Tonight's Musical Guest, Today

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 of all time is the great Marissa Paternoster (ex-Screaming Females, Noun)! Marissa lays out the ways her Pumpkins fandom helped her become of the most renowned and unique guitarists of the past 20 years. The guys and her discuss the frustrating and talented enigma that is Billy Corgan, Darcy Wretzky's discontent, and Jimmy Chamberlain's shoulder-filled technical prowess. Clips from the BBC, SNL, The Grammys, Jools Holland, Leno, and Letterman capture a career arc filled with drama, incredible music, and an iconic Simpsons cameo. Want to watch along with us? Check out the links below for the performances discussed this week! Rhinoceros, 1991 on BBC's The Late Show Cherub Rock (20:44 mark)/Today (54:30 mark), 10/31/1993 on Saturday Night Live Bullet with Butterfly Wings (27:50 mark)/Zero (1:00:20 mark), 11/11/1995 on Saturday Night Live 1979, 2/26/1996 on The Grammy Awards Ava Adore/Once Upon a Time/Daphne Descends, 5/15/1998 on Later...with Jools Holland Cash Car Star, 11/17/2000 on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno Tarantula, 7/9/2007 on The Late Show with David Letterman

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! What was the best interview we saw? Which band's fashion shined? Who gave the vocal performance of the year? Which vest upset Alex the most? And who did we pick for best and worst overall performances? It's a clip show, now more than ever! Want to watch along with us? Figure it out for yourself this time, there are too many to list!

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 and the guys break down the many eras of Aerosmith and try to make sense of their complicated and epic legacy. The band's first TV performance in 1974 on The Midnight Special is all leather pants and rock god vibes. 13 years later, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry do Walk This Way with Run-DMC on the VMAs. Back to back 90s SNL performances capture the apex of Aerosmith, including an iconic Wayne's World sketch. And we return to the Super Bowl, with a halftime show that surrounds Aerosmith with the 2001 zeitgeist. Want to watch along with us? Check out the links below for the performances discussed this week! Dream On/Train Kept a Rollin', 8/16/1974 on The Midnight Special Walk This Way with Run-DMC, 9/11/1987 on the MTV Video Music Awards Janie's Got a Gun (27:24 mark)/Monkey on my Back (40:04 mark) (row 174), 2/17/1990 on Saturday Night Live Cryin' (20:10 mark)/Sweet Emotion (51:10 mark) (row 66), 10/9/1993 on Saturday Night Live I Don't Want to Miss a Thing, 2/24/1999 on The Grammy Awards Bye Bye Bye/I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing/It's Gonna be Me/Jaded/Walk This Way with N'Sync, featuring Britney Spears, Nelly & Mary J. Blige, 1/28/2001 on the Super Bowl Halftime Show

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 ridiculous late night performances. Fall Out Boy explodes into the mainstream with From Under the Cork Tree with a shaky spot on SNL. The anti-vowel movement comes to a head with a pretty great performance of Thnks Fr Th Mmrs on the Tonight Show featuring strings and horns. A black-lit performance on Kimmel in skeleton costumes has to be attempted to be seen to be believed. And an exploration of 2010s radio rock music is reluctantly conducted. Want to watch along with us? Check out the links below for the performances discussed this week! Dance Dance (36:30 mark)/Sugar We're Goin Down (58:44 mark) (row 18), 3/4/2006 on Saturday Night Live Thnks Fr Th Mmrs, 5/2/2007 on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno I Don't Care, 12/16/2008 on The Late Show with David Letterman My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light 'em Up), 2/13/2013 on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Centuries, 1/7/2015 on The People's Choice Awards We Didn't Start the Fire, 9/12/2023 on The MTV Video Music Awards

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 of grunge and Britpop. It's TEENAGE FANCLUB week! Joining the show is animator, music video director, and self-proclaimed Fannie Mark Neeley (Aquarium Drunkard)! Mark and the guys explore the origins of TFC's rapid ascent from the Scottish indie-rock scene to performing on Saturday Night Live in just two years' time. The band's follow up to Bandwagonesque falls on deaf ears in America, but performances on BBC's White Room and Top of the Pops captures their persistent popularity in the UK. And the show discovers Oddville MTV, a similarly cult-like entity that grazed the periphery of mainstream America. Want to watch along with us? Check out the links below for the performances discussed this week! Everything Flows, 12/21/1990 on Snub TV The Concept/Satan, 2/15/1992 on Saturday Night Live What You Do to Me/Pet Rock, 2/15/1992 on Saturday Night Live Escher, 2/14/1994 on Late Night with Conan O'Brien Mellow Doubt/I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better (Byrds Cover), 2/17/1996 on BBC White Room Ain't That Enough, 11/7/1997 on Top of the Pops Take the Long Way Round, 8/29/1999 on Oddville MTV

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!

