The Savage Animal 03.21.07: Live From New York, It's Saturday Night (Part One)
Posted by Mikey MiGo on 03.21.2007
In this episode of The Savage Animal, Mikey MiGo takes a journey that spans over the past 32 years of musical guests from Saturday Night Live. In part one we cover the first season in 1975 to the tenth season in 1985. From the highs and not so highs, we look at some of the stand out performances of this iconic show’s first ten years.
In this episode of The Savage Animal, Mikey MiGo takes a journey that spans over the past 32 years of musical guests from Saturday Night Live. In part one we cover the first season in 1975 to the tenth season in 1985. From the highs and not so highs, we look at some of the stand out performances of this iconic show's first ten years.
What did you all do this weekend? I HEARD THE NEW NINE INCH NAILS ALBUM. On Sunday I went out to The Metro in Chicago and attended the NIN listening party with a friend. A lot of people are saying this album is Trent Reznor's best work to date. I can't really agree until I get that locked away listen from start to finish in the privacy of my own home. Then again, I can't argue. The leaked tracks were great as we already knew, but the rest of the album really had a lot of noisy goodness. I love the fact that Trent is leaning back to his industrial roots. Sadly and understandably, they wouldn't allow us to bring cell phones, pens, pencils, or anything really inside the venue for this or I'd have taken some notes for you all. April 17th can't come soon enough.
On Saturday's St. Patrick Day's festivities, I went to Crown Point Indiana. There I saw Emisis rock the stage. It's been a long time since I've had the pleasure of seeing these guys perform, and Saturday in fact, proved to be way too long. Each time I see them they out do the last time I saw them. Their original tracks rock and their covers are great. I know the covers are crowd pleasers, but I'd like to see less covers and more originals. These guys are too awesome and talented for people to walk away thinking they are a cover band. Either way, it was fun times.
RAW was decent. I missed a good portion of it because I was talking to a friend on the phone that I've not gotten to talk to in awhile. What I did see was JBL at his best. I miss him being in the middle of things as opposed to just being the color man on Smackdown. While he's good at commentary, his personality and mic skills are wasted at the table and can be used to get storylines and characters over just as he did on RAW with Shawn Michaels and Cena. Am I the only one who thought Edge was going to be taken out of the Money in the Bank match? I seriously had my doubts because MAYBE his jaw was too messed up to return so soon or MAYBE it's WWE's way of "reprimanding" him for the whole roid scandal that's making it's way around the media. Lucky for us, the fans, we get to see him in a match I'm sure he'll shine in. The personal stuff is something we should black out of our heads while watching the show. Yeah, like that happens.
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE: THE MUSIC
Since I was a young kid, one of my favorite shows to watch was Saturday Night Live. I have very early memories of the show, grew up during the Farley era, had high school during Will Ferrell's peak period, was shown old episodes by older relatives and Comedy Central, and still watch it today during the cycles of it not being an "in" show with the cool people.
One of my life long goals has always been being able to not only be on the show, but to say those magic words "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!" It may be far fetched now because I'm wanting to be a writer more than act, but it still shows the importance of the show to me and I'm sure many others.
The comedy is something we all know and remember. It's got a place in our hearts and if you think Mad TV is better then click out of this column right now and go drink bleach. But anyways, let's talk about the topic at hand, the music of Saturday Night Live.
It was October 11th, 1975 and the stand up icon George Carlin was the guest host of the very first episode of what would become an American legacy of over thirty years. The first musical guests were Billy Preston of The Beatles fame and Janis Ian. From there, we were blessed with tons of great performances.
I'd love to be able to quickly jump a head a few years, but on the third episode of the same first season we were treated to a very unlikely performance. John Belushi squirmed, shook, and perfectly mimicked the legendary Joe Cocker. In a lot of the Belushi highlight packages we've seen over the years and hell, a lot of the SNL highlights we've seen this is a standout to anyone who loves music and comedy. In a later season, Belushi would get to perform with Cocker.
In April of 76, SNL producer Lorne Michaels offered the Beatles Three Thousand Dollars to perform on the show for a one night appearance. Through out the entire show, Lorne would appear a few times making the offer and trying to tempt the legendary band to show up on the show and play. Sadly, it wasn't accepted and we got John Sebastian instead. A few weeks later Michaels came on again and sweetened the deal to $3,200 and a hotel room for the night. Again, it wasn't accepted. However, in November of that year, George Harrison and Paul Simon played together. That was as close as Lorne got to his goal.
Also in Season Two, as the popularity of the show was on the rise so were the musical guests. With guests like the REAL Joe Cocker, Brian Wilson, Frank Zappa, Chuck Berry, The Kinks, Santana, and Tom Waits to just name a few the show had the "it" performers of that era. I think it's safe to say that "a couple" of those people are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
All was nice and kosher with the show and the musicians until December 17th, 1977. The musical guest on this specific episode was Elvis Costello. Thirty seconds into his performance of "Less Than Zero" he stopped his band in the middle of playing. From there he went on to play a yet unreleased track "Radio, Radio".
Supposedly this really pissed off Lorne Michaels who is very strict on adlibbing and unapproved segments of the show. Costello would not appear on the show again until 1989, mainly rumored because of the song switch.
