On Feb 12, 12:07 pm, scruffy <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Feb 12, 2009, at 10:36 AM, Kevin M. wrote:
>
> > To be clear, SNL presently likes to book the top of the charts. In
> > their day as counterculture revolutionaries, they enjoyed booking
> > equally obscure bands. It was, in fact, one of the reasons they were
> > noticed early on. Looking at my DVD box sets, Art Garfunkel, ABBA,
> > Carly Simon, Paul Simon, Ray Charles, Eddie Money, and Meat Loaf would
> > be the only performers from the first three seasons that I would
> > consider mainstream (others who were on would eventually find their
> > way to pop culture, but at the time they appeared, they seemed to be
> > going out of their respective ways to avoid the pop scene... even
> > ABBA'a appearance somewhat predates the height of disco).
>
> also Anne Murray, James Taylor, Neil Sedaka...i don't think the ratio
> is all that different.
Sweet Baby James was real big on AOR radio before the soft rock purge
of the late 70s (and the attendant "Disco Sucks" movement). More
importantly, he and Michaels are good friends, so it was prudent to
book him (and Paul Simon) once a year on "SNL" back then.
The real offbeat bookings from the early years you will not see these
days are the avant-garde jazz acts like Ornette Coleman (musical guest
on the Uncle Miltie episode that Michaels supposedly doesn't allow in
any syndication package) and Sun Ra. Even with Hal Willner's
presence, those kinds of acts will never be booked on today's "SNL."
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