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The Top Ten List of My Favorite Letterman Musical Guests for His 75th Birthday
Dave had a hell of a fine musical run
Late night TV icon David Letterman turns 75 today, and in honor of this milestone moment I want to combine two things Dave was best known for during the 33 years that he kept insomniacs like me entertained: a Top Ten List and music. A quick Google search will reveal what music critics feel are the best performances by a musical guest on both Late Night with David Letterman (which ran on NBC from 1982 to 1993) and the Late Show with David Letterman (which ran on CBS from 1993 to 2015). For my list, however, I am only including performances I saw when they originally aired.
Confining myself to only musical guest that I actually saw leaves out some big names. I missed Paul McCartney playing “Get Back” on the roof of the Ed Sullivan Theater (where the Late Show was held) in 2009, 45 years after The Beatles first played The Ed Sullivan Show in the same building. I also missed Bob Dylan playing with The Plugz in 1984 and, most unforgivably, Morrissey playing “The First of the Gang to Die” in 2004. In my defense, over 33 years you’re going to miss some episodes.
The ones I did see, however, include both some from those critics’ lists and some that are special to me for reasons beyond just a good…
