From 1993 until some time in 1997, my roommate and I had a Sunday ritual. I’d usually spend the afternoon putting away a box of Peter Vella’s burgundy and, come evening, we’d watch and record 120 Minutes on MTV.
At this point in time, MTV also had Alternative Nation (hosted by the ever-annoying Kennedy) going just about every night, but we preferred trivia-tourettes spewing Matt Pinfield on 120 because they always seemed to play those videos that got a single airing and then had the tape chucked on the degausser.
We’d tape the two hours of videos because we never knew when there would be an incredible gem and the interwebs just weren’t very robust for that kind of crap pre-Y2K.
One of my favorite songs (and videos) that only ever seemed to get airtime on 120 was Jawbox’s “Savory.” I was lucky enough to see Jawbox in September of 1994 at Emo’s, but not on their “farewell” tour at the end of 1996. 1997 rolled around and Jawbox called it quits.
Roll ahead to 2009 and a moron named Jimmy Fallon. For some unknown reason (aside from a re-release of Your Own Special Sweetheart), Fallon was able to get Jawbox back together after 12 years to play, among other things, “Savory” on his show. What? Could a reunion tour be in the works? The answer from front man J. Robbins is: hell no.
So, enjoy Jawbox on Jimmy Fallon, it may be the only new sounds we hear from them until the next ultra-annoying talk show host comes along. Balls.