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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
Primus
The craziest bass playing you've ever seen. Atonal metal breakdowns. Songs about meth heads burying bodies. And multiple top-ten records. How? It's PRIMUS week!
It's a guestless, Alex-pick episode: buckle up. Primus breaks on to the national TV scene on the Dennis Miller Show. "My Name is Mud" is a hit somehow, and Primus performs it on MTV's Haunted House Party with White Zombie and Penn & Teller. Les, Ler, and Herb dress up in penguin suits to perform their biggest hit to the dismay of David Letterman's showrunner. We finally return to Farmclub.com to see Primus awkwardly fitting into the Nu-Metal moment. Plus the debut of South Park Sucks!
Want to watch along with us? Check out the links below for the performances discussed this week!
Jerry was a Race Car Driver/Tommy The Cat, 3/20/1992 on The Dennis Miller Show
My Name is Mud, 10/30/1993 on MTV's Haunted House Party
Wynona's Big Brown Beaver, 6/16/1995 on The Late Show with David Letterman
Shake Hands with Beef, 7/16/1997 on Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Antipop/Greet the Sacred Cow, 3/5/2000 on Farmclub.com
Lee Van Cleef, 10/24/2011 on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
