RUSH on COLBERT

Despite the fact that every executive in TV and every network has decided that viewers do not want music on television, The Colbert Report featured prog rockers RUSH on the show last night. It’s been 33 years since the band has been on TV. They played “Tom Sawyer.” Or at least part of it. Playing off the fact that so many Rush songs are long and not TV friendly in terms of cutting to commercials, Colbert interrupted them once to cut away, failed and reappeared a second time in great comedic manner before throwing to the ads. It was a great moment in music and in television.

Before the song performance, Colbert interviewed the band with hilarious questions and absurd answers in which Rush more than held their own and got bonafide laughs. The quality of comedic writing and ingenuity that Colbert and staff generate every night is astounding. Their track record over this past year is damn near perfect. It’s the funniest show on TV at the moment and it ain’t gonna let up. They’re on a roll and I’m eating it up.

But just what is the magic mojo cooking in the writer’s room? What other show on TV would consider booking Rush, then actually do it, create a great bit around it, allow them to give a fantastic performance, and most importantly, put music on the pedestal where it belongs?

I was never a huge Rush fan, small leaning towards medium I’d guess. But hearing Tom Sawyer and seeing the guys having a great time with Colbert, well, it made me realize that music can be fun. It can be entertaining. It made me like the band more. It made me consider buying some more of their music. It made fall even more in love with Colbert. And his writing staff. I have to think other viewers felt the same way.

So contrary to the “all knowing” MTV think tank, music and television worked very well together last night.

But it was all about the presentation. It was all about setting it up right and delivering music in a way that is entertaining. Straight up performance footage just won’t cut it. I stopped on some HD channel the other night and watched about 6 minutes of The Pussycat Dolls in concert. Under normal conditions, scantily clad girls shaking their groove thang can keep my finger off the remote and somewhere else for upwards of 30 minutes, but not this show. Within seconds of watching them, I had the underwhelming feeling that these girls were going through the motions. There was no gusto in the humping. No joy in the gyrating. No love in grinding. They were singing Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” and just butchering it. All rock, renegade and revolt was missing from the song. They turned it into a filler song. One of rock and roll’s most beloved songs became something to dance to for a couple of minutes wedged between their own material. And they dedicated it to “all their classic rocker fans”, which, if they had any, would be appalled, not honored, by the shout out.

So TV execs are right in that music presently badly on television is bad business - no one will watch. But when music is presented in clever, original, and yes, even hilarious circumstances, it can be wonderfully rewarding. Wonderfully entertaining. Like Rush on Colbert. Watch the clip. Feel good about music.