The Top 5 Worst Musical Performances in SNL History
I love Steve Martin. He’s one of the funniest, smartest, talented performers of all time. He acts, he sings, he writes and he is an amazing banjo player. In fact, he’s such an amazing banjo player that he was asked to perform one of the songs from his new banjo album The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo on SNL this past weekend. This was weird for a couple reasons, the first being that Steve wasn’t the musical guest. Jason Mraz was. Second, because Martin wasn’t the musical guest, it was unclear whether his performance was part of the comedy portion of the program. But as the single, “Late for School” is the fourth track on his album, one can only assume that Martin’s bluegrass performance wasn’t a joke at all. Which brings us to the third reason this performance was weird: it was just flat-out horrendous. His singing was completely sub-standard and the song, perhaps more suited for a children’s morning program than a late-night variety show, was annoying. So in the honor of Steve Martin’s banjo performance on SNL, I give you the Top 5 Worst Musical Performances in SNL History.
5. Steve Martin — “Late for School”
Just watch.
4. Kanye West — “Love Lockdown”
If you ignore the alleged lip syncing (:40), the annoying sunglasses, the 80s mullet and Kanye thinking he’s the most serious artist of all time, this performance of “Love Lockdown” in December, 2008 is just outright brutal. Despite the T-Pain-esque audio effects, Kanye’s singing voice simply doesn’t cut it. But how this number, known as Kanye’s “Love Letdown”, will always be remembered, are those weird two lines right at the beginning where some strange female voice is singing Kanye’s words. Some call it a lip sync.
3. Sinead O’Connor — “War”
This unforgettable performance will always be thought of as that time back in 1992 when Sinead O’Connor ripped up a photograph of Pope John Paul and in doing so, destroyed her career. But, if you look at Sinead’s performance up until the photo-ripping, an a cappella version of Bob Marley’s “War,” it really is one of the most hideously awful musical performances in the history of the show. She needs some instruments. And some hair.
2. Fear — “Beef Bologna”, “New York’s Alright If You Like Saxophones” and “Let’s Have A War”
Probably the most infamous of all SNL musical performances, on the 1981 Halloween episode, the L.A. punk band Fear incited a riot on the the set. Legend has it, John Belushi, who had used Fear for the soundtrack of the movie Neighbors, demanded that the band be invited as a musical guest. Chaos ensued (the band’s lead singer began their second song by yelling “It’s great to be in New Jersey”) and people stormed the stage and began fighting in the crowd.
1. Ashlee Simpson — “Autobiography”
The girl with the really hot sister and the really large inferiority complex got her chance to shine as SNL’s musical guest back in October, 2004. After performing her first song, “Pieces of Me” without a hitch, Simpson came back for her second single “Autobiography.” Except, the audio for “Pieces of Me” with Simpson’s vocals came back on. Get ready to cringe if you haven’t seen this one in a while. Her excuse? Acid-reflux and that doctor had ordered her to lip sync. For obvious reasons, this is the worst musical performance in SNL history.
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