It's hard to believe, but Saturday Night Live has been on the air for over 40 years.
In that time, the show has logged a massive number of memorable musical performances,
and a gig on the show can still make or break an artist's career.
As The AV Club put it, "SNL is easily the single most important television show on which
not to bomb."
In the cases of the following acts, a poor showing on ended up putting a real damper
on their futures.
Sinead O'Connor
Irish singer Sinead O'Connor caused a major stir in 1992 when her SNL performance evolved
into a hugely controversial political statement.
At the end of an a cappella rendition of Bob Marley's "War," she ripped up a photo of Pope
John Paul II and then said,
"Fight the real enemy!"
SNL producer Lorne Michaels was left to deal with more than 4,000 angry phone calls to
NBC, and O'Connor was subsequently banned from the show.
Amidst the backlash, she spent the rest of the decade making music, though nothing became
anywhere near as popular as her 1990 hit single "Nothing Compares 2 U."
In 2003, she announced her retirement from music, though that proved to be short-lived.
In 2010, O'Connor explained her beef with the Catholic Church, justifying her performance
as a protest against priestly abuse.
Writing in The Washington Post, she said,
"I knew my action would cause trouble, but I wanted to force a conversation where there
was a need for one; that is part of being an artist."
Ashlee Simpson
We haven't heard too much from Ashlee Simpson lately, but back in 2004 she was still pretty
relevant.
But that all came crashing down on SNL.
As Simpson started her second performance of the evening, the pre-recorded vocals for
her first song, "Pieces of Me," started playing.
Panic-stricken, she did a weird little jig and then slipped off the stage as her band
played on.
At the end of the show, Simpson offered a hasty explanation:
"I feel so bad that my band started playing the wrong song so I thought I'd do a hoedown.
I'm sorry!"
She later revealed that she'd been suffering from severe acid reflux and her father had
insisted that she use a backing track.
Afterwards, Simpson's career took a major dip.
She did appear on SNL a second time the following year, but to little fanfare.
After seeing more diminishing sales, Simpson has not released an album since 2008.
Her personal life has remained busy, though, as she's been married twice and has two children.
Karmin
If you've never heard of Karmin, there's a good chance their widely-criticized 2012 Saturday
Night Live appearance has something to do with that.
The husband-and-wife duo of Amy and Nick Noonan originally found viral fame with a series
of covers on YouTube.
But on SNL, they performed two original compositions, and critics subsequently ripped them apart.
Spin's Marc Hogan said,
"This was hip-hop even Mitt Romney could enjoy, though he seems to have a little bit more
personality."
In the years afterward, Karmin's albums barely charted and their career fizzled, leaving
SNL viewers to wonder if they just imagined the whole thing.
Since then, the band has gone on hiatus to focus on Amy's solo career as her new persona,
Qveen Herby.
Lana Del Rey
Appearing on the January 14th, 2012 SNL, Lana Del Rey's incredibly stiff performances of
her songs "Video Games" and "Blue Jeans" were swiftly and widely panned.
As Rolling Stone put it,
"Her shaky, slightly dead-eyed Saturday Night Live debut was treated like a national emergency,
inspiring weeks of debate."
The reaction on Twitter at the time was brutal, with actress Juliette Lewis saying,
"Wow watching this 'singer' on SNL is like watching a 12 year old in their bedroom when
they're pretending to sing and perform #signofourtimes."
It was so bad that the show addressed the situation the very next episode with Kristen
Wiig as Del Rey:
"I failed to reach the high bar set by past guests like Bubba Sparxx The Baja Men, and
Shaggy."
But this story has a happy ending, as Del Rey ultimately survived what could've been
a career-ending gig.
In fact, her career has been flourishing.
Her album Born to Die was certified platinum, she's been nominated for multiple Grammys,
and she's collaborated with The Weeknd and Stevie Nicks.
For fans and critics alike, that SNL performance is now little more than a distant memory.
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