Back when Paul Schafer played along with the musical guest on Letterman

that last one was controversial on the Prodigy shoegazing boards way back when

http://youtube.com/watch?v=YzuoXDC9ESw

Pixies w/the house band

i recall paul playing a one-chord keyboard part on beastie boys' "sabatoge" in the early CBS years. dave's line all night was "are you ready to get SARED???? we have the beastie boys here"

Man, this situation still bugs me.

Will Lee looks like a complete dork in that RHCP clip.

And what kind of green room conversation was taking place before the show when NBC brass was telling the band, "you guys sound great, but the drummer's going to have to play the triangle."

I mean, was this some sort of union joke or waht?

Something to do with budgets? I can't really remember. When the Letterman group played with L7, they had something like a total of six guitars going. Pretty crunchy.

When Peter Bjorn and John were on earlier this year, some lady from the band played the bongo part.

I've long been curious as to what, exactly, the arrangement is/was between the featured band and the Letterman house band, because my recollection is that not every musical guest employed Paul and the boys/girl (though the majority seem to), even post-'80s.

If it truly is, or was, a mandated thing, as Lawrence the Looter says, it's, of course, unfortunate that guests are made to present generally inferior performances to satisfy that obligation (not to mention members of the guest band being forced to break out the triangle just so they can participate -- I think drummers often fall victim to this simply because they might otherwise be have to sit in on someone else's kit, and that is almost always extremely uncomfortable). But truth be told, these collisions are often pretty fascinating for me -- I'm glad that we have that shaky version of "Trompe le Monde" (Black Francis in fine voice though) with bad Schaffer soloing and somewhat forced literate skronk guitar-work from Sid McGinnis.

And at other times, the performances are perfectly good. I'm not sure why anyone would object, on musical grounds, to the Screaming Trees and JAMC performances linked -- the bass player's white trousers and Stanley Clarke conviction in the JAMC one(?), because his playing is pretty faithful to the recording (maybe a bit busier and more R&B informed, but still appropriate and definitely not "funky" in the conventional sense).

Random notes:

Nice to see Steve Ferrone get a chance to, ahem, rock out (looks like he was having fun) in that Screaming Trees clip; he sounds good there.

One may not care for the playing of Anton Fig, he might not always mesh well with the featured act (though I think he does fine usually and is sometimes great), but he definitely isn't "ham-fisted". I prefer Steve Jordan, actually, but not everything he played on the Letterman show was golden either: check this performance of the band playing "Panama" with Eddie Van Halen(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZU32Ex4p04) -- not bad, per se, but kind of weird (all-around).

I'm pretty sure I once read an interview with Anton where he spoke of Tony Williams subbing for him in the band. How cool would it have been to see Tony Williams play behind The JAMC or Screaming Trees? I wonder who the band did back, if anyone, when Tony subbed (don't know how long he did either).

they backed up Dinosaur Jr. once I'm pretty sure (Start Choppin' era)

there's a Green Mind-era Dino Jr. clip on youtube, but it's in such terrible shape you can't really see if the house band is in on it

SJ sounds totally fine on that Van Halen clip to me. Still, what a weird thing to do.

lol @ Chad Smith on timbales. I wonder what would happen if you were in RHCP in the early 90s and you didn't have abs.

I still don't get why though.

PAUL SHAFFER circa. 1991: "Oh, FANTASTIC! Chainsaw Kittens are scheduled to come on AND I GET TO PLAY THE ORGAN AGAIN."

To be fair,it's really only some of the fills that I'm not feeling, as far as the drums go (and more-so it's the way that the toms are tuned -- just sounds odd for that song) in the Van Halen clip.

x-post

Jordan OTM on RHCP and abs.

I saw Urge Overkill play Bottle of Fur with the house band. Paul Schaffer was pounding the chimes at the end. They sounded better than they had any right to.

oh man i thought the same thing about abs when watching the video

maybe that's why they went through like 6 different guitarists at the time, dudes just didn't have the abs for it.

It's not every band that plays with the house band. It's actually quite rare. I always thought it was just bands with a cool sense of humor who were free wheeling enough to do it as a way to shake things up.

I think they did this with Stevie Ray Vaughan. I've seen it. It was on either Letterman or Carson.

I don't think a band would play on national tv w/out their regular drummer just for a laugh.

I thought it was a rule. A buddy of mine was in Poi Dog Pondering back in the day and when they did the Letterman show there were major negotiations to get every member of their own rather large band out on the stage- one of the two drummers ended up banging a stick on a soda can!

