It’s got to be exhausting to be a successful band today. You can’t just be a band and make records and play shows anymore; you’ve got to become some kind of multimedia pop culture juggernaut, down to do all kinds of ads and promotions and shitty corporate team-ups and private shows for oblivious Ponzi scheming crypto nerds. You’ve got be an intellectual property more than a band, more so today than at any point in the history of pop music, and you’ve got to market and merchandise the hell out of that intellectual property. It’s got to be tiring.
Today LCD Soundsystem announced that it’s doing some kind of live show / ‘90s sitcom parody for Amazon Music, in conjunction with Eric Wareheim, that will air on Prime Video and Twitch on Dec. 22. Wareheim will write and direct a live ‘90s-style sitcom called All My Friends (complete with a Muzak-y instrumental piano version of LCD’s hit as the theme song). Wareheim will play LCD’s main man James Murphy, with Macauley Culkin, Christine Ko, Tony Cavalero, Cory Loykasek, Aparna Nancherla, Jon Daly, Rex Lee, Luenell, and a puppet playing different members and managers of the band. After the sitcom the band will play a live set, culminating in the first live performance of their 2015 Christmas single “Christmas Will Break Your Heart.”
Wareheim, of course, has been parodying the sitcom in various forms for years. Last year he co-created and starred in the sitcom parody Beef House on Adult Swim. Making fun of the Miller-Boyett house style should be second nature for him at this point. LCD Soundsystem, meanwhile, is in the midst of a sold-out 20-show residency in Brooklyn that wraps up the night before this sitcom / concert special airs. What better way to celebrate the end of a marathon of shows than with your own fake sitcom?
In a press release, Wareheim is quoted as saying “I’ve already conquered film, James has conquered music, but we have yet to conquer the sitcom—the HIGHEST form of art. We’ve been working on this project for 15 years, and for this show we’re unveiling a uniquely emotional perspective of the sitcom universe for the holidays—provided by one of the greatest bands of all time and my dear friends, LCD Soundsystem. I can’t believe Amazon Music is letting us do this.”
“I am similarly stunned that someone let us do this,” James Murphy is then quoted in that same press release. “At least we finally get to use our Korey puppet.”
This is a particularly auspicious time to announce a project with Amazon, as OSHA is currently investigating the deaths of six employees at an Amazon delivery station in Illinois over the weekend. Employees, survivors, and relatives of the victims have decried Amazon’s lack of emergency training and how the company prioritizes productivity over employees’ safety. Amazon has come under fire for years for the way it treats its employees, and this weekend’s tragedy has put the company under further scrutiny.
All My Friends will premiere on Amazon’s two main video sites, Prime Video and Twitch, on Wednesday, Dec. 22, at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT. LCD’s concert begins immediately after the sitcom. Here are the opening credits. It’s no Too Many Cooks, but this arrangement of “All My Friends” isn’t that bad.
