In honor of “Saturday Night Live” celebrating its 50th anniversary this fall, list-loving Rolling Stone has ranked the top 50 musical performances on “SNL” and, faster than you can say “Al Franken and Tom Davis were original SNL writers,” Minnesota acts grabbed two of the top four spots.
Who gave the best ‘SNL’ music performances? The Replacements and Prince rank near the top
David Bowie leads Rolling Stone’s Top 50 list but Minnesotans rank in the top four.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
November 5, 2024 at 11:08PM
The Replacements rated No. 2 with “Bastards of Young,” and Prince posted No. 4 with “Partyup” — relatively early career performances from two revered Minneapolis acts.
On Jan. 18, 1986, the ‘Mats were “just the right amount of drunk,” writes Gavin Edwards. Bassist Tommy Stinson jumped around, off camera. Singer Paul Westerberg implored guitarist Bob Stinson to kick off his solo by shouting, “Come on, [expletive].”
“SNL” pooh-bah Lorne Michaels was outraged by the vulgarity over the air and vowed that the ‘Mats would never appear on TV again. However, later that night, the Minneapolis quartet delivered its scheduled second “SNL” song, “Kiss Me on the Bus.”
Opined Edwards: “With the Replacements, there was always a fine line between brilliance and a sloppy mess.”
As for Prince, he was booked for just one selection on Feb. 21, 1981, when Todd Rundgren was also a musical guest. Edwards pointed out that “Partyup” was one of the few selections on Prince’s then-current “Dirty Mind” album with lyrics suitable for television.
“He spun, posed, and rocked his falsetto,” Edwards wrote of Prince. “At the end, he knocked down his microphone stand, stalked offstage, and didn’t return to the show for 24 years.”
Rolling Stone evaluated more than 900 “SNL” shows and opted for only one song from each act.
David Bowie grabbed the top spot with his performance of “The Man Who Sold the World” in 1979.
The end of the year is near with New Year’s Eve events, Festival of Trees and Kwanzaa.
