In 1974, when he was in his early twenties and living in downtown Manhattan, Richard Hell, born Richard Meyers, founded the band Television with his high-school friend Tom Verlaine. After an acrimonious split with Verlaine, Hell left the group and created the Heartbreakers, alongside a post-New York Dolls Johnny Thunders; later, he established Richard Hell and the Voidoids, whose 1977 album, “Blank Generation,” is considered one of the building blocks of punk rock, a movement that Hell himself helped originate. (The late punk impresario Malcolm McLaren has said that he used Hell’s no-fucks-given attitude and look as a template for creating the Sex Pistols.)
