Top 20 Musical Performances on SNL

The standards were set high for SNL when on its second episode ever, Art Garfunkel joined host Paul Simon in an impromptu performance of "The Boxer." Impressive.

Instead of the same old wave goodnight to the audience, this show was ended by a surprising encore from U2 when they played their classic hit "I WIll Follow."

Everyone's favorite grunge band made its SNL debut with their iconic song "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Their performance was raw and loud and in your face ... everything that was missing from SNL in the 80s. Although the band was being played on MTV, this was really the band's introduction to main stream middle America.

The band played a loud and energetic version of "Bastards Of Young" in their first performance, and for their second performance, after everyone in the band had changed into each others' clothes, they played "Kiss Me On The Bus." If that weren't enough, during both songs the bandmembers were busy mouthing profanities at the camera, stumbling around stage, purposefully dropping their instruments, and generally acting like the bunch of drunken fools that they were rumored to be. But amazingly enough, they hit all their notes and played the songs perfectly.

I'm amazed that this ever happened. Enough said.

O'Connor's trouble with SNL goes further back than the pope photo incident. In 1990 she was supposed to perform, but she backed out because she refused to share a stage with offensive comedian Andrew Dice Clay. She did perform later that year with little controversy, but then when she returned in 1992, after her second song she help up a picture of the pope and shouted, "Fight the real enemy!" while ripping his picture in half.

Who thought it was a good idea to put Rage Against the Machine on the same show as Steve Forbes? Apparently 30 seconds before the band was going to perform, their stage hands hung several upside-down flags, which the SNL staff then raced to take down. While the flags were removed with only a few seconds remaining, the band and their manager were asked to leave the building immediately after the performance. No second set, no wave goodbye at the end of the show.