Tune in Tomorrow......
It seems that, tonight, Sunday, I missed (or nearly missed) two big network TV events: The Simpsons episode on gay marriage, and the NBC special on the First Five Years of SNL.
And even though I completely missed the Simpsons, I caught the last hour of the SNL special. Not all that interesting a show--talking mostly about the behind-the-scenes stuff. I was, though, most disappointed that the musical guests they highlighed were what I would consider the more stodgy and conservative guests--Randy Newman, Leon Redbone, The Grateful Dead, Paul Simon and George Harrison, Meat Loaf (?!?), J. Giles Band (sp?), and the Rolling Stones.
Okay, some of the above are perennials and among the pantheon of Rock Gods, but what made SNL a music vanguard showcase was NOT guys like Randy Newman, who was just nauseating to me in my teens and still is now--and someone I don't think alot of people even know of anymore. It just seemed strange that the musicians featured (with the exceptions of Tom Petty and Bob Dylan--one of the 80's and one timeless) were more representative of the tastes of the children of the 60's than of the bands who, by their exposure on SNL, would become part of the musical landscape beyond SNL's first five years.
It was people like Elvis Costello, The Ramones, The B52's, and many of the more "cutting edge" bands of the day who made SNL's music segments worth watching. SNL was the place to see bands that young, underage, bridge-and-tunnel folk couldn't get to see because of lack of transportation or lack of cash.
It kept us watching far past our usual bedtimes and kept us feeling "cool" in our respective suburban bastions of nerdness.
And why, of all one-hit-wonders, Meat Loaf? Because he was big at the time and completely flamed out on his own hot air, or just because he was someone that Boomers might remember more than, say, the Talking Heads, because one of his most mean-spirited and childish songs is now a wedding standard? (pardon the run-on....it gets that way in rants)
I'd rather be nostalgic for people who were shocking in their day moreso than someone whose music was more than forgettable when it came out.
And if it was about one-hit wonders...well, I'm sure they could have come up with more spectacular one-hitters than Meat Loaf.
Perhaps it's Jeff Gannon Syndrome--not what you know but who you blow.
Overall, though, the retrospect, or tribute, or whatever it was supposed to be, was a bit flat. There was alot of reminiscing, alot of uninteresting insight into the "guts" of the show, and, after awhile, it got kind of boring--like an alien autopsy. The SNL experience was personal not just for the people making it, but for those of us watching. It was something unique, and when something unique is dissected and recounted the way it was in tonight's show, and the "best parts" are chosen not by what you remember but by what others believed made it best, it loses some of its magical uniqueness.
And I wonder at what later date I will catch the Simpsons.....in the world of TV we might grow old, and we can always come 'round again.
And even though I completely missed the Simpsons, I caught the last hour of the SNL special. Not all that interesting a show--talking mostly about the behind-the-scenes stuff. I was, though, most disappointed that the musical guests they highlighed were what I would consider the more stodgy and conservative guests--Randy Newman, Leon Redbone, The Grateful Dead, Paul Simon and George Harrison, Meat Loaf (?!?), J. Giles Band (sp?), and the Rolling Stones.
Okay, some of the above are perennials and among the pantheon of Rock Gods, but what made SNL a music vanguard showcase was NOT guys like Randy Newman, who was just nauseating to me in my teens and still is now--and someone I don't think alot of people even know of anymore. It just seemed strange that the musicians featured (with the exceptions of Tom Petty and Bob Dylan--one of the 80's and one timeless) were more representative of the tastes of the children of the 60's than of the bands who, by their exposure on SNL, would become part of the musical landscape beyond SNL's first five years.
It was people like Elvis Costello, The Ramones, The B52's, and many of the more "cutting edge" bands of the day who made SNL's music segments worth watching. SNL was the place to see bands that young, underage, bridge-and-tunnel folk couldn't get to see because of lack of transportation or lack of cash.
It kept us watching far past our usual bedtimes and kept us feeling "cool" in our respective suburban bastions of nerdness.
And why, of all one-hit-wonders, Meat Loaf? Because he was big at the time and completely flamed out on his own hot air, or just because he was someone that Boomers might remember more than, say, the Talking Heads, because one of his most mean-spirited and childish songs is now a wedding standard? (pardon the run-on....it gets that way in rants)
I'd rather be nostalgic for people who were shocking in their day moreso than someone whose music was more than forgettable when it came out.
And if it was about one-hit wonders...well, I'm sure they could have come up with more spectacular one-hitters than Meat Loaf.
Perhaps it's Jeff Gannon Syndrome--not what you know but who you blow.
Overall, though, the retrospect, or tribute, or whatever it was supposed to be, was a bit flat. There was alot of reminiscing, alot of uninteresting insight into the "guts" of the show, and, after awhile, it got kind of boring--like an alien autopsy. The SNL experience was personal not just for the people making it, but for those of us watching. It was something unique, and when something unique is dissected and recounted the way it was in tonight's show, and the "best parts" are chosen not by what you remember but by what others believed made it best, it loses some of its magical uniqueness.
And I wonder at what later date I will catch the Simpsons.....in the world of TV we might grow old, and we can always come 'round again.
posted by Tish Grier at 12:33 AM
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