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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
The Strokes
They were cool looking boys from the large apple. Leaders of a NYC and retro guitar rock revival, they wrote two of the catchiest and most memorable records of the early 2000s. Was that it? It's THE STROKES week!
The Strokes make their network TV debut on Conan with a perfect sounding rendition of "The Modern Age". An early performance on SNL with a dreamy Julian Casablancas propels the band up the charts. We have our first ever Late Night TV show residency, with The Strokes performing Room on Fire songs every Tuesday in November 2003 on Conan. A return to SNL in 2006 does not go as well as the first time. The band makes multiple comeback attempts, some better than others. And Fabrizio Moretti wears lot of red shirts.
Want to watch along with us? Check out the links below for the performances discussed this week!
The Modern Age, 11/1/2001 on Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Last Nite/Hard to Explain, 1/19/2002 on Saturday Night Live
Reptilia/Whatever Happened/Under Control/I Can't Win, November 2003 on Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Juicebox/You Only Live Once, 1/21/2006 on Saturday Night Live
Under the Cover of Darkness/Life is Simple in the Moonlight, 3/5/2011 on Saturday Night Live
The Adults are Talking/Bad Decisions, 10/31/2020 on Saturday Night Live
