Tube Groove
Medieval Music Television
Compiled by Dave Harrison
with additional commentary by Don Harrison
Elvis from the waist up is easy.
How exactly does the History of Rock get rewritten upon the viewing, 20 years after the fact, of Iggy Pop's raucous appearance on "The Dinah Shore Show"?
Iggy tells Dinah that his main inspiration in music was growing up in Detroit and listening to cars being made, his sideman Bowie laughs from behind the scenes, and Ms. Shore takes a poll of the studio crowd to see if they believe him. They do.
How can you reconcile Phil Spector's acting debut as an influential record label executive on a 1966 "I Dream of Jeannie" episode with his reputation as a sore-headed recluse?
Spector is hilarious. On the phone when Jeannie (Barbara Eden) and her band enter the room for an audition, Spector proves to be a funny, natural comedian. "Best band I've ever heard. Of course they have to sign a consenting order. They're only 13 years old." If Spector had gotten his own NBC sitcom, we think it would've worked!
From the few 12th generation copies that have survived, can even the most talented cryptologist decipher the garbled genius of the one and only episode of James Brown's busted "James Brown's Future Shock" pilot?
This is one we haven't seen, but the Beasties' excellent Grand Royal magazine recommends it highly, and says that its James Brown trying to do his own kind of Soul Train. . . with hilariously mixed results!
Can today's music fan fathom the implications of Dusty Springfield and Jimi Hendrix performing together on a 1967 episode of Dusty's British summer replacement show?
A long-lost artifact. Probably erased over by a cost-cutting BBC exec. . .
And can cultural anthropologists explain-- 30 years after the fact-- how an animated Sal Valentino and the Beau Brummels could guest star on The Flintstones based on just a few Top 10 hits?
We won't try to explain our love of the Beau Brummels, who are the great lost '60's combo, or even their appearance as stone-age musicians on this typical Fred-and-Barney misadventure. Let's just say the Simpsons didn't always invent their own shit.
How many more years will Bob Dylan's lawyers be able to surpress the video release of his very first TV special?
From 1963 Canadian TV, we saw a young and scrawny Dylan singing "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" and other early protest favorites to a bunch of actors in a TV set made up like a logging camp? They ignore him.
. . . just how does one distinguish the David Bowie who verbally jousted with Henry "Fonz" Winkler on (again! The woman was a pioneer) Dinah!, from the David Bowie who sang a psychadelic version of "Fame" on "The Sonny and Cher Hour," from the David Bowie who went to Berlin and worshipped the atonal experimentation of Kraftwerk, Can and Faust?
David to Henry (seriously) "Do you think the public responds to you as Fonzie or. . . "
And do we respond to the Monkees less, or more, seriously following their surreal, hilarious eight-minute 1969 segment of the Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour? Without Peter and down to a 3-piece, they do a weird-ass medley of "I'm a Believer" / "Steppin' Stone" / "Salesman," and then proceed into a dadaist skit about their old days in the '30's(?) singing flop songs like "Mussolini, We're With You." Is this a novelty band in it's sad final stages or a whole new type of rock theatre that never got explored?
Aren't we all a little happier knowing that Johnny Cash did a duet with The Guess Who on a 1969 episode of Johnny's ABC TV show?
I'm betting that their "What Is Truth" / "Hand-Me Down World," as godawful as it was, had a better market-share ratio than
Bono's "A Year in Pop."
20 Favorite Clips from Network TV Shows
1) Everly Brothers-- "Rattlesnake" on the Tennessee Ernie Ford Show, 1959-- USA (The bros and Tennessee play a single guitar and sing the blues)
2) Booker T. & the MGs-- "Green Onions" on Shindig, 1964-- USA (The Shindogs find the groove immediately)
3) The Monks-- "Monk Chant" / "Oh How To Do Now" on Beat Beat Beat, 1966-- W. Germany (The only existing footage of one of early rock's lost wonders-- complete with amplified banjo and medieval haircuts!)
4) 13th Floor Elevators-- "You're Gonna Miss Me" on Where The Action Is, 1966-- USA (Surprisingly, Roky and Co. were a tight live band. Here, they are introduced by a So. Cal jock lounging in a pool)
5) The Equals-- "Baby Come Back" on Beat Club, 1967-- W. Germany (Go, Derv!)
6) Serge Gainsbourg & France Gall-- "Dance De Loop" on Dance De Loop, 1967-- France
7) The Move-- "Let's Go For A Walk Upon The Water" on Beat Club, 1967-- W. Germany (Finally, from this clip, you can see what all the fuss was about. A truly mesmerizing live performance from a weird and unique U.K. combo)
8) The Who-- "My Generation" on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, 1967-- USA
(Used as the opening scene of the Kids Are Alright. Explosive mayhem a la Keith Moon and way too many fireworks)
9) Donovan-- "Lelana" on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, 1968-- USA (At the end of this performance, the crowd throws daisies at the performer)
10) James Brown-- "Say It Loud, I'm Black & I'm Proud" on Playboy After Dark, 1968-- USA (James tells a roomful of white P-Boy swingers in Hef's pad to give a shout-out to Black Power. Only the oriental centerfold enthusiastically complies)
11) Beatles-- "Revolution" on The David Frost Show, 1968-- U.K.
12) Curtis Mayfield-- "Superfly" on The Midnight Special, 1973-- USA
13) Iggy Pop-- "Funtime" on Dinah!, 1977-- USA (Dinah's banter with Iggy, as well as her telling Rosemary Clooney what the definition of "Punk rock" is, is classic)
14) Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band-- "Ashtray Heart" on Saturday Night Live, 1978-- USA
15) Devo-- "The Day My Baby Gave Me A Surprize" on American Bandstand, 1979-- USA (Great special effects)
16) Elvis Costello & the Attractions-- "Radio Radio" on Saturday Night Live, 1979--USA (This is the infamous performance where Elvis changed songs on the "live" production, causing mayhem and behind-the-scenes cacophony. The performance rocks too).
17) Public Image Limited-- "Careering" on American Bandstand, 1980-- USA (John Lydon refuses to lip synch, pulls people out of the crowd to "dance," and then-- off camera-- spits on Dick Clark's shoes. They weren't asked back.)
18) Grandmaster Flash-- "New York, New York" on Fridays, 1983-- USA
19) Stereolab-- "French Disko" on The Word, 1993-- U.K. (That's Brian dancing in the black leather vest!)
20) Beck-- "Where It's At" on The Tonight Show, 1996-- USA (During the interview segment, Mr. Hansen cuts Jay Leno's tie off)