Let me get this straight: On Halloween night, John Belushi enlisted a punk band whose audience almost smashed $100,000 worth of cameras, the show cut to commercials before a pumpkin was destroyed, and Ian Mackaye of both Minor Threat and Fugazi was in the audience. Man, TV sucks nowadays.
John Belushi REFUSED to do the cold open Cameo UNLESS they booked FEAR....that is hilarious, John knew EXACTLY what was going to happen, and he didn't work with Lorne anymore -- Lorne couldn't fire him, and FEAR were smart enough to know THIS would be their only SNL gig -- so they went for it.
Hell I just saw this today! I'm 32 and my jaw fell through the floor when my eyes saw all that mosh pit mess going on... On SNL!!! I couldn't imagine how it must have been watching it happen live 40 years ago. Priceless!
Man, Belushi was a real one. Such a badass. Who else could get punk rockers and corporate media together on a nationally televised live show. I bet there’s lots more stories like this he’s involved in that people don’t know.
Lee Ving is such a fucking legend, loved his banter and the ever lulzworthy scene of him treating that "lady" acting like a man, like a man in Decline of Western Civilization.
I grew up of this being an urban legend but never saw the footage. It wasnt everywhere pre social media and I didn't have time or effort, let alone the funds to dig for it. So now I found the whole story, it's surreal. It now makes the Crisis of Conformity SNL skit that much funnier.
I remember watching this show with Fear on as guest... I loved it... I was a young punk rocker in those days... That some good times back then ... The best years of my life👊
About 5 years ago I heard a muzac version of " what do I get" by the Buzzcocks while shopping with my wife for livingroom decor at a Pier 51 imports store... I will now surrender my punk rock card.
god bless John Belushi ! for having the temerity to insist that FEAR be on SNL - those days are LONG gone kids. i remember that broadcast, sitting in the central time zone dark, just inches from our tube tv, with the volume turned down low and a pillow on my lap to muffle my laughter, lest i wake my dad who nearly always fell asleep on the couch friday and saturday nights and who hated SNL and would smack me hard if he woke up while i was watching......totally worth it !
Your God isn't real and therefore can't bless anyone or anything. Your imaginary friend doesn't bless the 1,000 children every single day that die of starvation and malnutrition, and certainly can not just bless somebody because you said so.
the funny thing is seeing Ian Mckaye, a guy who would tell their audience not to slam and take care of each other and the equipment, not only slam dancing but all excited about making a mess and starting a fight between cities
I bought Fear the Record in 1998 on CD and listened to it for years. Then I discovered they were on SNL a year before I was born. And Doctor Loomis HIMSELF introduced them on Halloween night. Absolutely amazing. John Belushi was a huge fan and was in the mosh pit.
Good to see Bill. I used to DJ at the 9:30 . started in '92 .did my last show in 2016. Fear came through the old 9:30 not to long after I started working. One of my favorite shows at the 9:30.
John Brannon showed me his VHS copy in 1992 in ANN ARBOR. Not sure if it’s mentioned in the comments here but BRANNON grabbed the microphone and screamed “NEGATIVE APPROACH IS GOING TO FUCK YOU UP!” That definitely should have been mentioned here.
Lots of history in that crowd. John Joseph, Tesco Vee, I forget the others, but it was historical. John Joseph has a pretty good play by play in his book, "Evolution of a Cro-magnom."
saw Fear about 6 years ago behind the Roxy Theater in Hollywood. I had my camera and was taking some shots of lee all of a sudden 1234 1234 boom my camera went flying and I was on the ground hahahaha it was so funny I had no idea it was just going to erupt . awesome show.
I was 7, turning 8 in 2 days. I had gotten home from trick or treating. We were out late that year because it was on a Saturday. Seeing this on TV fanned a small ember, that took off with MTV, and the likes that intertwined with dirtbikes and BMX bikes and what was the 80s. I was the same age, relatively, as the kids in Stranger Things. It was great!
Interesting. Never made the connection until just now. Devo's famous Halloween Night 1981 Radio City Music Hall concert also took place on the same night. What a great night to be a New Yorker. I was only able to attend one of the two events that night.
Saw this live on the day. Fucking, Fucking, Fucking INCREDIBLE!!! This cemented me as a punk... FOREVER! AH HA HA!!! P.S.: Maxwell cassette tapes Oh, yeah.
