We interrupt the scheduled programme to bring you a quickfire Musical Chairs follow-up.
After last week's blog about double bills, one of our regular correspondents (thanks Frank!) alerted me to the fact that German industrial noise merchants Einstürzende Neubauten were actually supported by rockabilly lite popsters Showaddywaddy for a London gig in 1987. Appropriately enough, the Leicester-based combo had a hit single with I Wonder Why in 1978. Why, indeed?
Could anything rival that for sheer weirdness? Well, apparently, yes. US rock titans Blue Öyster Cult do a pretty good job on their own - bizarrely, they were supported by both The Jam and Japan on different tours in 1977/78. Not sure either of the support bands' careers particularly benefited!
It seems like cross genre mash-ups were all the rage in the 70s - KC & The Sunshine Band supported Aerosmith in 1976, while Dire Straits opened for Talking Heads in the UK in 1978. At least The Human League and Def Leppard had Sheffield in common when they shared a stage together the same year.
Arguably, the most inflammatory pairing was Toto and the Ramones in 1979. The former's crowd reacted so badly to the latter's performance that Toto singer Bobby Kimball apologised to them, calling the New Yorkers a "horrible band." I know whose side I'd be on.
But these strange bedfellows are not confined to the madness of the 70s, as demonstrated by two curious cases in 2012.
Van Halen may have been past their prime at this point, but the choice of Kool & the Gang as support band looked, on the face of it, misjudged, to say the least. But, having seen them at Glastonbury the year before, Van Halen singer Dave Lee Roth knew they could bring the party and so it proved with the rock audience surprisingly open to Kool's dance moves.
As the guitarist with one of the world's biggest bands, presumably Guns N' Roses axeman Slash had his pick of support acts for a 2012 showcase at London's Hammersmith Apollo. So, of course, he chose Factory Records' most obscure band Minny Pops to open up proceedings. The Pops' first single was called Kojak - Who loves ya, baby? Well, Slash apparently.
Whether some of the above are to your taste or not, broadening your musical horizons is always a positive experience. Even if it doesn't always feel that way at the time.
This sounds like most “jazz” festivals of the past few decades, where it is a hodgepodge of pop acts and maybe one or two actual jazz sets.
Japan were still trying to a glam rock band when they supported BOC. They were awful and got canned off. They had more success going down the art school route.