He's gone from causing a national panic to winning Grammys and selling high-end perfumes, all while putting on some of the most innovative stage performances of the 21st century. It's TYLER, THE CREATOR week! Joining the show to school us elder millennials on our most modern artist to date is music and culture journalist J'na Jefferson (Rolling Stone, Uproxx)! The guys and J'na make sense of Tyler's wild early career, including a 2011 Fallon performance for the ages featuring an exorcism. A 2017 Colbert performance pays homage to Soul Train and captures the hard left-turn of Flower Boy's direction and production. Tyler wins a Grammy in 2020 and performs on the show with Charlie Wilson and Boyz II Men amid a burning suburbia landscape. And a windstorm set piece on the 2021 BET Awards blows (pun intended) everyone away. Want to watch along with us? Check out the links below for the performances discussed this week! Sandwitches with Hodgy Beats, 2/16/2011 on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Rusty with Domo Genesis and Earl Sweatshirt, 4/4/2013 on The Late Show with David Letterman Cherry Bomb/Smuckers, 7/29/2015 on Jimmy Kimmel Live! 911, 7/24/2017 on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Earfquake/New Magic Wand with Charlie Wilson and Boyz II Men, 1/26/2020 on The Grammy Awards Lumberjack, 6/27/2021 on The BET Awards Massa, 11/21/2021 on The American Music Awards

Her voice: timeless. Her TV performances: iconic. We're headed across the pond and googling gobby. It's AMY WINEHOUSE week! Clips on Later...with Jools Holland and Friday Night with Jonathan Ross show Amy at her jazziest. Jools Holland's 2006 Annual Hootenanny gives her the big band treatment with Paul Weller from The Jam. Amy breaks out in her American television debut on David Letterman. And award show performances at The Mercury Prize and The Grammys perfectly capture both the zenith and tragic ending of Amy's story. Plus the debut of HOLLAND'S JEWELS! Want to watch along with us? Check out the links below for the performances discussed this week! Stronger Than Me/Take the Box, 11/7/03 on Later...with Jools Holland I Heard Love is Blind, 3/19/04 on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross Monkey Man/Don't go to Strangers with Paul Weller/I Heard it Through the Grapevine with Paul Weller/The Mighty Quinn with Paul Weller and Sam Moore, 12/31/06 on Jools Holland's Annual Hootenanny Rehab, 3/12/07 on The Late Show with David Letterman Love is a Losing Game, 9/3/07 on The Mercury Prize You Know I'm No Good/Rehab, 2/10/08 on The Grammy Awards

So what-cha want? An episode on the prolific decades-spanning run of Ad Rock, Mike D, and MCA? No problem. It's BEASTIE BOYS week! Joining the show to break down the iconic rhymes, beats, and general coolness of the B-Boys is Texas Monthly writer and former AV Club Editor in Chief Sean O'Neal! The guys discuss the group's teenage punk roots and watch it in action on a 1984 public access clip. A ridiculous 1987 clip from the Late Show with Joan Rivers featuring a pole dancer captures their License to Ill era a little too well. The Boys kill it on back-to-back Letterman clips, including a Sabotage peformance for the ages. And Jon kills the vibe by digging too deep into the personal life of Don Cornelius. Want to watch along with us? Check out the links below for the performances discussed this week! White Shadow/Untitled/Egg Raid on Mojo, 1/28/84 on The Scott and Gary Show! (You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)/Time to get Ill, 1/15/87 on The Late Show with Joan Rivers Shadrach, 1/27/90 on Soul Train Live at PJ's, 11/5/92 on Late Night with David Letterman Sabotage, 8/4/94 on The Late Show with David Letterman Three MCs and One DJ/Intergalactic, 9/10/98 on The MTV Video Music Awards Ch-Check it Out, 6/14/04 on The Late Show with David Letterman

