BY MIKEY MIGO
We start the third and final installment of this topic with Season Twenty One. It was a season that had some ups and downs with the music portion of the show. It all kicked off with Blues Traveler as the host, who replaced Prince. Whether you like Blues Traveler or not, they sir are no Prince. Then again, no one is. From there it was Lisa Loeb, Natalie Merchant, and Alanis Morsette in what felt like a Lillith Fair spree. Not that it's a bad thing, but still odd. To end that spree we got Chicago's own Smashing Pumpkins, who in 1997 were arguably on the top of their game. We then got bands like Rancid, Foo Fighters, Tori Amos, Tupac, Sting, Dave Matthews, The Cure, and Soundgarden. To keep up with the controversy of past years, it was Rage Against the Machine to stir the pot that season. They were guests on an episode of Presidential candidate Steve Forbes and only got one of their songs aired. Why only one song from one of the top bands on the 90's you ask? It's because before their second song they attempted to hang the American flag upside down in protest of the host, which got them cut.
Season Twenty Two was one of the best years for music and surprisingly there was no controversy. Tom Petty kicked off a season that saw all star acts like Dr. Dre, The Wallflowers, Fiona Apple, No Doubt, Whitney Houston, Beck, Snoop D-O-Double G, Live, Tina Turner, Aerosmith, and The Rollins Band. But be it my fandom, my favorite performance of the season was that of "The Thin White Duke" David Bowie. Let us forget The Spice Girls episode and call it a great season. Deal? Deal.
No one got banned, no one used their spot to protest, and Season Twenty Three went on without any problems. Jamiroqui opened up the season that lead to Oasis, Jane's Addiction, Metallica, Ben Folds Five, Tenacious D, and Third Eye Blind all performing. The one performance that stands out in my cluttered memory is the performance of Puff Daddy/P-Diddy/Diddy/Sean Combs rocking the "Come With Me" track accompanied by Jimmy Page. Many hate that song because it's an insult to the original tune "Kasmir", but I dug it.
Season Twenty Four started very strong with The Smashing Pumpkins. They were fresh off their release of Adore on this September 98 show and rocked the stage with one of my favorite performances of theirs of all time. Later that season we got to see an awesome performance by The Beastie Boys that I remember very well to this day. The rest of the season wasn't too shabby either. Lauryn Hill, Beck, Jewel, Busta Rhymes, The Roots, Tom Petty, and Garbage were some of my personal highlights that season. It was a solid year with a solid year of comedy which saw Will Ferrell coming into his own on the show.
I remember the season premiere of the Season Twenty Five very vividly. Jerry Seinfeld was the host, but that wasn't why I cared so much about this episode. David Bowie was to be on. I waited for this for awhile. At the time I was in my late teens and really discovered the awesomeness of Bowie. I was no disappointed. Besides my personal favorite of the season, there were quite a few more performances that could be held up as "great". Dr. Dre, Snoop, and Eminem performed together on the show right at the start of the Eminem craze. Foo Fighters, Beck, R.E.M, Blink 182, DMX, Christina Aguilera, N Sync, Brittney Spears, and Sisqo all performed. You can pretty much tell what state the music world was in at this time, but we can't blame SNL. They just gave us "what we wanted."
So on this time line, we're now in the year 2000. That also brings up to Season Twenty Six. It began with Eminem and ended with Weezer. In between, we got the best musical season of easily the past ten years. Radiohead, Jay Z, and Coldplay were very memorable performances, but not the one that sticks out to me as the best performance of all time. Maybe it's because they're one of my all time favorite bands, maybe because I appreciate great music, or maybe just maybe because they are one of the best bands of all time, but for me the best musical performance was U2's performance on December 9th, 2000. During the band's performance of "Elevation", Bono jumped off the stage and roamed the crowd as the camera follows. If there were any doubts of U2's greatness or Bono's charisma find this performance and learn otherwise.
