Video Clash.

So I was reading the daily email message synopsis from a Spoon messageboard when I saw a post about Spoon canceling three showdates to perform on SNL. That sucks for people with tickets, but the band promised to re-schedule, and I suppose SNL should give 'em a pretty good bump.

The story underneath the Spoon one was about The Sex Pistols re-recording "Anarchy in the UK" for Guitar Hero III, which is a really, really funny development.

I happened to catch Johnny Rotten on a very annoying late night Fox News Channel program called Red Eye a while back, and it was ridiculous. He was talking about how the Pistols turned down the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and how he doesn't think any current bands are comparing to the Pistols and all this crap. All this while he was on a late night cable TV talk show. On Fox News. That sucks. A lot.

So the Pistols article linked to YouTube, and I watched a couple videos and caught an argument over which Pistols bass player was a better player, which is sort of like arguing about which member of The Village People is the most masculine.

Okay, okay, I guess Glen Matlock gets props for working with Johnny Thunders. Actually, I wrote a lyric featuring him in a song I will never use:

She said, "You remind me of a young Ben Matlock with your bass."
I said, "So, give me your number and I'll get right on your case. I'll solve it in an hour with my band, up on stage."

I got fed up after a while, and searched for The Clash on YouTube, only to find a very funny, appropriately goofy interview and set of performances on the Tom Snyder show. I watched some Tom Snyder when I was younger (I think he followed Letterman at one point), and it was pretty boring -- at that time he didn't have a studio audience, and the whole show was filled with his absurd chuckling.

Anyway, The Clash didn't turn down the Hall of Fame, and ultimately recognized that they had a lot of social questions, but not a lot of answers. (Notice how they sidestep the question about what messages they want to convey to people.) I was really surprised at how good these performances were, but I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised.