In an era where streaming dominates the way people listen to music, some of the world’s most famous artists have publicly criticized services like Spotify for unfair payouts and exploitative business models.

Spotify, in particular, has faced criticism for partially paying out royalties to artists using a market share metric, based on the number of streams for a musician or band’s songs as a proportion of all songs streamed by subscribers. This model stands in contrast to physical sales or downloads, where an artist earns a set fee for every song or album sold. Others have criticized Spotify and competing streamers for amplifying misinformation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and other hot-button political issues.

Keep scrolling to see which artists have been critical of streaming music services over the years.

Taylor Swift

One of the first and most notable protests against Spotify’s business practices took place in 2014, when Taylor Swift pulled her discography from the service. She later told Rolling Stone that she was “not willing to contribute [her] life’s work to an experiment that [she didn’t] feel fairly compensates the writers, producers, artists and creators of this music.”

Spotify responded by launching a social media campaign to encourage Swift to change her mind. The company’s CEO, Daniel Ek, subsequently wrote an open letter claiming that its “payouts for a top artist like Taylor Swift” would surpass $6 million a year, though Swift’s then-record label, Big Machine, disputed those figures.

The disagreement carried on for three years until Swift allowed her full discography to return to Spotify in June 2017 following the success of her 1989 album. A statement from her representatives at the time explained: “In celebration of 1989 selling over 10 million albums worldwide and the RIAA’s 100 million song certification, Taylor wants to thank her fans by making her entire back catalog available to all streaming services.”

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Swift recently recorded a message for Spotify subscribers after being named the streamer’s top artist for the second year in a row in 2024 with more than 26.6 billion streams.

“I just wanted to say thank you so much for being one of my top listeners on Spotify, that’s so nice of you,” Swift told fans in a video message. “I look back on this year and I think about how special you guys made it for us being on the Eras Tour.”

Jay-Z

Fans of hip-hop icon Jay-Z have endured his music being pulled from Spotify on multiple occasions. Jay has had a tumultuous relationship with all of the major streamers over the years, in part because he co-founded competing service Tidal in 2014.

Beyoncé, Rihanna, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj and Madonna were among the artists who joined Jay-Z at the launch of his streaming brand, where they were described as “the owners of Tidal” with equity in the streaming service.

Jay-Z told The New York Times that he’d founded his own streamer in order to “get everyone to respect music again” and “recognize its value.” Tidal offered higher percentages of music royalties to both artists and songwriters, as well as high-fidelity audio for subscribers.

Following an initial boycott, Jay-Z’s music eventually returned to Spotify in celebration of his 50th birthday in 2019. His company Tidal has faced high-profile criticism from former collaborators West and Minaj in recent years.

Drake

Spotify was unexpectedly dragged into the epic hip-hop feud between Drake and Kendrick Lamar in late 2024.

Drake’s company Frozen Moments accused his and Lamar’s record label, Universal Music Group, of conspiring with Spotify to inflate streaming figures for Lamar’s diss track “Not Like Us.”

His initial legal filing alleged that UMG “launched a campaign to manipulate and saturate the streaming services and airwaves” for “Not Like Us” and offered to license the track to Spotify for a 30 percent discount to boost its placement in streaming recommendations.

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Spotify denied it had “any arrangement” with UMG over inflating “Not Like Us” streams and sought to dismiss the suit by arguing Drake’s allegations were a “subversion of the normal judicial process.” UMG also denied Drake’s claims, calling them “offensive and untrue.”

The legal wrangling between both sides has continued into 2025, when Drake filed a lawsuit against UMG for agreeing to “publish, promote, exploit, and monetize allegations” in Lamar’s track that were “not only false, but dangerous.” UMG has denied those accusations.

Björk

Icelandic musician Björk held nothing back when she described Spotify as “probably the worst thing that has happened to musicians” in a January 2025 interview with Swedish outlet Dagens Nyheter.

