This Is Why Musicians Hate Performing On TV! 

I'm still doing my Patreon - you can see more personal intimate stuff over there if you fancy it: www.patreon.com/jushawk

Justin maybe there's an opportunity for someone such as yourself to put together a show that showcases live bands on TV. You'd make a great host! The Darkness could open the show each week and you could choose the bands.

I have nothing to say but I know youtube likes "engagement" so here I am engaging to help the channel out.

I still remember watching The Darkness on Jools Holland in late June 2003. I went out the next day and bought "Permission to Land" on CD. Amazing performance, you blew everyone else away that night and the the rest of the studio audience loved it as well. Rocking out with a Les Paul standing on top of the piano in full spandex. Does it get any better?

Someone regretting going on Ant and Dec's Saturday night takeaway ?

I remember watching the music awards live just to see you guys perform. I was such a big fan as a kid I lost my shit when you won!

I remember Ricky Gervais on his XFM show absolutely loving your Jools Holland set. Called you the "best band in Britain" too. Great days.

This is my new favorite channel!! And I love that you post so often.. Cheers Justin 🥂

The show in San Diego was fantastic. The band was in great form. See them on this tour!!!!!

I remember reading about Queen throwing a fit at Top of the Pops for having to mime and really played up that performance in return. Nirvana was hilarious though, they were told only the vocals could be live so they made it real obvious that that was all that was. Kurt singing so low (yet somehow still good), Dave playing all big and on his cymbals only like some animatronic drummer from a Chuck E Cheese in the 80s and Krist just whipping his bass all over lol

Hey Justin I had the priviledge of seeing you and The Darkness perform at HOB Las Vegas last night. Wow what a great show! You guys sounded amazing! The opening act The Dead Deads were really good also. Well wishes to you and the band. Have a great tour!

This is by far my favourite take of yours of the intro tune, Sir. Love it! Appreciate your work and your sharing here. Many thanks. M.

Love the channel Justin. Talking of performing live I stumbled across "Rock 'til we Drop" on TV the other day and loved it, see you're on it this week too!

If you wanted another example, love the PIL refusal to mime on Top of the Pops too.

Great show last night Justin, very impressive headstand 🤸‍♀️

Ive read that Kurt was doing an impression of Morrisey. And these type things are definately Magical.

Such an entertaining personality and perspective, happily subscribed

Artists expression of interest in the moment is brilliant. That’s what art is. That’s why they are an artist. We need that level of spontaneity, unpredictability and fun in life. No one got hurt in these moments and they gave us moments to remember that are 99% of the time positive. Love it.

Nirvana’s tv performance of Territorial Pissings is also quite glorious

As a musician who's been asked to mime a few times, for TV, videos & the like. I honestly find it harder than actually playing. It's a bit like trying to look busy when there's nothing to do at work. Harder than actually working sometimes.

Muy buena remera, Justin!

Can't wait to see you guys next week!

Can't wait !!!!!!!! I'm seeing you live this Wednesday. In sanfransico at the regency.

Enjoying the videos. Also, thanks for the music!

love your music and videos justin.

Spend years mastering your instrument only to be told people don't want to hear you, the recording is good enough. I think TV producers dont necessarily know what their audience would prefer.

It is 100% funnier! We've done it a few times now and it always makes us laugh. Always love a good stitch up 🤙❤️

Hey Justin thanks for all the content. Would you consider doing a video on Pixies? Such a fantastic band and quite interested to hear your thoughts on them and their incredible back catalogue what with Black Francis’ eery vocals and Santiago’s unorthodox playing style. Cheers

I saw you in Cork last month. A friend dragged me along. I'm converted! You guys rocked. Great night, and so great to have live music again

I've always wondered. Thanks, Justin!

I love that inscription in Spanish on your shirt. "Beauty Excess"

Thank you for doing it Bro!!!!

I absolutely LOVE The Darkness to death!!! And Justin has an amazing voice please make more albums Justin!!!!

Vines were great live. Fortunate to get to see them at Leeds Festival. Important to note that Craig Nicholls had undiagnosed Asperger's at the time of that performance.

