to him - it's still debatable as to whether he actually improved Blank Generation when he chose to re-record a part of it. His only other LP was compromised by his poor health. I wish he had a larger body of work, but I don't blame him for getting out of music because he's lucky to have survived. The only times I've ever seen him around NYC were for film-related events, and he's a good film critic - for a year or two, he had a film column in magazine that may not be around anymore. At the time, I didn't know much about him outside of his musical career, so when I first saw him, I was kind of taken aback by how happy and healthy he looked. Charming and hilarious, it actually made me happy that he was in a much better place.

Blank Generation is a favorite record of mine, but a lot of what makes it great for me comes to those players and that moment - its Quine's best moment as well as Hell's imo

It's interesting, there's an Ivan Julian documentary on Amazon Prime (kinda low budget, not amazing but an interesting look into the guy's life) and I was reeeaaallly surprised that a good amount of the really memorable guitar parts I credit Quine with in my head were Julian

in 1993, while working at Razor & Tie, I supervised a reissue of Destiny Street and got to know him a little bit… he retained 0 rights with respect to anything that could be done with it; the label licensed it from Red Star, i.e. Marty Thau, who possessed the deepest, most pronounced Noo Yawk accent I've ever heard to this day… Hell viscerally despised Thau, but not so much that he wouldn't cooperate with us in putting this thing together… one time I met with him at De Robertis, that bakery on the east side of 1st avenue, where he pitched me on putting a tentacle porn comic he had written in a fold out of the reissue…"uh, that's quite an idea Mr Hell!" I stammered/chuckled, "but I think he need to pass on that! would you be interested in writing some notes about the songs?" He did.

He was super pleasant and friendly the entire time. I also went to his apartment a couple of times; he lived in the same building on 12th street as Allen Ginsberg…he did indeed look very healthy at that time, in fact he was quite handsome, and when I saw him for years after —although I lived on 4th and 1st ave, very near where he lived, for 16 years, I never decided to engage him, and he never recognized me— almost every time he was with a very very beautiful woman many decades his junior. I guess he is pretty singular as a guy that really doesn't feel any motivation to be a performer…I don't remember very much about Dim stars…and it does seem that he stayed clean since the very early 80s.

I have never listened to Destiny Repaired, i.e. the result of his decision to replace the work of Bob fuckin' Quine of all fucking guitarists with that of Frisell and Ribot, and for that matter am bewildered that Ribot and Frisell would consent to do such a thing in the first place. It's not like there's something truly wrong with the initial record!

and before all this, growing up in misfits-besotted louisville, a few times I played Blank Generation in the presence of some of my buddies… and so, just cuz you wear your die die die my darling leather jacket everytime you leave the house doesn't mean you can handle Trout Mask Replica or The Modern Dance or indeed Blank generation.

oh wow awesome post thank you for that

WOW yeah great story - the comic idea is o_0. Agree that the destiny st repaired thing seems pointless and baffling, i never had any interest in it.

i had a friend in publishing who told me in the 2000s he used to throw proofreading & editing jobs Hell's way from time to time and said he was always super nice & easy to deal with and happy for the work, no matter how piddly or small the gigs were. he strikes me as one of those folks whose rep as a notorious curmudgeon is maybe overblown or out of date a bit.

i actually don't mind the repaired or remixed versions — but yeah, they are ultimately unnecessary. Destiny Street the OG album is great! Actually, the best thing about the newest Destiny Street collection is the inclusion of the 1978-1980 material (demos, singles etc). It's all shown up elsewhere I think, but presented as a whole it's like another awesome quine/julian lineup LP.

fuck man! i've spent the past two days listening to lou alums i never owned –I really like growing up in public, and take no prisoners is hilarious but I feel justified in not investing in Sally, R&R heart and Coney— but I'm gonna listen to that next! Reed/Quine/Saunders/Maher is one of my favorite bands to have ever existed…

aw man those are all great! I've been immersed in them as well this week, coincidentally

(Sally, R+R H, and Coney)

My friend argued that Sally Can't Dance is the best Bad Album of all time, but that discussion should maybe wait for a Lou thread.

ooh yes please, revive

I re-watched Desperately Seeking Susan recently, and recognized Hell as the sugar daddy in the opening scene; guess I didn't know who he was when I saw it in the past, cool cameo.

