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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 Rolling Stones with Jon Wurster
Dubbed the World's Greatest Rock and Roll Band, they invaded America, its TV screens, and changed it all. It's an episode that would maybe even make Ed Sullivan proud. It's THE ROLLING STONES week!
Joining the show is iconic drummer and the King of rock and roll weirdness, Jon Wurster (Shannon/Narducy & Friends, The Mountain Goats, ex-Superchunk)! Jon and the guys watch a pod-record 8 performances from 1964 to 1978, tracking the ever-changing styles and looks of this quite popular band! The group’s first ever live TV performance comes on a British sketch comedy show hosted by Arthur Haynes. The Stones morph across 5 drama-filled Ed Sullivan performances with screaming girls, censorship, and Brian Jones getting progressively weirder. A 1972 clip from Beat Club shows the band at the height of its power. And a big 1978 comeback is captured in a supremely messy SNL performance.
Want to watch along with us? Check out the links below for the performances discussed this week!
I Wanna Be Your Man/You Better Move On (8:37 mark), 2/7/1964 on The Arthur Haynes Show
Around and Around/Time is on My Side, 10/25/1964 on The Ed Sullivan Show
Satisfaction/As Tears Go By/19th Nervous Breakdown, 2/13/1966 on The Ed Sullivan Show
Ruby Tuesday/Lets Spend the Night Together (32:12 mark), 1/15/1967 on The Ed Sullivan Show
Gimme Shelter/Love in Vain/Honky Tonk Woman, 11/23/1969 on The Ed Sullivan Show
Jam Session/Tumbling Dice/Shake Your Hips/Loving Cup, May 1972 on Beat Club
Beast of Burden/Respectable/Shattered, 10/7/1978 on Saturday Night Live
