'SNL' just wrapped its 47th season: It's time to cruelly rank its musical guests
Saturday Night Live is designed to be chaotic: Any time you take a host who may or may not possess a sense of humor, pair that person up with a mixed bag of comedy professionals and expect everyone to spend 90 minutes making hay out of whatever happened in the news that week, you're bound to get some winners and losers.
That sense of anything-goes unevenness extends naturally to the show's musical guests. You might get Megan Thee Stallion at the top of her game! You might get Ashlee Simpson dancing a jig! Until everyone waves goodbye over the closing credits, you never fully know whether you're getting transcendence or, well, Ashlee Simpson dancing a jig.
After the guitar-heavy lineup of the 2020-21 season and the male-heavy lineup of ... a lot of seasons, Season 47 mostly steered away from classic-rock legacy acts (depending on how you define Arcade Fire and LCD Soundsystem) and country music (depending on how you define Kacey Musgraves and Brandi Carlile). The majority of the headlining musical guests were women or nonbinary; the mainstream sounds of pop, hip-hop and R&B dominated; there was nary a U2 or a Bruce Springsteen to be found; and none of the musical guests repeated the previous season's headliners, though Young Thug and Rosalía returned after popping up for features during Season 46.
We've linked to every performance that's still officially posted on YouTube, but all 47 seasons of SNL — including the musical numbers — are available for streaming via Peacock in case you feel like cruelly assembling a ranking of your own. So, for the fifth year in a row, let's get to it!
21. Måneskin, "Beggin'" and "I Wanna Be Your Slave" (1/22/22)
Many sounds might compel a listener to risk elbow dislocation by reaching frantically in search of a radio dial to turn: the shriek signifying a test of the Emergency Broadcast System, for example. The 1-877-Kars4Kids jingle. Morning-zoo DJs credulously discussing NFTs. Then there are the opening strains of the Italian glam-rock band Måneskin's cover of The Four Seasons' "Beggin'." Give singer Damiano David credit: If nothing else, he proves that you can can holler like a screaming goat and still preside over music that sounds leaden and dull.
But — and this stage, as he swayed and waggled with smarmy, lip-licking Lizard King swagger. But the cumulative effect was a collective plop, as dull vintage rock riffs collided with a mush of unintelligible lyrics and irritating yelps. At least Will Forte's introduction of Måneskin is bound to show up on someday.