(wow, some other cool people also turn up in it - I knew about Ann Magnuson, but not some of these others.)

in 1993, while working at Razor & Tie, I supervised a reissue of Destiny Street and got to know him a little bit…

great story, thanks for sharing!

ok just cracked my copy of the new destiny st restoration/remix and seeing that 3 of the tracks are still the 'repaired' ribot & frisell versions, wtf? liners explain that he only found most of the original multitrack tapes... this fuckin guy, he got me again...

i dont even have a problem with the frisell/ribot guitars themselves, i like them, but the 2009-era vocals sound super out of place when mixed into the context of the other 1981 cuts. here are these wild feral tracks of a "small combo playing real gone rocknroll", interrupted every so often by a 60something man with a completely different vocal range and his adult daughter stepping in for a karaoke interlude. its just so weird that hes so obsessed with replacing those original guitars at any cost - he's got to know thats not a winning trade. i guess i can make a playlist slotting in the old tracks, but man, didnt see that coming.

Yeah, it's frustrating, but at least the original mix is on there. Before this, the album in general was OOP, so it's nice to have it all in one go and (hopefully) not have to buy it again...or maybe they'll find the last multitrack and finish remixing the whole thing?

Quine's guitar work on the OG title track is so goddamn good, what kind of savage reworks that? SO baffling.

I know I've posted elsewhere about how this promo sampler EP changed my life. Two songs apiece by Dead Boys, Talking Heads, Saints, and Richard Hell. I was living in my first apartment, with a roommate whose favorite band was Pure Prairie League, when I discovered it. He hated everything about it, but especially "Betrayal Takes Two." I don't know if he hated the vocals or the guitar more.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FWave-Rock-Roll-promo-sampler%2Fdp%2FB002TDWXNI&psig=AOvVaw0r0qyymHVlEgj10bKCNRCw&ust=1613681934943000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCLjYvPDn8e4CFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD

Stupid Amazon. This:

https://jamesostafford.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/new-wave-gatefold.jpg?w=829

I used to own that!! I think I mentioned that previously as well, I remember you bringing that up

What’s the easiest way to listen to Destiny Street (Unadulterated) these days if one’s physical copy has long gone missing? Asking for a friend.

Get the new double CD reissue from Omnivore. The original album is on there and it's never been mastered better in the digital age.

The "repaired" version is on there too, and the new mix which (though better mixed) unfortunately uses a few "repaired" cuts for the songs that didn't have the multi-tracks available, and it has a demo version that's nice to hear...you may not want any of those, but for the original album, Omnivore's reissue is still the best place to hear it.

Thanks!

I see. First it’s the original album then repaired then remixed and then finally the demos.

Great thread, thx. Omnivore also has DS Remixed and the Hell-inclusive CBGB Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (alas not a doc, but soundtrack might be good?) http://omnivorerecordings.com/richard-hell/

Also, somewhere I prob still have something, legit, I think w live RH x VoidOids in London---liner notes say that the encore-demanding chant is led by Rotten, and sure sounds like him in there.
Also, I hopefully still have his ROIR tape, described by xgau (basically right, except the limitations might well have more to do w notoriously iffy ROIR normal-bias Radio Shack cassette quality, bearable though it is) :

R.I.P. [ROIR, 1985]
Supposedly the farewell of annotator Lester Meyers to his alter ego Hell, this fourteen-song all-previously-unreleased compilation begins with Johnny Thunders in New York, ends with Ziggy Modeliste in New Orleans, and preserves seven new songs and eight new Robert Quine cuts. What could be bad? you ask perspicaciously, and yet I'm a little disappointed. Only Fats Domino's "I Live My Life" and a painful lament for a masochist groupie called "Hurt Me" would improve Blank Generation or even Destiny Street, and the alternate versions alter nothing. Recommended to Walkpeople. B+ Fuck grades, it ain't bad.

Haven't read the memoir, but I better, judging also by xgau's take:This counterpoint of modesty and self-regard is the essence of Hell's charm. He's an embodiment of hipster cool who explains why he isn't cool at all: "I'm cranky under pressure, I'm a mediocre athlete, I get obsessed with women, I usually want to be liked, and I'm not especially street-smart." Immediately after declaring himself king, he qualifies the claim: "the crown was mine largely by virtue of my appreciation of the realm and because I hated royalty." In this second instance, I should add, Hell's modesty is false flat-out even if you extend the "appreciation of the realm" part to his immersion in the neighborhood and its artist denizens--he was especially devoted to the New York School poets, in particular such second-generation obscurities as Bill Knott, Tom Veitch, and future uber-agent Andrew Wylie. Basically, Hell was king because he'd generated a sensibility so many could emulate and run changes on. Only the Ramones were as seminal, and they were half cartoon. https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/bn/2013-03.php

the Hell memoir? it's superb, def recommended

Yeah, just finished “Tramp” & wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone with a passing interest in Hell, the 70s NY scene, or punk in general. I don’t know how reliable a narrator he is, but it feels almost overly even-handed & def added some colour to my understanding of the milieu.

