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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
Arctic Monkeys
They went from snotty, Brit teen punk phenomenons to Olympic game-playing elder statesmen in six year's time. From angular pop punk to R&B blues rock to crooning ballads about casinos on the moon, it's a career arc equal parts successful and baffling. It's ARCTIC MONKEYS week!
Alex Turner and co. make their American TV debut on SNL in 2006 featuring a yawning audience member. The band performs twice on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, including a performance of "Fluorescent Adolescent" that has them dressed up as clowns. The show has its first Olympic Game's clip punctuated with flying bird-bike men soundtracked by a Beatles cover. And the band breaks out big time in America before deciding to lean into sci-fi lounge pop.
Want to watch along with us? Check out the links below for the performances discussed this week!
I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor (30:05 mark)/A Certain Romance (56:57 mark), 3/11/2006 on Saturday Night Live
Fluorescent Adolescent, 7/7/2007 on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
Cornerstone/Crying Lightning, 11/13/2009 on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor/Come Together, 7/27/2012 on The 2012 London Olympic Games Opening Ceremony
Do I Wanna Know?, 1/27/2014 on The Late Show with David Letterman
The Ultracheese, 7/23/2018 on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
