Tonight's Musical Guest, Today
The Beatles on Ed Sullivan. Nirvana on Saturday Night Live. Warren Zevon on David Letterman. Sometimes, late-night TV musical performances live on forever. Most don’t. But we still want to talk about them.
Each week on “Tonight’s Musical Guest, Today”, long-time friends Alex Beaton and Jon Hillman dive in on the music and cultural memory of a band through the arc of their late-night TV performances. Watch along with Alex and Jon as they examine and react to these musical history moments preserved in the amber of time alongside two celebrity guests and a talk show host.
From Conan to Colbert, Letterman to Leno, or SNL to MadTV, there is no shortage of iconic late-night musical moments. And no end to the ones you don’t remember.
Tonight's Musical Guest, Today
Sum 41
They stormed the early 2000s like their name was El Niño. But what happened once the storm died down? It's SUM 41 week!
Alex and Jon go solo to talk about the startling meteoric rise and winding transformation of this somewhat pop-punk Canadian outfit. Tommy Lee and Rob Halford join the band for a rock medley to open up MTV's 20th anniversary special before Seann William Scott and Sum 41 attempt to mend a broken nation on SNL. And the guys try to make sense of the band's long and intentional turn away from their pop-punk origins. Plus the debut of "Fake Hair or Real Hair?"
Want to watch along with us? Check out the links below for the performances discussed this week!
Fat Lip/No Sleep Till Brooklyn/Shout it at the Devil/You've got Another Thing Coming with Tommy Lee and Rob Halford, 8/1/01 on MTV's 20th Anniversary Special
Fat Lip (29:11 mark)/In Too Deep (55:42 mark), 10/6/01 on Saturday Night Live
Still Waiting, 12/7/02 on Mad TV
We're All to Blame, 10/15/04 on Late Night with Conan O' Brien
Screaming Bloody Murder, 4/14/11 on Lopez Tonight
Fake my own Death, 10/3/16 on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert