5. Timbaland, Nelly Furtado, Justin Timberlake, Keri Hilson, – Medley

The whole medly thing is one of the most overused gimmicks for award shows and by and large are extrememly mediocre due to a variety of factors not the least of which are lack of cohesion and a lack of a compelling reason to medly the songs in the medly. And corny interludes. What makes this medly different and the best medly ever performed on televsion is that A. The flow between songs is impeccable. B. The first three songs are by three different artists but they are all produced by Timberland and the last song is a song that featured all three artists. Very cool concept.

Oh and there no corny interludes. If you are wondering, all interludes are corny.

4. Prince – Musicology Acoustic set (MTV)

Prince is the greatest live performer ever. Ever. Well, maybe not ever, I mean maybe Mozart was an absolute demon on stage, I don’t know. He’s definately the best of this era though. The great tragedy of it though is that Prince has not had too many great TV performances during his prime. He had a really good one on the 1984 Grammys and while it was very very good, it still couldn’t touch any of the concert footage I have seen of him. Recently he has had a handful of really cool ones like the Superbowl performance or the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame performance. Ultimately I chose this set a lot because it really shows a cool playful side of Prince that we rarely see. It is also a true testament to how great of a performer he is in that he can aschew all of the dancing and stage theatrics and confine himself to a chair and still be absolutely electric.

3. Michael Jackson – Billie Jean (Motown’s 25th Anniversary Show)

This made Michael the king of pop. Outside of maybe Elvis’s 69′ Comeback Special, the most significant televised musical performance.

2. The Ronettes – Be My Baby/Shout (Sha Na Na?)

This might be due to recording technology back then being unable to properly filter out crowd noises, but the crowd is INSANE in this performance. And Ronnie Spector is super, super adorable.

1. The Time – Jerk Out

This performance has almost no significance whatsoever. There are two huge technical errors in the beginning. Almost nobody has even seen it. The only reason it is the greatest televised performance ever is because it’s just that good.

“Re-Inventing the Wheel” 9/5-9/19 @ The ARTery
Opening Reception: September 5th 6:00-10:00 PM
Closing Reception: September 19th 6:00-10:00 PM

Day 30 (Re-Inventing the Wheel)