Cocteau Twins, The Tonight Show, Jay Leno, NBC, US TV- 8 April 1994

Bluebeard- The Tonight Show, Jay Leno, NBC, US TV- 8 April 1994

[DavidReid-art]

Incredible bravery! Avant garde pop at it's very best in front of a mainstream american audience. What a joy to see!

[WinstonGuitar]

Robin didn't bother to instruct the sound engineers to decrease the on-stage volume for Elizabeth's sake. Hence in most CT shows in the 1990s, Elizabeth could hardly hear herself sing. She'd desperately try various maneuvers, like she does here, jamming the earpiece deep into her ear so she could hear a bit of her own voice. So people always got the impression that Liz was not a good on-stage singer. She'd argue with Robin to get everyone to turn down, but it seldom helped.

[mushroomjesus]

I was literally born this day.
Been on a cocteau twins binge for a couple days now.
What a discovery

[prinnyhunter]

y'all are crazy. this is incredible.

[rodgre]

I had been a massive CT fan by this point so I was so excited when I heard they would be on the Tonight Show this time, both for me to see them, and also because I knew it would be the first time a mainstream US audience would even know they existed. It was like a little victory for them and their longtime fans, I thought.

I can’t say a bad word about Liz’ performance here because I think she is the most unique and otherworldly singer of my generation by a hundred miles. Like most CT fans, I could listen to her have a coughing fit and think it sounded like angels whispering from the heavens. What I will say is that I recall watching this and thinking that I couldn’t imagine how a mainstream Tonight Show audience could have fallen in love with CT the way that I did when I first saw “Crushed” on 120 Minutes several years prior. I watched this performance when it aired and I felt a little disappointed for them, knowing that it wouldn’t be easy to hear the beauty in their music with ears that were listening to Mariah Carey at that time. I felt a little like it was a missed opportunity.

In hindsight, I think that was a really selfish way for me to think. I will adore them forever.

[NoName-ziqs]

She can not sing a bad note even if she tried. No matter what you are hearing, each utterance is musical perfection.

[gigiartstudiowithartistvir]

Some people who listen to her sing will never understand the greatness they hear. She has the voice of a god.

[marynarkiewicz]

I saw them in Portland, OR way back when. Kind of surprised by how they sounded in person.. but I must say, I find it kind of thrilling to watch this creative artist go through her passionate explorations in sound.

[derrikc]

I am a Cocteau loyalist till I die and I just stumbled on this my jaw was open the whole time like "What is happening???""

[snizzle]

Robin Guthrie on the hustle podcast said she was trying to be experimental during this point in her career witch could have been because of Jeff Buckley and him experimenting with his style while they were dating. My parents saw them in 93 and thought she had a sore throat. People in the crowd were mocking her with goat noises🥲

[jesseemullen]

And then the polite little "thank you" at the end 🤣👍🏻

[atis]

This is just her being rebellious. It’s all because their record company forced her to sing clearer lyrics on their 90s album. They couldn’t get out of the contract so this was the next best thing to a f u!

[DaveHanson]

Fun fact: The band was an hour late to their gig here in Las Vegas on this day because they had to fly in from LA after taping the Leno show.

[srimaddukuri]

Terrible management not to put them on David Letterman. He was the guy to go to in order to get exposure in the U.S. when it came down to music. He was the music fan in late night TV in the U.S.

[rinkydinkron]

This type of brilliance would have been completely lost on an American audience.

[sketcharmstrong]

Hard to believe they were on Jay Leno how I wish I could've seen this. What's with the sound though anyway Great band...

[AndrewJenkinsDesign]

Is this the performance where Robin insulted Elizabeth, followed up with a "don't mess this up for us" - right before going on?

[TheWorldOfDK]

I am all for experimenting musically, but that should be left for the studio and put on EPs like they did. I got to see them on this tour and was very disappointed and shocked with how she sang, but am still very thankful to have been able to see them at all.

[justtrippn]

Thank you for this! I laughed so hard on my drive home in the rain. Thank God I didn't crash. I know NOW, even I have a chance on the music business 😅😅😅😂😂😂🙌

03/06/24

[cryptsub]

Too bad it wasn't a different song.