Robert Quine - Career

Career

In 1969, Quine made a series of cassette recordings of The Velvet Underground performing live. These saw official release in 2001 by Polydor Records, titled Bootleg Series Volume 1: The Quine Tapes. Though lo fi in sound quality, the album is an important document of the group. In the liner notes, Quine writes: "I got a lot of pleasure and inspiration from these performances. As a guitar player, they were an important element in shaping what musical direction I wanted to take."

Quine then worked in a movie memorabilia store in New York City with Richard Hell and Tom Verlaine who went on to form the influential rock band Television. Later, Hell invited him to join his new band The Voidoids. Hell's two Voidoid albums feature Quine's distinctive guitar work; guitarist Marc Ribot once said about Quine that "in terms of punk rock guitar soloing, could definitely be called the inventor," while critic Ira Robbins describes his work as "stunning and underrated".

After The Voidoids broke up, Quine recorded with Lydia Lunch, Jody Harris and Material. From September 1979 to July 1980, Quine and Harris recorded various guitar improvisations with a drum machine. In 1981, some of those experiments were released as the Harris/Quine album, Escape. With Material bandmate Fred Maher, Quine recorded his only other solo album, Basic, released in 1984.

In the early 1980s, former Velvet Underground frontman Lou Reed drafted Quine to join his group. He appeared on Reed's The Blue Mask (1982), acclaimed as one of Reed's best albums. The Reed-Quine guitar work crafted interlocking duels that blur the lines between rhythm and leads. Reed's 1983 album Legendary Hearts featured most of the same group, but Quine eventually quit the group due to tensions with Reed. Reed persuaded Quine to rejoin for a world tour, which is documented on the video A Night with Lou Reed (1983) and the album Live in Italy (1984); Quine disliked touring, but agreed to the tour for financial reasons. He ended his partnership with Reed for good in 1985.

Throughout the remainder of the 1980s, Quine made scattered appearances as a session player on records by Tom Waits, John Zorn, Marianne Faithfull and Scritti Politti.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Quine began collaborations with a few musicians who would introduce him to new audiences, and who would raise his profile a bit. Saxophonist/composer John Zorn hired Quine for several experimental projects. He appeared on absurdist post-punk band They Might be Giants' 1994 album John Henry, and he also worked with pop songwriters/singers Lloyd Cole and Matthew Sweet during this period. Sweet's biggest hit song, "Girlfriend," is anchored by Quine's frenetic, squealing guitar work.