Pick a Day

Music History Events: TV Appearances

May 21, 1992 Bette Midler is Johnny Carson's last guest on The Tonight Show (his final show, the following night, has no guests). She serenades him with "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)."

May 9, 1992 Bruce Springsteen performs on US TV for the first time when he finally accepts a longstanding offer to be the musical guest on Saturday Night Live. He plays three songs from Human Touch and Lucky Town, the albums he released simultaneously five weeks earlier.

February 22, 1992 When the Red Hot Chili Peppers perform "Under The Bridge" on Saturday Night Live, their guitarist John Frusciante sabotages the song, playing unevenly and screaming into the microphone during his background part. His frustrations lead him to quit the band in May.More

January 11, 1992 Nirvana make their first appearance on Saturday Night Live. They leave a mark: after performing their hit "Smells Like Teen Spirit," they play "Territorial Pissings" for their second song, then trash their instruments and anything else they can find on stage.

November 21, 1991 An animated Aerosmith perform "Walk This Way" on the "Flaming Moe's" episode of The Simpsons. The band is one of the first musical guests on the show.

September 19, 1991 Michael Jackson is a guest voice on The Simpsons, where he plays a mental patient Homer befriends named Leon Kompowsky.

June 10, 1991 In his first public appearance since being released from prison in February, James Brown stars in the pay-per-view concert special James Brown: Living in America. For $19.95, viewers can see Brown perform at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles along with MC Hammer, Bell Biv DeVoe, C+C Music Factory, Kool Moe Dee and En Vogue.

May 1, 1991 For the first time, MTV Unplugged features rap acts, with De La Soul, MC Lyte, A Tribe Called Quest and LL Cool J performing. LL steals the show with a shirtless rendition of "Mama Said Knock You Out."More

January 25, 1991 Paul McCartney appears on the second season of MTV's Unplugged, including some Beatles songs in his set. In June, he becomes the first artist to release his performance as an album.

December 3, 1990 Madonna appears on the news program Nightline, where she debuts her video for "Justify My Love," which MTV has refused to play. As the lascivious clip plays, Madonna provides commentary, answering questions from host Forrest Sawyer.More

May 4, 1990 David Bowie's ex-wife Angela goes on The Joan Rivers Show and says that she once walked in on Bowie and Mick Jagger naked in bed. Angela signed a gag order when she divorced Bowie that kept her from talking for 10 years, and was taking advantage of the opportunity.

February 17, 1990 Aerosmith appear on Saturday Night Live, performing "Monkey on My Back" and "Janie's Got A Gun," and also appearing in a Wayne's World skit where Tom Hanks plays their roadie.

September 6, 1989 Mötley Crüe frontman Vince Neil punches Guns N' Roses guitarist Izzy Stradlin in the face during the MTV Video Music Awards.More

November 17, 1988 Guns N' Roses get the cover of Rolling Stone with the headline, "Hard-Rock Heroes." The magazine compiled the story that summer when the band was on tour as the opening act for Aerosmith. Aerosmith assumed they were getting the cover, but by the end of the tour, their opening act had become much more popular.More

November 5, 1988 Edie Brickell & New Bohemians are the musical guests on Saturday Night Live. Brickell meets Paul Simon on the broadcast, who she marries in 1992.

August 6, 1988 Yo! MTV Raps premieres on MTV, with Run-DMC hosting the pilot episode.

November 14, 1987 The long-since-divorced Sonny and Cher perform "I Got You Babe" on Late Night with David Letterman.More

September 30, 1987 Roy Orbison's comeback picks up speed at a Los Angeles concert filmed for the Cinemax special Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night. Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Jackson Browne, and J.D. Souther all perform at the show, which is fittingly filmed in black and white.

May 22, 1986 Cher, making her first appearance on David Letterman's show, tells him why she declined the many invitations to come on before: Because she thought he was an "a--hole."More

May 16, 1986 Host Johnny Carson and his bandleader Doc Severinsen wear fake beards in honor of ZZ Top, who perform "Sharp Dressed Man" and "Tush" on The Tonight Show.More

May 10, 1986 Paul Simon plays three songs from his upcoming Graceland album on Saturday Night Live. He's backed by South African musicians, including the vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, who perform with him on "Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes." With South Africa under a cultural boycott in an attempt to stop Apartheid, its music is sequestered. Simon's appearance with musicians from the country and the subsequent album introduce the sound to a global audience, but also cause problems for Simon when he faces criticism for violating the boycott.

December 13, 1985 Phil Collins, whose song "In The Air Tonight" was used in the pilot episode of Miami Vice, plays a drug dealer in the episode "Phil The Shill."

November 8, 1985 Miles Davis guest stars on Miami Vice, playing a pimp named Ivory Jones.More

March 28, 1985 Four-year-old Alicia Cook makes her acting debut on the "Slumber Party" episode of The Cosby Show. She'll become famous as Alicia Keys.

October 9, 1984 The extraordinarily popular children's show Thomas The Tank Engine And Friends begins its run on BBC-TV, featuring a narrator by the name of Ringo Starr.

January 27, 1984 At the peak of his popularity, Michael Jackson films an ad for Pepsi that goes horribly wrong when some stray pyro sets his hair on fire.More

January 14, 1984 Madonna makes her first appearance on American Bandstand. When asked by Dick Clark about her ambitions (blonde or otherwise), the singer replies: "To rule the world."

September 17, 1983 Star Search debuts on CBS. Hosted by Ed McMahon, the TV talent competition introduces scores of future superstars, many from the music realm, including Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Alanis Morissette, Jessica Simpson, Christina Aguilera, Tiffany, LeAnn Rimes, Usher, Aaliyah, and Destiny's Child.

May 16, 1983 Michael Jackson does the Moonwalk for the first time on TV when he breaks out the move on the Motown 25th anniversary TV special.More

March 20, 1982 The duo Buckner & Garcia appear on American Bandstand to perform their hit single "Pac-Man Fever," the first successful song about a video game.More