I was a young teen and saw this when it was broadcast - and simply could not believe what I was seeing. I later had a cassette with "(I Love) Livin' In The City" and "I Don't Care About You" in somewhat heavy rotation.
Lee Ving is originally from Philadelphia. If you haven't been to Philadelphia you wouldn't understand. I lived in Philadelphia for the better part of twenty five years . I lived in the punk scene from 1981 through 1990. After that it was a drag. Fear the band was the real deal. Right up there with black flag and the germs. On the East Coast we had agnostic front, heart attack, Reagan youth, bad brains, Minor threat, kraut, SSD, AOD, and countless other great bands. The punk scene 40 years will never be duplicated
AOD! Adrenalin Overdose, one of my favorite bands of all time. They rejoined last year and played a couple shows in NY & NJ to celebrate their book release. I found that out at a Circle Jerks show last Summer (2022) in Dallas. Of course I drove from Texas to NY/NJ to see AOD play 2 nights in a row! Now they're going to play more in 2024! They're going to play some of the East Coast NOFX farewell shows and probably some other shows, maybe in Florida, too. Of course I'll be there again. I've seen FEAR 3 times in the last 2 years! They opened for the original Misfits and Alice Cooper in Dallas to a sold-out crowd of 20,000! Lee is still incredible on stage at 72!
The first time I saw AOD was in 1981. They were 'headlining', if you will, at Clifton NJHS. Complete chaos for twenty minutes. When the show was over there was a minor brawl and I got hit in the neck with a chair leg. Good times 👻
@@danielorlando8172 Very cool times indeed! I miss the 80s! I still go to _lots_ of hardcore/punk shows & it's so different now. Clifton, NJ at Dingbatz was their second show Nov 5th, 22. That's their hometown. They also played Bowery Electric in Manhattan, Nov 4th. There were 90% folk my age (mid 50s & up) so there wasn't much chaos, but we got a little old-persons pit going! Can't wait to see AOD again in 2024! When Fat Mike of NOFX heard they played a couple shows he asked AOD to join him for the East Coast NOFX farewell concerts in 2024. I think it'll be cool to see AOD in front of thousands of people! I don't think they've ever played to a large crowd like that. There's some semi-professional video of AODs 2 shows last year here...facebook.com/groups/405563493249982/search/?q=Adrenaline%20OD
as a 65 yr old punk rocker I think learned something. This is where the band Smashing Pumpkins got their name. If it's obvious forgive me i didn't get the memo.
He says he had Lorne Michaels on the phone... This was in SNL's 7th season; Lorne left after season 5 (and didn't return until season 11). Perhaps he meant Dick Ebersol?
@@cactaceoushe was likely just misremembering. Lorne Michaels had literally nothing to do with SNL between season 6-10, and he would tell you as much. This is an objective fact.
I was there standing under the bleachers, I worked for Studio Instrument Rentals providing the band gear. It was AWESOME! The band stenciled (FU*K YOU) on the front kick drum head and SNL said no way, so instead they printed Q-FA-Q-FA-Q-FA-Q Brilliant !
I was playing guitar in a band that morphed into AntiSeen in my cousin's basement for her Halloween party and missed this The next night I was watching Iggy Pop in Charlotte
F****g hilarious & great! Belushi loved hardcore & you gotta love the clips from the reviews...."nobody got killed!" Like a punk show was gonna kill people...PS Harley Flanagan gets in somehow too STImULaTORS LOUDFASTRULES
I'm pretty sure the most I've ever been hurt in a pit was during a FEAR show. It was either them or 7 Seconds, my brains been hurt a few times, remembering is hard.
Saw this on tv. They didn't include here that people were continuously shouting the fword into the microphones. They didn't cut to dead air, they cut right to commercials. And when the show came back live, it was as if nothing had happened.
Ian McKaye had it wrong--Lorne Michaels was not the producer of SNL at that time, it was Dick Ebersol. I think he meant Michael O'Donoghue, who was head writer at the time.
Let me get this straight: On Halloween night, John Belushi enlisted a punk band whose audience almost smashed $100,000 worth of cameras, the show cut to commercials before a pumpkin was destroyed, and Ian Mackaye of both Minor Threat and Fugazi was in the audience.
