Yeah, the Pretenders performances on Fridays are available on the DVD that comes with their box set. Awesome stuff.

From a mostly look aspect:

If Graham had better hair, he's have sold millions.

Weller's look was just about as cool as it gets, for my pounds and pence. Lil' round sunglasses and straight hair, mod-ified Rickenbacker. Great feckin song, even if Foxton's mic is too loud.

Holy crap, that Benatar lead guitar dude could serve as a perfect reminder of what not to do when your twelve bars come.

Too bad they had to show Chambers' pants tucked in knee socks at the end. The other Pretender looks displayed were solid.

Oh man, I don’t know, KISS didn’t just appear on Fridays, they did three songs from The Elder on Fridays. Did a Clash performance really rate staying up late to watch over that?

I realize KISS has already been tackled here, but given your posts this week and last, perhaps you should look within and consider where you’d stand on that today. You know who would never ask you to listen to a bunch of songs about Ethiopian DJs? The living embodiment of the Spirit of Competition, Paul “Live To Win” Stanley, that’s who.

Too bad they had to show Chambers' pants tucked in knee socks at the end. The other Pretender looks displayed were solid.

As I've said before, Martin Chambers is the Funniest Sideman in rock.

Oh, man -- don't let Rick see that Pretenders clip; he always had a big crush on Chrissie Hynde in college, and she looks particularly hot in a brassy kind of way there.

Wow, Larry David was on that show when he still had hair.

I don't think I ever saw even one episode of Fridays. I enjoyed that clip of the Neil Giraldo Band. I wonder if the singer ever made it big.

The Pretenders cleaning bill on the road must have been huge, with all that leather. Chrissie's body english in their clip steamed up my glasses, and I don't even like gurls.

I thought it was the Rumour that left Graham Parker, rather than the other way around. I know keyboard player Bob Andrews was gone by the time The Up Escalator, the album Stupefaction comes from, was released. I checked AMG, and Nicky Hopkins is credited with piano on that album. It looks like it might actually be him in this clip.

Good responses so far, all. Just checking in for a minute before hitting a meeting.

Mockcarr, your analysis by Look was important. I hear you, regarding GP's hair. As for Weller's awesome Look, what WAS it that held back his career in the US? Was the collective Look of his rhythm section so bad as to counteract all that Weller offered?

Alexmagic, although I appreciate your words re: KISS, they are a prime example of a team that plays to win yet a team that I root against with passion. In football terms, they may be the Lawrence Taylor-era Giants. NO, at least I had some respect for that team. KISS is a team I can't stand even though they're not in my team's division. They're the Lasorda-era Dodgers.

I was put off by Chambers' socks as well, but then I wondered if he was tucking in his flares so as not to interfere with his drumming, kind of like a bike messenger. My vote for funniest sideman in rock goes to Phil Manzanera, whose playing I've always found intentionally humorous.

How smokin' is Chrissie Hynde in that clip, by the way? Thanks to BigSteve, we have learned just how smokin'! In contrast, I find Pat Benetar a MAJOR TURNOFF! Sorry, Hrrundi.

Is the statuate of limitations up on Neil Gerardo's Rock Crimes?

I didn't know Larry David was on that show? WITH Michael Richards.

Anyone remember the Good Cop/Bad Cop routine that Dave Thomas & Steve Martin did on this show? Very funny, as I recall.

I wish I could be Chrissie's leather pants.

Hrrundi, I sent you a link to that Pretenders video months ago. Your use of the past tense to describe my crush on Chrissie Hynde is also inaccurate.

Another thing I love about that clip is what goobs the rest of the Pretenders were.

Benatar? The gong bit was awesome; everything else was a little embarrassing.

HELL IS FOR HELL!

I think a Simmons:Steinbrenner::Ace:Billy Martin comparison could be made. Phantom of the Park would be Son of Sam. To be honest, I wasn’t trying to defend KISS, just hoping to trick people into looking at their Fridays performances and having to cope with Gene’s Ronald McDonald haircut and Paul’s purple headband.

I'm sorry but I'm going to have to detract points from the Pretenders on the basis of the cheesy guitars--the bass with the Japanese flag on it is particularly awful. Only Chrissie Hynde has the good taste to play a Telecaster.

Hey, Alexmagic -- I just checked out the footage of KISS doin' that "Elder" song on "Fridays," and was pleasantly surprised by the extent to which they rocked. I was also enthused by the lyrics in the chorus of the song in question, which are as follows:

'Cuz I believe in me!
And I believe in something more than you can understand
Yes, I believe in me!

Forget "Hell is for hell!" -- *that* is a serious rock lyric!