The “It’s Oh So Quiet” singer argued that many young and unestablished artists are now essentially required to make their living from touring because streaming royalties are so low.

“I’m lucky because I no longer have to raise money on touring, which younger musicians are often forced to do,” Björk pointed out.

Despite Björk’s criticism of the streamer, her discography is still available on Spotify as of January 2025.

Garth Brooks

For years, the only way country music legend Garth Brooks’ fans were able to listen to his music was through physical media.

Brooks confirmed in 2017 that he’d met with the heads of both Apple Music and Spotify about licensing his catalog digitally but ultimately walked away from making any deals.

“They came in with their own set of rules, and if you’re already established, you have to change to get to them,” the singer told Billboard of Apple Music. “I’m never going to change to fit their rules. Nice guys, we have respect for each other, we’re just never going to work together. So we were kind of dead in the water.”

When Amazon Music became the streaming home for Brooks’ music in 2017, the star said: “It is a joy to work with a company that is all about the customer when it comes to service, and all about the music and its creators when it comes to the music.”

Brooks told attendees of the Country Radio Seminar in 2023 that he chose to sign with Amazon because it is “a retailer as well” and thus would be motivated to “move those physical units so the songwriters get paid.”

Joanna Newsom

Progressive folk artist Joanna Newsom was an early and ardent critic of Spotify in 2015 when she likened the streamer to “a villainous cabal of major labels” in an interview with The Los Angeles Times.

Newsom accused streamers of trying to “circumvent the idea of paying their artists” and dismissed their royalty payouts as “infinitesimal.”

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“It’s set up in a way that they can just rob their artists, and most of their artists have no way to fight it because they’re contractually obligated to stay with the label for X amount of time and you can’t really opt out. It’s a garbage system,” Newsom argued.

Spotify responded in a statement by suggesting the singer had “misunderstandings about how [it] works to support artists” and credited its business model as “the single biggest driver of growth in music” at the time.

The streamer’s argument seemingly didn’t change Newsom’s mind because, as of 2025, her discography is still not available on Spotify. However, her music is now on Apple Music and Deezer.

Prince

For much of the 2000s, Prince rigorously blocked his music from iTunes and even YouTube. The enigmatic rocker told The Daily Mirror in 2010 that he didn’t want to participate in what he deemed a passing fad.

“The internet’s completely over. I don’t see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else. They won’t pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they can’t get it,” he said. “The internet’s like MTV. At one time, MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated. Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good. They just fill your head with numbers and that can’t be good for you.”

Prince later agreed to make Jay-Z’s Tidal the exclusive streaming home for his final two albums only a few months before his death in 2016. The musician’s estate then partnered with both Spotify and Apple Music on a wider release for his extensive back catalog.

Neil Young and Joni Mitchell

Canadian rock legends Neil Young and Joni Mitchell took a stand against Spotify for platforming controversial podcaster Joe Rogan during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022.

Young shared a lengthy statement via his website accusing Spotify of becoming a “very damaging force via its public misinformation and lies about COVID” on The Joe Rogan Experience, where the host and guests were accused of promoting misleading public health information.

“I want you to let Spotify know immediately today that I want all of my music off their platform. They can have Rogan or Young. Not both,” Young vowed.

Mitchell followed suit in removing her content from Spotify, after accusing the streamer of promoting “irresponsible people [who] are spreading lies that are costing people their lives”.”

“I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue,” the singer-songwriter wrote via her website.

Young’s former bandmates in Crosby, Stills, & Nash and E Street Band member Nils Lofgren left Spotify in solidarity with the “Rockin’ in the Free World” musician as well.

Spotify responded with a statement saying it wanted “all the world’s music and audio content to be available” to its subscribers and hoped to “welcome [Young] back soon.”

Young and Mitchell held back their music from Spotify for two years, before both of their catalogs were once again made available on the streamer in 2024.

“Other music services [such as] Apple, Amazon, Qobuz, Tidal … have started serving the same disinformation podcast I had opposed at Spotify,” Young acknowledged in a statement. “Because I cannot leave all those services like I did Spotify, because my music would have no streaming outlet to music lovers at all, I have returned.”

Gwyneth Paltrow surprised fans of the classic 1980s comedy Sixteen Candles by revealing an unexpected milestone for iconic heartthrob Jake Ryan.

Director John Hughes’s 1984 movie celebrated its 40th anniversary in May 2024 and remains one of the most enduring romantic comedies of the era. In the film, high schooler Samantha Baker (Molly Ringwald) harbors a secret crush on popular classmate Jake Ryan (Michael Schoeffling) while fending off the affections of geeky friend Farmer Ted (Anthony Michael Hall).

Paltrow, 52, is seemingly a huge fan of Sixteen Candles, as she recently shared via her Instagram Story that Jake Ryan would be celebrating an important birthday in 2025.

“Jake Ryan turns 65 this year … in case you haven’t felt betrayed enough by 2025,” reads text shared by Paltrow alongside a clip from the film.

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The Academy Award-winning actress is mostly correct as Michael Schoeffling, the actor who played Jake Ryan, will be celebrating his 65th birthday this December.

However, Schoeffling was actually a few years older than his Sixteen Candles character Jake Ryan, who was around 17 or 18 in the movie. This means that Jake would likely be turning 58 this year.

Schoeffling followed up his breakthrough role in Sixteen Candles by playing a bruising high school wrestler in Vision Quest and later as the romantic lead in Cher’s 1990 comedy Mermaids.

He told reporter Bobbie Wygant in a 1985 interview that it was important to separate himself from Jake Ryan after the immense success of Sixteen Candles.

“I suppose I brought something to the character that people liked,” he said. “Vision Quest was a big stretch from Sixteen Candles. I need to make those stretches as an actor and I think I get the parts because I can bring something to the character that, maybe, somebody else couldn’t.”

Schoeffling walked away from Hollywood following the release of 1991’s Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken to open his own woodworking shop in a small town in Pennsylvania.

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He has two children with model and actress Valerie C. Robinson, including a daughter, Scarlett Schoeffling, who has ventured into the entertainment industry as a model and actress. Scarlett costarred with Twilight’s Ashley Greene and Scream star David Arquette in the 2020 sports drama Blackjack: The Jackie Ryan Story.

Schoeffling’s Sixteen Candles costar Ringwald, 56, for her part, has reflected on the complicated legacy of the romcom four decades after its initial release.

Many have criticized the 1984 blockbuster for its use of offensive stereotypes, including its depiction of Chinese exchange student Long Duk Dong as portrayed by Japanese-American actor Gedde Watanabe.

Ringwald addressed those complaints in an interview with Andy Cohen where she argued Sixteen Candles shouldn’t be “erased” because of its outdated depictions.

“I feel like that’s what makes the movies really wonderful, and it’s also something I wanted to go on record talking about — the elements that I find troubling and that I want to change for the future,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean at all that I want them to be erased. I’m proud of those movies, and I have a lot of affection for them. They’re so much a part of me.”

Ringwald was supportive when it was announced in 2022 that Selena Gomez was developing a Sixteen Candles-inspired streaming series for Peacock. Fifteen Candles reinterprets the ‘80s classic for a new generation with the trials and tribulations of modern-day Latina teenagers starting high school and celebrating their quinceaneras.

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“I am so happy about that [reboot],” Ringwald told Deadline at the time. “I really do feel like when people always ask me about rebooting my movies, I am like, ‘No those movies were wonderful.’”

She went on: “But what they should do is take inspiration from them and do something completely different but inspired, so that just sounds fantastic.”

Sixteen Candles is currently streaming on Netflix.

Former MTV VJ and 120 Minutes host Matt Pinfield has reportedly been hospitalized following a massive stroke.

