Robert Quine, 1943-2004

Robert Quine, guitarist extraordinare, was found dead in his apartment on June 5th of an apparent suicide. Speculation already runs toward depression, as friends posting on the message boards of artists he worked with claim he never got over his wife's premature death less than a year ago. It's hard to say—I certainly never knew the man, but I knew his work. He was one of the few truly unique rock & roll guitarists on the planet; his distinctively angular, jagged work with Lou Reed (The Blue Mask), Matthew Sweet (Girlfriend), Lloyd Cole (Lloyd Cole) and especially Richard Hell & the Voidoids (Blank Generation) sounded like nothing that had come before it and sounds like nothing now outside of pale imitations. He never became a huge name outside of postpunk trivia-keepers or experimental guitar geeks; he disliked touring and had a life outside of music to enjoy. But his recorded legacy—his choked, insistent leads on Sweet's "Girlfriend," his atonal squeals on Reed's "Waves of Fear," the careening solo on Hell's "Blank Generation" that launched a thousand postpunk six-string ships—deserves to be remembered as groundbreaking guitar noise that will continue to inspire musicians who respect tradition but are still eager to shred that envelope. May he rest in peace.

Michael Toland
Editor-in-Chief