The Best Rock Performances to Grace the “Saturday Night Live” Stage
Last week, Turnstile made their “Saturday Night Live” debut and broke the show’s 45-year-long hardcore musical guest drought, surprising many viewers with their hard-rock sound and energetic performance. The sketch comedy show has selected stars that lean more pop in the last few seasons (i.e. Sabrina Carpenter, Harry Styles, sombr), but the recent resurgence of rock artists in the popular zeitgeist has made me consider moments from the show's past where the genre felt alive. Here are a few standouts performances, in no particular order, that met the moment and turned living rooms nationwide into festival stages.
Bridgers Smashing Her guitar On SNL (Phoebe Bridgers / Instagram).
In 2021, a seemingly demure Phoebe Bridgers entered a red-lit stage, chest draped with beads to resemble a bejeweled skeleton, and sang her cathartically gut-wrenching “I Know The End.” As the song progressed, a smile grew wider and brighter on her face before an unforgettable guitar solo, guttural screams, and a guitar smashing in big beams of light brought the tune to its end. What immediately caused quite an uproar was soon cemented as one of the best performances in the show's history, showcasing Bridgers’ vocal talents, as well as her undeniable star power.
One of the most infamous and politically charged acts in SNL’s history occurred in 1996 when Rage Against the Machine performed their hit, “Bulls on Parade.” The guest host of the evening was Steve Forbes, a billionaire and Republican presidential candidate, which led the band to hang American flags upside down on stage. The flags were removed before the cameras started rolling, and their second song of the evening was pulled due to “time constraints.” While it has never been confirmed by show-runner Lorne Michaels that any artists have been banned, it is common knowledge that Rage Against the Machine are not welcomed back, along with acts like System of a Down, Sinéad O’Connor, and a few other boundary-pushing performers.
The Strokes performing “Hard to Explain” on SNL in 2002.
Very few bands were as big as The Strokes in 2002, so it was no surprise that they would soon take center stage in Season 27, introduced by an enthusiastic Jack Black. At the first note of the guitar riff in “Hard to Explain,” the band had easily earned the attention of the crowd, its enrapture further cemented as Julian Casablancas delivered the track’s poetic lines in a way only he could make cool and effortless. This would be the first of four times the band would perform on the show, but their debut is the most iconic, especially due to the juggernaut of their album, Is This It, which revolutionized modern rock.
Considered meek by today's standard of rock music, there’s a simple beauty to Paul Simon and George Harrison’s rendition of the former and Art Garfunkel’s “Homeward Bound” in 1976. As two of the most iconic musicians of all time were sitting on stools with guitars in hand, there’s an intimacy about this performance that makes it feel tender. With both men going through public divorces at the time, the shared looks at one another throughout makes it feel like you’re being welcomed into their environment, rather than simply watching.
In 1994, Hole released their sophomore album, Live Through This, only a week after the death of lead singer Courtney Love’s husband, Kurt Cobain. With so much controversy surrounding the album and Love herself, the whole world had their eyes on the critically acclaimed album. In November of that year, they would take center stage for a truly unforgettable rendition of their songs “Violet” and “Doll Parts.” Love’s raspy vocals filled the room and commanded the attention of people who loved and hated her, a testament to her starpower and artistic vision. What began as an opportunity to protest a woman who pushed the boundaries of women in rock soon became one of the best performances on SNL Season 20.
Hole Performing on December 17th, 1994. (Credit: Al Levine/NBCU Photo Bank)