Pinfield’s daughter Jessica Pinfield has filed for a temporary conservatorship over her father’s finances and medical care after he suffered a health emergency on January 6, according to TMZ.

Pinfield’s daughter told the outlet that she filed the conservatorship petition over concerns for her father’s finances while he is “incompetent to make decisions.” Us Weekly has reached out for more information on Pinfield’s condition.

Pinfield, 63, has most recently worked in rock radio in Los Angeles, including a Sunday night slot for KLOS and an afternoon drivetime shift for KCSN.

“Everyone at KLOS & Meruelo Media, along with Matt’s family (daughters Jessica and Maya, brother Glen, sister Colleen, mother Nancy), his girlfriend Kara, and the entire rock and roll universe support Matt in taking some time off to rest and heal,” KLOS said in a statement. “Matt is a family member, and we look forward to having him back on the KLOS airwaves as soon as possible. We know his fans across the country and all the artists feel the same way.”

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A statement from KCSN confirmed that Pinfield was on “a temporary leave of absence” with no timeline established for his return.

“We are fully supportive of Matt and hope to have his energetic knowledge of rock n’ roll back on the air soon,” the radio station’s statement read.

Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan was among those sending support to the ex-VJ via social media, writing on X: “Thinking of Matt Pinfield and his family during this difficult time and sending them love and support. We love you Matt.”

Hard rock legends Living Colour sent “love and healing vibes” in their own X post while alternative rocker Pete Yorn wished Pinfield a “speedy recovery”.

Pinfield was previously hospitalized in 2018 for a broken leg and multiple lacerations when he was struck by a car while crossing the street in Los Angeles. He later said that his life was “completely turned upside down” after his leg was “snapped in half” in the hit-and-run collision.

“It happened too quickly. I didn’t even know my head went through the windshield,” he recalled in an interview with Sweet James Accident Attorneys. “I was laying there on the ground. I didn’t know if I was going to live or die, to be honest with you.”

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Pinfield got his start as a radio DJ in New Jersey, before becoming the host of MTV’s groundbreaking alternative music show 120 Minutes from 1995 to 1999. He later hosted a revamped version of the format on MTV2 from 2011 to 2013.

120 Minutes was pivotal in the rise of alternative music in the 1980s and ‘90s, as it provided an early platform for artists as varied as Björk, Nirvana and Rage Against the Machine before they achieved mainstream success.

Pinfield worked extensively for MTV through the 1990s as host of MTV Live and Pinfield Presents as well featuring on Total Request Live’s trivia segment Stump Matt.

Columbia Records hired Pinfield as its vice president of Artists and Repertoire in 2001, where he helped develop the early careers of Coheed and Cambria, Cold and Crossfade.

Pinfield left the record business in 2006 to return to TV as host of VH1’s VSpot Top 20 Countdown and he later created Matt Pinfield Plays Whatever He Wants for Sirius XM Radio. He also played himself on several episodes of Nickelodeon sitcom The Naked Brothers Band.

Punk rock legend Patti Smith has updated fans on her health following reports that she collapsed on stage in Brazil.

“This is letting everyone know that I am fine,” she wrote via Instagram on Thursday, January 30. “A grossly exaggerated account is being spread by the press and social media.”

Smith, 78, was beginning a headlining set with experimental music group Soundwalk Collective at the Teatro Cultura Artística in São Paulo, Brazil on Wednesday, January 29, when she collapsed on stage, according to TMZ.

The singer was reportedly reading a spoken-word statement about climate change when she experienced a health emergency and was soon ushered off stage.

According to local reports, Smith eventually returned to the stage in a wheelchair to tell fans she felt “very badly” and would not be cleared by her doctor to perform a full show. Instead, Smith sang two acapella tracks before ending the event early.

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Smith later explained on Instagram that “post migraine dizziness” led to “a small incident” that had been blown out of proportion in the media.

“I was checked out by an excellent Doctor and was absolutely fine,” she wrote. “Please do not accept any other story. With all the strife in the world, this explainable incident does not merit so much attention. Thank you everyone for your concern. Trust me I am fine.”

