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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.
Episodes
46 episodes
Ween
In the early 90s, two guys pretending to be brothers from New Hope, PA somehow snuck into the major label system making aggressively hard to listen to 4-track jams. And then went on to be one of the greatest cult acts of all time. It's WEEN wee...
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Episode 45
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2:17:28
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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 t...
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Episode 44
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2:24:42
311
CHILL! This rap-rock-metal-funk-reggae outfit was dominating the modern rock charts before the term nu-metal was coined. Armed with positivity, a turntable, and marijuana enthusiasm, they carried a mid 90s nation mourning the end of grunge. It'...
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Episode 43
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2:10:35
Elvis Costello with Connor Ratliff
His live TV debut on SNL has gone down as maybe the most famous moment in late night music history. But the decades that followed were just as surprising, rebellious, and at times baffling. It's ELVIS COSTELLO week!Joining the show is c...
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Episode 42
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2:29:52
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 begi...
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Episode 41
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2:23:58
Queens of the Stone Age
Pounding robotic trance desert stoner rock. Is that enough adjectives to describe what is maybe the last great mainstream hard rock band of the 21st century? We find more to use. It's QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE week!For a band often descri...
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Episode 40
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2:20:27
The Carpenters
Remembered as schmaltzy elevator music, this sister-brother duo dominated the charts for much of the 1970s. Driven by the one-of-a-kind voice of Karen Carpenter and the orchestration of brother Dick, they epitomize the former power of televisio...
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Episode 39
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2:24:39
Yeah Yeah Yeahs with Matt Ozelius
Garage Rock. Indie Sleaze. Electronic Dance Pop. This Brooklyn trio has done it all across a surprisingly long career, out lasting almost all of their early 2000s NYC contemporaries. It's YEAH YEAH YEAHS week!Joining the show this week ...
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Episode 38
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2:11:43
Pearl Jam with Ryan Agate
Inarguably the biggest and most successful band of the grunge era, they persisted while others could not. They fought the man at every turn, did it their way, and are an undeniable live juggernaut. It's PEARL JAM week!Joining the show a...
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Episode 37
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2:30:17
The Cranberries
They're quietly one of the most successful bands of the 90s, selling over 50 million records over the course of their career. Dominating the softer side of alt-rock radio, they took over America out of nowhere as the biggest Irish band since U2...
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Episode 36
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2:22:22
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 n...
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Episode 35
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2:15:36
Slipknot
They came from the heartland to destroy us all. More brutal death metal than nu, maggots from every corner of America rejoiced at their one-of-a-kind stage show, technical precision, and devil-fueled aggression. It's SLIPKNOT week!The g...
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Episode 34
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2:21:23
Supergrass with Travis Shettel
They exploded onto the 90s Britpop scene with fresh faces and clean teeth. Steven Spielberg wanted to turn them into the next Monkees. Instead, this UK phenomenon eschewed America and just did it their way. It's SUPERGRASS week!Joining ...
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Episode 33
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2:12:06
Janet Jackson with Robby Seabrook III
She holds eye-popping album sale records, ushered a whole new style of pop music into the mainstream, and did it all as a socially conscious black woman in conservative white America. But one TV performance clouded all of it. It's JANET JACKSON...
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Episode 32
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2:25:30
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 g...
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Episode 31
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2:22:42
Devo with Kenny
One-hit wonder? Yes. Decade-spanning mythology rooted in the ethos of societal and human genome collapse? Also yes. Fortune-tellers, DIY punk legends, new wave heroes? Yes, yes, and yes. It's DEVO week!Joining the show as the first entr...
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Episode 30
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2:26:56
Jimi Hendrix
In just 4 year's time, he created the modern version of American rock music and reinvented the guitar. And broke the brains of whoever saw him do it. It's JIMI HENDRIX week!Jimi breaks through on the southern Chitlin' circuit with his f...
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Episode 29
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2:29:21
Arctic Monkeys
They went from snotty, Brit teen punk phenomenons to Olympic game-playing elder statesmen in six year's time. From angular pop punk to R&B blues rock to crooning ballads about casinos on the moon, it's a career arc equal parts successful an...
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Episode 28
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2:07:19
Tom Waits with Ben Hosley
Drunk troubador. Carnival barker. Scum bum extraordinaire. Character actor. He's lived as many lives as he sung about. It's TOM WAITS week!Joining the show as a renowned scum bum expert in his own right is Ben Hosley (Blank Check with G...
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Episode 27
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2:32:10
Smashing Pumpkins with Marissa Paternoster
We're talking one of the most successful and volatile bands of the 1990s: hair journeys, lineup changes, #1 albums, and too many Billy Corgan quotes. It's SMASHING PUMPKINS week!Joining the show to talk about one of her favorite bands o...
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Episode 26
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2:30:17
One-year Anniversary Awards Show
All the stars are here. It's late-night TV's biggest evening. We even made Kenny make a crooner awards show version of the theme. We're celebrating the best and worst of over 100 performances discussed. It's our One-year Anniversary Awards Show...
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Episode 25
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1:36:26
Aerosmith with Perry Eaton
The podcast bad boys from Boston are talking about THE Bad Boys from Boston. It's AEROSMITH week!Joining the show with discussion questions in hand is the lead singer and guitarist of another great Boston band Beeef, Perry Eaton! Perry ...
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Episode 24
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2:38:49
Fall Out Boy
They're pop-punk emo heroes turned anthemic arena radio rock mainstays. Some turned to heavy drug use, while others became tabloid fodder. And hats. Lots of hats. It's FALL OUT BOY week!The career arc is there folks, captured in some ri...
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Episode 23
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1:59:18
Teenage Fanclub with Mark Neeley
In a year that saw Nirvana, R.E.M, and Pearl Jam put out generation-defining albums, Spin Magazine named this band's 1991 album Record of the Year. 33 years later, this cult power-pop outfit remains a weird outlier sandwiched between the eras o...
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Episode 22
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2:24:01