Man, TV sucks nowadays.
John Belushi.
Tesco Bee of the Meatmen was there as well...
Vee. Stupid autocorrect
TV *and* Music!
This is like a story you tell and someone’s like “This guy’s full of shit, like that happened”.
John Belushi REFUSED to do the cold open Cameo UNLESS they booked FEAR....that is hilarious, John knew EXACTLY what was going to happen, and he didn't work with Lorne anymore -- Lorne couldn't fire him, and FEAR were smart enough to know THIS would be their only SNL gig -- so they went for it.
Loren wanted this to happen too. Snl is a means of spreading things throughout the country. This was a way to promote this behavior
GenX on Boomer violence 😂
And DC vs NYC
With Philadelphia at the center of it all.
As a 60 yr old punk rocker, it was one of the most incredible spectacles I've ever seen on tv at that time
... 53 here and still loves Punk .
23 and looking for more. Rabbit hole is deep
Hell I just saw this today! I'm 32 and my jaw fell through the floor when my eyes saw all that mosh pit mess going on... On SNL!!! I couldn't imagine how it must have been watching it happen live 40 years ago. Priceless!
You didn't see it. Just stop.
@@RK-eo8gl Nerd
I recorded that SNL show. I watched it over and over, laughing harder each time. I still have that VHS.
Nice
Please make copies & sell me one
Keep preserving that in your archive. Maybe make a digital dub/copy someday and share it around if you’re interested 👍 highly recommend
Post it!!!!
Man, Belushi was a real one. Such a badass. Who else could get punk rockers and corporate media together on a nationally televised live show. I bet there’s lots more stories like this he’s involved in that people don’t know.
And being introduced by Donald Pleasance is icing on the cake.
Haha, yes no shit!!!! ;D
Would be an honor of a lifetime to be introduced by Donald freakin' Pleasance
Donald pleasance on cocaine....
Look closely if you don't believe it...
That was the year Halloween II came out, that’s why he was on there. On Halloween, no less.
I thought that was Ed Koch. That would have been even more surreal.
Lee Ving is such a fucking legend, loved his banter and the ever lulzworthy scene of him treating that "lady" acting like a man, like a man in Decline of Western Civilization.
After all these years I had no idea John Belushi was a punk fan especially a fan of bands like Black Flag and Fear! That is just so cool! 🤘🏻😎
John was pretty hardcore for a celebrity!
@@PattMcCrotch damn. That makes me almost sad that he keeled hisself. Good taste, kinda based.
@@hisaceinthehole3426 killed
@@kevin2400 tell it to youtube
He was a HUGE fan of the Dead Kennedys.
What's hilarious is that the slam dancing and fight were carefully orchestrated--they held off until the actual show.
I grew up of this being an urban legend but never saw the footage. It wasnt everywhere pre social media and I didn't have time or effort, let alone the funds to dig for it. So now I found the whole story, it's surreal. It now makes the Crisis of Conformity SNL skit that much funnier.
I remember watching this show with Fear on as guest... I loved it... I was a young punk rocker in those days... That some good times back then ... The best years of my life👊
Recently heard a Muzak version of "I Don't Care About You" played in my local grocery store. I heard it while picking out carrots.
That's very poignant
What?
That is both hilarious and sad at the same time.
About 5 years ago I heard a muzac version of " what do I get" by the Buzzcocks while shopping with my wife for livingroom decor at a Pier 51 imports store... I will now surrender my punk rock card.
If there was ever proof of this Mandela effect like we've glitched to an alternate dimension I think that would have to be it. How surreal.
god bless John Belushi ! for having the temerity to insist that FEAR be on SNL - those days are LONG gone kids. i remember that broadcast, sitting in the central time zone dark, just inches from our tube tv, with the volume turned down low and a pillow on my lap to muffle my laughter, lest i wake my dad who nearly always fell asleep on the couch friday and saturday nights and who hated SNL and would smack me hard if he woke up while i was watching......totally worth it !
Your God isn't real and therefore can't bless anyone or anything. Your imaginary friend doesn't bless the 1,000 children every single day that die of starvation and malnutrition, and certainly can not just bless somebody because you said so.
