I can’t believe no one’s mentioned the episode where Garth Brooks hosted as himself, and then served as musical guest in his glam rock alter ego Chris Gaines. Has to quailfy as one of the worst muscial performances.
But there was a funny moment where (I believe it was) Tracy Morgan basically denigrated Chris Gaines to Garth Brooks’ face, saying he was “pink in the middle” and “smoked the ol’ meat cigar.”
I have a friend who loved Fear’s performance on SNL in 1981. I’m not much of a Punk fan, but it WAS memorable. Lee Ving seems pretty cool. I like him from his acting.
Fishbone had a great performance of “Sunless Saturday” that I remember. I’m not a big fan - I have an EP of theirs that I never listen too - but I thought they put one hell of a show.
Stevie Ray Vaughan was on at least once, and IIRC, Jimmy Vaughan was there with him, unannounced. Good performance as well.
Well, yeah. I like the songs (particularly Art Lover, which is not IMO about a pedophile but a father who’s lost his own child), but I just didn’t think it was a great performance.
The also appeared circa 1985 and performed Do It Again which is both a bland song and was a blah performance. The Kinks were always inconsistent, both in Ray’s writing and in the execution.
I have another one that was memorable to me. Peter Tosh singing “Take A Walk and Don’t Look Back”. After the first verse you can hear the crowd freaking out when Mick Jagger unexpectedly walks out on stage and makes the song a duet. It was a great catchy tune and Mick was having fun with it.
Re-visiting the lyrics to “Art Lover”, I guess it could go either way. I like the song myself, but some of those verses are pretty creepy, no?
Seeing them do “Destroyer” made me buy the album, and delve into Kinks beyond “You Really Got Me” and “Lola”. Not many SNL performances hit me like that one, I thought it was strong and full of energy. I taped it and watched over and over.
I don’t recall the “Back Where we Started” show. I’m sure I saw it, but it didn’t leave as deep a groove in the noodle like the '81 appearance.
I didn’t see it myself, but since it brought me my husband, I’d have to say Kate Bush’s SNL appearance. I can’t find the performances on YouTube, but she performed “The Man With The Child In His Eyes” wearing a gold catsuit while on top of a piano played by Paul Schaeffer, then later “Them Heavy People” wearing a trench coat and fedora. She was the special guest of Eric Idle, who requested her specifically and brought her over from England just for that one night.
A lot of people didn’t realize that she’s very rarely performed as herself, that most of her performances/videos are as the characters in the songs, so a lot of folks thought she was weird and pretentious. Luckily, my husband was blown away and became a fan. If he hadn’t been, or if he hadn’t watched TV that night, we never would have met.
So, I’m a fan, but I also owe her the happiness my soul mate has given me the last 28 years.
Oh yeah, the Bowie performance blew me away, and I was just a wee kiddie then. My all time fave was seeing Queen. You could have heard the SQUEE clear at the South Pole, I was so happy.
…or that Bob Marley isn’t a good enough songwriter to sound good acapella. I’m leaning towards that, as I heard O’Conner live and acapella and been astounded (and believe Marley to be vastly over-rated.)
My personal bests are the Kate Bush performance Equipoise mentioned and Todd Rundgren’s performance on the episode hosted by Charlene Tilton…that is never, ever repeated because of Charles Rocket’s moronic decision to drop the F bomb on live TV.
Not best or worst, but most memorable: 1978 or thereabouts: The Rolling Fucking Stones. I happened to be at a gay house party, probably 100 - 200 guests, me (straight guy) getting my ass pinched a lot.
I was in the TV room when the Stones played. Some really femme guy called out “Ooooohhhhh, Mick!”.
Looking over an episode guide it seems like the performances I remember most came from a particularly good stretch in 1989.
Episode 261 - Elvis Costello - Let Him Dangle
Episode 262 - Living Colour - Cult of Personality
Episode 263 - Dolly Parton - Why’d You Come In Here Lookin’ Like That
Episode 264 - John Mellencamp - Pop Singer and Jackie Brown
Episode 265 - Fine Young Cannibals - She Drives Me Crazy and Cool Thing
Episode 266 - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Runnin’ Down a Dream and Free Fallin’
Also, Roy Orbison did an excellent rendition of Crying in 1987. They replayed it a year later, the week that he died.
My brothers knew Laura Brannigan in those days- they actually knew her before her debut album was released, as they worked at the Princeton CLub, where she and her husband were regulars.
I remember the episode you mention, precisely because she missed so many high notes. When they saw her the following Monday, they tried to tell her and her husband how much they’d liked the performance, but Laura looked glum, and shook her head. Her husband smiled, thanked my brothers, but admitted it had been a rough gig, since Laura’s voice had been off for a few days, and they didn’t think “Gloria” sounded very good. They were much happier with her second number, “Living a Lie.”
As for me, I don’t think there’s ever been a better musical moment than when John Belushi came on stage to sing “Feeling Alright” with Joe Cocker, who wasn’t expecting him at all.
Belushi did Cocker better than Cocker did, and Joe looked pissed off!
There was a Christmas show with Linda Ronstadt, there was a musical segment where she and others were dressed in beautiful Victorian clothes and sang a Christmas medley. Never forgot that, for some reason.
Oh gosh, years ago, back in the Gilda Radner days, the cast members, and was it Garrett Morris? - they sang an acapella doo wop type of song that was VERY good, but I can’t remember the name of that song!!!
That’s the one I came here to post! Awesome song, great performances from both Cocker and Belushi, and funny as hell! If I was Joe Cocker, I might have suspected that that would happen sooner or later. John Belushi’s Joe Cocker impression was well established by that point, and he was doing it before SNL.
I’m a big Clapton fan so I’m gonna say Clapton. I recall he got three songs and also jammed with the band on the outros to commercial breaks. Has anyone else ever got three songs?
Generally, only the really big artists get to do three songs on SNL. In addition to Eric Clapton, the “3 song” club includes U2, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, Neil Young, Pearl Jam, and REM.