It's a night of celebration and watching musicians and celebrities awkwardly count down numbers together. We're ringing in 2024 with our second-ever GRAB BAG episode on New Year's Eve performances! The guys watch Tina Turner preview her huge comeback moment on Johnny Carson. Vanilla Ice gratuitously humps the floor of the Ritz Carlton and counts down to 1991 with Pauly Shore and Martha Quinn. Papa Roach butchers a cover of Lithium by Nirvana. Good Charlotte and the Foo Fighters with Jack Black perform on the same MTV New Years hosted by Ashton Kutcher and Brittany Murphy. Kelly Clarkson performs Jon's favorite pop song. And to end the year, Alex and Jon recap their five favorite musical moments of 2023! Want to watch along with us? Check out the links below for the performances discussed this week! Rock n' Roll Widow/Steel Claw by Tina Turner, 12/31/82 on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice, 12/31/90 on MTV New Year's Eve World Party Last Resort/Lithium by Papa Roach, 12/31/00 on MTV New Year's Eve 2001 Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous by Good Charlotte, 12/31/02 on MTV New Year Pajama Party Back in Black by Foo Fighters with Jack Black, 12/31/02 on MTV New Year Pajama Party Since U Been Gone by Kelly Clarkson, 12/31/04 on MTV Iced Out - New Year's Eve 2005

From Gilman to the Grammys, they are arguably the biggest American punk band of all time. It's GREEN DAY week! Joining the show is long-time and legendary (as proclaimed by us) Boston music venue booker Ryan Agate AKA Ryan the Terrible! The guys and Ryan talk about their shared music scene experience and a practice space pigeon before going deep on the twists and turns of Green Day's career arc. The show discusses three 1994 clips before watching a special performance of "86" on Letterman a year later. American Idiot explodes, captured by a clip of Boulevard of Broken Dreams on Leno with keys and timpani. Plus the debut of Guess the Venue! Want to watch along with us? Check out the links below for the performances discussed this week! Welcome to Paradise/She, 3/17/94 on The Jon Stewart Show Basket Case, 6/29/94 on The Late Show with David Letterman Geek Stink Breath, 12/3/94 on Saturday Night Live 86, 11/9/95 on The Late Show with David Letterman Hitchin' a Ride, 10/14/97 on The Late Show with David Letterman Boulevard of Broken Dreams, 12/9/04 on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno Bang Bang, 11/22/16 on The Late Late Show with James Corden

Maybe you love to hate 'em. Maybe they're a guilty pleasure. Or maybe like most humans on earth you casually enjoy 'em. Either way, It's COLDPLAY week! Joining the show is music critic and writer of the Chicago-based culture blog No Expectations Josh Terry! The guys and Josh take a cue from Chris Martin and lean into sincerity as they discuss why Coldplay became arguably the most popular band of the 21st century. Early clips from Letterman and Kimmel show the band in their rawest and most palatable form. The show returns to the Super Bowl again, with better results than last episode. And Alex's take on a 2019 SNL performance rattles Jon to his core. Want to watch along with us? Check out the links below for the performances discussed this week! Trouble, 6/27/01 on The Late Show with David Letterman Clocks/Yellow, 1/26/03 on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Talk/Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, 12/7/05 on Late Night with Conan O'Brien Paradise, 9/26/11 on The Late Show with David Letterman Yellow/Viva La Vida/Paradise/Adventure of a Lifetime/ Clocks/Fix You/Up and Up, 2/7/16 on Super Bowl 50 Orphans, 11/2/19 on Saturday Night Live

They sparked a national obsession with ska horns and new wave keyboard while being led by one of the most famous frontwomen of the 1990s. It's NO DOUBT week! The clip journey this week takes the show from local SoCal cable access in 1990 to Super Bowl 37 in 2003. In between, the guys discuss the formative and massive impact of Tragic Kingdom, with 1996 performances on Conan and SNL. A performance on Conan four years later finds the band trying a little too hard to replicate that mega success. And the band's big left turn, hit-making Rocksteady era is captured on SNL. Plus the debut of Only the Voice! Want to watch along with us? Check out the links below for the performances discussed this week! Up Yours/Big City Train, 1/10/90 on The Gig Just a Girl, 1/30/96 on Late Night with Conan O'Brien Don't Speak (37:43 mark)/Excuse Me Mr. (56:50 mark), 12/7/96 on Saturday Night Live Ex-Girlfriend/Simple Kind of Life, 4/7/00 on Late Night with Conan O'Brien Hey Baby (26:40 mark)/Hella Good (1:00:20 mark), 12/15/01 on Saturday Night Live Just a Girl/Message in a Bottle with Sting, 1/16/03 on Super Bowl 37

