Saturday Night Live has played host to some controversial music moments — Sinead O’Connor tearing up a picture of the pope, Elvis Costello’s rogue “Radio Radio” outburst, a legendarily destructive set by Fear — but only one still gets awkward laughs: that of Ashlee Simpson, whose 2004 SNL appearance found her stopping during her song and doing a jig that she described in the closing monologue as an impromptu hoedown after her band played the wrong number.
In a recently unearthed interview with Lorne Michaels from that same year, the SNL head remembered the complete shock — and nothingness — that was on stage that night from Ashlee Simpson. “I was in the control room going, well, I mean there’s just egg out there now. I mean there was nothing to watch.”
Michaels would add that Ashlee Simpson’s immediately infamous SNL appearance left him in a rare position: he had no control. “It’s like the same way you’d feel if you’re a ballplayer and it’s rained out. It really doesn’t have anything to do with you. You don’t control the rain. And I think in this case, it was much more ‘what just happened,’ which is, I think, what everybody else felt.” For the show’s part, Simpson would be invited back the following season, where she performed “Catch Me When I Fall” and “Boyfriend”.
Ashlee Simpson recently reflected on that fateful night on SNL, in which she took the stage for her second song, “Autobiography”, only to hear a vocal track from her already-performed “Pieces of Me” play. With additional confusion from her band, she did her best to get out of the situation. On the incident, Simpson said it taught her humility and how to get back on her feet after an embarrassing situation. Her 2005 appearance fared much better.
Season 50 of Saturday Night Live launches this weekend, with set musical guests that include Jelly Roll, Coldplay, Billie Eilish, Chappell Roan, and Stevie Nicks — now that’s a lady who could make some funky, ad-libbed dance moves look good!
Did you see Ashlee Simpson’s SNL performance live in 2004? What do you make of it 20 years later? Drop your thoughts below.
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