Much respect to Belushi digging Black Flag and Bill Mackenzie smashing the pumpkin legendary with Donald Pleasence as host amazing
This is a masterpiece. Amazing job Jeff & John!
ya masterpiece of what??
the funny thing is seeing Ian Mckaye, a guy who would tell their audience not to slam and take care of each other and the equipment, not only slam dancing but all excited about making a mess and starting a fight between cities
Soy 🏳️🌈🛼
Well big difference in fucking NBC shit up
Watched this event on tv as it happened.
Good times.
Well done. Epic night for punks all over the country
Yeah... Nothing says punk rock like playing on SNL...
@@thetavibes9021no one on the planet is more punk rock than ian mackaye
They left out NA singer John B screaming, "NEGATIVE APPROACH IS GONNA FXCK YOU UP!"
Fuck yeah!!! NA is my favorite band
The companion piece to this is what the Replacements did when they were on SNL a few years later.
I bought Fear the Record in 1998 on CD and listened to it for years. Then I discovered they were on SNL a year before I was born. And Doctor Loomis HIMSELF introduced them on Halloween night. Absolutely amazing. John Belushi was a huge fan and was in the mosh pit.
I remember watching this live when I was a kid and after they cut the video I thought, what the hell did I just see?
❤😂
“It’s great to be here in ....New Jersey!”
I watched it live when I was a teenager....I LOVED it!
That's me interviewing Tescoe ten years ago in Portland! 5:57 Thanks for putting that in!!!
12 years later…. How Portland doing? Still weird?
@@johneeeemarry34haha he never answered you
I wouldn't mind seeing the raw footage.
ua-cam.com/video/Frud5RFtTi0/v-deo.html
😂
I remember seeing this and thinking . . . gee, where did this audience come from??? How is this happening? Good times!!
And this is why we can’t have nice things. Have a Beer with FEAR!
Good to see Bill. I used to DJ at the 9:30 . started in '92 .did my last show in 2016. Fear came through the old 9:30 not to long after I started working. One of my favorite shows at the 9:30.
what do you do now bro
@@AnxiousCowboy retired in Baja California.
Hell yeah bro, I had some insane times at the 930, might have seen you there in the late 00's. The perfect club for a punk show thats for sure.
Saw Green Day @ 9:30 club in 1997 (nimrod tour) great show
I totally remember this live.
Sheer brilliance. I laughed. I cried. I smiled.
Negative Approach were there too
John Brannon showed me his VHS copy in 1992 in ANN ARBOR.
Not sure if it’s mentioned in the comments here but BRANNON grabbed the microphone and screamed “NEGATIVE APPROACH IS GOING TO FUCK YOU UP!”
That definitely should have been mentioned here.
Lots of history in that crowd. John Joseph, Tesco Vee, I forget the others, but it was historical. John Joseph has a pretty good play by play in his book, "Evolution of a Cro-magnom."
Reading / listing to it as I write this, amazing! 🙌🏼
My boy from Detroit, John Brannon was in the audience. He’s the one who yells in the mic: “Negative Approach..is gonna fuck you up!!!”😁
@@evanabbott2737 crazy that John B was there. I mean what the fuck? They had punk rock from almost every city on this episode back then!
@@jtm322 yeah! Somehow everybody was there, even the lead singer of the Meatmen, Tesco Vee, too.👍
@@evanabbott2737 ask JB about it, he'll tell you Belushi gave him the Mohawk that night
saw Fear about 6 years ago behind the Roxy Theater in Hollywood. I had my camera and was taking some shots of lee all of a sudden 1234 1234 boom my camera went flying and I was on the ground hahahaha it was so funny I had no idea it was just going to erupt . awesome show.
I saw fear at the galaxy in Santa Ana around the same time great show.
I remember my first show
I love the fact that Ian MacKaye was involved in this.
Why.
I watched that show. A few years later I was in thrash band.
I have such a interesting history with FEAR, including a riot we had to survive.
Have you shared the story anywhere?
@ just with friends, and reminiscing with the others that were working that night.
“And that voice was mine” literally lol!
So many awesome conversations about this. I guess I’ll start the one about how the guys absolutely killed the sax at the end??????
😂 Totally! ☠️
Seen FEAR many times.
I have also opened up for them several times.
You opened up what?
