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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
Grab Bag: Supergroups
Ill-conceived. Unnecessary. Over the top. No, not this podcast, but rather the topic at hand for our third-ever Grab Bag episode: SUPERGROUPS!
Mr. Big brings together middling hair metal pros to create the "cordless-electric-hand-drill genre of rock guitar". The Backbeat Band featuring Greg Dulli, Mike Mills, and Dave Grohl performs one time and one time only. We talk Oysterhead again because why not. Velvet Revolver combines the washed-up power of Slash with the shirtless prowess of Scott Weiland. Tinted Windows has Taylor Hanson singing over Fountains of Wayne songs backed by Cheap Trick’s drummer. Chickenfoot is a band that exists for some reason and we talk about them. And boygenius revives the supergroup to actual positive ends.
Want to watch along with us? Check out the links below for the performances discussed this week.
Mr. Big, Just Take my Heart/Daddy Brother Lover Little Boy (The Electric Drill Song), 6/2/1992 on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
The Backbeat Band, Money/Long Tall Sally/Helter Skelter, 6/4/1994 on The MTV Movie Awards
Oysterheard, Oz is Ever Floating, 11/15/2001 on Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Velvet Revolver, Dirty Little Thing, 4/7/2005 on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
Tinted Windows, Kind of a Girl, 4/21/2009 on The Late Show with David Letterman
Chickenfoot, Sexy Little Thing, 11/7/2009 on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
boygenius, Not Strong Enough/Satanist, 11/11/2023 on Saturday Night Live
