One of the most incendiary performances over 50 years of Saturday Night Live happened on April 13, 1996, when Rage Against the Machine was the special musical guest. Somehow, they’d been booked the same week that Republican presidential candidate Steve Forbes was the host—something that didn’t sit well with the decidedly left-leaning Rage.
They ordered their crew to hang American flags upside down on their amps to make a statement about the country being in distress, but SNL stagehands removed them with about 30 seconds to go before they went live. The band got through “Bulls on Parade” but weren’t allowed back to play their second song, “Bullet in the Head,” which, they were told, was cut for time purposes.
What happened backstage after that was pretty weird. More next time.
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