Dan Treacy/Television Personalities documentary

Item — Tue, 20 May 2008 17:22:27 -0800

Dan Treacy and his band Television Personalities have had a long and storied history. Here's a nice little documentary (part one, two, three, four) on 'em. Formed in 1977 during the first wave of UK punk, they put out records on a fairly regular basis until the turn of the millennium, when Treacy seemed to fall off the face of the planet. He was eventually tracked down to a British prison ship, where he was serving time for a slew of petty crimes related to his mental illness and drug addiction. Upon his release in 2004, he reformed the group with long-time member Ed Ball (also of Teenage Filmstars/the Times) and returned to playing shows and putting out new material, starting with an... interesting choice for a single, the haunting 'All the Young Children on Crack'. Here's a good, concise history of the group. 'Painted Word', my personal favorite TVPs song. 'Part Time Punks', probably the group's best known song. 'I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives'. Fun trivia: the TVPs were on tour as David Gilmour's(!) supporting act in the mid 80's when Treacy took it upon himself to read the reclusive Barrett's home address to a crowd of thousands. Gilmour was not amused and the group got the sack.

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Dan Treacy/Television Personalities documentary