It does appear that a lot of SNL folks since the 90s like Massachusetts references, even if they're from New York. Sandler is one of them. One of his CDs includes a toll booth operator heard saying "Welcome to Worcester". The Fallon/Dratch "Boston kids" sketch came about thanks to Dratch being from Mass. Poehler's from Massachusetts, as she's made reference to a lot. Even Seth Meyers is from NH, which is close enough. So ends my little New England / SNL lesson.

That'll teach Dane Cook to say 'Who's Bill Simmons?' the next time he's in an ESPN.com chat.

ADDENDUM: Doing a bit in which the immigrant cleaning lady writes your Weekend Update jokes due to a potential writers' strike only works if the regular jokes are actually *funnier* than the intentionally bad ones.

THIS JUST IN: SNL sued for stealing "Lady Captain Loses Purse" sketch from 1952 Reader's Digest cartoon.

Bob Dylan. Jimi Hendrix. The Beatles (all of them - yes, including Ringo). Keith Moon and Pete Townsend. Roger Waters. Woody Guthrie. Pete Seeger. Bruce Springsteen. Joan Baez. Miles Davis. John Coltrane. Eric Clapton (maybe). Frank Sinatra. Elvis Presley. Louis Armstrong. Salvador Dali. Pablo Picasso. Theodore Gericault. JMW Turner. Thomas Cole. Benjamin West. Bill Cosby. Mary Tyler Moore. Lucy Arnaz. Matt Groening. Charles Schulz. Joan Baez. Phil Spector. Aaron Spelling. Norman Lear. Stephen King. Jack Kerouac. William Shakespeare. Alfred Hitchcock. Orson Welles. Frank Capra. John Wayne. Cary Grant. Marilyn Monroe. Twiggy (the model/actress, not the robot). Isaac Asimov. Carl Sagan. Jacques Cousteau. Ray Bradbury. L. Ron Hubbard (I didn't say the impact was necessarily positive). Martin Luther. Martin Luther King Jr. Spike Lee. Harry Truman. Stephen Ambrose. Abraham Lincoln (indirect impact). Benjamin Franklin. Nathaniel Hawthorne. J. D. Salinger. Ray Kroc.

Whew, that's enough for now. Maybe I'll come back with more later.

The phenom known as Kurt Cobain/Nirvana is one of the most overrated and misunderstood in the history of music. But thanks to the vacuous nature of the industry (circa the early 90s), a "next big thing" like Nirvana was a no-brainer. And unfortunately, the industry exploited the "Nirvana Model" for the subsequent decade (i.e. Bush, Silverchair, Creed, Nickleback, and on and on and on...). God-awful, overwrought rock; churned out for the masses on the most basic, lizard-brained appeal.

The Foo Fighters have been reduced to industry whores. Kind of a shame because Grohl is a great drummer who happens to write hummable pop/rock tunes.

(Oh, and I didn't watch SNL...)

Dammit, I forgot Little Richard and Buddy Holly. They should've definitely been in there.

Pat Boone had a huge cultural impact too, ironically enough (not in regards to Dylan).

First was they reversed the death of Rock in the US. In a short period of time at the end of the 50s, Holly dies, Presley is drafted, Jerry Lee Lewis marries his cousin (and is forced off tour), and Little Richard becomes a preacher. Popular music becomes doo-wop, Motown (which is still good as its own genre) and girl bands singing pop tunes.

In the UK, however, the bands kept rocking. The Beatles, coming to the US, undid all the damage and brought rock back to the States (I'm not arguing that there wasn't any rock bands in the US; in terms of popularity and cultural impact, though, it was non-existent)

Then of course, the Beatles meet Dylan, claim they're bigger than Jesus, and stop touring. As a result, they revolutionize music. Rubber Soul begets Pet Sounds begets Sgt. Pepper's. Norwegian Wood uses a Sitar and suddenly it's the most popular 'extra' instrument. When bands are touring, they're limited by what they can play on stage (until Lip Synching came along) ... that's why there's that Led Zeppelin song they've never played in a concert because it has a choir of some sort (I forget the details). But the Beatles stopped touring, and opened up the possibilities for artists because they were no longer encumbered by what they could play on stage.

Then of course there's the individual impact of each Beatle ... but that's a different TB post entirely.

You're also misreading the potential of the Internet. The Internet accelerates the process. A revolutionary artist could arrive, and hit like an atom bomb *because* of the Internet. Obviously, not everyone is a Dylan or McCartney (no matter how much they think they are), but to think they revolution is dead is a horribly pessimistic way to think.

Like I said earlier, whether you like it or not is subject to the listener. When it comes to the impact, the Beatles second act by itself outshone anything anyone else had ever done (with the possible exception of Elvis Presley). Throw in the first act, and it's obvious why they're tops.

I am Batman: Marvin Gaye and the Ramones both had a bigger cultural impact than Nirvana. I have them both on my iPod as well.

Would anyone have You Tubed "Leave Kurt Alone!!"?

Now, in my opinion Cobain > Spears musically. But that's the odd thing when it comes to culture. Sometimes the least gifted become the most popular and have the most impact, while the most gifted languish.

Then there's Bon Jovi, still out there selling well and doing the big stadium tour routine. You see more of Poison and Motley Crue and Def Leppard making the touring rounds than you do the Seattle-lites. It's just how it seems to be right now-the Eighties nostalgia stuff is what people still wanna hear.

Kurt Cobain was wildly over-rated by the media, but yes he was important. To me he was basically Jim Morrison but not as good. Sorry that's jest the opinion nothing more.

Giant Robots make things better. Put some into the next Foo video.

To Quothe someone here--Hair Bands is a nice little over-simplification of a large amount of diverse bands that cover almost a decade in time. Like it or not, that's just the way it works.

Of course, would this also refer to your flannel wearing stoner brother? your LookatMeI'mso Ironic TinyToons tattooed/starbucks glugging Seven Mary Three listening Self? Sheesh gimme a break. For everything you despise about all things Winger Whitesnake and Warrant, the same can be said about STP, Candlebox and Soundgarters. Gimme a fucking break-Most of these guys were ARENA ROCK BANDS, just one group aped KISS and the others a combo of Zepp and the Clash/Sex Pistols(but secretly wanted to be KISS, too!).

And thank whoever that SNL is doing shows that don't open with a political sketch and actually include the guest host in the opener.

Not a fan of BanLon von Banjoboy, but calling the Italian guy talk show host on the fact that he's speaking gibberish was pretty funny.

I said Townsend and Moon specifically because 1) Townsend was the most impactful of the entire group, and 2) Because Moon killed himself, just like Cobain did. I honestly do not know/understand Daltrey and Entwhistle's contributions as I'm working backwards right now (just got Orbison, Presley, and Jerry Lee Lewis out from the library) and haven't pushed into the late 60s yet (outside of the Beatles, which is where I started). I didn't want to cite Daltrey because I didn't want to be exposed to a "Daltrey is only a pretty boy with a good singing voice, Townsend is the whole band" argument.

As for Ringo, I was actually speaking of his work as a drummer for the Beatles, not a solo artist. Very under-rated, and quite the talent. Besides, Octopus Garden!