‘Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music’ Is a Spectacular, Definitive History of the Most Influential Music Stage in America: TV Review
variety.comJem Aswad Executive Editor, Music No matter how a person might feel about “Saturday Night Live”’s jokes or cast or host choices, there’s absolutely no denying that for the better part of the last half century, it has been the most consistently powerful platform in America for musicians, whether they’re superstars, rising stars or falling stars.
Virtually every major artist has performed on it, and for musicians on the rise, it’s a sign that they have almost arrived, that they’ve attained enough popularity or curiosity or — perhaps most important — controversy for the show to take a chance on them.
It was the first mainstream American television show to feature new wave (Devo 1978), hip-hop (Funky Four Plus One 1981), hardcore punk (Fear, also 1981, although the Sex Pistols were booked in January of 1978 but pulled out because they split up), and many other sub-genres.
What serious music fan can’t remember a classic performance on the show, if not a dozen, if not 50? David Bowie — who delivered arguably the best all-time “SNL” performance in 1979 — the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Tupac, Rihanna, Mariah Carey, Alicia Keys, Jack White, Radiohead, Lenny Kravitz, Tom Waits, Coldplay, Bon Jovi, Taylor Swift, Mary J.
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