Exactly! Paul Stanley doesn’t have time to write Songs About Poor People, he has to use that time to write what rock needs most, songs about Self-Empowerment. Which, occasionally, comes by way of super powers granted by mysterious, ancient druids.

Ace probably deserves extra credit for agreeing to rock at all on Fridays, since he was apparently outvoted 2:1 by the other members of KISS Corp. on doing the whole Elder thing, and they didn’t even do his song “Dark Light”, clearly the most rockin’ song on the album.

…the bass with the Japanese flag on it is particularly awful.

Has the relative rock criminality of designs on bass and guitars come up as a topic?

Some other notable Fridays appearances:
The Beach Boys http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Js-eKhmWq9M
Devo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54JBeywtoqg
Split Enz http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8rejFCjzE0
And from the Andy Kaufman episode, The Sir Douglas Quintet www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzwKquelOX0

check out the other pretenders tune on Fridays

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCf5wLyfkvQ

Dr. john's right about that lame-ass japanese flag crap on farndon's bass (who is either wildly out of tune, or farting wrong notes all over the place on this version of "message of love"). the only thing worse than his bass is his headband. or wait, is it the leather from head to toe? or is it the combination?

rock fashion police!!! help!!!

but dr., don'tcha be raggin on my boy jim honeyman scott.

I was a big FRIDAYS fan in the day, I never missed an episode, mostly for Richards (he did this great destructive little kid skit) and the musical acts, which were better than that era's SNL acts. Particularly memorable were an extended appearance by the Clash (around COMBAT ROCK) and the Stray Cats, who were causing pandemonium although they were unsigned in the States at the time.

-db

saturn, what gives with Scott's choice of guitars? In both clips, he's not playing any of his "signature" guitars. I'm not a guitar snob by any means, but it seems like his sound suffers as a result.

Maybe Honeyman-Scott had to hock his signature guitars to fund his habit.

dunno.

maybe he didn't want to bring out the sweet axes for the road action.

did you check the "message of love" guitar? it's a schecter. not a bad guitar. at the time, it was the preferred brand for english road warriors (townshend played a black one on the '82 tour).

what's he playing for 'louie louie'? i have no idea what that might be...

Could he be playing a Hamer, the brand Nick Lowe and Tom Petersson used around that time?

A red Hamer is mentioned on his Wikipedia entry:

[edit] Equipment
Honeyman-Scott used a number of guitars during his professional career, including the following:

Gibson ES-335 used for Pretenders debut and songs on the Robert John Godfrey album
Gibson Les Paul Jr. (1957 - borrowed from Mick Ralphs of Mott the Hoople)
Gibson Les Paul (used to record the debut album)
Gibson Firebird (1963)
Gibson Firebird (Pink)
Hamer (3, one red)
MusicMan Stingray
Rickenbacker 360/12 used during Extended Play / Pretenders II sessions
Zemaitis (1980) Metal Front Guitar (2)
Zemaitis (1980) Pearl Front Guitar
Just before joining the Pretenders, Honeyman-Scott used an Ibanez Gibson-Explorer style with a Electro-Harmonix Clone Theory pedal and Marshall amplifier in an attempt to emulate the Rickenbacker 12-string sound on songs by Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe (Guitar Player, 1981). Honeyman-Scott recorded most of his guitar parts for the Pretenders debut album using a Gibson ES-335 or Gibson Les Paul.

Honeyman-Scott owned several acoustic guitars including a Gibson Dove, Martin D-28, and a Guild 12-string. Jimmy used Marshall 100-watt amplifiers and BOSS chorus, overdrive, and compressor effects pedals.

I think it's the Hamer model called the Prototype. There's a red one pictured in the middle here: http://www.hamerfanclub.com/images/protos.jpg
It has some kind of triple-coil pickup.

I think the rising sun bass is a Hamer too, so maybe it was a promo deal.

back to fridays.

did THEY do the bizarro world skits, or was that the post-original cast of SNL?

i remember thinking those skits were hilarious because the bizarro ronald reagan was a workaholic.

If it was Fridays that did the bizarro world skits (I don't recall them, but I do recall Michael Richards doing lots of Reagan impersonations), considering Richards and Larry David were part of that cast, we might have the makings of a thread to introduce to Seinfeld Town Hall!

Besides David and Richards, did anyone in the cast of Fridays do anything afterwards?

I've seen the black guy in a number of tv shows and bad movies since then. He's probably gotten more work than Charles Rocket (RIP).

I was right about Darrow Igus having done more than Fridays:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0407283/

However, Charles Rockett has an additional 25 credits to his name (not to mention an extraneous t).

