Editing Jonathan Richman (section)

===The Modern Lovers===
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| quote = When I was a teenager, I thought I would be a painter, and then sound overtook me. I made up songs because I had to. I had the need to express how I felt. And that's still how it is. It's just what I do. I do it when there's no audience, I do it when there is an audience. And, when I paint, that's how that is too.
| author = Richman in a 2020 online thread<ref>[https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/j39v6w/im_jonathan_richman_a_professional_singer_and/  "I'm Jonathan Richman, a professional singer and musician. ...", ''Reddit'', 2020]. Retrieved 20 August 2021</ref>
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}}{{main|The Modern Lovers}}
Richman formed the Modern Lovers, a [[proto-punk]] [[garage rock]] band, in Boston, Massachusetts. Other notable members of the group were keyboard player [[Jerry Harrison]] and drummer [[David Robinson (musician)|David Robinson]], who later joined [[Talking Heads]] and [[the Cars]], respectively.<ref name="The Great Rock Discography"/>

In 1972, they recorded a series of demos with producer [[John Cale]] (formerly of the [[Velvet Underground]]). Among these songs were the seminal "[[Roadrunner (Jonathan Richman song)|Roadrunner]]" and "[[Pablo Picasso (song)|Pablo Picasso]]", which were eventually released four years later in August 1976 as ''[[The Modern Lovers (album)|The Modern Lovers]]'', by which time the group had broken up.<ref name="The Great Rock Discography"/> The album was strange for its time, featuring Velvets-influenced basic three-chord rock ("Roadrunner" – based on just two chords – is an homage to "[[Sister Ray]]") at a time when [[glam rock|glam]] and [[progressive rock]] were the norm.

Later in 1972, the group re-recorded some songs, along with other material, with producer [[Kim Fowley]]. These demos were eventually released in 1981 as ''[[The Original Modern Lovers]]'' LP. Despite playing live regularly, the Modern Lovers had a difficult time securing a [[recording contract]]. By late 1973, Richman wanted to scrap the recorded tracks and start again with a mellower, more lyrical sound, influenced by the laid-back local music he had heard when the band had a residency at the Inverurie Hotel in [[Bermuda]] earlier in the year. These stymied efforts to complete a debut album led to the breakup of the original Modern Lovers in February 1974.