This weekend’s Saturday Night Live was another sign that the show’s writers are still trying to figure out how to navigate the post-Sarah Palin landscape, with a sorta-depressing skit about host Zac Efron’s realization that he will never shake the “teen idol” tag placed around his neck by High School Musical being the nominal highlight; there was also a sketch featuring Bon Jovi “opposite band” Jon Bovi that went on so long, I pictured the show’s director waving frantically behind the camera, making gum-stretching gestures at Jason Sudeikis and Will Forte out of fear that the show would end at 12:45. Oh, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs played, too; the trio performed their new single “Zero” (which I really want to hear the Killers’ take on, to be honest; at the very least, Karen O and Brandon Flowers are kindred spirits in shoulder-plumage) and the old chestnut “Maps,” I guess in the hopes that the Zac-loving tweens who tuned in would remember the song from their brothers’ endless Rock Band sessions. Clips after the jump.
High School Musical 4 [Hulu]
[Pic via BV]
@Lucas Jensen: Is there anything worse than telling friends or family how much you like a band and then having the performance be a disaster? Try being 13 years old and telling your dad you’re amped to see Blind Melon come onstage at Woodstock ‘94, only to be followed by Shannon Hoon’s…umm…performance.
The sound on SNL has two components: the material supplied by the band’s people, and the tech side of getting that to your tv. That is where the problems come in, coordinating the two sides when the two sides have no experience in working together.
And remember people, SNL doesn’t offer live music (at least not usually). SNL gives you a simulacrum of live music. The stakes are so high for the musical acts, they resort to using technology to make sure they sound decent. The non vocal music is almost always pre-recorded, and the vocal content is either pre-recorded or doubled or in many other ways altered. It’s not like the old days when bands would show up to SNL and actually play their music. I mean, if they did do you actually think an experienced sound person at that level would have any trouble at all at getting the sound right? I mean come on, these people aren’t idiots.
I loved the HSM skit! I thought this was one of the better episodes since the all-around brilliant one Tina Fey hosted a while ago. Zac Efron kind of won me over, says the 30 year old who has seen all HSM movies.
I thought the YYYs were great, though I wish they would have played two new songs. The sound was still kind of weird. Did it always sound this bad? I feel like it’s been horrendous this year.
@fabulousrobots: efron was much, much better than the material. let’s leave it at that.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs will always be stuck in 2004 via 1978. Or something like that.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs were amazing.
@thumps: Where does the “playing the hit” trend come from? Do you think bands are deciding on their own to do that, or is SNL pressuring them to do it?
The performance sounded a little weird to me too. Somewhat “echo-y” and dim, but not because of an intentional reverb…
I am really disappointed they played Maps. This started happening a few years ago on SNL. Bands used to play new songs. Now, if you have a band on SNL with at least one mainstream hit, they will end up playing that hit regardless of any new stuff they’ve put out.
Would have loved to see YYY’s get out there and kick ass with something rock and/or roll. Instead we get their most overplayed song from 2004.
When David Bowie was on around 1980 he played “The Man Who Sold The World” which at that time was a mostly forgotten track only known to Bowie fanatics…I am not even sure if the LP of the same name was in print at that time….this was right before the massive “Best Buy” reissue program RCA did in the early eighties…
@thumps: i dont think it’s possible for “maps” to ever be overplayed
I think SNL has ditched the soundman that made most of the musical guests this season sound like crap, because this has been two bands I like in row that didn’t sound bad (I had to defend TV on the Radio for about a weak after that performance).
@fabulousrobots: Or maybe they kept him but gave him a bigger budget where stuff sounds vaguely bad, but not as bad as the TVotR performance (which has to be the worst sounding TV performance of a good song by a good band that i’ve ever seen)
@thumps: It sounded weird to me, too, and dare I say that Karen O wasn’t on her game? I was watching it with my family, and I said that I liked them, and then they all looked at me with accusatory stares.
@DocStrange: See, I still think it sounded pretty strange. Very empty to me, but that just might be the YYYs setup themselves.
Best musical performance in a long time (I thought Phoenix sounded great too - if pre-recorded. They still brought the energy.)