(Credits: Far Out / NBC)
Tue 28 October 2025 22:00, UK
Being from the British side of the pond, I’ve never had the chance to revel in the live aspect of Saturday Night Live.
When watching the sketches and musical performances in retrospect, the withdrawn charm feels immediately noticeable, and so I never feel as though I have experienced the true magic of the show.
I am acutely aware of what a shame this is. It is undeniably a cultural institution that is, in many ways, the jewel in New York’s artistic crown. Comedy and music collide together, under the magic of stage lights, to platform a generation of artists who will achieve greatness. Kristen Wiig, Will Ferrell and Eddie Murphy are but a few names from the SNL alumni, who have all, in their own right, delivered moments that define the magic of live performance.
But their comic performances have had to be mighty, because every week, iconic musicians were waiting in the wings of the stage to promote their music. In becoming a cultural staple, SNL has become a must-do on any artist’s PR trail, and so the show has played host to some great musical performances.
Bono once crowd surfed, Rage Against the Machine once draped an upside-down American flag over their amplifiers in protest of the government, and Sinéad O’Connor famously ripped up a picture of pope on camera. All three of these performances confirmed the magic and unpredictability of the show’s live format, and ultimately made it compelling viewing for any music fan.
While SNL prided itself on groundbreaking irreverence, it seemed as though O’Connor’s performance was a bridge too far, and she was subsequently slapped with a lifetime ban from the show.
Sinéad O’Connor performing on SNL. (Credit: NBC / YouTube still)
“My intention had always been to destroy my mother’s photo of the pope,” O’Connor added. “It represented lies and liars and abuse.” O’Connor continued to explain that during the rehearsal, she held up a photo of a Brazilian street kid who the police had killed, but then flipped the photo during the live performance to deliver her ultimate display of protest.
“Everyone wants a pop star, see? But I am a protest singer,” she writes in the passage. “I just had stuff to get off my chest.”
It’s a moment that has lived long in the memory of both music and SNL fans, and nothing has quite matched it since. Because in 1992, when O’Connor delivered the performance, the musical guest had been used to rival the attention of the comedy.
What is the history of the SNL musical performance?
Music was never an afterthought for the SNL production. From the very first series in 1975, the show introduced a musical guest to the proceedings and some truly iconic names were in the mix.
Art Garfunkel, Randy Newman, Gil-Scott Heron, Bill Withers, Carly Simon and Patti Smith played in that first-ever series to prove that the musical interludes were going to rival the quality of the comedy.
But the very first artists to perform were Janis Ian & Billy Preston, who performed separate performances. Ian performed ‘At Seventeen’ and ‘In the Winter’ while Preston played ‘Nothing from Nothing’ and ‘Fancy Lady’.
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