I'm trying to imagine what it would've been like had G.E. Smith played along with the Replacements on SNL, and I don't like what I'm seeing in my head right now.

I'll have to ask Ted about that, Ken.

Ha! You do that, John.

Found that SRV clip. The WMDB backed him on "Wall of Denial".

...and here's Sonic Youth

Here's a clip from a time when Dinosaur Jr. played and the house band guitarist took a little lead break that I don't think Mascis appreciated, as he proceeded to subsequently bitch slap him with a blazing solo in response.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TV6b4eij7ZQ

I heard Tito Puente was on there once and they made him play the drum kit while Anton played the timbales.

Maybe it's a way for the guys in the show band to let real bands know that they're studio musicians for hire and they're available for recording?

Yeah, Will Lee never did a single jingle vocal until he was discovered during that Chili Peppers performance.

Okay so this is pretty fucking hysterical too, The La's "There She Goes" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVd2x0EpnYA&feature=related

funny becuase Shafers on the tambourine, the guitarist brought out the old Rickenbacker AND for the lead singer who supposedly demanded a mixer with the original 60's dust still on it when recording the album, this must surely be the sound he had in mind...

plus a Beatles bonus in the end. I LOVE it

This is great

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwhyGz2tQJc

Is that the clip where Paul throws his tampon into the crowd?

I had never seen that Dinosaur jr clip before - Mascis just SLAUGHTERS that house guitarist!

If Timi Yuro would be still alive, most other singers could shut up
Posted: August 26, 2007 5:33:29 PM
Something to do with budgets? I can't really remember. When the Letterman group played with L7, they had something like a total of six guitars going. Pretty crunchy.

I'm glad that we have that shaky version of "Trompe le Monde" (Black Francis in fine voice though) with bad Schaffer soloing and somewhat forced literate skronk guitar-work from Sid McGinnis.

Was watching this clip for a while before I realized it must be from Letterman.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jeZtxB_pGI&feature=related

Aargh the dreaded end page, try again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jeZtxB_pGI&feature=related

Forget it. It's The Bangles singing "If She Knew What She Whats."

"Wants"

Tarfumes mentioned this over on the VU thread.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2u_xYIEOCg

The Kinks on Leno in '93 except it's really Ray & Dave with Leno's rhythm section and pianist.

Back to Letterman:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o11abgxUxsc

The B-52's doing "Love Shack" backed by The World's Most Dangerous Band.

with Kate doing the "TIN ROOF...RUSTED" cause clearly Cindy is under the weather.

I also love how they walk out and just instantly go into the song, no hesitation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zizL69E362E

ZZ Top: "Pincushion" w/the CBS band

I think I remember a band (Pere Ubu, early 90s?) where only two or three members had been invited to play on the show, and were complaining about it somewhere.

Looking at the longest version of their appearance, in the intro Dave mentions that the band had to pay their own way to New York after both their label and NBC refused to. So if that's true, and Letterman's people where like, "Only three of you can be on the show, and Paul gets to sing harmony"...yeah, I'd be pissed too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7dhvuq0cEY

"Oh, one more thing: Anton gets to play congas AND regular drums!"

Here's an interesting one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRC2yPiqyU0

XTC's first performance _period_ in 7 years, doing "King For A Day" in the summer of '89, and needing the backing since there were only three guys in the band by then.

Pere Ubu’s label at the time (Fontana) refused to pay for their flights to play on Letterman because the album wasn’t selling. Someone — probably David Thomas — helpfully pointed out that $2500 was not a huge expense for a major label for a national US TV appearance that might help boost sales. Due to the publicity surrounding this, Jane’s Addiction, R.E.M., and others helped pay for Ubu’s travel. I was a huge Ubu fan at the time, but I missed the show. When I eventually saw it, I wondered why such a startlingly unique band would waste this opportunity by playing one of their dullest songs.

The only band I know of that turned down a Letterman appearance because of the house band stipulation was the Replacements, but I assume there were others. And Anton Fig is one of the worst drummers in the history of sound.

Still think it must have had something to do with either union rules, royalty payments or both.

Yeah, but the practice stopped when they went to CBS and they may have been worried about losing bookings to Leno.

They still did a version of it at CBS: bands appear in their full lineups, but sometimes the house band would play along with them to beef up the sound. However, usually when this happened, Paul & co. wouldn't get as much screentime during the performances.

Speaking of CBS, Dave's people have been having clips from that era removed left and right as of late.

Dave's staff has really stepped up trying to post their own clips. Somewhat ghoulishly perhaps, anytime a celebrity who was on the show dies they'll get an old interview with them up that same day.