After this historic moment, we got some very awesome guests like Bonnie Raitt, Billy Joel, Eddie Money, and Meatloaf. And as many albums, awards, and acclaims those fine performers have received they would never replace the performers on April 22nd 1978 impact on my life. On that night, Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi both put on their black suits, black sunglasses, and hats and took the stage. Of course I'm talking about The Blues Brothers. As a child I'd take my father's Blues Brothers album play it and lip sync to it. I won't go into detail about the costume I wore.
Like I said, impactful.
We get to Season Four and that's when some more cool bands began to play. The Rolling Stones kicked the season off, followed by bands such as Devo, The Blues Brothers again, The Grateful Dead, Van Morrison, Frank Zappa, The Doobie Brothers and most notable to me is The Talking Heads. I know the comedy on these shows, but realizing the musical guests were that awesome I'd love to get my hands on a Delorian or a phone booth for a few nights.
After certain members of the cast blowing up and wanting to pursue movie roles and Lorne Michaels having contact problems, Season Five would be the last of the "Not Ready for Primetime Players" era. That doesn't mean there weren't any good musical guests that season though. Blondie, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, The B-52s, Gary Numan, Marianne Faithfull, and others took the stage. The most notable musical guest that year for me had to be David Bowie. I've seen the clip many times and the whole bizarre performance of "The Man Who Sold The World" with Klaus Nomi and Joey Arias doing backup vocals was surreal and awesome.
Season Six was pretty much a disaster for everyone involve. The comedy was poorly written, the cast was less than desirable, and the show was thought to be going down the tubes. While the musical guests were fine, the star power wasn't so much there as the glory years prior. We got to see Kid Creole, James Brown, and Cheap Trick but other than that it wasn't that much to be desired. I think I'm going to have a dentist appointment, so I'll let a friend borrow the Delorian for that season.
Thankful to the late Charles Rocket's f-bomb drop towards the end of the sixth season, they changed producers to Dick Ebersol and things seemed to be moving in a better direction. Season seven saw some great music performances to go a long with an improving cast. Rod Stewart, The Kinks, Miles Davis, Rick James, The Go-Go's, Hall and Oates, John Cougar Mellencamp, and Elton John were all featured on the show this season. The moss notable performance of the season for me was Andy Kaufman's first appearance where he impersonated Elvis, which is a must see if you haven't. All of that is overshadowed by the tragic death of John Belushi that spring. He was the first cast member to pass away and quite possibly the most important to the shows history.
There were many performances in Season Eight that stand out to me. The first musical guest of the season was Queen in their one and only performance on American television.
We also got The Clash performing their new song "Should I Stay or Should I Go". You might of heard that song once or twice. George Thorogood, Lionel Richie, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, Durran Durran, and the legendary Stevie Wonder rounded out that year of awesome performances.
Season Nine's main highlight was Eddie Murphy becoming a full time cast member, but the music was also one of the season's highlights. During Season Nine The Stray Cats, Stevie Nicks, Huey Lewis and The News, Billy Idol, Adam Ant, Kool and The Gang, The Cars, and Spinal Tap round out the musical talent for that season.
In the final season of part one, we have Season Ten. The show survived ten years and showed the persistence to keep going despite some short comings in the early 80's. They brought in the top acts of that day and age like Frankie Goes to Hollywood, The Kinks, Billy Squier, Herbie Handcock, Robert Plant, Tina Turner, The Commodores, and Billy Ocean.
The tenth season would be Dick Ebersol's last. What many consider the dark period of the show was over. When Season Eleven comes around, we take giant leaps towards the Saturday Night Love we all know and love. But that will have to wait until next week.
I found this video on YouTube that covers clips of the first 15 years of Musical Guests on SNL
MY "Camel Cigarettes No. 9 Menthe" REVIEW: IN 299 WORDS OR LESS
Smoking is horrible. When I do it, my second hand smoke is killing the people around me. It's a horrible habit. I am not only hurting myself, but the environment. There are chemicals in the cigarettes that are lethal in larger doses and it's horrible. Now that that is out of the way let me review these new Turkish Blend cigarettes from my favorite cigarette company, Camel. I normally smoke Lights or preferably Turkish Royal. But I heard through the smoker's grapevine that these were minty. Now I have menthol, but a normal smoke with a hint of mint is what I want. I loved those "Dark Mint" ones that came in the cans. So I light it and take the first drag. It's fucking menthol! It's probably the best menthol cigarette I've smoked because it's not too overbearing, but it's still menthol. I ended up smoking the rest of the pack while smoking a normal cigarette in between so it wasn't a full blown menthol fest. Can't confuse the lungs, ya know? So, yeah, I give these smokes 4 out of 10. Stick to what you know fellow smokers.
Well, my fingers have officially fallen off and all I'm left with is bleeding stumps. My brain is leaking fluid and I have some odd colored ooze running from my left ear. Is that what you wanted? Covering that much material in one column will do that to a writer. I fear what will happen to me when I cover the next ten years of Saturday Night Live next week. I'm gonna go get my fingers reattached and cork my ear now. Until then… Have a Great Week!
