Bohemian Rhapsody

LANE: Once, a guy in our town named Kirk was practicing “Bohemian Rhapsody” with his band, the Kirk Gleason Five, and my mom shut them down so fast that the band fled without their instruments and never came back for them. To this day, Kirk can’t listen to Queen without tearing up.

“Bohemian Rhapsody”, a 1975 song by English rock band Queen, previously discussed, released as a single from their fourth album, A Night at the Opera. Written by lead singer Freddie Mercury, it is a complex six-minute suite, one of the few progressive rock songs of the 1970s with mainstream appeal that to achieved widespread commercial success.

Initial critical reaction to the song was mixed, with the UK music press disdainful or indifferent. Several of them, even ones who disliked it, did predict it would be a hit, and it went to #1 in the UK, and several other countries. It went to #9 in the US. It is now one of the most revered rock songs in history, and “Bohemian Rhapsody” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2004. It is consistently voted in by the public as a favourite song, and is regarded as one of the greatest songs of all time.

“Bohemian Rhapsody” enjoyed renewed popularity after it featured in the 1992 comedy film Wayne’s World, and went to #2 in the US (most popular in the Netherlands at #1). Chances are that Kirk and his band discovered the song through the movie.

Lawrence Welk

ZACK: Dude, Lawrence Welk cranked louder than this.

Lawrence Welk (1903-1992), accordion player, bandleader, and host of The Lawrence Welk Show on TV from 1951 to 1982. His style of music became known as champagne music, that is, light and bubbly. He had numerous hits, the most popular being “Calcutta”, which went to #1. For many years, he was a byword for “lame old people music”.

London Calling

The song that Lane’s band is rehearsing at band practice. Zack (very quietly) sings the song’s opening lyrics:

London calling to the faraway towns
Now war is declared and battle come down
London calling to the underworld
Come out of the cupboard, you boys and girls

“London Calling” is a 1979 song by English punk band The Clash, previously discussed. It is the title track from the band’s third album, a double album, written by Joe Strummer and Mick Jones. The song’s title comes from the BBC’s World Service station identification, “This is London calling …”, used during World War II, especially in broadcasts to occupied countries. The lyrics reflect the band’s concerns with world events, such as nuclear disaster, flooding, police brutality, and casual drug use. The song ends with the Morse code signal for S-O-S, to reiterate the sense of urgency.

The song went to #11 in the UK, becoming their highest-charting single to that point. It didn’t chart in the US, but was the first song by The Clash to chart outside the UK, reaching the Top 20 in Ireland and Top 30 in Australia and New Zealand. The song is regarded by many critics as the band’s finest, and it is consistently rated as one of the greatest rock songs of all time.

Zack and Brian

This episode is the first time we see Lane’s bandmates, Zack and Brian.

Zack is the lead guitarist and vocalist for the group, shown almost immediately to be a typical frontman, good looking and confident. He later becomes Lane’s boyfriend, then husband. Zack is played by Todd Lowe, who at this stage had had small roles in a few films, such as Where the Heart Is, and The Princess Diaries, and appeared in two episodes of Walker, Texas Ranger (once as a character named Zack!). Amy Sherman-Palladino used him again later in Bunheads, and he became best known for his role on vampire drama True Blood.

Brian is the bassist for the group, a little awkward and nerdy. He is played by John Carbrera, who is a friend of Sean Gunn who plays Kirk on Gilmore Girls; they attended the same theatre school in Chicago. At this stage Carbrera had had a few minor roles in TV shows such as CSI and NCIS. The previous year, he had won an award for his work in theatre. Recently, he has increasingly concentrated on screenwriting.

There have already been characters with these names on Gilmore Girls – Zach was Lorelai’s classmate at community college in Season 2, and Brian was one of the waiters at the Independence Inn in Season 1.

“That girl’s a freak”

[Shane rushes over to Jess at the counter]

LORELAI: That girl’s a freak.

