Richard Hell
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Richard Lester Meyers (born October 2, 1949), better known by his stage name Richard Hell, is an American singer, songwriter, bass guitarist and writer.
Richard Hell was an innovator of punk music and fashion. He was one of the first to spike his hair and wear torn, cut and drawn-on shirts, often held together with safety pins.
Malcolm McLaren, manager of the Sex Pistols, credited Hell as a source of inspiration for the Sex Pistols' look and attitude, as well as the safety-pin and graphics accessorized clothing that McLaren sold in his London shop, Sex.
Hell was in several important, early punk bands, including Neon Boys, Television and The Heartbreakers, after which he formed Richard Hell & the Voidoids. Their 1977 album Blank Generation influenced many other punk bands. Its title track was named "One of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock" by music writers in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame listing and is ranked as one of the all-time Top 10 punk songs by a 2006 poll of original British punk figures, as reported in the Rough Guide to Punk.
Since the late 1980s, Hell has devoted himself primarily to writing, publishing two novels and several other books. He was the film critic for BlackBook magazine from 2004 to 2006.
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Discography
With The Heartbreakers
- Compilation albums
- Live albums
- What Goes Around... (1991, Bomp! Records)
- Live at Mothers (1991)
- Yonkers Demo 1976 (2019)
With Richard Hell and the Voidoids
- Studio albums
- Blank Generation (1977, Sire Records)
- Destiny Street (1982, Red Star Records)
- Compilation albums
- Destiny Street Repaired (2009, Insound)
- Live albums
- Funhunt: Live at CBGB's and Max's 1978 and 1979 (1990, ROIR)
- Gone to Hell (2008, Vinyl Japan)
As Richard Hell
- Compilation albums
- R.I.P (1984, ROIR)
- Across the Years box set (1991, Soyo Records)
- Time (2002, Matador Records)
- Spurts: The Richard Hell Story (2005, Sire Records/Rhino Records)
- EPs
- Another World (1976, Ork/Stiff Records)
- 3 New Songs (1992, Overground Records)
- Go Now (1995, CodeX/Tim-Kerr Records)
With Dim Stars
- Studio albums
- Dim Stars (1992, Caroline Records)
- EPs
- Dim Stars (1991, Ecstatic Peace!)
Bibliography
- Wanna Go Out? with Tom Verlaine, as "Theresa Stern" (1973, Dot Books)
- I Was a Spiral on the Floor (1988, Soyo Publications)
- Artifact: Notebooks from Hell 1974–1980. No. 37 (1990, Hanuman Books)
- Across the Years (1992, Soyo Publications)
- The Voidoid (1993, CodeX)
- Go Now (1996, Scribner)
- Weather (1998, CUZ Editions)
- Hot and Cold (2001, powerHouse Books)
- Rabbit Duck with David Shapiro (2005, Repair Books)
- Godlike (2005, Akashic Books)
- The Toilet Paper Columns (2007, CUZ Editions)
- Psychopts with Christopher Wool (2008, JMc & GHB)
- Disgusting (2010, 38th Street Publishers)
- I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp (2013, Ecco)
- Massive Pissed Love: Nonfiction 2001-2014 (2015, Soft Skull Press)
Filmography
- Final Reward (1978)
- Blank Generation (1980)
- Smithereens (1982)
- Geek Maggot Bingo (1983)
- Desperately Seeking Susan (1985)
- No Picnic (1987)
- What About Me? (1993)
- Blind Light (1998)