TV live music shows of the 60's & 70's?

LAG · #1 02-20-2008, 07:42 AM

There where a good number of late night, live concert shows on television back in that day. For instance; Midnight Special, Night Train, Don Kirschner's Rock Concert, etc.

Can anyone name other programs from that time period that featured good live entertainment?

LAG · #2 02-22-2008, 05:35 PM

Anybody have memories of such shows on TV from that era?

buzzbass · #3 02-22-2008, 05:37 PM

Heck yeah. Before MTV, that was the only way I could see my heros on TV. How about that Top of the Pops show from the UK. That was pretty cool too.

bassaficionado6 · #4 02-22-2008, 06:13 PM

On Fuse there's that Jule's Holland show which is pretty good IMO.

BuffaloMO · #5 02-22-2008, 07:41 PM

A couple weekly music shows I remember from the 60s and 70s are Johnny Cash Show, Porter Wagoner.

There were also several like Ed Sullivan, Sonny & Sher, The Osmonds.

LAG · #6 02-22-2008, 08:02 PM

I like to watch youtube for classic concert preformances. One can find rare stuff by typing in the name of the TV shows.

Thanks and keep them coming.

bassteban · #7 02-22-2008, 08:19 PM

Solid Gold, a disco dance contest, sometimes had a decent artist on. They were probably Ashlee Simpsoning it, but again, pre-MTV, there was little to choose from. SNL of course, & SCTV(ofte more obscure/hip acts).

JimK · #8 02-23-2008, 06:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LAG

Anybody have memories of such shows on TV from that era?

Before Don Kirschner's Rock Concert there was In Concert.
The very 1st episode (Friday night at 11:30pm) had Alice Cooper; so I'm parked in front of the TV awaiting & poof...no picture....no picture for about 20 minutes...finally, the picture comes back & it's Seals & Crofts?
About 5 years ago, I read that many TV stations pulled the plug on the Alice Cooper segment...there is some very rough footage of what I missed on youtube. Alice is so drunk he can barely get any of the words to "I'm Eighteen" out.

More In Concert highlights for me -
Stevie Wonder & band doing "Superstition"
Allman Brothers (w/ Berry Oakley) doing an extended "Rambling Man"
Curtis Mayfield & band doing "Freddie's Dead
The Doobie Brothers also rocked out (about the same time frame as their album, What Were Once Vices...)

JimK · #9 02-23-2008, 06:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LAG

Can anyone name other programs from that time period that featured good live entertainment?

The Old Grey Whistle Test from the UK...the 1st DVD is definitely worth having.
http://www.amazon.com/Old-Grey-Whist...3774998&sr=8-1

Music Scene (played opposite Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, IIRC) was also cool.
http://www.amazon.com/Music-Scene-19...3775057&sr=1-2

The Dick Cavett Show also had some nice live Rock/R&B acts-
http://www.amazon.com/Dick-Cavett-Sh...3775259&sr=8-3

steamthief · #10 02-23-2008, 02:42 PM

This may sound funny, but I remember seeing KC & the Sunshine Band perform live while my mom watched The Mike Douglas Show.

anderbass · #11 02-23-2008, 11:55 PM

Austin City Limits. (1976)
Fridays (1980)

Bard2dbone · #12 02-24-2008, 05:10 AM

Yeah, but Fridays wasn't a concert show. They were a fairly blatant Saturday Night Live rip-off.

They had a pretty funny cast : Michael (Kramer) Richards, Mary Edith Burrel, Melanie Chartoff, Bruce Mahler and other folks whose names I can't remember. The episode I remember best had King Crimson as the musical guest. They did Larks Tongues in Aspic, not your typical TV show performance.

BuffaloMO · #13 02-24-2008, 06:49 AM

How about American Bandstand or Soul Train.

notduane · #14 02-24-2008, 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassteban

...& SCTV (often more obscure/hip acts).

The Fishin' Musician!

Quote:

From all over the world, rock stars come to Gil Fisher's
Scuttlebut Lodge to be on the Fishin' Musician." Hosted by
the amiable Gil Fisher (John Candy). As it happens, he can't
stand the taste of fish. Loves catching 'em though

.

The Tubes visit Gil and head off to bigmouth country for large mouthed bass.
The Tubes perform (what else?) "Sushi Girl"

Gil, Wendy O. & The Plasmatics parachute into Melonville Forest.
Highlights of their photo safari include Wendy beating up a gorilla.
"Doom Song" is performed and the Lodge gets redecorated in the process

ryco · #15 02-24-2008, 10:51 AM

In the 60s after school we would race home to watch "Where the Action Is" with house band Paul Revere and the Raiders. Followed by "Lloyd Thaxton"

There was also "Hullabaloo", but I can't remember what day or time

...and there were some more variety shows like "Sonny & Cher", "Smothers Brothers" and "The Glenn Cambell Show" which we watched religiously.

