Prog on tv (or more accurately the lack thereof)

In 1991 or so I saw Yes on tv performing a concert during their Union tour. I don't remember much about it or what show it was on but only that I was excited to see my favorite band on tv. I also saw that tour. In 1994 Yes appeared on David Letterman playing the song "walls" from the Talk album. Ok, not a really big deal considering "walls" is probably the poppiest song on the album but hey they were still introduced by David Letterman as "progressive rock n roll" and Yes is of course one of the most famous prog rock bands of all time. I saw the talk tour as well.

In late 1993 Emerson, Lake and Palmer appeared on the Arsenio Hall show to promote their manticore box set. Arsenio had a little fun with the name Manticore. I remember watching this when it first came out. The Mandela effect had me thinking it aired in 1992 though possibly because that's when their black moon album came out. I didn't even think of the box set even though my brother bought it for me as a Christmas present(probably Christmas of 1993). Also, Keith Emerson appeared on David Letterman's late night tv show(I forget the exact name of his show). I believe he only performed with the band and was a musical guest. I don't think he chatted with Dave but I could be wrong. I'll have to look it up on youtube. 

In 1995 King Crimson appeared on Conan O'Brien. I also happened to catch that tour(the Thrak tour). They played "dinosaur." This is also on youtube.

So that's pretty much it as far as the well known bands but admittedly I haven't researched this very thoroughly. If and when I do I will report back. 

Nonetheless, all of my late night tv show watching has resulted in very very few post seventies prog bands appearing on late night tv and even the seventies bands don't show up anymore. I saw the psych prog band Dungen on Conan O' Brien around 2006 or so(just a guess)and also maybe a few years after that the  post rock band Explosions in the Sky appear on some talk show as the musical guest but I forget which one. Also, maybe a year or so ago(or maybe slightly longer ago)I saw the space rock band Spiritualized on one of these shows. I also saw The Flaming Lips at one point but again don't remember which show. That's basically about it. There could have been others but I'm drawing a blank if there were. 

I'm tempted to say it's all because of some sort of musical discrimination. I can think of a possible conversation with the shows producers that might go something like this:

Joe (the promoter) : Hey Steve we have this great band that want to play on your show.

Steve : Cool. What's the name of the band?

Joe: Spock's Beard.

Steve: Interesting name for a band. What are they punk or alternative? 

Joe: No, they are a progressive rock band. 

Steve: A what?

Joe: You know, prog rock like Yes, ELP, King Crimson. That kind of thing.

Steve: Oh. 

Joe: Steve are you still there?

Steve: Yeah, Joe. Listen how can I say this nicely? We don't allow prog rock bands on our show. They take up too much time and too many people aren't into that stuff. They find it pretentious.

Joe: Still? This is the 21st century. Aren't people especially producers and talk show hosts more open to that these days?

Steve: No, not really. Hey, I didn't make the rules though. Nonetheless, thanks for the suggestion. Come back if you have someone who is more like the white stripes or the foo fighters or someone. 

Joe: Yeah, ok. Whatever.

I realize there are a lot of music genres out there who aren't represented on late night tv but as a prog fan it just seems like being how many of them are out there at least one full blown modern band would show up on tv? However, not even Porcupine Tree, Haken,Opeth, or the Mars Volta have popped up on any of these shows. Not even Tool or Radiohead for that matter. It's a real wtf thing for me. You would think late night would be the place to see them but no. Prog even in the 21st century is the last genre to get picked to play musical kick ball in the rock n roll schoolyard. In fact in some ways it's so far outside the mainstream it doesn't get picked at all(or noticed it seems).

Cable still counts. I missed that one so will have to look for it on youtube. Come to think of it I did hear about it because Steven made some joke about Rush songs being really long and the band laughed along with the joke.

Emerson was promoting ELPowell who were booked into Madison Square Gardens. He played 'America' with Paul Shaffer (a good 'ol Canadian boy) and The World's Most Dangerous Band (as Paul liked to introduce them). At  first KE Keyboard wasn't turned on and the first few bars of the song were without him. But once he got it rockin', Paul was in his glory watching, what was no doubt, an idol of his. ELP have also appeared on The Tonight Show (the old Johnny Carson then Rat b*****d...I mean Jay Leno show). Played something from lack Moon I believe.

But let's be real here, late night talk show musical guests are an odd mix at the best of times. Just this week I saw some girl singer dressed in a baby onesie rolling around on overstuffed pillows and she had a horrible voice and one of the most boring songs I've ever heard. (I just checked, the band is Tune-Yards).

Someone paid good money to get these guys on the air. it really is sad.

OGWT was about the only place you could see a prog band on UK TV. There was a compilation of prog bands from 1970s TV shown the other night, I taped it but haven't watched it yet. 

More times than not I believe that is the case. Once or twice Seth Meyers had a drummer or guitarist or someone who played in a progressive metal band. I believe Brann Dailor from Mastodon was one of them. I think there was another musician from another band also but I don't remember who or what band. Both were described as progressive metal though. Also, Carson Daly(before his show was cancelled)had a musical guest called Strawberry Girls who he described as progressive rock(they are listed on this site as post rock/math rock). That's really about it though and even those few times it surprised me to hear progressive (even if it was usually progressive metal). In the case of Carson Daly he was also the show's producer(or one of them anyway)and so he probably had more say in things like that. Unfortunately though I think there's still a preconceived idea about what prog is and a stereotype about it that prevents it from having more mainstream exposure(especially on late night tv). If more prog fans were in charge things might be different but they would have to be careful that they don't lose their jobs by having a band play a 20 minute song taking up too much time and bumping off the scheduled guests. ;) :P I'm joking about that last part of course but I think that's one of the things that scares people in the first place. They think prog they think a forty minute epic. Not all modern bands do that but a band like Transatlatic doesn't do much to dispell that myth. So there's one modern band you'll never see on tv. ;)

I do remember a few years ago on some cable channel seeing part of a music festival in the UK on tv. It was a pretty big deal over there. I think it was called the high voltage festival and I remember they had a prog stage. I saw some of the prog stage bands on tv but I don't remember for sure but I think Transatlantic(speaking of them and also standing corrected from my earlier comment about them) and Marillion both played. ELP played at that festival too(one of their last shows I think)but I don't remember if I saw them on tv and I don't remember who else I saw. It was interesting nonetheless to catch that on tv. I think it was VH1 or some other music related cabel channel. 

LMAO right on mate!