Season Twenty Seven was nothing to shrug at either. What was going on in 2002 in the music world was well represented when acts like Moby, The Strokes, Eminem, and Outkast took on the task of performing on the show. Bands like Jimmy Eats World, Bubba Sparxxx, Pink, P.O.D, and others all took the stage in their main breakout years. Instead of one stand out performance we got validating year that SNL was still on the edge of the modern trends.
Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band kicked it old school in the premier of Season Twenty Eight. However, the remaining episodes were nothing close to "old school". Again with the new breed of what's hot in pop culture came through with the likes of Nelly, The White Stripes, Norah Jones, Avril Lavigne, The Donnas, Dixie Chicks, Good Charlotte, and 50 Cent. Acts like Foo Fighters and Beck returned and it made of a very decent season for the TRL generation.
Season Twenty Nine was similar to the prior season in regards to bringing in fresh musical acts to the main stage. John Mayer opened the season with Justin Timberlake, Missy Elliot, Jet, G-Unit, Clay Aiken, The Black Eye Peas, Maroon 5, NERD, and J-Kwon all performing. Established acts like Janet Jackson and Dave Matthews performed as well in what I consider a rather bland season of music. Sure they were on the cutting edge, but the mix of the new acts and legendary performers is what made the past seasons so special in my opinion.
Season Thirty got things back on track. Not only did we get Eminem, Modest Mouse, The Killers, Ludacris, Green Day, Beck, Queens of the Stone Age, and Coldplay on the famous 30 Rock stage, but we got some long needed controversy. Daron Malakian of System of a Down shouts "F*CK YEA!" during their performance that gave us the "f-bomb" needed to keep up with history. U2 performed in similar vein as their Season Twenty Six performance with Bono roaming the crowd and performing three songs. But the thing about this season that everyone still talks about and mocks is Ashlee Simpson's lip synching fiasco. During her second song she proved her musical worth by being caught in her tangled web of lies when her "back up audio track" starts playing the first song again. It quickly faded as she looked like a complete moron on stage. She then did a jig, yes a JIG and left the stage. Claims that it was because of her acid reflux were spewed out by her people, but in reality we all know it's because of her talent reflux. She should really get THAT checked out.
We go all the way back to 2004-2005 for Season Thirty One. Back in those days George W. Bush was our president, gas prices were high, and the horrid memories of Jimmy Fallon were still fresh in our minds. The season started off very strong with Kanye West performing and followed up with Franz Ferdinand, Foo Fighters, Korn, James Blunt, Neil Young, The Strokes, Pearl Jam, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Paul Simon.
We were force fed the flavors of the month like Death Cab for Cutie and the Artic Monkeys. The stand out performance of the season came when Steve Martin returned to host the show. On that specific episode we were treated with two performances by Prince who hadn't been on the show in about ten years. I remember the anticipation for that episode among friends, family, and the internet. Of course the internet crowd complained about it, but that's what they do. Overall, it was a solid season of music.
This all brings up to this season, Season Thirty Two. Maybe I'm not hip to the times anymore because this season has been very lack luster. Sure we got performances from Ludacris, The Killers, Beck, and AFI, but we also got performances from Carrie Underwood, Snow Patrol, Keith Urban, Lily Allen, The Shins, and My Chemical Romance.
Maybe that means Season Thirty Two marks the year that I am no longer "hip the times", or maybe that means SNL slacked off on their music bookings this year. We have Avril Lavigne scheduled to appear with the three remaining spots open. One can hope for a miracle, but I'm already looking forward at Season Thirty Three.
That's that. That's my thoughts and notes on the past thirty three years of musical guest on Saturday Night Live. I love this show and will continue to watch it despite if I hate the musical guest. It's part of my history, American history, and basically the history of television comedy. You can have your Mad TV and one season flop variety shows, I'll take my SNL. It doesn't matter if you're watching it on tivo, E!, a rerun, or a new episode you know you're in for ninety minutes of comedy gold when you hear those seven magic words, "Live From New York, It's Saturday Night!" *cough* Hire me*cough*
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