EDIT: OH yeah, there was "Shindig" too, but again I can't remember day or time

RED5 · #16 02-25-2008, 07:29 AM

[quote=ryco;5357495]In the 60s after school we would race home to watch "Where the Action Is" with house band Paul Revere and the Raiders. Followed by "Lloyd Thaxton"

There was also "Hullabaloo", but I can't remember what day or time

...and there were some more variety shows like "Sonny & Cher", "Smothers Brothers" and "The Glenn Cambell Show" which we watched religiously.

EDIT: OH yeah, there was "Shindig" too, but again I can't remember day or time[/Quote

Saturday mornings there was Downbeat. George Carlin was the resident standup. First saw Santana on American Bandstand.They looked scary. Dick Clark then did "Where the Action Is" I guess to upgrade to the "Now" happening sounds of Cali. What ever became of Keith Allison?

JimK · #17 02-25-2008, 08:41 AM

...another variety show w/ musical guests was "The Flip Wilson Show".

invader3k · #18 02-25-2008, 09:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bard2dbone

Yeah, but Fridays wasn't a concert show. They were a fairly blatant Saturday Night Live rip-off.

They had a pretty funny cast : Michael (Kramer) Richards, Mary Edith Burrel, Melanie Chartoff, Bruce Mahler and other folks whose names I can't remember. The episode I remember best had King Crimson as the musical guest. They did Larks Tongues in Aspic, not your typical TV show performance.

I could be wrong, but isn't this the same show that had a somewhat famous episode where Andy Kaufmann suddenly broke character (though supposedly pre-planned) during a skit and said "I can't do this anymore," and one of the other actors started yelling at him?

I'm surprised none of the TV networks have tried to revive some type of music format show, at least during the recent writers strike. I guess with all the music channels on cable now, and the internet, the audience for something like that has probably dwindled a lot.

jro · #19 02-25-2008, 11:04 AM

Sorry for carrying on the SCTV references but I loved that show. My favorite band was "The Queen Haters" - I love John Candy as the drummer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwqmB3Jocmw

There was also "Mels Rock House" on SCTV. I remember seeing Roy Orbison and some other bands on it.

benc · #20 08-15-2009, 03:05 AM

Sorry for dredging up an ancient thread. I'm taking a break between SCTV episodes on DVD and knew my fellow bass brothers would have something to say about one of the all-time best TV shows.

I watched SCTV as a teenager religiously every Friday night. It was so out and just crazy funny. If you're not hip, do yourself a favor and rent the DVD's.

SCTV always had great musical guests - not really the top stars of the era, but always people with substance.

As mentioned above with The Fishin' Musician and Mel's Rock Pile, a cool thing about SCTV was they incorporated the music guests into the skits. They actually made the musicians act. Dr. John in Johnny LaRue's (John Candy) Polynesiatown is the best ever.

In the spirit of LAG's original post, I definitely remember Don Kirshner's Rock Concert and the Midnight Special. I especially remember seeing Devo on Don Kirshner when I was a kid. That was a horizon broadener for sure. Also, performances by Zappa and Tom Waits on Saturday Night Live are ones I saw as a kid that I'll always remember.

Between RFD-TV and Willie Nelson's channel on broadcast.com (now defunct), I've seen nearly every episode of the Porter Wagoner Show. It's a goldmine of live performances. The Wagonmasters, Porter's killer band, always backed up the guests http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8zZ8K-_Zzo . Plus Porter had the quintessential "girl singers" as regulars, Norma Jean http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwBa6FeD1Ts and later, Dolly Parton http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mk2QsIHWIn4

Anyway, the point of the thread was to add to the OP's list of music related TV shows from the 60's and 70's. I'm not familiar with Night Train but Soul Train came on every Saturday afternoon when I was a kid. Don Cornelius (sp?) was the host. They had great guests (Con Funk Shun comes to mind) but as I remember, they all lip-synced their hits.

Also on Saturday, right before Love Boat and Fantasy Island, Hee Haw was must-see TV in my household. As a kid, the corn-ball comedy was right up my alley. I still think Junior Samples and Archie Campbell are two of the funniest guys that ever graced our planet. Plus the Hee Haw babes were something else. Music was the meat of the show though and they had some legendary performers and performances.

I'll also add to the list The Wilburn Brothers Show, The Buck Owens Show (a predecessor to Hee Haw) and Night Flight on USA. Night Flight wasn't a live performance music show - they showed weird-ass movies, animated shorts and music videos. They played the Talking Head's, "As The Days Go By" and "Whip It" by Devo, both of which totally blew my 14-year-old mind.

Sorry that was so long. It's Friday night, I don't have a gig and I don't know what to do with myself. Oh yeah, I have two more SCTV episodes to watch!