Chris DeLine

Something today made me remember the performance by Fear on Saturday Night Live. Ian MacKaye was there and explained it in a pretty cool interview with Nardwuar. In the interview he talks about the strange phone call he had with Lorne Michaels, what really happened in the mosh pit and getting locked up. Here’s what happened as far as Wikipedia is concerned: “The 1981 Halloween episode aired on October 31st with Donald Pleasence and musical guest FEAR. By personal favor/request from Fear fan John Belushi the band performed because Belushi promised them a spot after they failed to make the final cut (movie studio refusal) as musical composers in his movie 1941. The band proceeded to play offensive music and bussed in “dancers” (many were in well-known East Coast punk acts). The band used obscene language and the dancers destroyed the set with slam dancing on the stage. The end result was Fear were banned from playing and their actual performance was cut short; as they played “Let’s Have a War” the audio and video cut to commercial.” I hadn’t seen this in years, and it’s definitely worth checking out. I love the cheap shots aimed at the New York crowd.

Nardwuar and Ian MacKaye Interview

[This post was first published by Culture Bully.]