Wednesday, May 12, 2010

"WOMEN HAVE NOT FORGIVEN CLAY, THEY HAVE SIMPLY FORGOTTEN HIM, AS HAVE MOST DENIZENS OF POPULAR CULTURE. THERE IS NO WORSE FATE IN SHOW BUSINESS": Twenty years ago at this very moment, Andrew Dice Clay hosted Saturday Night Live. As you may recall, cast member Nora Dunn boycotted the episode (and never returned to the show), as did scheduled musical guest Sinead O'Connor who ended up making her rescheduled appearance memorable in its own right.

(Your replacement musical guests: Twin Peaks chanteuse Julee Cruise and "Spanic Boys.")

added: Would you like to know more? Because the Shales/Miller book is mostly online. (Dunn: "To me, Andrew Dice Clay hosting was the pinnacle of everything that upset me about the show. I still feel that it's a black mark that they endorsed him and let him walk through that door.")

Also: most obscure musical guests in SNL history.

14 comments:

  1. As someone who has purchased two rather good Spanic Boys CDs, I'm curious why you have their name in quotes? If anything "Julee Cruise" seemed more worthy.

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  2. I couldn't even find a Wikipedia entry on them. If you're telling me they really existed, okay.

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  3. Benner9:35 AM

    I am somewhat amazed that in the 1970s SNL had both Keith Jarrett and the Philip Glass Ensemble as musical guests.

    Speaking of Twin Peaks, wasn't the Sinead O'Connor ep the one hosted by Kyle McLachlan? (The Twin Peaks soundtrack is one of the best uses of leitmotifs since Wagner.)

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  4. Joseph J. Finn10:14 AM

    Sinead O'Connor is looking like a bit of vionary these days, ain't she? (But yes, she pulled a jerk move on Lorne Michaels by surprising him like that.)

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  5. The Pathetic Earthling12:54 PM

    The only thing I really remember about that incident was Sinead O'Connor getting loudly booed off the stage at her next public performance and Kris Kristofferson giving her a hug.

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  6. Ian Spanic2:36 PM

    Having been there then and still here today I can assure you the Spanic Boys exist. As a matter of fact we were the only musical guest set to appear and had camera blocked for two songs when at the last minute SNL caved to the pressure of extreme lobbying by major record labels to include one of their acts on what would be the most watched episode of SNL at that time, 42 million people.

    I couldn't find a Wikipedia entry for you either but I trust you exist.

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  7. [humbled.]

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  8. isaac_spaceman3:48 PM

    Adam exists, and probably deserves his Wiki at this point, but Ian Spanic is on the right trail, since many of us (including me) don't exist.

    A first draft of a Wiki for Adam Bonin:

    Although David Franklin correctly identified Ben Cooper, Adam Bonin was the intended answer to the Law School Trivia Contest practice question, "name an Amherst Jew from Philadelphia." Adam currently appears on Fox's Glee as a newspaper reporter with poor journalistic ethics. If a professional wrestler is ever killed by whale meat, Adam Bonin will be the first man on the scene.

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  9. isaac_spaceman3:49 PM

    "Don't let the bastards get you down." Some sort of benefit concert, at which Eddie Vedder did a riveting version of Bob Dylan's "Masters of War."

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  10. The Pathetic Earthling3:59 PM

    I hadn't heard of the Spanic Boys, either as a nominal or actual band. But I just pulled up "Keep on Walking" which was a really cool little tune. I'm not sure what an actual music critic would have compared it to, but a little bit of Los Lobos, a little bit of Neil Young and a little bit of Perry Ferrell is what I got out of that. I'll dig up some more. Anyway, Mr Spanic, thanks for stopping in!

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  11. As Adam pointed out to me, I apparently had a short-lived Wiki entry last year (and still have no idea who created it), but quickly failed a "notability" test and was deleted.

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  12. Eric J.4:24 PM

    The Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary concert. Or as Neil Young dubbed it, BobFest.

    http://www.bobdylan.com/#/music/the-30th-anniversary-concert-celebration

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  13. Ian Spanic6:45 PM

    You're welcome! The fact that this was the twentieth anniversary had escaped me. When Sinead and Nora boycotted the show all it did was draw more attention to DIce and made that show an event. I remember it was the only show since Richard Pryor was host to be time delayed and trust me it was not the same show the viewing public saw as the one we witnessed in the green room. None of the performers were told until after that there had been numerous bomb threats that night as well.

    To say that the opportunity to appear on that episode of SNL changed our lives and career is an understatement and I've always said I owe the biggest thank you to Sinead.

    Thanks for letting me join in here even though it raised the question in my mind that I might not actually exist. It is a good idea for a movie that someone goes to Wikipedia only to read that they don't exist and then.. never mind.

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  14. Yeah, that's pretty fascinating.

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