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Band:Tom Snyder DVD:The Tomorrow Show - Punk & New Wave Released by:Shout! Factory Writer: Mark Carras Media: You Tube Click Album Cover To Buy Now

I honestly went into this DVD with a little bit of dread. A bunch of 75-85 New Wave bands on a talk show with Tom Snyder? I was going to suck it up and do a review for the website. Most of the review was probably going to be talking about why it sucked of course. Now for the shocker…I am REALLY enjoying this damn thing! It is mostly just a talk show much like the Jay Leno and David Lettermen type shows we all watch today. The interesting part is that Tom had guests that were not at all mainstream (even at that time). Instead of getting the huge celebrities of the time, he had an interesting mix of industry insiders and the more underground entertainers. Right off the bat I see an interview with this really young singer of a band called the Runnaway’s. That’s right kiddies, Joan Jett herself back when she looked like she had the typical teenage affliction known as acne! This is a woman who is the same age as the grandmothers of many of our readers now, so to me that is pretty damn interesting.

There are also a few guests that are not music related, but also extremely interesting. There is this right wing wacko talking about how his organization was going to clean up television. I missed some of what he said because I was busy ordering the next season of the TV show Deadwood on DVD (not really, but you get my point). The thing that is most interesting about this DVD is the look back in history and the perceptions of people back then. For example, Tom is introducing Elvis Costello and says how he used to be a computer programmer, but became an entertainer because no one will ever make any money programming computers. Tom Snyder isn’t stupid, this was just from well over a quarter of a century ago. The internet wouldn’t be launched until January first of 1983 and pretty much only for college research groups for several more years. So as entertainingly stupid Tom’s statement seems now, it can be assumed that it was said without any debate back then. That is what makes this whole thing so great.

There is a major leaning to the Punk and New Wave bands that were out at that time, so that is why I am covering it. If you want to know why old fuckers like me laugh when people call Blink 182 a punk band, this DVD might explain it. Most of the time Tom does a great job at interviewing bands from a style he knows nothing about. Sometimes the band won’t even give him a chance. When watching this you will be reminded that John Lydon is a great and entertaining frontman, but a total douchebag as a person. There is an episode where Tom lets some substitute (he was on vacation) interview The Ramones. The lady seems to have no respect or even a clue as to what the band is all about, but the band seems to have a great attitude about it and come off as the legends we all know and love.

Who should watch this? Anyone who loves old school punk should at least grab this on Netflix! Seriously, I can’t explain to you how entertaining this thing was to watch. I don’t think it would hold up through multiple viewings, but it is well worth one spin. This thing did Rock My Monkey, taught me a few things, and reminded me of a few others. I am still shocked at how much better this thing was than I thought it would be.

Band:Tom Snyder DVD:The Tomorrow Show - Punk & New Wave Released by:Shout! Factory Writer: Mark Carras Media: You Tube Click Album Cover To Buy Now

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