News update from Hell's site:

http://richardhell.com

JANUARY 2022: There's now up an astounding video from 1974 of the original Television lineup, playing Tom Verlaine's "Hard on Love" on a tiny stage in a New York club (not CBGB), when Richard was not only in the band, but singing and writing many of the songs and heavily influencing the group's style. This period lasted about six months before Verlaine had fully succeeded in changing the direction of the band, dropping Hell's songs from the setlist, insisting that band members stand still on stage, and reverting to ordinary hipster thrift-shop streetwear, rather than the various stylistic concepts Hell had conceived. No denying that Verlaine is stunning in the clip though. What a band. There's speculation that the gig is from late May at the Cafe Wha? in Greenwich Village. (The band's very first gig was in March.) What we do know is that John Lennon saw it in September because he remarks on it during an interview in Melody Maker as he watches it on local TV that month (Sept. 14 issue). This is also the version of the band that initiated CBGB, thrilled Malcolm McLaren and Patti Smith, and made Robert Quine think that perhaps there was a place for him in rock and roll after all. You can see the clip (and read what Lennon said, in the uploader's intro text) at YouTube. Pair it with the veryearly Ork loft rehearsal tapesand you can see what the excitement was about in 1974, and where punk began...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLlhYiN4gmU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcGEcB5M4es

Warner/Rhino has just released a new limited edition (5000?) of the 2017 remaster of the Blank Generation (1977) album, now on translucent blue vinyl...

https://earwaxrecords.net/UPC/603497842681

Richard's writing some additional booklet-text for a new release of the Blank Generation on CD, which will use the original album's cover and the original album's tracks (the 2017 remasters), but present a mixture of the original CD booklet's contents and newer text and graphic material. It will be released by org music in late spring or early summer...

https://orgmusic.com

please tell me "newer graphic material" = his tentacle porn comic from upthread

incredible, thanks so much xp

Hell's notes for the 2017 reissue spelled out the narrative behind the lyrics to The Plan, which I'd never really cottoned on to before, and which is boundary-pushing to a degree that is, for me, a colossal turn-off.

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/how-richard-hell-found-his-vocation?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Interesting interview about his whole life, Tom Verlaine, visual art, poetry (new book of his coming ),

from New Yorker

New York was in such bad shape that it was a Wild West frontier town, and lawless, and no one was supervising anybody, but at the same time there was an endless fund of jobs and cheap apartments, and it still had all the cultural things—great movies, bookstores, bars, music. But the ironic thing is, in a way, that situation of New York as the Wild West in the seventies and early eighties is libertarianism, where it’s every man for himself. You look at John Lydon and he’s a Trumpist, so in a way being nostalgic for that is wishing for the strong to survive.

Now, after a long hiatus, he is publishing a book of new poetry, “What Just Happened,” written during the lockdown months of the covid-19 pandemic, with original images by Wool. (A reading and signing event pegged to the book’s release will take place on July 6th at White Columns gallery, in Manhattan.

Does the article address how he has supported himself for decades? I've honestly always wondered.

Not really. Mentions his books and his living situation. Hell has written two novels (1996’s “Go Now” and 2005’s “Godlike”), and an autobiography (2013’s “I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp”). He also published a collection of his early journals (1990’s “Artifact”), an anthology of critical essays (2015’s “Massive Pissed Love”), a compendium of early poetry, short essays, and drawings (2003’s “Hot and Cold”), and a collaboration with the painter Christopher Wool, a friend of Hell’s (2008’s “Psychopts”).

Hell, who is now seventy-three, still lives in the same East Village walkup tenement he has been occupying since 1974, with his girlfriend, the novelist Katherine Faw.

he owns his apartment, for one thing -- he made a wise choice to buy it when it was cheap. also he sold his archives to NYU for a nice chunk of change.

How these fringe acts earn a living fascinates me.

Indeed.

Katherine Faw's homepage does not sport your typcal author's photo.

Believe we had the exact same discussion when his old bibliophile running buddy passed away recently.
(xp)

Yeah, but Verlaine and Television toured, if only occasionally. A string of festival dates alone was probably enough to keep Verlaine comfortable. But Hell, even the payout from selling his archives or whatever was reportedly $50,000. That's not going to last long, even if you own your own place. And I can't imagine he made more than that from his books, and likely a lot less, unless he's huge in France or something.

Rich wife?

I looked, and that doesn't seem to be the case either! At least as far as CVs go.

How these fringe acts earn a living fascinates me.