I’m just glad you got my email during your show 😀 Been trying to get hold of you for years 😂

Kurt was apparently trying to mimic Morrissey who he saw as a TOTP darling. Another stroke of genius was their VMA performance where MTV SPECIFICALLY told them they couldn’t play “Rape me”. So right as their set started, he played the opening chords and the MTV coordinator sprinted to the control room to try and shut down the feed, and at the last second Kurt changed the chords to another song and smiled 😂

Love the use of the HST quote! I once worked for a few well known publications as a “freelance” journalist, so I’ve seen this exact quote in action. I remember being assigned to interview Silverchair in 2004 , Daniel didn’t want to be there, he was suffering, sick and not mentally or physically prepared or engaged . He was being dragged around the world to support the pockets of the label and unfortunately his band mates and friends. That moment is what made me quit that shit.

You guys deserve all the successful moments on tv and out! And a kiss in front from Scarlett Johansson too 👏🏻

Saw you at the HOB in Las Vegas last night. Great show!

Every time you upload no matter what I’m doing i stop everything and rush to watch it, keep doing these epic videos🤟.

My favourite show is the great pottery throwdown and I never thought it’d be something I’m into but it’s great, love how creative they get with their ceramic creations

Yay the only channel I have the bell on for 🔔

Exceso de Belleza, Señor Hawkins.

At 5:35 I think Cobain was channeling Morrisey 😂

I still love the fact that you do the music to Grace's and Katie's amazing machines on cbeebies. Makes the program even better! Speedy!!!

You bough that t-shirt in Brazil, didn't you??? Lol.. awesome!!!

Thanks for the Hunter quote. Great one.

The Maiden one is hilarious as they keep changing instruments

Just crawled out of bed for this one and still managed an almost conscious insight of TV opps and limitations... Gripping!

First time I heard The Darkness was when they were on TV playing Growing On Me. I can’t remember the name of the show but I instantly became a fan

Rebecca says’ please can you point from your right to left, so your finger hits the corresponding like and bell’ thanks! Great job as always 🤘🏻🤘🏻

JUSTIN WE LOVE YOU! hipass your vocal mic!

All of these are great - I'd also mention the band Lubricated Goat who sang a song called In The Raw while completely naked on Australian TV in 1988. I thought it was one of the funniest things I'd seen way back then.

I really enjoy your channel, and I love The Darkness. I cannae wait tae see ye in Seattle on the 18th.🙌

Love the t-shirt, it's a reference to how here in Mexico they started stamping food products with seals similar to that one that says "Exceso de Belleza" ("Excessive beauty" in Spanish), but to say "Exceso de calorías" (Excessive calories) or "Exceso de azúcar" (Excessive sugar) to warn the public about products that might not be so healthy, in order to help decrease our overweight index as a nation. I am a living example of how it has not decreased really, btw. But it's a really cool t-shirt to see on you, Justin

Subbed. Love it.

Im so excited the vines were mentioned.

Super cool T-shirt!

Recent observer of your channel, thanks for bringing insight, intellect, and creativity to the often dark digital world. In response to performers on TV, and how musicians, as artists, feel they often cannot be contained by media restrictions, and representations placed upon them by TV executives; subversion rules. (Would love your assessment and critique of Eddie Vedder btw!) Thanks 🙏

5:24 True! Kurt was actually cursed in a way, no matter how badly he tried to ruin a show or a song it would only make it more awesome and legendary, sort of like a King Midas of music, for example take a look at "Love Buzz Live at reading" that is one beautiful traiwreck of a performance, it is perfect!

There's been some great TV show appearances over the years. There was a show here in Australia, called Recovery. It was on Saturday mornings. The Dandy Warhols appeared on an episode and clearly had a big night before. They literally couldn't put a sentence together. John Spencer went absolutely crazy smashing stuff and running around.

You guys were the best part of Ant and Dec on Saturday.

Really interesting insight as always, Justin! Have you heard of Moon Walker?

I’d love to see you interview singers. Anyone from Seal to Harry Styles or anyone you fancy. Cheers to you and your channel!

Gotta say when you guys were on that TV program that aired last Saturday it looked like you were rolling your eyes at playing "I believe in a thing called love" You guys have nearly 20 years of back catalogue now and they always wanna hear that one

Top of the pops has so many moments due to that- two in particular, The Smiths This Charming Man with the swinging of the flowers. And REM Orange Crush with the megaphone 📢

Maiden strikes again-good taste with all the musicians and bands you show. And the Vines!