Patti Smith, 78, depois de um tombo pra trás e ficar desacordada. Volta ao palco do Cultura Artística e encanta a todos pic.twitter.com/H4QAAajvM9

— Raul Juste Lores (@rauljustelores) January 30, 2025

Her collaborators Soundwalk Collective posted a statement signed by Smith via their Instagram Story to confirm that she would be back on stage for a second scheduled performance at the Cultura Artística Theater on Thursday.

“Patti has suffered from an intense migraine the past couple days and had some dizziness on stage but she still wanted to be there for all of us and you and perform today,” the statement read. “She is now being cared for by the best doctors in the most loving way and will be back on stage [on Thursday].”

Soundwalk Collective thanked those in attendance for their “beautiful energy and [their] supportive presence” in light of events.

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“Patti says she is tremendously grateful for your patience and forgiveness and she sends her love to all who attended,” the group added.

The rock legend is set to be honored at the Music Of Patti Smith concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City on March 26 to benefit music education for underserved youth.

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The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee will then appear at a free Poet’s Voice event at the Greenwich Library in Connecticut on April 12 where she will reflect on her work as a poet, singer, songwriter and fine artist over the past 50 years.

The four-time Grammy nominee’s groundbreaking 1975 album Horses was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2021. She was previously given the prestigious Polar Music Prize in 2011 for her contributions to both poetry and rock music.

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Last year, Smith thanked Taylor Swift for referencing her alongside acclaimed poet Dylan Thomas in The Tortured Poets Department’s title track.

“This is saying I was moved to be mentioned in the company of the great Welsh poet Dylan Thomas,” she wrote on Instagram. “Thank you, Taylor.”

Whoopi Goldberg interrupted The View on Wednesday, January 29, to share a very special moment with guest Harvey Guillén.

Goldberg, 69, got up from her chair during the panel’s interview with Guillén, 34, to share a hug while discussing male loneliness and self-belief.

The View’s moderator was clearly thrilled to have the What We Do in the Shadows alum joining the table as she revealed she’s a superfan of his work.

“I jumped him when I met him the first time,” Goldberg remembered. “I loved his show, which is called What We Do in the Shadows.”

Goldberg praised Guillén for doing “so much work” advocating greater representation for the LGBTQIA+ community in the entertainment industry.

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The panel discussion later turned towards Guillén’s latest project Companion, a science fiction thriller that examines themes of consent and human interaction.

Guillén and The White Lotus star Lukas Gage play guests at a remote cabin who discover that their friend Josh’s (The Boys’ Jack Quaid) girlfriend, Iris (Sophie Thatcher), is actually a ‘companion robot.’ Nerves fray on this couples’ trip as Iris has her revenge.

“When I read this script, there was shock value to the way some of these characters talked to their partners,” Guillén recalled. “I never realized how sometimes you see people paired off and you think, ‘You talk to your wife like that? You talk to your husband like that?’ Whether it be the future, which may or may not involve love robots or love partners, or whatnot, how you talk to a human being is very telling of yourself.”

Guillén credited Companion with helping him contextualize the importance of self-love and genuine reflection for men.

“Sometimes people say, well, there’s this epidemic of male loneliness, which is a thing, but also, sometimes the male has to stop and realize, ‘Maybe I need to fix myself.’ How are you going to love someone else if you can’t love yourself?” Guillén argued.

Goldberg pointed out to her View cohosts that she’d made the same point in the past, before stopping the show momentarily to give Guillén a hug.

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“I love you! Oh, my god,” Goldberg declared during the impromptu hug.

The View hosts later shifted the discussion towards Guillén’s love life, asking whether he was currently dating anyone.

“No, “ he replied with a chuckle. “I actually was dating someone while I was filming the movie, and Lukas Gage, who plays my partner in the movie, we were both in relationships.”