T-M-G-T-P-O-D! Find out what it means this week! We're going way back into the era of bright light variety specials to talk the Queen of Soul. It's 1960s ARETHA FRANKLIN week! The guys discuss Aretha’s intense upbringing amid the civil rights movement and on the black gospel circuit before watching a 1964 Steve Allen clip that captures her jazzy Columbia Record's era. Aretha crushes with Respect and Chain of Fools on a crazy time-capsule variety special called Woody Allen Looks at 1967. Plus her 1968 and 1970 appearances on variety shows hosted by Sammy Davis Jr. and Tom Jones, featuring duets with each. Want to watch along with us? Check out the links below for the performances discussed this week! Lover Come Back to Me/Rock a Bye Your Baby/Won't be Long/Skylark/Evil Gal Blues, 5/19/64 on The New Steve Allen Show Do Right Woman, 11/1/67 on The Merv Griffin Show Respect/Chain of Fools (14:03 mark), 12/27/67 on Kraft Hall Music Presents Woody Allen Looks at 1967 Say a Little Prayer for You/Come Back Baby/Medley with Sammy Davis Jr. (Think, Respect, What'd I Say) (33:04 mark), 11/2/68 on The Hollywood Palace with Sammy Davis Jr. Say a Little Prayer for You/It's Not Unusual/Seesaw with Tom Jones/Spirit in the Dark with Tom Jones, 10/9/70 on This is Tom Jones

We got hella mohawks and ska hats at the ready for this one. It's RANCID week! Joining the show to break down all things bay area punk is the lead singer and guitarist of Boston-area band Bad Idea USA Courtney Denison! Courtney describes her own scene journey in Portsmouth, NH before diving into the long-time career and various side projects of Rancid. We discuss a killer national TV debut performance on SNL in 1995, some exciting left turn albums, and a Skinhead Rob-filled clip on Conan in 2003. Plus a deep dive into Brody Dalle and Tim Armstrong's relationship, featuring a 2004 performance by The Distillers on Conan. Want to watch along with us? Check out the links below for the performances discussed this week! Roots Radical (44:05 mark)/Ruby Soho (59:40 mark), 11/18/95 on Saturday Night Live Red Hot Moon, 9/30/03 on Late Night with Conan O'Brien Beat Your Heart Out by The Distillers, 4/6/04 on Late Night with Conan O'Brien Last One to Die, 6/10/09 on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien Ghost of a Chance, 8/24/17 on Conan

We're talking about a band important enough that we use them in our show description. It's NIRVANA week! One of the pod's musical heroes is here to talk about his own musical hero. Musician and producer Rory Phillips (The Impossibles, The Stereo) joins the show to talk about his own Nirvana superfandom and what it was like growing up as a budding musician in the era of Nevermind. Alex and Jon try to not make Rory feel too weird about their own love for The Impossibles before jumping into Nirvana's amazing late night TV career arc, including iconic performances on SNL and the MTV VMAs. Plus the debut of SKANK, DANK, OR TANK? Want to watch along with us? Check out the links below for the performances discussed this week! Smells Like Teen Spirit, 11/8/91 on The Word UK Full Set, 1/10/92 at the MTV Studios Smells Like Teen Spirit/Territorial Pissings, 11/11/92 on Saturday Night Live Lithium, 9/9/92 on the MTV Video Music Awards Heart Shaped Box/Rape Me, 9/25/93 on Saturday Night Live Serve the Servants, 2/27/94 on Tunnel (Italy)