Your stuff?
I was part of the DC Hardcore scene but couldn’t make the trip up. My brother Sab was stage diving. Love it! Oh, 63 years of age!
Thanks for bringing this memory back
I was 7, turning 8 in 2 days. I had gotten home from trick or treating. We were out late that year because it was on a Saturday. Seeing this on TV fanned a small ember, that took off with MTV, and the likes that intertwined with dirtbikes and BMX bikes and what was the 80s. I was the same age, relatively, as the kids in Stranger Things. It was great!
Interesting. Never made the connection until just now. Devo's famous Halloween Night 1981 Radio City Music Hall concert also took place on the same night. What a great night to be a New Yorker. I was only able to attend one of the two events that night.
What choice did you make?
I can't believe I missed it! I watched SNL all the time back then. Arg!
Saw this live on the day.
Fucking, Fucking, Fucking INCREDIBLE!!!
This cemented me as a punk...
FOREVER!
AH HA HA!!!
P.S.: Maxwell cassette tapes
Oh, yeah.
I was a young teen and saw this when it was broadcast - and simply could not believe what I was seeing. I later had a cassette with "(I Love) Livin' In The City" and "I Don't Care About You" in somewhat heavy rotation.
This is a freakin gem, bravo
Those were some crazy days being 'Young, Dumb and Stupid and I loved every second of it!
Angry, young & poor
@@danevertt3210
Sorry you lived that.
@@razony didn’t we all
@@danevertt3210
Angry. What are you religious?
I liked Lee Ving as Mr. Boddy from the movie Clue.
He was also in Dudes with Matthew Broderick, Flea was in it also.
He was also in a Tommy Lee Jones movie called Black Moon Rising
@@matthewestrada5217 Mr Ving shot Flea in the brainpan in that flick as I recall. Lol
He also is a classically trained opera singer
This is one of the best video content about that show!
Negative Approach was there as well
Been following FEAR since 79. Absolutely INCREDIBLE band.
omg, I'm a fan of FEAR and had NO idea they played on SNL until today :O
I just missed my favorite music by not too long, as I was born in 1980. By the time I realize what kind of music I liked it was already too late.
Lee Ving is originally from Philadelphia. If you haven't been to Philadelphia you wouldn't understand. I lived in Philadelphia for the better part of twenty five years . I lived in the punk scene from 1981 through 1990. After that it was a drag. Fear the band was the real deal. Right up there with black flag and the germs. On the East Coast we had agnostic front, heart attack, Reagan youth, bad brains, Minor threat, kraut, SSD, AOD, and countless other great bands. The punk scene 40 years will never be duplicated
don't forget Black Market Baby and JFA!
AOD! Adrenalin Overdose, one of my favorite bands of all time. They rejoined last year and played a couple shows in NY & NJ to celebrate their book release. I found that out at a Circle Jerks show last Summer (2022) in Dallas. Of course I drove from Texas to NY/NJ to see AOD play 2 nights in a row! Now they're going to play more in 2024! They're going to play some of the East Coast NOFX farewell shows and probably some other shows, maybe in Florida, too. Of course I'll be there again. I've seen FEAR 3 times in the last 2 years! They opened for the original Misfits and Alice Cooper in Dallas to a sold-out crowd of 20,000! Lee is still incredible on stage at 72!
The first time I saw AOD was in 1981. They were 'headlining', if you will, at Clifton NJHS. Complete chaos for twenty minutes. When the show was over there was a minor brawl and I got hit in the neck with a chair leg. Good times 👻
@@danielorlando8172 Very cool times indeed! I miss the 80s! I still go to _lots_ of hardcore/punk shows & it's so different now. Clifton, NJ at Dingbatz was their second show Nov 5th, 22. That's their hometown. They also played Bowery Electric in Manhattan, Nov 4th. There were 90% folk my age (mid 50s & up) so there wasn't much chaos, but we got a little old-persons pit going! Can't wait to see AOD again in 2024! When Fat Mike of NOFX heard they played a couple shows he asked AOD to join him for the East Coast NOFX farewell concerts in 2024. I think it'll be cool to see AOD in front of thousands of people! I don't think they've ever played to a large crowd like that. There's some semi-professional video of AODs 2 shows last year here...facebook.com/groups/405563493249982/search/?q=Adrenaline%20OD
so that's where Billy Corgan subconsciously got the name of his band from!
