Audio By Carbonatix
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| Screengrab via YouTube |
Back before he was the host of The Daily Show — back even before Josh Hartnett chopped off his fingers and stabbed him in the eye in The Faculty — Jon Stewart was the host of his own eponymous show. It aired for almost two years, first in a half-hour version on MTV, and then an hour-long version in syndication.
Stewart told USA Today his eponymous program was “just an odd show with really cool music.”
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Indeed, the show had plenty of fantastic musical guests during its 1993 to 1995 run. Thanks to the magic of AV nerds recording the show, transferring it digitally and uploading to the Internet, there are a ton of them on YouTube. Here are 10 of the best.
Gin Blossoms, “Hey Jealousy”
Perhaps it’s because I listened to it several thousand times when I was 10, but I still really like this song. I also tremendously enjoy the Gin Blossoms’ outfits, including the ever-popular T-shirt over a long-sleeve t-shirt look. Then, after the set, we learn that Howard Stern was a guest on this show — promoting the book Private Parts and the Gin Blossoms sing a song that must be titled, “I Don’t Want to Have to Take Your Job, Jon Stewart.” Fantastic. Oh, and this:
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If only he still wore such an outfit on TV today.
Danzig, “Mother”
It’s Danzig doing “Mother.” What more do you need? For reference, this is in the era of “Mother ’93.” It was still about Tipper Gore.
Marilyn Manson, “Lunchbox”
This is mostly notable for the ending, which I’ve replicated in animated GIF format below.
Blind Melon, “Change”
There is no more 1990s intro for a musician than, “These guys are on the road right now with the Meat Puppets and Alice Donut.” This was about a year before Shannon Hoon died of an overdose.
The Notorious B.I.G., “Big Poppa”
Biggie has the greatest outfit of any performer in this list. Not even close.
Bad Religion, “21st Century (Digital Boy)”
“The truth is that even though the song was written in 1990, it was clear that the youth were going to be affected for good and bad by digital technology,” Greg Graffin told Scientific American in 2010. “It’s probably because we loved video games so much.”
I’m guessing your reaction to this performance was the same as Stewart’s:
Warren Zevon, “Mutineer”
See how much the music on this show ran the gamut? Everything from Notorious B.I.G. to Warren Zevon. I was hoping he’d jump on Jon Stewart’s back at the end of the performance like Marilyn Manson did, but, alas.
Helmet, “Wilma’s Rainbow”
Helmet! Seriously, this show had everyone.
Ol’ Dirty Bastard, “Brooklyn Zoo”
See! This performance is just fantastic. And then at the end ODB does a hard sell for the new album! Then for his second performance, he comes out in about five more layers than he had on previously. An essential costume change.
This dude in the crowd also had the right idea.
Van Halen, “Amsterdam”
After a nice David Lee Roth Joke, Jon Stewart says this is the band’s first-ever television performance?! Maybe their first network TV performance: The Sammy Hagar-fronted band appeared on the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards.
