Richard Hell

Richard Hell (2008)

Richard Hell (* 2. October 1949 in Lexington , Kentucky as Richard Meyers ) is an American musician and writer. He was the mid-1970s, known for his participation in the in New York created punk scene to the music club CBGB . Hell was a member of the bands Television , The Heartbreakers and The Voidoids .

life and work

Richard Hell grew up in Wilmington , Delaware and moved to New York as a teenager , where he had his first experience with drugs ( heroin ). With his friends Tom Miller and Bill Ficca he founded the band The Neon Boys in 1971 . It was renamed Television in 1973 after Richard Lloyd took up the role of second guitarist and was one of the first bands on the New York punk and new wave scene. From then on, Myers called himself Richard Hell and Tom Miller Tom Verlaine . Also at this point in time, Malcolm McLaren allegedly tried to hire Richard Hell for his latest project, the Sex Pistols , but failed. Hell split from Verlaine and Television and briefly got together with The Heartbreakers (with Johnny Thunders ). Hell was there together with Dee Dee Ramone , bassist of the punk band Ramones , involved in the creation of the song Chinese Rock , which appeared as the Heartbreakers' first single. In 1976 he founded Richard Hell and The Voidoids , who released their first album Blank Generation in 1977 . In the following five years Hell only managed to release one single , produced by Nick Lowe , due to his drug addiction . Together with the German director Ulli Lommel , Hell wrote the feature film Blank Generation (1980), in which he also played a leading role. In 1982 the second and final Voidoids album, Destiny Street , came out, and that same year the band split. Richard Hell disappeared from the music scene for a decade. In 1983 he played the lead role in the film Geek Maggot Bingo by underground director Nick Zedd . Musically, Hell did not make an appearance until 1992 with a solo EP. Shortly afterwards he recorded his last album with Don Fleming, Thurston Moore and Steve Shelley ( Sonic Youth ) under the name Dim Stars .

Since 1992 Hell has written a total of eleven books - novels, essays and poetry. Most recently, the essay volume Punk: Chaos to Couture (2013) was published.

Richard Hell and the Voidoids

• Richard Hell (vocals, bass)
• Robert Quine (guitar, vocals) until 1978 (went to Lydia Lunch )
• Ivan Julian (guitar, vocals)
• Marc Bell (drums) until the end of 1977 (joined the Ramones)
• Fred Mauro (drums) until 1978
• Jerry Antonius (keyboard, vocals) from 1978
• Fred Maher (drums) last album
• Naux (guitar) last album

The cast with Robert Quine, Ivan Julian and Marc Bell can be seen in the music film Blank Generation by Ulli Lommel . Carole Bouquet stars with Richard Hell.

Discography

Richard Hell and the Voidoids

• 1976: (I Could Live With You In) Another World - 7 " EP
• 1977: Blank Generation / Love Comes In Spurts - 7 " single
• 1977: Blank Generation - LP
• 1978: The Kid With The Replaceable Head / I'm Your Man - 7 "single
• 1982: Destiny Street - LP
• 2009: Destiny Street Repaired - LP / CD

Richard Hell (Solo)

• 1992: Three New Songs - 7 "EP
• 1995: Go Now - 10 "EP ( Spoken Word )

Compilations and others

• 1980: (The Neon Boys) Time - 7 "EP
• 1984: RIP - music cassette (live)
• 1990: Funhunt - music cassette (live)
• 1991: (A-side as The Neon Boys) High Heeled Wheels - 12 "EP
• 1998: Another World - CD
• 2002: Time - double CD
• 2005: Spurts: The Richard Hell Story - CD

Dim stars

• 1992: Dim Star Theme - 12 "EP
• 1992: Dim Stars - LP

bibliography

• 1991: Across The Years
• 1992: Artifact: Notebooks from Hell 1974–1980. No. 37
• 1993: The Voidoid
• 1997: Go Now
• 1998: Weather
• 2001: Hot and Cold
• 2005: Rabbit Duck (with David Shapiro)
• 2005: Godlike
• 2008: Psychopts (with Christopher Wool)
• 2009: The Voidoid (with Kier Cooke Sandvik)
• 2013: I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp
• 2013 Punk: Chaos to Couture

literature

• Richard Hell: Death means that you never have to say you are imperfect . Article and interview by Lester Bangs in: Rock Session 2 - Magazine of popular music , p. 112 ff. Rororo non-fiction book 7156, Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, Reinbek 1978. ISBN 3-499-17156-2
• A Jewish Hell - Richard Meyers Creates a Jewish Mother's Worst Nightmare . Article on Richard Hell's Jewish roots, in: Steven Lee Beeber: The Heebie-Jeebies at CBGB's - A Secret History of Jewish Punk (pp. 133–147; English). Chicago Review Press, Chicago 2006. ISBN 978-1-55652-761-6

Web links

Commons : Richard Hell  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official website of Richard Hell
• At Home With: Richard Hell; Punk for Posterity article on Richard Hell's life and work
  in the New York Times, January 1, 2004 (accessed August 11, 2009)