Mar 242011
It had been awhile since I watched this. I think it’s even better than The Who‘s legendary “live” performance of “Join Together.” Also, is there any better example of why Dick Clark may be Rock’s Consumate Pro? As a control freak and generally protocol-obsessed tight ass I can’t imagine how poorly I would have reacted to this scene had I been in Dick’s shoes.
Now, THIS was good television, esp. for a show as generally bland & rigid as American Bandstand! The Who’s thing was a promo film for the single (as opposed to a mimed “live” television appearance), wasn’t it? This beats that one by a mile. TV is always more interesting and/or memorable when people stray from the script….and their marks.
It all just seems so improbable, which is what makes it so wonderful.
I’ve never seen nor heard of this – hilarious. There’s no question that Dick handled it pretty well, but by this time he had 23 years experience dealing with pissy rock/pop stars with attitudes. Besides, what did he really expect from the ex-Johnny Rotten?
But this is not the greatest live-TV rock and roll performance ever. The Who on the Smothers Brothers still win.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utpjQFBuQQM
That’s a great clip. It did occur to me that the following is a candidate for Most Blatant Lie Ever Told in a Rock Lyric:
That Johnny (Rotten) Lydon–he’s so controversial!
FEAR on Saturday Night Live gets my vote for greatest live tv performance…
http://www.wideo.fr/video/iLyROoafvXes.html
Yeah, that’s the real deal when it comes to televised rock ‘n roll anarchy. I hadn’t seen that since it first aired.
How did the whole hardcore skank and stage dive thing get started? I mean the stage dive isn’t that hard to figure out, but the classic skank preceding it, as seen in this clip, doesn’t seem related to any rock ‘n roll “dances” I’m aware of. And is there a practical purpose to the skank?
While it is amusing and interesting that this was on network television, I would have to say that, all in all, they kinda suck.
Speaking of Lee Ving, I always knew he had Philadelphia roots, but I didn’t realize he was an Italian-American guy whose musical career dates back to the ’60s, when he played with Philadelphia local legends (and one of my favorite band names) Sweet Stavin Chain. Does anyone know if he was in that band for a significant amount of time? I think I know the drummer from that band, and the leader’s brother engineered our band’s first record. I guess we had no reason to discuss Lee Ving as brother Dave Starobin told us stories of his brother’s band opening for Cream and the like.
Agreed. I couldn’t stand this when I saw it, and to my ears most hardcore still sounds like it was made by guys who didn’t have the patience to actually learn how to play Black Sabbath and Deep Purple records.
Yeah, I’m in agreement that The Who on The Smothers Brothers Show is numero uno.
This is a close second (either the band or network must’ve had the full clip pulled ’cause it’s tough to find):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BF5cOl9ti_Y
Hair splitting, perhaps, but is this really live or synched to a pre-recorded track (not the record but a new performance)? My recollection was that it was quasi-live.
Meaning how to play the records on a record player.
Yeah, I’m frequently trying to find that full performance. It seems to be scrubbed clean. That’s when the Stones were on SNL. Definitely one of my fondest tv performances!
Now you funny too.
It’s certainly not the studio version. It’s hard to tell from an imperfectly-synched video clip but I suspect that it’s at least mostly live.
Yeah, banging and yelling gets old pretty quick.
I love the “I’m smiling because I’ll rip your lungs out in two seconds” look on Keith Moon’s face as he’s talking to Tommy Smothers.