We're grabbing a bag, shaking it up, and pulling out some clips this week. It's our first ever GRAB BAG episode on famous one-hit wonders! Alex and Jon walk 500 miles with the Proclaimers on Letterman before watching a wild performance by Sir-Mix-a-Lot on Arsenio featuring a giant on-stage ass. The Toadies play their seminal grunge 2.0 hit on The Jon Stewart Show and the guys discuss the anarcho-punk background of Chumbawumba. Harvey Danger comes and goes like a shooting star in the night. New Radicals perform for-and with-an audience of children on All That. And Gnarls Barkley blows the roof off on Letterman. Want to watch along with us? Check out the links below for the performances discussed this week! I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) by the Proclaimers, 3/21/89 on Late Night with David Letterman Baby Got Back by Sir-Mix-a-Lot, 6/19/92 on The Arsenio Hall Show Possum Kingdom by The Toadies, 3/2/95 on The Jon Stewart Show Tubthumping by Chumbawumba, 1/14/98 on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger, 8/11/98 on The Late Show with David Letterman You Get What You Give by New Radicals, 10/2/99 on All That Crazy by Gnarls Barkley, 8/14/06 on The Late Show with David Letterman

They stormed the early 2000s like their name was El Niño. But what happened once the storm died down? It's SUM 41 week! Alex and Jon go solo to talk about the startling meteoric rise and winding transformation of this somewhat pop-punk Canadian outfit. Tommy Lee and Rob Halford join the band for a rock medley to open up MTV's 20th anniversary special before Seann William Scott and Sum 41 attempt to mend a broken nation on SNL. And the guys try to make sense of the band's long and intentional turn away from their pop-punk origins. Plus the debut of "Fake Hair or Real Hair?" Want to watch along with us? Check out the links below for the performances discussed this week! Fat Lip/No Sleep Till Brooklyn/Shout it at the Devil/You've got Another Thing Coming with Tommy Lee and Rob Halford, 8/1/01 on MTV's 20th Anniversary Special Fat Lip (29:11 mark)/In Too Deep (55:42 mark), 10/6/01 on Saturday Night Live Still Waiting, 12/7/02 on Mad TV We're All to Blame, 10/15/04 on Late Night with Conan O' Brien Screaming Bloody Murder, 4/14/11 on Lopez Tonight Fake my own Death, 10/3/16 on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

Stipe. Buck. Mills. Berry. Beaton. Hillman. One of the most important and significant American bands of all time gets the TMGT treatment. It's R.E.M. week! Joining the show to talk 32 years, 15 albums, and a pod-record seven late night clips is former AVclub editor and current "The Reveal" film critic Keith Phipps! They span the late-night TV globe from America to the UK to Europe to break down the band's prolific and varied longtime career. The guys discuss R.E.M.'s incredible indie run on IRS Records in the 1980's before watching superstardom performances on SNL and the MTV Video Music Awards. And Germany's late night show "Wetten, dass..?" makes quite a first impression. Want to watch along with us? Check out the links below for the performances discussed this week! Radio Free Europe/So. Central Rain, 10/6/1983 on Late Night with David Letterman Driver 8/Can't Get There from Here, 10/25/1985 on The Tube UK Stand/Get Up, 10/17/1989 on The Arsenio Hall Show Losing My Religion, 4/13/1991 on Saturday Night Live Everybody Hurts/Drive, 9/2/1993 on the MTV Video Music Awards The Great Beyond, 12/13/1999 on The Late Show with David Letterman Supernatural Superserious, 3/29/2008 on Wetten, dass..?

What's the worst way to understand a legendary pop punk band famous for shaky live sets and funny stage banter? How about watching their late night tv show performances? This week on Tonight's Musical Guest, Today, it's BLINK 182! Joining the show is cbsboston.com sports writer, NBC Sports Boston on-air contributor, and Blink 182 superfan Michael Hurley! Mike and the guys bond over lost dreams of playing drums for a living before going deep on the varied eras of Blink. They discuss somewhat shaky performances of Dammit on Conan and All the Small Things on Leno before diving into the band's impressive and turbulent post-Enema of the State journey. Plus the debut of “Aliens Exist: Band Draft”! Want to watch along with us? Check out the links below for the performances discussed this week! Dammit, 3/17/98 on Late Night with Conan O' Brien All the Small Things, 10/15/99 on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno The Rock Show, 6/14/01 on The Late Show with David Letterman First Date, 11/29/01 on Late Night with Conan O' Brien Down, 5/27/04 on The Late Show with David Letterman Bored to Death, 11/07/16 on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert