Letterman was too cool for the Tonight Show. He might have wanted it bad, but in the end, like Conan later, he's better off without it and one of the main points that proves this, is the music.
Letterman was always into rock music and metal and he frequently featured many underground acts as musical guests on his program, that other shows like the Tonight Show, which focused mainly on easier to digest mainstream music, pop, soft rock and country, wouldn't dare put on.
Dave, the comedian with a perfect sense of sarcasm, mockery and cutting edge humour, was aware of the importance of his place in popular culture and used the power he was given with his show to expose alternative, as well as heavy music to a much wider, wordwide audience.
We put together a playlist that features forty of our favourite musical performances on Letterman...
The playlist features: At The Drive-In, Alice In Chains, Queens Of The Stone Age, Mastodon, Rage Against The Machine, White Zombie, Rob Zombie, Beastie Boys, Motorhead, Black Sabbath, Marilyn Manson, David Bowie, The Screaming Tress, Megadeth, Smashing Pumpkins, Red Fang, The Eagles Of Death Metal, Van Halen, Motley Crue, Living Colour, Soundgarden, Deftones, Kiss, Hole, Sleater-Kinney, Aerosmith, Red Hot Chili Peppers, James Brown, Joan Jett with Foo Fighters, Sonic Youth, White Stripes, X, Ramones, Sex Pistols, Primus, Iggy Pop, Joan Jett (again), Bob Mould, Dropkick Murphys and the final Foo Fighters appearance on the very last show, playing over highlights from the 33 years of the show...
ZR