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.