Justin is always right. And that t-shirt too!! I wonder where did you get it from......................

Loved your guys' performance on Later With Jools Holland. I just love great live performances. Usually a little faster tempo which I love and the guitars always seem to sound a little heavier.

I got a ticket to TOTPS once,I was surprised how small the studio was, definitely not cut out for live sound. There were Wolfmother, Rooster, Pussycat dolls and Lost Prophets. I got chucked out for kissing Fern Cotton! Blame the Irish pub me and my mate found round the corner!

You've got to do what you feel I suppose? Great channel. 👍👍👍👊✌️.

Twenty years ago I worked on the saturday morning pop show CD:UK (ITV, after Ant and Dec, fronted by Cat Deeley) for a few months. It is the only time I've worked in "music tv" and enjoyed it (I went into documentaries after that). Anyway, apart from it being a way to connect with your fans and show yourself to potential new fans, there's some things to consider. That kind of show has to work with set times for when they start, when they finish and when the commercial breaks happen, which makes the person with the stopwatch the most important person on set. The show I worked on was "live" in the sense that what was being broadcast was live from the studio and two of the bands were either miming or live singing to pre-recorded backing tracks at that moment, but two bands were recorded after the show finished (with the audience still there) and played back off tape in the next week's show. So for the live part of the show the only options given to the performer were mime to playback or sing live to prerecorded backing track. For the ones being recorded for next week they also had the option of playing completely live as well and maybe half of them used the opportunity to do so. They also had a chance to do a second take. One of my best memories was Metallica, who did the prerecord thing and they played a version of their song that went on for about seven and a half minutes. Now, they were only ever going to get 4 minutes on the show and it was my job to prepare the recording to go on tv the next week and I spent hours working out how to present it in 4 minutes (the seven and a half minute version does exist, I think it was used another time). Remember that the people working on the show that a performer gets to interact with are being paid really shit wages or they are freelance (like me), so please don't be rude to them and don't make their jobs harder than they already are. My worst "music tv" moment was I was working on a show (I think it featured The Offspring) with a young producer, she was nice and it was going well when the reception at the editing house we were using phoned the edit room to tell us that the Exec was on their way up. That young producer froze. I don't think she strung more than three words together coherently for the rest of the afternoon. That's why I don't work in that genre of tv any more.

4:45 ''Load up on drugs and kill your friends'' LMAO that line always gets me!

I was under the impression that the Top Of The Pops miming requirement was a result of Musician's Union rules. Consequently, Nirvana's options were to fully mime, or sing over an instrumental recording. Kurt's butchering of SMTS is exactly what we'd expect from Nirvana. Pure class! Wish he was still here.

In my rock star fantasies, I would only play The Clash, The Misfits, or Op Ivy at award shows!

The earliest example of this I can think of is when The Jimi Hendrix Experience were booked to play their hit, 'Hey Joe', on The Lulu Show. I think Jimi was bored of playing 'Hey Joe' after a minute, so switched to playing 'Sunshine of Your Love' as a tribute to Cream, who had just split up.

I remember seeing that performance when it happened too..Classic...I loved them more after that too

HAHA love the T-shirt! Good portuguese for "Beautyness Excess"

Highlight of my day. 🤘😁

I’ve made a life of mixing music performances for TV and radio. I’m keenly aware of the problems you mention. I have my own mobile and am often producing for the broadcast client so I talk to the artist, hear their concerns. Way more have worked than not but it’s a big challenge, A-game kinda thing. The show must provide services to the artist to make it work. Like pro backline, rehearse & soundcheck schedule, catering; as close as possible to all the things you’d have if it were the artist’s own show. Three scenarios & all of them are multitracked: 1. Broadcast live. 2. A few hours for repairs. 3. Full post back at my mix room. The band’s gotta be killin’ it for a 1 or 2 and I need all the rehearse I can get. 3 is what I’ll do if at all possible and I work with the artist by phone or file sharing. It needs to be said, 45 years in, I still love my work.

What I like about this channel is Justin has been in the show, he's seen the circus good and bad.