― the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, June 9, 2023 6:54 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

place and time play a big part here.

Yeah, I was gonna say. I'm more fascinated by how current fringe acts earn a living

Think hell had his editing gigs to eke by with maybe but who knows. But yeah, nowadays…

He used to have a movie review column for a few years. I think he’s able to make some money by writing regularly but it’s probably a different gig each time. (It’s possible he’s gotten work as an editor too.)

Inherited money? Spouses?

inherited money generally probably more of a factor than people assume, then and now. no idea about richard hell's case tho.

fwiw, when I googled him to get the wiki I saw the "estimated net worth" deal Google puts in the info box on the right, and it said $500,000. No idea where they come up with that, of course. I thought I had remembered him doing film music but no sign of that in the wiki.

chinese rocks is on a million compilations and probably some soundtracks.

I don't believe Verlaine or Hell's background was anything more than middle class

That’s was my impression as well. They went to that private school but I don’t think it was particularly fancy.

Quick someone do a detective podcast series investigating how Hell can afford his bills.

(Sorry that sounds so snarky. It’s a funny line of inquiry is all, & I imagined someone getting really into the question.

Growing up in NJ, when I finally met other Richard Hell / Television fans they told me he worked at Guitar Bar in Hoboken, lol. I'm not sure that is/was actually true.

I think Bowie covering "Kingdom Come" helped out Verlaine a LOT.

Again, he does get published regularly, and his music has also been reissued every now and then - the Spurts compilation, the Destiny Street remake, then later the deluxe edition with the remix, the anniversary edition of Blank Generation, having his stuff licensed for various compilations by Rhino or Numero Group, etc.

(Also, they're apparently reissuing Blank Generation on CD this month - it's basically updating the old CD so that it 1) uses the 40th anniversary mastering from 2017 and 2) makes everything correspond to the original LP, which means using the original artwork and the original LP version of "Down at the Rock & Roll Club.")

In terms of published writings, here's a sample:

Across the Years Hell selected poems 1970-1991
(Amsterdam: Soyo Publishers, 1991)

ARTIFACT notebooks 1974-1980 (includes contributions from Hell)
(NY and Madras: Hanuman, 1992)

THE VOIDOID 1973 novelina
(Hove, U.K.: Codex, reprinted in 1996)

Go Now novel by Hell
(New York: Scribner, 1996)

WEATHER series of twelve poems
(New York: CUZ Editions, 1998)

WANNA GO OUT? by Theresa Stern poems of Theresa Stern
by R. Hell & T. Verlaine
(Perpignan: Éditions Anna Polèrica, reprinted in 1999)

Hot and Cold "essays poems lyrics notebooks pictures fiction" by Hell
(New York: powerHouse, 2001)

Rabbit Duck 13 collaborative poems by Richard Hell and David Shapiro
(Milwaukee: REPAIR, 2005)

Art show catalogue essay "Sadness Notes" by Hell
(Normal: University Galleries, 2005)

Godlike novel by Hell
(New York: Little House on the Bowery [imprint of Akashic], 2005)

The Toilet Paper Columns 14 newsmonthly columns
(New York: CUZ Editions, 2007)

Psychopts artist's book collaboration with Christopher Wool
(New York: JMc & GHB Editions, 2008)

Disgusting drawings and writings by Hell, with unique endpapers by Josh Smith
(New York: 38th Street Publishers, 2010)

And there are many more magazine articles/essays, book introductions, comic books, etc. In short, he's a working writer, and I'm sure he gets paid well given his well-earned reputation.

It’s a funny line of inquiry is all

I don't think it is. While there are more artists than ever writing songs about wealth inequality, it seems that actual inquiring about the ways in which mid-level or low-tier artists are able to own vintage modular gear and spend weeks recording in fancy studios remains taboo. I just assume the answer is always generational wealth, because how could it be anything else?

(Sorry that sounds so snarky. It’s a funny line of inquiry is all, & I imagined someone getting really into the question.

― The land of dreams and endless remorse (hardcore dilettante),

I didn't take your point as snark, but I still don't get why asking how an artist lives day to day is strange.

Slightly different point, but what I always think about bands and artists that are full time bands and artists is what do they do all day?

Cocklodging is often the answer, can't speak for R. Hell in that regard mind

xpost

xp songwriting is work that takes time and effort! So is demoing, rehearsing, and recording music.

Cocklodging is often the answer, can't speak for R. Hell in that regard mind

Slightly different point, but what I always think about bands and artists that are full time bands and artists is what do they do all day?

― Renaissance of the Celtic Trumpet (Tom D.)

