Inventory: Ten Memorable Saturday Night Live Musical Moments
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7. April 22, 1992—Pearl Jam
Nirvana was, appropriately enough, the first of the Seattle grunge bands to play Saturday Night Live, in January of '92, and their storming versions of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Territorial Pissings"—along with their 1993 performances of "Heart Shaped Box" and "Rape Me"—are among the band's best broadcast footage. But though it may be rock-critic sacrilege to say so, Pearl Jam's two visits to the show in April of '92 and April of '94 are even better, showing how grunge's debt to '70s arena rock could be honorably repaid. It's tough to choose which night was superior, especially since the '94 set came when Pearl Jam was at a creative and commercial peak, but the band's SNL debut gets a slight edge because of its revelatory power, manifested in the inspiring, heart-stopping version of "Alive." This definitely wasn't punk, and it sure wasn't hair-metal. It was accessible, earnest, and refreshingly un-slick.
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