Television's 1977 debut album Marquee Moon abandoned the power chords of punk for interlocking guitar lines borrowed from rock and jazz. Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd traded melodies and counter-melodies rather than strumming in unison, and the lyrics, shaped by French and Bohemian poetry, were full of puns and double meanings. Critics hailed it as a new kind of rock, and it was a bigger hit in the United Kingdom than in the United States. Its guitar style went on to shape post-punk, new wave and indie rock through the 1980s.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.