...or just if somebody's in the news. Noticed they put up some Blink-182 stuff right after the reunion announcement.

Anyway, this is new to me: Sonic Youth (w/a very pregnant Kim) doing "Bull In The Heather" on the CBS show.

https://digg.com/music/link/sonic-youth-letterman-1994-GqIWpyBSo0

Paul and the band have to sit silently and watch.

By the time Letterman moved to CBS, Shaffer’s band rarely accompanied musical guests.

And I always assumed the main reason one or two members of a band had to play with Shaffer et al on NBC was the size of the studio. For the first few years of Late Night the Bangles, R.E.M., and Dylan, among others, played without Shaffer’s band, but Letterman was moved to a new, and smaller, studio around ‘86-‘87 or so, making it difficult-to-impossible to fit even just a four-piece band’s gear etc. onto the stage.

when we played the CBS show Paul & the band hung around to watch our performance from their stations, even though we were dead last and they all could have bailed early. out of sight of the camera Schaeffer was there really bopping head head along and following what we were doing, just rocking out, and it made me feel like a million, billion bucks. One of the best "go ahead and meet your heroes" experiences I can imagine

Cool!

Another one of those 'discreet augmentation' bits from the CBS Orchestra:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d75oeqBBVA

ZZ Top: "What's Up With That"

On that same tip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIpmUroL2D4

Johnny Winter: "Dust My Broom"

oh man that Johnny Winter one is hot stuff

the letterman youtube videos have started including ads and psas at the end, it's lovely stuff

From now or then?

era appropriate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opdndYLhcJI

Richard Thompson: "I Feel So Good" (Will Lee going HAM during the guitar solo)

Posted before, but was taken down:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8Y_3t629YM

Breeders: "So Sad About Us" (with bonus Who from TWMDB afterwards)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3MxcmfEtxo

Ray Davies (no Kinks, not even Dave): "How Do I Get Close?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVgeAK6IN4s

Los Lobos: "Reva's House"

I stayed up for that Ray Davies appearance (hey, 11:30-12:30 Central was LATE on a weeknight for a high schooler who had to get up at 6am for Jazz Band practice). I was disappointed that Dave wasn’t there, but liked the performance anyway. And Letterman’s wrong: it was their 26th album (counting live albums, not counting compilations), not their 48th.

It’s hard to see the hype sticker, but it calls the Kinks “The World’s Premier Rock & Roll Band!” They really wanted to fill the stadiums that the Stones and Who had filled in the summer of ‘89, but UK Jive topped out at #122 in the US, and the best they could hope for was 1/2-empty sheds on their 1990 tour.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yo6V2V6luLY

Liz Phair: "Supernova"

WOW

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYifslpfSq8

The Feelies: "Doin' It Again"

oh big cheers for that one - they sound good!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaoEuyObRkY

Bo Diddley: "Bo Diddley Put The Rock In Rock-'n'-Roll"

Lol @ Dave's bit of business with the LP cover at the start of the Liz Phair clip

(Liz doesn't sound her best there... too bad)

https://consequence.net/2023/01/paul-shaffer-fill-in-the-roots-jimmy-fallon/

(posted today)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnUI4a7BKpE

Letterman did one of his primetime anniversary specials not long after the SNL incident, including part of that clip in a musical guests montage, and there was audible booing.

On a related note, here's Julee Cruise w/the SNL band when she and the Spanic Boys pitch-hit for Sinead in '90.

https://vimeo.com/145203027

Borrowing from the "Controversial Opinions" thread

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29mx2bYvrJk

Herbie Hancock

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htqlOFuO-QM

#onethread

Slightly fixated on that Jon Lovitz-looking background dancer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-LZodq5Qxg

Ray Davies & The Max Weinberg 7

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYB22jmw3YY

David Johansen & The Max Weinberg 7

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQR52G6gvSk

📹

There's a bunch of Lou Reed clips like this, but singling this one out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVFcj-QLpu0

"Busload of Faith" during a Chicago residency. The Lou Mullet is OUT OF CONTROL

^^James Cotton on harp!

an example of this I quite admire is when XTC were on the show in 1989. I *think* this is the one and only time they played live on television after 1982 and PS and his band do a pretty good job.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Amx5CK7vdoc

from an interview with the plugz' bassist re: their famous/great turn as bob dylan's band on letterman in 1984:

Paul Shaffer tried to jam along with us at soundcheck. It didn't go well for Paul. Bob told Bill Graham, “Lose the clown on the keyboard.”