Bake brownies, read Elizabeth Bowen.

the little reading i've done by his girlfriend, all linked from her site, indicates her family is dirt poor.

_(Sorry that sounds so snarky. It’s a funny line of inquiry is all, & I imagined someone getting really into the question.

― The land of dreams and endless remorse (hardcore dilettante), _

I didn't take your point as snark, but I still don't get why asking how an artist lives day to day is strange.

Cocklodging is often the answer, can't speak for R. Hell in that regard mind

xpost

― I question your commitment to the revolution (Matt #2), Saturday, June 10, 2023 8:31 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

upthread someone said he bought his apartment years ago when it was still cheap

i think i was wrong about that; thought i'd read it somewhere. here he says it is rent-stabilized.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323936404578581993025822864

this has most of the content of the wsj article without the firewall:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet-books/2013/07/at-home-with-richard-hell-

here's an article by his downstairs neighbor:

https://bedfordandbowery.com/2013/07/looks-like-its-time-to-give-up-allen-ginsbergs-old-apartment/

hmm that poetry foundation link only works if you cut and paste it into a browser.

I've mentioned on ILX previously that I worked for Razor & Tie from 93-95 and worked with Msieu Myers on the reissue of Destiny Street, which was licensed from Marty thau… it was marty's to license, lock stock & barrel, but there were some issues that needed Hell's consent…he HATED marty, Marty hated him, but both were of one mind about a number of issues, albeit grudgingly…

I mentioned before that the first time I met him for a formal meeting (I had seen him on the street scores of times prior), he wanted to put this hentai he had made with some artist into the reissue, and I had to say, "uh I don't think we're gonna go for that"(I spose he could have made a case as to what this creation had to do with the context of this record, made in 1982, but he did no such thing) "but we'd really like for you to write some notes for each song." He did so, and was unfailingly cooperative and gracious throughout production. Super super nice guy!

One day, he came to the office for a courtesy meeting with the owners of R&T, who barely had any idea who he was (big springsteen guys, y'see): it was July, probly in the 90s, and he was wearing the kind of t shirt you would get a surf shop, board shorts and a par of chucks… he was not dressed like that for the previous meeting, and for that matter neither you nor I can EVER imagine Tom V or Bob Q EVER consenting to wear anything of the sort. He was very proud of this Mustang he owned, showed me and one of the owners a picture of it, and said "yeah, I drove this across the country when I was dope sick and needed to kick, and that did the trick…" the owner was discomfited, as I don't think he had much experience with the dope demimonde.

I visited his apartment once, to drop off something he needed to sign…by 12th st between 1st ave and Ave A standards, it was (or is) pretty big, he had two floors…this is the same building in which Allen ginsberg's apt was… and before and after my dealings with him (he never recognized me again and I didn't feel like bothering him as such), every single solitary time out of the 20-30 times I saw him on the street, he was with an incredibly hot woman, each fitting the type to which Ms Faw belongs, never the same person but all many decades his junior… for, despite his status as the ne plus ultra of EV hipsters, with an unimpeachable rep, never sold out etc etc, he was extremely well preserved.

Yea, I remembered some of this from the last time you posted it. Glad I didn’t imagine it.

here's part of a granta interview with Ms. Faw from 2014, presumably before she met RH?

What else has influenced your work besides other writers?

I went to film school before I went to writing school. Nikki’s Kool-Aid hair is a nod to Christiane F., this German movie from the eighties about a teenage junkie prostitute in the Bahnhof Zoo train station. Young God is from a Swans song. I remember first hearing this Lou Reed song in high school, ‘Some Kinda Love’, the part about putting Vaseline on your lover’s shoulder, and just being blown away by what was possible in a pop song. I started making my own T-shirts. Like a little boys’ Fruit of the Loom with the sleeves cut off, written all over in black Sharpie. One of them was just the lyrics to Richard Hell’s daughter-fucking song, ‘The Plan’. I was really into the whole seventies New York punk scene. It’s basically why I came to New York, which is nothing like that at all now.

TV: Well, yeah.

(Looks up and down W12th Street, bends over, hides copy of Theresa Stern poems in hard-to-find position on book cart)

Richard Hell has a speaking agency and the gigs those places book can actually come with real money, certainly better than chapbook money.

https://www.allamericanspeakers.com/booking-request/Richard-Hell/434268

rent stabilization is often as good as buying a place. I know a family with a soho loft on broome street where the elevator opens up into their living room, they pay 700 dollars a month.

Right. And feel like even if he has his own place he may be partaking of the spirit if not the letter of the practice Matt #2 mentioned.

