BOB QUINE WITH RICHARD HELL, "BLANK GENERATION"

If you're not already a fan of Richard Hell or Bob Quine, this so-so quality live footage probably won't win you over, but for fans like me even a murky snippet of the original Voidoids is a sacred artifact. Quine reintroduced the Lou Reed electric guitar style to an audience that was a little more ready to hear obnoxious noise than the youngsters of 1968 had been. He then kept the faith for years, showing how to play a rude counterpoint to singers of different colors-- barking and monotone drama (Lou Reed, Tom Waits) or bubblegum powerpop (Matthew Sweet). He was something of a thinking man's rock guitarist; hardly academic, in a humorless, ivory tower sense, he was nonetheless almost priggishly intolerant of bullshit and mediocrity. At his best, he resembled Richard Thompson-- another guitarist who plays very beautifully, but without sacrificing passion or weirdness.
Ultimately, Quine reminded us all of something that people too often forget-- the notion that the chief business of rock music is sound, not hair and clothes.