I'll never forget seeing you play Jools back in the day, when you jumped up on his piano 🤟🤟

Maybe one reason could be that back in the day it depended on whether a TV producer wanted his show ruined by upstart artists who have a microphone and opportunity to do what they like. TV gold for fans but probably had them tearing their hair out! Two brilliant examples: Check out Nirvana (again) on Jonathan Ross who played a blistering Territorial Pissings instead of Lithium, or Jimi Hendrix on the Lulu show who stopped Hey Joe midway through to play a fantastic Sunshine of Your Love in tribute to Cream. Legendary now but TV people in the moment don't always see the opportunity - these clips probably get more repeat showings than a straight playing of what the band was booked for. 10 points to anybody who can find a proper pop band (as opposed to rock band) rebelling on TV!!!

loved your tshirt! hahahahaha very funny

Many think that the original noncompliant musician on TV was Jim Morrison singing the word 'higher' during a performance of light my fire, after been told not to. But this isn't the case as, several years earlier. Buddy Holly got his knob out during a live TV performance of Peggy Sue.

Jussssssssssssssssss Tin hawkins Rides again Again

Cool t-shirt Justin 👌😂

I can't get enough of under the bridge on SNL. John high on speed and smack, anthony staring daggers. John going to the outro a verse too soon and screaming 'WOOO' instead of providing the backing vocals. The body language throughout. Starting in normal band formation and ending divided on opposite sides of the stage. Johns 'smack cardigan' * chefs kiss *

Last Caress/Green Hell was on "The $5.98 E.P. Garage Days Re-Revisited" from 1987. I hadn't though about that in ages.

Remember "At the Drive-In" on Jools Holland? OMG

your tshirt be like “excess of beauty “ 😂👌👏

The best Tv mimes are Stiff Little Fingers “Nobodys Heros” on and The Stranglers “No More Hero’s” either take (they did 2 😆) both on TOP.

Great video as always! You forgot to mention when Oasis did Roll With It on TOTP but they hated the idea of miming so Liam and Noel swapped places... that was a classic! I've sent you a message on Instagram, not sure if you check that yourself or if you have someone to do that for you :)

TOTP had two studios if I remember right, one for miming where only the singer was live “if they wanted to be” and one for full on live performances but I’m unsure if that was an option when Nirvana performed, it allegedly had something to do with the sound in that studio being shite/technical issues.

hey Justin, i see you everyday here and hear your songs and also hear you in the Grace's amazing machines show with my son. Would you consider making a review on The Goal of Centruy by Gang of youths? i'm stuck with that song in my head since the first time I heard some days ago. i love the way you talk about music, i'm a fan.

I too remember the Lulu Show where Hendrix cut the Experience’s own song short and launched into a version of ‘Sunshine of Your Love’ as a tribute to the recently split Cream. You could feel the panic behind the cameras with Jimi noting with some amusement, ‘they’re putting us off the air’. Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull commented he was always getting into trouble on TOTP, standing stock still in rehearsals and the performing as manically as usual when the cameras rolled. Thus when they performed ‘Sweet Dream’ (I think) the camera started with a close up of Ian, who however treated us to what seemed an eternity of a shot of his microphone (and nothing else) while he climbed slowly up the microphone stand and emerged with his hair tied in bunches to a nice woolly hat he’d recently purchased in Scotland! It was hilarious and seeing it ‘live’ is one of the few benefits of being really old. Later the Sone Roses expressed some, erm, ‘dissatisfaction’ with BBC and ‘The Late Show’ when volume limiters cut the power to their amps mid song. Also glorious!

Justin, I believe Kurt sang it lower in a baritone style in direct homage to Morrissey on Top of the Pops with The Smiths.back in the 1980s.

Hey. I just want you to know 'Red Light Fever' kicked serious ass. You should talk about that sometime. Maybe the formation, writing, recording. I remember that time. the demos on Myspace. I think you find the music you listen to for the rest of your life, really, is in the teen years... And that record... Also the first 2 Darkness records. A special time in my teenage... Life. 🤘🎸😘

Not far away from that 100k plaque have you any plans for a 100k subs video

You need to chat about when you guys smashed Jools Holland!! Awesome performance!