The Strangest Rock Star Cameos In TV Shows (Part One)

It's a show-biz cliche: Every actor wants to be a musician, and every musician wants to be an actor. Here are a few that meld the cool and the bizarre...

Bob Dylan on "Dharma and Greg" (1999) - Naturally the episode was titled "Play Lady Play" in which Dharma (actress Jenna Elfman) auditions as a drummer for Zimmy's band. The fact that the producers of the show didn't announce Bob's appearance in advance should have provided us with a clue as to how this was gonna turn out, but anyway... Longtime collaborator T-Bone Burnett is in the band, so the cool factor goes up a notch even as they plod their way through some blues and a polka. Dharma's percussive talents are warbly at best (and Elfman appears somewhat gob-smacked to be in the presence of The Bob); when they finish she wants to know if Bob would like her to play some more. Dylan declines the offer.

Little Feat's Lowell George on "F Troop" (1967) - Supposedly the joke was that right after the Civil War, there were rock bands. In this episode, what a treat it is to see a young, long-haired and beard-free Lowell G. leading a pseudo-rebellious rock 'n' roll outfit calling themselves The Bedbugs, which itself was really a vague establishment swipe at the unstoppable "teen" music of the time. Also worth noting is the drummer for the group is none other than future Feat beat-man Richie Hayward! A truly bizarre episode...

The B-52's on "The Guiding Light" (1982) - Once TV's longest running soap opera (1952-2009, so kudo's!), the premise here was that there was a venue in town where musical guests would occasionally appear (Judy Collins showed up later on, too). Supposedly there are snippets that still exist where the members of the band interact with a few of the show's characters, but the true highlight is the performance of "Private Idaho". On a daytime soap! Now, there's yer cool & bizarre rolled into one nifty '80's pop-rock package...

There's more to dig out, too, like Frank Zappa on "Miami Vice" and Boy George on "The A-Team". No, really...