On the one hand, Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music is a three-hour primetime special airing on NBC and features lots of archival clips in the SNL clip show tradition that’s almost as old as the show itself.
On the other hand, it’s co-directed by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, in what’s his first documentary since the Oscar-winning Summer of Soul (although he has another film, on Sly Stone, at Sundance and on Hulu next month). The film shows the same mastery of archival material that Questlove brought to Summer of Soul, including a great opening that’s already gone viral on social media:
So the film is both: The familiar self-congratulatory SNL self-mythology, with access to cast members and guests from throughout the show’s history, and an unflinching and generally truthful look at what music has meant to SNL over the last half-century.
Music in All Forms
However, music on SNL doesn’t only mean musical performances by musical guests. There are music-based sketches, digital shorts with music, musicians’ appearances as hosts in sketches, and much more. There’s even “More Cowbell,” although that’s omitted here, after the SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night series devoted a whole hour to it.
Even with all that’s omitted, there’s more than enough material for three hours.
Some of the musical performances that I remember best are included, from Paul Simon on the first show after 9/11, to Nirvana’s first appearance in 1991, to Paul McCartney coming back to sing “Hey Jude” in 1993.
Their Greatest Controversies
The documentary also goes into various controversies over the years in some detail and mostly with honesty: The Sinead O’Connor thing, the Ashlee Simpson thing, the Elvis Costello thing, and the Rage Against the Machine thing. (I had not been aware that a member of the band threw a crumpled American flag into Steve Forbes’ dressing room.)
Omitted, for some reason, is the time The Replacements performed drunk on the show. It allegedly got them “banned for life” from the SNL, although Lorne Michaels says in the film that no one has ever actually received such a banishment.
Past SNL musical guests who did questionable or controversial things are, for the most part, defended, with the single exception of Kanye West, whose MAGA rant during the goodnights in 2018 is subject to a lengthy segment, although Bowen Yang gets to speak briefly about the time Morgan Wallen got drunk with college students during COVID and got bumped.
The talking heads are for the most part welcome, and of course, the co-director is still part of Jimmy Fallon’s house band, so there’s plenty of Fallon. (I regret to say, though, that the Jimmy Fallon/Mick Jagger mirror sketch isn’t as funny as you probably remember.)
We’re far from done with the SNL 50th anniversary commemoration, with the big special coming next month, but Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music proves Questlove was the right choice to tell the story of the show’s music.