[Jess and Shane start kissing]

Lorelai says that Shane is a “freak” because she kisses her boyfriend in public – something Rory does all the time, and something Lorelai did when she was a teenager! It’s a pretty terrible thing to say about a teenager who is literally right there.

Even though Lorelai doesn’t want Rory to go out with Jess, for some reason she seems miffed that Jess has chosen somebody else, and snipes about Shane (she should be grateful Shane is making Jess unavailable). She may be trying to send Rory the message that only a “freak” would go out with Jess.

Johnny Yune

LANE: We practice for two hours, I’m home in time to watch reruns of Johnny Yune’s talk show on Korean television with my mom, who thinks I hooked up with you guys – which I did, so I’m not even lying.

Johnny Yune, born Yoon Jong-seung (1936-2020), Korean-American actor, singer, and comedian. He began performing stand up in 1964, and got his big break appearing on The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson in 1979. He was one of the show’s most frequent comedy guests. He is best known for playing the lead role in the 1980s comedy films, They Call Me Bruce, and They Still Call Me Bruce.

From 1989-90, he hosted The Johnny Yune Show, the first Americanised talk show in Korea The show was a hit, but after only a year, Yune decided to leave due to limited freedom of the media.

Mrs Kim is watching reruns of his talk show on KBS America, the local platform for Korean Broadcasting System, South Korea’s national broadcaster.

Band Practice

LANE: Hello Stars Hollow, are you ready to rock?

LORELAI: Let me guess, band practice tonight?

Lane was given permission by Sophie to use the music store to practice drumming two evenings a week, on Wednesdays and Fridays at 6 pm (evenings when she knew her mother would be out doing church activities). Lane is now really pushing that generous offer by finding a band that needs a drummer and letting them use Sophie’s music store as a free rehearsal space! It sounds like a pretty awful way to repay Sophie, but maybe Lane already fixed this up with Sophie offscreen. I hope so.

You may be wondering whether this episode starts on a Wednesday evening – it can’t be Friday, because Lorelai and Rory are having dinner at the diner, instead of heading off to Hartford for Friday Night Dinner with Richard and Emily. It appears to be a Saturday, oddly enough, so perhaps Lane also got Sophie to agree to a third evening of band practice per week. How Sophie would have agreed to all these changes to the orginal agreement, I don’t know.

This scene shows how happy Lane is to finally be in a band and playing music, she is absolutely radiating joy as she bounces into the diner and starts eating Rory’s dinner. Lane isn’t making any effort to keep her activities a secret, and even though Stars Hollow is super gossipy, she doesn’t seem worried about Mrs Kim finding out. Maybe that’s how confident she feels now she’s actually living her dream.

Daffy Duck

LORELAI: Now, this last one’s a little more gory. I’m out hunting … And my gun backfires and my whole face spins around a bunch of times and winds up in the back of my head like Daffy Duck.

Daffy Duck, animated cartoon character created for Leon Schlesinger Productions by animators Tex Avery and Bob Clampett. He first appeared in the short film Porky’s Duck Hunt in 1937, and is a staple character in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoon series. He is an assertive, combative figure whose lisp never stops him from putting forward his strong opinions.

A common gag is for Daffy to get shot in the face (quite often accidentally by himself), and his face spins around so that his bill ends up behind his head.

Republicans

LORELAI: So, I think I’m in touch with the other side …

RORY: With Republicans?

The Republican Party in the US, founded in 1854 by anti-slavery activists, with an elephant as its symbol, for reasons nobody seems sure about. It shifted towards the right in the early twentieth century and is now a socially conservative party, tending to favour free market economics. It supports lower taxes, gun rights, restrictions on immigration, restrictions on abortion, restrictions on unions, and increased military spending. Since the 1850s it has been the main political rival to the Democratic Party, so when Lorelai says she is in touch with “the other side” (meaning the supernatural realm), Rory asks whether she means the other side of politics. Lorelai and Rory are Democrat supporters.