Everything Is Combustible: Television, CBGB's and Five Decades of Rock and Roll

The Memoirs of an Alchemical Guitarist

By: Richard Lloyd

Narrated by: Richard Lloyd

Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

Legendary Rock and Roll guitarist. Founding member of Television. Masterful storyteller. Written in Lloyd's inimitable, frequently humorous style, Everything Is Combustible chronicles, through vignettes, Lloyd's colorful early life, starting in Pittsburgh and soon moving to New York City, and then details his teenage travels and encounters with music legends including Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, John Lee Hooker, Buddy Guy, and Keith Moon.

Lloyd recounts the founding of Television, the band's rise alongside other bands and personalities in the 1970s New York Music scene, and the legend-making of the unparalleled music venue, CBGB. As the rock ‘n’ roll tales unfold, he accompanies them with insights into his approach to music and the electric guitar. Lloyd’s mid-career vignettes detail his solo years, including the backstory of critically praised records such as Alchemy and Field of Fire, his drug addiction and recovery, his '90s-era work, and touring adventures with artists such as Matthew Sweet, John Doe, and Robert Quine. Throughout the audiobook is an undercurrent - Lloyd’s continually evolving spiritual-philosophical approach to life, emerging from the conscious digestion of the highs and the lows - both ends of the same stick.

In Everything Is Combustible, Richard Lloyd relates his life, both inner and outer, in the narrative style, digging beneath the events and revealing their meanings. Everything Is Combustible is a must-have for any fan of Television and the heyday of the New York rock music scene. It fills a void in the written record as the first complete account of the band, including the making of their records and touring, from a founding member of the band. Considered a foundational band of alternative rock, Television’s debut record, Marquee Moon, is widely viewed by critics and musicians as one of the greatest albums ever recorded.

As one half of Television’s unique guitar sound, and a legendary solo artist in his own right, Richard Lloyd’s music has influenced a range of bands and artists from U2, Johnny Marr, and Joy Division to R.E.M., Sonic Youth, Wilco, and John Frusciante.

©2017 Richard Lloyd (P)2018 Cam Barber

Guitar Hero

I was glad to learn more about Richard Lloyd, I admired his guitar playing on Television's records and also on Matthew Sweet's 90s records.

Essential Punk History 101

I found this audiobook to be very interesting. Mr. Lloyd obviously has vast experience in the entertainment industry and is one of the survivors of the punk movement when so many others either died from drug use or Aids. He has a vast insight into the chaotic and sometimes heartless music industry, and he tells a tale that is interwoven with faith in himself and being true to his art without sacrificing his dream. He is a force of nature.
While the audiobook is very interesting in that respect, I found it difficult as someone who has had my share of ups and downs ( in the music industry and in life) and sober for 16+ years to feel any sense of sympathy for Mr. Lloyd as he comes across at times as a narcissistic, self-centered asshole. His constant whining about the exploits of Tom Verlaine and his ‘control’ over the band can be very distracting ( come on, Richard, if it was that bad you would have left and never came back, like I had done when I was in a band with a bunch of narcissistic, self-centered assholes). You must have been in it for the money, or the perks( or the drugs), and this is just one example of Mr. Lloyd talking out of both sides of his mouth. He needs to REALLY get sober, not just talk about it. I also found it very juvenile of him to go on and on about his sexual prowess and exploits; we get it. You’re a rock star. You do drugs. You get laid a lot. Yawn… Also ( please) a few more funny stories just to lighten the mood. I was just coming off of the audiobook of ‘Punk Avenue’ which had me laughing my ass off. Philipe Mercade is someone I’d like to meet. I’m not too sure if I’d like to hang out with Mr Lloyd for too long- the experience might be too draining!
Something I wished he could have talked about more was his connection to the spiritual plane that he was lucky enough to discover and use to overcome the huge hole in his life. I found that part of the narrative to be very uplifting. His insights into the human condition were also dead on, as he had been unfortunate ( or fortunate, from his perspective) to be a part of the barbaric psychological experiments we called ‘therapy’ back in the good old days when mental patients were treated like lab rats. His recall of that time in his life shows that he had more than just the will to live-he wanted to provide testimony to any doubters of that horrifying experience.
I would recommend this audiobook as one you would want as a compliment to any other books you might have read about the Punk Movement, as the band Television was an essential part of it’s existence. Just don’t be turned off by Mr. Lloyds deadpan monotone East Coast accent and incessant whining - there’s a good story in there!

Great Story / Lethargic Performance

Great Story but Lloyd should have gotten someone else to Perform this book. Droning delivery from Mister monotone Richard Lloyd almost killed the book for me. The stories save it

A must read for CBGB fans

Delightfully witty and full of stories you wouldn’t even imagine! The 60’s and 70’s were the time to be young and alive!

A Guru for the Lost

His Alchemical Guitarist series changed my playing. This book changed my like. Thank you Mr. Lloyd.

Richard Lloyd is the man!!!

Really loved the honest and raw telling of this book in Richard's own voice.
Aside from his history with Television, Richard's history is dense with great tales of rock and roll and humanity.

Endless quasi-metaphysical nonsense.

this book starts off promisingly enough, with the author/narrator promising to forgo all the needless genealogy and get right to the story the listener came for. Unfortunately, we are instead subjected endless rambling about ridiculous concepts and questionable (if not impossible) memories.

Literally one of the most difficult to listen to books I have yet to encounter.