MAY 2023: EXCLUSIVE ANNOUNCEMENT--There will be a reading/book launch by Richard in early July... Hell will be joined by Emily Simon for readings from their new Winter Editions titles at White Columns gallery in New York's Meatpacking District (right by the Whitney Museum) on Thursday, July 6. The books will be available for sale and the authors will sign them for those who so wish. The doors open at 6:30 PM and the reading starts at 7:00. It's free.

an enterprising new yorker can just go and ask him.

Ha, I nominate you.

I missed him reading at Book Court a few years ago and never looked back.

ha i've seen him do several readings. he is always thoughtful and amusing. seems like a swell guy. but i am covid-shy these days and don't go to indoor things if i can help it.

I saw him read at cake shop for a small series. Colson Whitehead was also on the bill. Hell was nervous and said he hadn’t done many readings like that and his book was about to come out. He read the bit about running into Verlaine at the strand and cried.

there was that memorial for robert quine at the cb's gallery where, at the very end, he sang his song "time" with ivan jullian's accompaniment and he was flooded with tears. very moving.

I saw him at a tribute to Lester Bangs at the church on the not-so-lower East Side- St. Mark’s, maybe? He read a page from the index of Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung.

He's great on the BBC Rock Family Trees about NYC punk from the 90s, very funny and smart and unassuming. I've not read Tramp yet - I really should, but I read Go Now as a teen and it was brilliant but a lot darker than I was ready for.

Go Now, I think is a pretty exceptional novel, I remember kind of hating it at the time but I think mostly I was just sick of "junkie novels" which at the time were numerous. I re-read it a few yrs ago and thought it was great.

Godlike is one of my favorite novels ever, I've read it several times and every time I am more & more impressed by it. If it had another name other than Richard Hell on it I am sure fewer people would know of it but its rep would be greater.

I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp is much better then your average music memoir.

I am eagerly looking forward to the new poetry collection, hoping Rain Taxi hooks Mpls up with another Hell reading in town (he's done a few over the yrs)

Not quite sure why, but I saw Richard Hell introduce a screening of John Huston's Wise Blood at the Glasgow Film Theatre a few years ago. He made some good points about the soundtrack not being very appropriate/good. As Stevie says, he seemed smart and unassuming.

I also remember reading Thurston Moore saying that the Dim Stars project floundered when Hell insisted on individual songwriting credits rather than a collective Dim Stars credit. Maybe one of the ways you stay afloat as a countercultural icon is by making it your business to pay attention to things like writing and producing credits and the copyright on your recordings.

I doubt any of Richard's literary endeavors generate significant "coin" as the saying goes. Those speaking-bureau gigs can pay well from what I've heard but you need sizable and consistent audience demand. Back in the day there was a weird subculture of people, not necessarily involved in creative activities, who lived on the margins in Manhattan, without visible or ahem Traditional means of employment, in rent-controlled or stabilized apartments. I met a couple of these characters in the early Eighties. Reading Hell's excellent memoir you get some sense of this lost world. Today the city is so high-priced that it's hard to imagine anybody surviving this way. But there are a few holdouts. Richard Hell is still savvy and no doubt gets by on some combination of all the different suggestions here. I wouldn't want to ask him.

would love to find a copy of Godlike. the only one i see available is $400.

Hell is selling it. Mystery solved.

haha! it says "sold out" on his own site.

Friend of mine who worked in publishing used to throw Hell regular editing gigs throughout the 2000s, working under his fairly anonymous govt name. My friend knew it was him but never let on, getting the distinct sense that RH was happy to keep that kind of work separate from his more public identity. My friend had no interesting stories about his work relationship with RH except to say that RH was always polite, professional, and grateful for the work.

In 2005, he answered the question, Sort of.

Are you able to support yourself just on your artwork, your books, your poetry?

It's funny how often I get asked that. Since like 1975, there was only one period of about six months in the late '80s - that was where I made the shift from music to writing and wasn't getting a lot of music royalties - that I had to work a real job.

Now where does the money keep coming from? From the book tours? From sales?

No, I get record royalties. Everything that I want to be in print is in print. Now I write a movie column six times a year. I do two or three high-paying readings a year. There’s a steady trickle from merchandise at the site. Every couple of years I make a good score in advances, either for music or writing...

New book arrived yesterday, it is great

Couldn't make the reading/signing at White Columns tonight, but here's a couple of photos on IG:

White linen suit was very appropriate - hot and muggy as hell today.

Another with his Nan Goldin photograph behind him.

