Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years Of SNL Music premiered last night on NBC. It was quite a revealing look into the history of musical performances on the famed sketch show. And one particularly revealing moment has Rage Against The Machine fans buzzing about one of the most controversial performances to ever happen on SNL.
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Rage Against The Machine Caused Quite a Bit of Mayhem on ‘SNL’
For the uninformed, we’ll set the scene. In 1996, Rage Against The Machine was the musical guest on an episode hosted by notable billionaire and then-presidential candidate Steve Forbes. Rage Against The Machine is the antithesis of that particular individual; so naturally, the band took the opportunity to really make things uncomfortable for him.
The band set up upside-down American flags, which were swiftly removed by the SNL crew before they kicked off their set. The band launched into an aggressive, brutal version of “Bulls On Parade”.
They planned on going straight into “Bullet In The Head”, but they never made it to their second song. The band was never invited back to the show again.
RATM Guitarist Tom Morello Claims Secret Service Locked The Band in Their Dressing Room
In the newest SNL documentary, Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello provided a bit more context and insight into the debacle. Allegedly, the Secret Service had locked the band in their dressing room following a “threatening” gesture from the band’s bassist after a rep told them they were cutting their second song.
“Timmy [Commerford] doesn’t like things like that,” said Tom Morello said in the documentary, reflecting on the immediate aftermath of the performance. “And he expresses himself. So, what he did was he took one of the American flags and he tore it up and he knotted it into a ball. You might call it a weapon. And he entered Steve Forbes’ dressing room across the way to attack him. Steve Forbes was not in his dressing room, but his family was.”
Morello claims that Commerford launched the American flag ball at a few of Forbes’ family members, but the flag unraveled in his hands, “hurting no one.”
“The hallway floods with Secret Service,” Morello continued. “We’re now locked in our room. They’re protecting Steve Forbes and his family. We get escorted out and put on the sidewalk at 30 Rock. You might notice Rage is not in the farewells on that particular show. I still went to the after party.”
Morello finished that last bit with a laugh.
In addition to Rage Against The Machine, Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years Of SNL Music also features interviews with musicians like Paul Simon, Jack White, Dave Grohl, and Mick Jagger. It’s quite a wild ride, honestly. If you missed the doc’s debut yesterday, it is now available for streaming on Peacock.
Photo by Niels van Iperen/Getty Images
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