Heavy Hitters on SNL

Here's a compilation of the heaviest performances from Saturday Night Live over the years.

Skid Row is around 27 minutes in and there are two back to back amazing performances. Definitely worth a watch.

Comments

[Him]

Hmm . . . well, err, Bach still has the hair and the moves. And he is heavier. So I guess there's that.

[Bryon]

I remember watching the Skid Row show live. Kiefer Sutherland was the host and it was a fantastic episode -I recorded it on videotape back in the day and must have watched that episode 10 times. The Kiddie Metal ad bit is a classic: https://vimeo.com/63610234

[Gogmagog]

Here is the full version of Monkey Business:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyGmUXvSHLE

I cannot in my wildest dreams imagine SNL allowing somebody this heavy on the air now, or playing live, as this most definitely is. Perusing their live videos on the youtubes I've found that Skid Row was maybe the tightest of the bands of that era. There is a set from Japan of them playing Eileen, Mudkicker and the last instrumental bit of Midnight/Tornado that is just fantastic.

[Bob]

What a cool set of clips. Obviously, Skid Row's part is awesome, but there are some other tasty performances as well. I'm not a big fan of punk, but I've always loved the band Fear. those guys are actually good musicians, and Lee ving has an awesome voice. Their enditement of New York's avant guard jazz scene in the late 70s, "new York's all right if you like saxophones" is just brilliant, and I can't believe they had the balls to play it on SNL. also, I love the slowed down version of "zombie" by the Cranberries. It's an even more powerful song at that slower tempo. I remember watching RATM absolutely tear it up on "Bulls on Parade", and that performance is just as stunning today as it was back then. Finally, whatever you do, or don't think of System of a Down, that was a hell of a tight performance!

[Metalboy!]

Yes, I ran across the Skid Row performance on SNL a few months back via a recommendation from YouTube based on what I had been viewing quite frequently at the time -- that is hard rock acts performing on TV shows in the 70's and 80's.

Bach absolutely slayed back then. Other big moments not captured here were Queen performing a rocked out version of "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", Cheap Trick, "Baby Loves To Rock" and The Stones performing "Shattered" and "Miss You".

Bob, I also remember watching FEAR live in the show. If you recall, John Belushi introduced them. The line, "New York's alright if you like Saxaphones" is flat out hilarious. Subsequently living in NYC for 15 years not long after that, I saw what they meant personally.

Unfortunately, SNL generally misses the mark when it comes to really rocking out with their musical performances. If a hard rock act does slip on, it feels like a fluke!