(seriously, pun not intended - it didn't occur to me until after I posted)

was a nice reading. he closed with a poem in progress on Verlaine, then read the note from the author of the CBGB's graffiti book about Verlaine saying he had to get Hell to write the introduction. broke up recounting a dream he had recently about TV, so they skipped the q&a. the gallery owner said they will post video at some point.

would love it if they post the video - i was wondering if TV or Verlaine would come up

(to clarify - the dream was about Verlaine too, not Television. very affecting to see his emotion)

Hell gave another reading tonight at the Powerhouse Arena, which had been postponed a few weeks due to COVID. A good crowd, every seat was pretty much taken, but it felt like a pretty low-key event - except for a poster in the store and a notice on Hell's website, I don't recall seeing any mention or advertising elsewhere.

And man was it great - at the start, Hell acknowledged what was happening in Gaza. He didn't mention any one or group by name - he just wanted to say it was very much on his mind that there was a lot of awfulness going on the world, but he decided to "stick with my original setlist." So he read some poems - at one point, he discussed how he recently found out about time’s relationship to gravity, and how for example time is actually different from the ground compared to the highest peak of a mountain, or how it passes differently within the absence of matter in the vast emptiness of space - he mentions that time was already a subject that held endless fascination to him (see his greatest song, IMHO, "Time") so naturally this concept is something that he has been thinking over extensively. (A quick google search comes up with quite a few articles on this subject, FWIW.)

And he did indeed finish his reading with the poem on Verlaine. He apologizes ahead of time that he couldn't get through it the one other time he's read it, but he says he can probably do it now. He asks if we know Johnnie Ray, and after discussing him a bit (how he's seen as a transitional point from pop to rock music, how he tried to emulate black, female R&B singers, and how his crying was indeed sincere, he wasn't faking it), he mentions that he feels like Johnnie Ray where people are showing up just to see him cry. He talks a bit about Verlaine, assuming most of us knew their history, and mentions they grew up together and were close, but then he says he discovered he really didn't like him, totally not like a joke, but we all laughed. He added the feeling was mutual, and he added he never reconciled with Verlaine. (By this point he told a few hilarious remarks throughout the reading that I wish I could remember.) He goes ahead and immediately you can tell he's trembling and his eyes are tearing up. It really was powerful to witness - I had my phone but I didn't record it, even though it was a public event, I would've felt awful doing it. In hindsight, I should've recorded the audio, but it'll be a moot point if his publishes this soon. I think he mentioned something about an artist's need for an audience to exist, and remarked about his own existence or how he viewed it once Verlaine was no longer with us. He then talks about the dream - him, Verlaine and "Patti" (Smith I presume, though Hell was married to Patty Smyth) in a shop in SoHo. I want to say a bake shop or something like that, but I feel like I'm misremembering and filling the gaps with my own familiar activities around SoHo. Anyway, for some reason, he isn't wearing a shirt in this dream, but Patti/Patty touches his back and it deeply moves him. Then he mentions there's a lot of prose, unfinished verses presumably, and he then talks about the tweets by that author of the CBGB's book and how Verlaine recommended Hell, something that deeply moved him. It's possible he said or repeated this part before reading the poem, but I can't remember.

The reason why my memory on a lot of this has already faded is because of the following Q&A. The first few questions were quick - most notably, he was asked to reflect on Terry Ork and Quine who are also gone. (Quine was devastated by his wife's passing. He'd have dinner with him and he'd tell Hell "I've got it down to three hours of crying a day." He also never did drugs, but he got into it, possibly because of his wife's passing, and he killed himself that way. He hadn't had contact with Ork for a long time until close to his passing. In fact, he even got an email from Ork the day he died.) The question that kind of overwhelmed my memory was someone asking what Hell was listening to these days, and to my great surprise...he's a really, REALLY big fan of the Stones' Hackney Diamonds and talked more about that than anything else! It actually smeared what had been a crisp, sharp memory of everything before because I was just trying to process his response.

Basically, he's a huge Stones fan. They hadn't done anything of note in decades, but this one "blew me away." He did say he's grown to appreciate a bit the later albums he's dismissed before like Bridges to Babylon and Steel Wheels, but not like the new one. Loves all the songs on Hackney Diamonds, especially Keith, who he says has arthritis now so he can barely play but he found a way around that. (As discussed in another thread, ProTools likely.) He's always connected with Keith, but "Mick's growing on me," he really loves Mick on the new one. He also mentions the solos - he doesn't think the Stones were really about the solos before and argues their presence on the new one is a new and welcome development. He compares it to Dylan, whom he holds in the highest regard as a songwriter, but he says Dylan is after another direction, making his old songs sound new. In terms of the rock n' roll element, his records don't touch the Stones. (Again, it sounds like he's only comparing the latter day records.) He says he's very much child of the '60s in that he still believes Dylan and the Stones are in a league of their own. Later when asked what he's doing next, he says - not really jokingly - he may write about the new Stones album, so if any of you editors out there want a Richard Hell review of the new Stones album, it sounds like he's totally down for it.

man that sounds like such a great experience

thanks for such a detailed recap!