More interesting facts:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080219/fullcredits#cast

Other writers, beside Larry David, included Larry Charles (Mad About You, Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm writer/producer) and Rich Hall (future SNL guy and husband, I believe, of Julia Louis-Dreyfus). Three other cast members appeared in episodes of Seinfeld.

was "bizarro world" a concept before Fridays? if not, that's a pretty significant contribution to popular culture.

although alot of people may have first heard of "bizarro world" via the seinfeld episode, the phrase "bizarro world" was common parlance among my friends and i before seinfeld ever aired.

on a related note, i remember father guido sarducci talking about a planet that was a perfect replica of the earth, exactly on the other side of the sun from us, where the only difference was that they ate corn on the cob vertically. that's kinda like bizarro world, but not the same thing...

was "bizarro world" a concept before Fridays? if not, that's a pretty significant contribution to popular culture.

I'm pretty sure the "Bizarro Jerry" episode is derived from Bizarro, the Superman villain, the Man of Steel having long been a Seinfeld obsession.

I know about the Superman thing, but is that a Seinfeld (Jerry, the real person) obsession or a Larry David thing? I'm thinking the sugggestion that this was a Fridays bit might indicate that it's part of Larry David's private thoughts.

oats, the "bizarro jerry" episode works exactly like the fridays "bizarro world": everyone does the opposite of what their normal prototype would do. thus, "bizarro" ronald reagan the workaholic, or "bizarro" kramer, who knocks before entering.

given the common players on fridays and seinfeld,it makes sense that the seinfeld group (david, richards, dreyfuss, even jerry) would want to revive the fridays thing as an inside joke.

was the superman villain somehow associated with "opposites"?

why was the realm of opposites called "bizarro world" on fridays? can you make a case that the name "bizarro world" was a clear reference to that villain? or do they just share the same name?

OK, I'll admit, I haven't seen the Fridays sketch in question. However, Superman references were a common leitmotif on Seinfeld. AND thanks to seinfeldscripts.com, the "Bizarro Jerry" episode contains this exchange:

ELAINE

So? Where were you?!

JERRY

Uh, here I guess, an' uh, uh I went out and picked up a paper.

ELAINE

[irritated, throwing down her bag] I had to ask Kevin, to leave his office an' come an' pick me up!

JERRY

So? What are friends for?

ELAINE

Yeah! An' he is a friend, Jerry. He is reliable. He is considerate. He's like your, exact opposite.

JERRY

So he's Bizarro Jerry!

ELAINE

[pause] Bizarro Jerry?

JERRY

Yeah. Like Bizarro Superman. Superman's exact opposite, who lives in the backwards bizarro world. Up is Down. Down is

Up. He says "Hello" when he leaves, "Good bye" when he arrives.

ELAINE

[pause] Shouldn't he say "Bad bye"? Isn't that the, opposite of "Good bye"?

JERRY

No. It's still a goodbye.

ELAINE

Uh. Does he live underwater?

JERRY

No.

ELAINE

Is he black..

JERRY

Look. Just, forget it, {already}. All right?

The whole Superman obsession seems more in line with Jerry Seinfeld, Superman being the cheery, relatively untortured superhero. I don't even think Batman is dark enough to adequately correspond with Larry David.

Sure, Oats, but does it correspond adequately to Bizarro Larry David?

good work, oats! okay, now we know where the name "bizarro world" comes from.

but jerry seinfeld's superman-obsessed character doesn't have an exclusive right to all superman related concepts.

so i'm thinking that the seinfeld "bizarro world" episode probably doesn't happen without the fridays bizarro world skit. not with all those people in common between the two shows.

others may think the opposite. in fact, bizarro saturnismine thinks i'm way off base.

on a related note,

there's also that awesome episode where george declares..."i will do the opposite"! and immediately lands a hot date, whose father gets him a job with the yankees. "this is my religion" proclaims george.

this concept goes much deeper than either of us thought.

the way jerrry describes "bizarro superman" is how the fridays bizarro world skits worked.

but fridays was not only riffing on the superman character, they were using the related dc comics "bizarro world" concept, which was represented by a square planet (just like at the beginning of the fridays skit).

I can close the loop, I think. Bizarro and Bizarro World have been around since the late '50s/early 60s, but the reason Fridays would likely have been doing Bizarro World sketches in 1980 would have been the Superfriends cartoon airing at the same time, which promintently featured Bizarro (and Bizarro World) as part of the Legion of Doom, alongside classic comic villains like Lex Luthor, Brainiac, Mikael Renberg and Scarecrow.