Guitarist Tom verlaine of the punk band television has died after a brief illness, according to his publicist, Berlin was 73, I'm Archie's arolla with a look at his career. Timberland's name was not Tom verlaine, it was Tom Miller, he named himself after 19th century French poet Paul Marie verlaine. Television was a mainstay of the club CBGBs in New York in the 70s, bands like pavement, Sonic Youth, and Jeff Buckley cited television as an influence. Television never charted in the U.S., but were a commercial hit in the UK. Tensions between verlaine and fellow guitarist Richard Lloyd caused the band to break up, verlaine released 8 solo albums