You're welcome! I figured I should share as much as possible - it was just great and I didn't want it to disappear in memory.

Yeah, thanks. Very good detail

Also I relate to memory smearing factors

It’s like there is a buffer size that can easily be overrun

That's great - thanks so much. Hackney Diamonds!

Thanks for all that, bird - lovely to read.

he then talks about the tweets by that author of the CBGB's book and how Verlaine recommended Hell, something that deeply moved him. It's possible he said or repeated this part before reading the poem, but I can't remember

There was a book about CBGB's graffiti photos and the publisher reached out to Verlaine to write an introduction, Verlaine demurred but in his email response said "look I can't stand the guy but you should get Hell to write the intro, he would be the best person for it" when he passed the story made the rounds on twitter and Hell has mentioned how charmed he was by the story becuz it neatly summed up how he felt about Verlaine.

Hell's essays (esp on music) are great, I would be eager to read his review of the new Stones record, haha I tried to listen to it last night and couldn't get into it, but if Hell likes I might need to re-assess

ha, this!

yeah would love a R. Hell review of the new rolling stones, haha. He might convince me to listen to it!

Loved his latest book of poetry / musings.

https://naimapublication.com/issues/issue-1/richard-hell-tomverlaine

that feels honest enuf. not sure how else to aasess. i mean, i enjoyed readin it.

short and sweet — obviously he went into great detail about the relationship in Clean Tramp. amazing they never buried the hatchet and just went and had coffee sometime. they pretty much lived around the corner from each other for the past 50 years.

It is very much in the spirt & style of the recent book of poems in this sort of amazingly understated poetic voice he's cultivated

That’s great, thanks.

I was thinking about some variant of this kind of thing in my own situation recently, earlier today actually, won’t hijack the thread with the details, but really like his approach to talking about it.

in the spirit of the new beatles song, why don't they take the unfinished recordings for the 4th tv album, have hell write the lyrics and take the vocals (maybe using bootlegs as a baseline for melodies/lyrics), and have lloyd and ripp do the leads and backing vocals? you heard it here first. i claim a share of the profits. (joke, joke. what profits?)

lovely piece by Hell, you just want to put an arm round him and give him a hug, don't you?

am sure for years he just imagined there was no way tom would go first

It looks like a finished version of what he had at the reading I posted about, and yes, you kind of wish a friend would give him a big hug. The main body of the text was done when I saw him, and it had an immediate effect on him as soon as he started reading.

in the spirit of the new beatles song, why don't they take the unfinished recordings for the 4th tv album, have hell write the lyrics and take the vocals (maybe using bootlegs as a baseline for melodies/lyrics), and have lloyd and ripp do the leads and backing vocals? you heard it here first. i claim a share of the profits. (joke, joke. what profits?)

haha, if the goal is to make verlaine spin in his grave, it's a guarantee

just seems like a great way to reunite the clan. the whole mishpocha.

aw i love this

i like how messy their relationship is; that they started out being symbiotic & almost inseparable & became two opposable magnets

i hope writing about it like this at least gives hell some more peace somehow, as he alludes to in the final note

i sorta went thru life not taking hell srsly in ignorance and welp

I feel like I say this all the time but I always liked the way he talked about somebody like Robert Quine, as opposed to the way Lou Reed supposedly treated him.

Someone asked him about Quine at the reading, and it was clear they were close friends to the end, right through Quine's overwhelming grief over his wife's passing.

Speaking of Quine, there is a great poem in the new Hell book that mentions him and Thunders and some of his other CBGB friends, the piece is untitled but you can read it here https://caesuramag.org/posts/eight-poems-from-what-just-happened-richard-hell, scroll down to “I miss Sabel Starr and Elliot Kidd”

RH cut new vocals for some of Destiny street as part of the partial remix/recorded reissue. I'd pass on a new Television LP with his singing, lol

this is nicely put, and true (from I Miss Sabel Starr and Elliot Kidd)

I never thought a person’s
era was all that significant to consider
about them, but it is. There are things
only the people who were together
young, in the time, can understand. And
who else is there to laugh about it
with? No one. Maybe
it’s just as well — we do tend to kind
of get twisted with age.
Half of us would have problems with
most of the others. Did at the time.
It’s all a mess.

Hey there’s some heavy Lou Reed referencing in another of those poems.

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