YYYYYYEEEEESSSSS!!!!!!!! Finally, the band I remember from the era, it was my first video of punk, and I was hooked.
as a 65 yr old punk rocker I think learned something. This is where the band Smashing Pumpkins got their name.
If it's obvious forgive me i didn't get the memo.
Is there any truth to that? Be greatly amusing if so.
I always loved this band!
That's not really Mr. Body. He's the butler and he was killed by Professor Plum in the study with the revolver.
He says he had Lorne Michaels on the phone... This was in SNL's 7th season; Lorne left after season 5 (and didn't return until season 11). Perhaps he meant Dick Ebersol?
👉👃
I think Lorne Michaels' Broadway Video still produced se7 of SNL. Possible he was involved
He wasn't remotely involved this season.
Do you think Ian is going to lie about something so dumb?
@@cactaceoushe was likely just misremembering. Lorne Michaels had literally nothing to do with SNL between season 6-10, and he would tell you as much. This is an objective fact.
I was laughing all through this.
Nice to see Tesco Vee. He was a incredibly funny character.
I heard the story from Tesco's lips personally
Tesco the legend. The Dutch Hercules himself
I was there standing under the bleachers, I worked for Studio Instrument Rentals providing the band gear. It was AWESOME!
The band stenciled (FU*K YOU) on the front kick drum head and SNL said no way, so instead they printed Q-FA-Q-FA-Q-FA-Q
Brilliant !
“New York Sucks!!” Ian Mackaye, live from New York, SNL 1981
I was playing guitar in a band that morphed into AntiSeen in my cousin's basement for her Halloween party and missed this The next night I was watching Iggy Pop in Charlotte
This scared the record industry into signing only Britneys and Justins for the last quarter century.
I love this.
Just saw fear last night at Dante’s in Portland. They still got it! Long live Lee Ving!
I'm old enough and I remember it well. 😎
SNL was actually good back then. It died after Belushi
This is great
this is a great little doc here, excellent job on the TV listing,
For the history! Thank you for this....
INCREDIBLE!
The smashing pumpkins 10 years later
F****g hilarious & great! Belushi loved hardcore & you gotta love the clips from the reviews...."nobody got killed!" Like a punk show was gonna kill people...PS Harley Flanagan gets in somehow too STImULaTORS LOUDFASTRULES
Love it! RIP John Belushi!!
New Wave Theatre hosted by Peter Ivers played a role in inspiring this punk rock event on SNL.
That was a blast to watch!! Saw something else on this a while back, but this was an excellent telling of this angle of the story
Would've loved to been there
I'm pretty sure the most I've ever been hurt in a pit was during a FEAR show. It was either them or 7 Seconds, my brains been hurt a few times, remembering is hard.
Loved FEAR live in the late 90’s
Who else is here because they just figured out that Mr. Boddy is the dude from Fear?
THE FEAR SNL NYC TROLL
I was watching that night 👍
Introduced by the great Donald Pleasence
Have a beer with fear
it's nice to be in new jersey! They should never had cut the end best part
Dude the sax...need I say more.thankx
I recently heard the Muzak version of “Satan is Lord” by Hellfire while shopping in the gift store at the Vatican.
🤩🤩🤩
I wonder if Smashing Pumpkins got the name from this historical incident
I believe smashing pumpkins refers to the Halloween prank of smashing the carved pumpkins that were left on the front porches...
Saw this on tv. They didn't include here that people were continuously shouting the fword into the microphones. They didn't cut to dead air, they cut right to commercials. And when the show came back live, it was as if nothing had happened.
Holy shit..was that Donald Pleasance..
I would have loved being a fly on the wall when they talked to Belushi after the show
I was in 7th grade my parents let us stay up to watch mr bill what a bonus
ian mackaye grabbed a microphone and yelled into it "NEW YORK SUCKS"
Ian McKaye had it wrong--Lorne Michaels was not the producer of SNL at that time, it was Dick Ebersol. I think he meant Michael O'Donoghue, who was head writer at the time.
I'd +/- given up on SNL in 1980 on, but this is one show I wish I'd seen then. Ranks with Elvis C and Capt Beefheart