Guillén continued: “We were talking about our relationships together and we were so in love that we brought that [feeling] to the characters. Now, we’re both single! I was like, ‘You think it was because we saw the red flags when we were filming this?’ And, I think it is!”

Guillén explained to The View’s cohosts that he ended his most recent relationship because his partner “mimicked love” but wasn’t able to actually commit fully.

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“I look back and [think], ‘Wow! I’m not the same person I was when I filmed that movie. And I’m not going to be the person tomorrow that I am today,’” Guillén acknowledged. “So, we all move on!”

Earlier this month, Guillén joined his Companion costars including Gage, Quaid, Thatcher and Rupert Friend for the project’s red carpet premiere at the Hollywood Legion Theater. The gala was the first Hollywood premiere to take place since wildfires devastated the Los Angeles area throughout January.

Guillén is next set to star opposite Eva Longoria and Flamin’ Hot actor Jesse Garcia in the family comedy Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Road Trip, which will be released on Disney+ March 28.

The View airs Mondays through Fridays on ABC, while streaming spinoff The Weekend View airs on ABC News Now Saturdays at 7:30 a.m. ET and Sundays at 9:30 a.m. ET. Guillén’s new movie Companion opens in theaters Friday, January 31.

Beatles legend Ringo Starr has confirmed that one long-standing rumor about his life is actually true.

Starr, 84, dropped by Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Tuesday, January 28, to promote his new country and western album, Look Up, with host Jimmy Kimmel asking him to set the record straight since he’s been “famous for a very, very long time.”

With multiple Beatles biopics on the horizon, Starr was quizzed about whether the first time he ever “smoked weed” was with Bob Dylan (true!) and why he’s never eaten a slice of pizza.

“I’ve never had a pizza. There goes the people in the back going, ‘What?’” Starr joked.

The Jimmy Kimmel Live! audience gasped when Starr admitted that he’d never had curry either, though he had a good reason for his dietary restrictions.

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“I’m allergic to several items,” Starr noted. “With pizza, you don’t know what they’re putting in it half the time. Or the curry. So, I’m pretty strict with myself because it makes me ill immediately.”

Starr was afflicted by a number of life-threatening illnesses during his childhood, when a bout of appendicitis led to him briefly falling into a coma after developing inflammation of his abdomen. He would later be confined to a hospital for two years due to contracting tuberculosis in 1953.

Starr told Kimmel that it’s true he learned to knit while hospitalized as a teenager, in addition to mastering a skill that would reshape his entire life.

“This lady came in [to the hospital] with maracas, tambourines … and a little drum,” he recalled. “She gave me a drum … and from that [point], I only ever wanted to be a drummer.”

Kimmel chatted with Starr – born Richard Starkey – about how he initially developed his stage name because of his penchant for wearing rings during his time in a Liverpool street gang.

“[The gang members] would say, ‘Hey Rings! What’s happening?’ That was the start of the changing of my name,” he clarified.

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He would ultimately shorten his last name from ‘Starkey’ to ‘Starr’ just before he got his big break with the Beatles.

“I was in a band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, and we got a three-month job and we all changed our names,” Starr explained to Kimmel. “I thought… ‘Ringo Starkey’ doesn’t really work. ‘Ringo Starr’ – fabulous!”

One tongue-in-cheek rumor that Starr wasn’t willing to corroborate is whether he “owned and operated” a yellow submarine, aside from the rocker quipping: “I can’t talk about that!”

Starr released his first album in five years, Look Up, earlier in January. The country and western record is co-produced by 12-time Grammy Award winner T Bone Burnett and features contributions from Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh and bluegrass singer Alison Krauss.

The former Beatle also filmed a tribute concert at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville to air on CBS and Paramount+ as a benefit for the American Red Cross and those impacted by the California wildfires. Ringo & Friends at the Ryman will feature some of Starr’s most memorable hits performed alongside Sheryl Crow, Jack White and The War and Treaty, among others.

