Living In Oblivion

As I was looking for live TV performances of the ‘80s, I kept coming across The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder. Although the show was on past my bedtime (11:30pm in my time zone), I was able to catch it every once in a while and vaguely recall the musical guests. What I do remember was Snyder wildly waving around a cigarette while animatedly interviewing his guests. (He would later be famously mimicked by Dan Ackroyd on Saturday Night Live). As I kept coming across more and more musical performances, I realized that no one else was doing what Tom Snyder was doing at the time – exposing TV audiences to new bands and genres of music. He would also do sit-down interviews with the bands with sometimes hilarious and uncomfortable results. I was able to track down several performances and will be posting them in the coming months, but unfortunately many are unavailable.

The Tomorrow Show began as an interview show on the NBC network in 1973 (with no studio audience), and was known for the diverseness of its guests, which included Ayn Rand, Ken Kesey, Charles Manson (from prison), Marlon Brando, Jimmy Hoffa, Alfred Hitchcock, and John Lennon (his last TV interview). In 1980, to appeal to a younger audience, the show started having musical guests and began taping before a live studio audience. Some of the musical guests included The Clash, Ramones, Adam & the Ants, The Jam, Split Enz, and Public Image Ltd. The show ended in 1981, when Johnny Carson (who had contractual rights) decided he wanted a different sort of program following the Tonight Show timeslot. In early 1982, Late Night with David Letterman was launched replacing The Tomorrow Show. Snyder was offered the timeslot following Letterman but declined.

The first performance I’m starting with is U2’s appearance in June of ‘81. The band was in the states supporting the album Boy, and were on their first major US tour. This was also the band’s first US TV appearance. Along with performing “I Will Follow” and “Twilight,” Bono and the Edge sat down to chat with Snyder about things such as the origin of the Edge’s name and performing for American audiences. It’s apparent from the video clip that Bono had already mastered his signature dance moves and had acquired a penchant for wading into audiences.