Tonight's Musical Guest, Today

They were cool looking boys from the large apple. Leaders of a NYC and retro guitar rock revival, they wrote two of the catchiest and most memorable records of the early 2000s. Was that it? It's THE STROKES week! The Strokes make their network TV debut on Conan with a perfect sounding rendition of "The Modern Age". An early performance on SNL with a dreamy Julian Casablancas propels...

They came from the heartland to destroy us all. More brutal death metal than nu, maggots from every corner of America rejoiced at their one-of-a-kind stage show, technical precision, and devil-fueled aggression. It's SLIPKNOT week! The guys explore the incredible backstory, lore, and turmoil of one of the most visually arresting bands the show has ever discussed. Slipknot make their UK televi...

They exploded onto the 90s Britpop scene with fresh faces and clean teeth. Steven Spielberg wanted to turn them into the next Monkees. Instead, this UK phenomenon eschewed America and just did it their way. It's SUPERGRASS week! Joining the show is a long-time musical hero of Alex and Jon: lead singer and guitarist of the legendary Boston-based band Piebald, Travis Shettel! The guys and Travi...

She holds eye-popping album sale records, ushered a whole new style of pop music into the mainstream, and did it all as a socially conscious black woman in conservative white America. But one TV performance clouded all of it. It's JANET JACKSON week! Joining the show this week to help uncloud that cultural memory is music journalist Robby Seabrook III! Robby and the guys discuss Janet's...

Ill-conceived. Unnecessary. Over the top. No, not this podcast, but rather the topic at hand for our third-ever Grab Bag episode: SUPERGROUPS! Mr. Big brings together middling hair metal pros to create the "cordless-electric-hand-drill genre of rock guitar". The Backbeat Band featuring Greg Dulli, Mike Mills, and Dave Grohl performs one time and one time only. We talk Oysterhead again be...

One-hit wonder? Yes. Decade-spanning mythology rooted in the ethos of societal and human genome collapse? Also yes. Fortune-tellers, DIY punk legends, new wave heroes? Yes, yes, and yes. It's DEVO week! Joining the show as the first entrant into the two-timers guest club is TMGT theme song creator and best friend of the pod Kenny! The spuds from Ohio get their big break on SNL in 1978 and do...

In just 4 year's time, he created the modern version of American rock music and reinvented the guitar. And broke the brains of whoever saw him do it. It's JIMI HENDRIX week! Jimi breaks through on the southern Chitlin' circuit with his first ever TV appearance backing up Buddy & Stacey on Nashville's Night Train in 1965. The Jimi Hendrix Experience immediately explodes in t...

They went from snotty, Brit teen punk phenomenons to Olympic game-playing elder statesmen in six year's time. From angular pop punk to R&B blues rock to crooning ballads about casinos on the moon, it's a career arc equal parts successful and baffling. It's ARCTIC MONKEYS week! Alex Turner and co. make their American TV debut on SNL in 2006 featuring a yawning audience member.  T...

Drunk troubador. Carnival barker. Scum bum extraordinaire. Character actor. He's lived as many lives as he sung about. It's TOM WAITS week! Joining the show as a renowned scum bum expert in his own right is Ben Hosley (Blank Check with Griffin and David)! Ben and the guys explore the wild persona and musical shifts of Tom over 38 years and 7 clips. 70s Tom is on full display with perform...

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 ren...

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 Ale...

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...

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 moveme...

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 (Aquar...

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...

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...

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 Let...

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 ac...

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 Mar...

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 car...

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 mo...

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 perform...

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...

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 pe...

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. Al...