“It is always a thrill to play the Ryman and this time we are going country,” Ringo said of his CBS show. “T Bone has put together a great show. I’m excited to hear my songs done in a country vein and to play with this incredible group of musicians. It will be two nights of peace, love and country music.”

Ringo & Friends at the Ryman will air this spring on CBS and is set to stream on Paramount+.

Saturday Night Live has had its share of scandalous music performances over the past 50 years, but one punk band’s 1981 appearance remains unforgettable.

Los Angeles hardcore band Fear’s raucous musical performance has reached nearly mythic proportions among SNL fans over the past three decades, but NBC and Peacock’s new documentary Ladies & Gentlemen … 50 Years of SNL Music seeks to separate fact from fiction about a supposed riot in the studio.

In co-directors Questlove and Oz Rodriguez’s doc, which premiered on Monday, January 27, Fear singer Lee Ving and SNL staff recounted how legendary cast member John Belushi engineered one of the show’s most controversial moments of the 1980s.

Belushi had left SNL in 1979, but executive producer Dick Ebersol wanted the comedian to cameo in order to establish a link between the original cast and his revamped era. Belushi agreed to make a silent appearance opposite then-cast member Eddie Murphy, but only if Ebersol would book his favorite punk band in return.

“John Belushi found out about us. He liked our music. He became a fan of ours,” Lee Ving, 74, explained in the documentary. “Good lord, here we are, this riff-raff, rag-tag bunch… we don’t have [a record] distribution [deal].”

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Murphy, 63, recalled how the SNL cast and crew were utterly baffled by Ebersol allowing hardcore punk rock on air simply to secure a Belushi cameo.

“We thought it was crazy s— that John Belushi was making them put Fear on TV,” Murphy declared.

Taking place on Halloween night, this infamous 1981 episode was filled with extremely dark imagery and taboo humor – certainly fitting for its host, Halloween star Donald Pleasence. Viewers watched blood gushing from a Jack O’ Lantern in one scene, while cast member Christine Ebersole crooned about a murderous housewife in another sketch.

Not even the spooky sketches could have prepared viewers for the night’s loud and violent musical set from Fear. The band brought along their own slam-dancers for the front of the stage filled with future punk icons like Ian MacKaye, of Minor Threat, from Washington D.C. and ripped through a set of four songs in quick succession.

“John felt that in order to allow [Fear] to look the way that it looks genuinely, there had to be this contingent [of slam-dancers],” Ving explained.

As Fear performed songs with snarky titles like “New York’s Alright If You Like Saxophones” and “Let’s Have a War,” shocked viewers across the country witnessed slam-dancing for the first time.

“Mr. and Mrs. Normal America, who usually go see Saturday Night Live, they’re sort of looking askance at the punk rockers, wondering what the hell this is,” Lee Ving remembered, before recalling: “Mr. and Mrs. Tourist America are back in [the audience] looking at [us] like, ‘My God! What is this? Jesus, we’re gonna die!”

NBC eventually cut away from Fear mid-performance to regain control of the studio. Producer Dick Ebersol later admitted in 50 Years of SNL Music that he hadn’t “really figured out what slam-dancing was” before he allowed the punks into Studio 8H.

There have been widespread rumors about a riot as well as damage to the SNL studio in the ensuing decades, but nothing of the sort actually occurred.

“There wasn’t a riot,” Hal Willner, former SNL musical coordinator, explains in the documentary. “They didn’t destroy equipment. That was a good story, but [Fear] were totally nice people and acted totally professionally.”

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While the mythology around Fear’s SNL appearance may have been exaggerated over time, rock legend Jack White still regards the chaotic segment as a watershed for the show.

“That was a chance for this really kind of hardcore punk to be on nationwide television in a way that most people hadn’t seen before,” Jack White said in the doc. “It was kind of a dangerous move.”

Ladies & Gentlemen … 50 Years of SNL Music is available to stream now on Peacock.