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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
Red Hot Chili Peppers
We're following up Christmas day with the second most famous resurrection story of all time. Except this California band rose not just once, but twice from the ashes. It's RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS week!
The clips this week surprisingly begin all the way back in 1984, with the first iteration of the band performing with the energy of 8th graders on Thicke of the Night. Clips on Arsenio and Letterman show the transformation from Hillel Slovak and Jack Irons to John Frusciante and Chad Smith. John bombs Under the Bridge on SNL in 1992 and Anthony Kiedis is not pleased. One of the biggest comeback records of all time is on display with Grandmaster Flash on The Chris Rock Show. And the Billboard Game this week forces us to examine the mind blowing chart domination of Taylor Swift.
Want to watch along with us? Check out the links below for the performances discussed this week!
True Men Don't Kill Coyotes/Get Up and Jump, 3/16/1984 on Thicke of the Night
Fight Like a Brave/Organic Anti-Beat Box Band, 9/29/1987 on The Arsenio Hall Show
Higher Ground, 3/30/1990 on Late Night with David Letterman
Stone Cold Bush/Under the Bridge, 2/22/1992 on Saturday Night Live
Aeroplane, 2/13/1996 on The Late Show with David Letterman
Around the World, 9/24/1999 on The Chris Rock Show
Dani California/Snow ((Hey Oh))/Interview/By the Way, 11/21/2006 on Later...with Jools Holland
