Tuesday, February 17, 2009

A Rock and Roll Parlor Game

I was catching up on my podcasts of This American Life last week and there was an interesting piece that appeared on their December 12th show, 20 Acts in 60 Minutes. Reading from his book, Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto, Chuck Klosterman recounts a conversation he had at a party, where at one point he suddenly found it necessary to mention that Journey was rock's version of the TV show Dynasty. This then prompted a spirited debate that the participants dubbed "Monkees equals Monkees" He continues:

“The goal of this game is to figure out which TV show is the closest philosophical analogy to a specific rock and roll band and the criteria are mindblowingly complex. It is a combination of longevity, era, critical acclaim, commercial success, and most importantly, the aesthetic soul of each artistic entity.

For example, the Rolling Stones are Gunsmoke. The Strokes, Keifer Sutherland’s 24. Jimi Hendrix was the Twilight Zone. Devo was Fernwood 2 Night. Lynyrd Skynyrd was the Beverly Hillbillies which makes Molly Hatchet Petticoat Junction. The Black Crowes are That 70s Show. Hall and Oates were Bosom Buddies. U2 was M*A*S*H because both kinda got preachy at the end. Dokken was Jason Bateman’s shortlived sitcom It’s Your Move. The Eurythmics were Mork and Mindy. We even deduced comparisons for solo projects which can only be made to series that were spawned as spinoffs. The four Beatles, post 1970 were as follows: John equals Maude, Paul equals Frazier, George equals the Jeffersons, and Ringo equals Flo. David Lee Roth’s solo period after Van Halen was Knot’s Landing.”

OK, I’ll get the party started:

REM = Saturday Night Live because each began brilliantly, but today no one really gives a crap anymore.


17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Coldplay = Survivor: Newark, NJ

ms. rosa said...

The Dokken comparison was sheer genius!

Bay City Rollers = Baretta
Cheap Trick = Serpico

Kid Charlemagne said...

I would think that the Bay City Rollers are more like "Three's Company"! :)

Anonymous said...

Creedance Clearwater Revival = I Love Lucy

Jefferson Airplane = Laugh-In

Jefferson Starship = Hee-Haw

Grateful Dead = The Munsters

Noam Sane said...

Blind Faith = Hello Larry

Sal Nunziato said...

Mike McGear = Phyllis

Anonymous said...

Steely Dan = Fantasy Island
The Police = NYPD Blue
Crosby Stills Nash & Young = Beverly Hills 90210

TJWood said...

Bon Jovi = The Love Boat

The Eagles = One Day At A Time

Mister Pleasant said...

Sal Nunziato said...

Mike McGear = Phyllis


LOL. Good one.

Here's mine:

B-52s = Lost In Space

TMink said...

Wow, trippy thread.

Abba = America's Funniest Home Videos. An enormously popular guilty pleasure?

The Ramones = Jackass?

That is enough for me, I think I burst a blood vessel.

Trey

Anonymous said...

Jesse Colin Young (b, Perry Miller, November 11, 1941, in Queens, New York City) is "Green Acres"

Anonymous said...

Paradoxically enough, Television does not have a tv analog.

Anonymous said...

Prince = Webster?

I'm really wasting too much time on this.

Anonymous said...

Syd Barret = The Prisoner

John Cougar Mellencamp = Two and A Half Men (better than you think it is, but still derivative and you can't believe it's still around after all these years)

Matthew Sweet = Arrested Development
(brilliant and well-regarded, but just not that popular)

Anonymous said...

Tom Jones = The Rockford Files
Hootie and the Blowfish = Thirtysomething (both of them make me kind of queazy)
Jefferson Airplane/Starship = Rosanne (great at first, but spectacularly flamed out in the end)
Kiss = The A-Team (the characters outweigh the content)
Madonna = Moonlighting (was better when she was just a tease)
David Bowie = Columbo (A lot of those lyrics don't make any sense, but he's probably just pretending to be dumb)
Superchunk = Freaks and Geeks (Why didn't more people watch?)

I love the Syd Barrett one!

Anonymous said...

Fairport Convention was The Mary Tyler Moore Show, a little quirky, but authentic and sincere as all get-out.

Anonymous said...

Sorry I'm late -- I just found out about the Journey mention.

Journey = Fantasy Island (both feature a Hideous Little Dwarf)

(Apologies to the late Mr. Villechaize)