Over the five decades that Saturday Night Live has been on the air, almost every major pop and rock act has appeared on the show. So in honor of the show’s milestone 50th season, Rolling Stone has ranked its 50 greatest musical performances.
The highest a pop star ranks on the list is #13: It’s Taylor Swift‘s 2021 performance of the 10-minute version of “All Too Well,” which ended with snowflakes falling from the ceiling. Then comes Miley Cyrus‘ campfire performance of Pink Floyd‘s “Wish You Were Here” at #23 — it was part of the show’s 2020 Saturday Night Live at Home episode, broadcast during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The next big pop act to appear on the list is Billie Eilish at #27: Her 2019 performance of “bad guy” found her singing on a rotating set that made it look like she was dancing on the walls and the ceiling. Beyoncé is in at #33 with her 2008 performance of “Single Ladies,” during which she was joined by two dancers, one of which was a pre-GleeHeather Morris.
Olivia Rodrigo‘s 2021 performance of “drivers license” is in at #36; and the most recent performance on the list is Chappell Roan‘s from Nov. 2. She’s in at #49 for the debut of her new song “The Giver.“
Topping the list is David Bowie‘s 1979 performance of “The Man Who Sold the World,” during which he was carried to the mic by performance artists Klaus Nomi and Joey Arias, because he was encased in a plastic tuxedo that restricted his movements.
New documentary The Session Man about the late rock keyboardist Nicky Hopkins is out now on Prime Video, giving fans insight into the famed musician who played on records by The Beatles, The Who, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones and more.
The film features interviews with Keith Richards and Mick Jagger, as well as The Kinks’ Dave Davies, The Who’s Pete Townshend and Peter Frampton, who met Hopkins when he was hired to play guitar on HarryNilsson‘s album Son of Schmilsson.
“Nicky and I hit it off straight away,” Frampton tells ABC Audio. “I mean, he was a gentle soul, a gentle man, and very much so. And that shows in his emotional playing.”
Newly minted rock & Roll Hall of Famer Frampton thinks Hopkins deserves to be in the Rock Hall as well, especially when you consider his body of work. He played on The Beatles’ “Revolution,” as well as the Stones’ Exile on Main St. and Let It Bleed; The Who’s Who’s Next;The Kinks’ Face to Face;and John Lennon‘s Imagine. He played on250 albums in all.
“[Do] you know the list of people he played with?” says Frampton. “It’s incredible who he didn’t play with!”
When it comes to the many classics Hopkins played on, Frampton says you can really get the feel for who he was as an artist by listening to his work on Joe Cocker’s top five hit, “You Are So Beautiful.”
“I mean, it’s just Joe and him playing piano,” Frampton says. “And it’s an incredible piece of piano playing. So he was definitely a genius. Didn’t realize it.”
He adds, “You know, I’m sure he knew he was good. But that was the beautiful thing about him. He was always so modest and that’s why I was a friend of his.”
After a slow start, Tyler Perry‘s Netflix drama Beauty in Black has climbed to #1 on the streaming service’s TV chart.
The series debuted in fourth place when it premiered on Oct. 28, but rose to first place for the week of Oct. 28-Nov. 3, hitting 8.7 million views in its first full week of streaming, according to Netflix.
Beauty in Black, starring Taylor Polidore, follows two women — one fighting for survival after being forced out by her mother, the other running a prosperous company.
Elsewhere on the Netflix TV chart, Territory fell to second place, The Diplomat came in third, This Is the Zodiac Speaking took fourth place and The Lincoln Lawyer rounded out the top five.
(WASHINGTON) — Vice President Kamala Harris will not be speaking as election night went into Wednesday morning, according to Harris Campaign co-chair Cedric Richmond who took the stage at a Harris watch party at Howard University.
Photos show partygoers thinning out and Harris supporters crying as results continued to come in.
The mood at Howard University had dampened over the last couple of hours. The night started out with music pumping and crowds dancing.
Later on in the evening, muted crowds watched as the results came in, with many glued to the screen.
The crowd cheered anytime races are called for Harris and booed whenever states were called for Trump.
Former President Donald Trump was reported to be riding over to the convention center with his family and his top campaign leadership team.
(WASHINGTON) — The gender gap is considered a crucial factor in the presidential election between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
Both candidates tried to turn the gap to their advantage, with Harris making reproductive freedom a centerpiece of her campaign while Trump focused heavily on motivating men to turn out to the polls.
Men and women have long voted differently in presidential races, with the gender gap averaging 19 points in exit polls since 1996. But several pollsters told ABC News they were bracing for a “gender chasm” this year given the contrast of a man and a woman at the top of the ticket as well as the prominence of abortion rights as an issue after the fall of Roe v. Wade.
Preliminary results from exit poll data, which may change as polls are updated throughout election night, provide some insight on vote preferences among men and women.
Nationally, Harris has a 10-point advantage with women — 54% to Trump’s 44% — but her support is off a slim 3 points from President Joe Biden’s support with the group in 2020.
Trump, meanwhile, is leading by an identical 10-point margin among men.
There is also a huge gender gap between young men (who are roughly split between Harris and Trump 49%-47%) and young women who back Harris by 26 points.
ABC News has not projected a winner in these races.
Georgia
In Georgia, preliminary results show Harris with a 7-point advantage with women over Trump: 53% support to Trump’s 46%.
Compared to 2020 exit polls, Harris is running slightly behind Biden with women. Women went for Biden by 9 percentage points. Biden ultimately flipped the state blue for the first time in decades, eking out a narrow victory over Trump there by less than 12,000 votes.
Trump has a 12-point advantage with men in Georgia, preliminary results show: 55% to Harris’ 43%. That is the same gap he had there in the 2020 election against Biden.
Among younger voters, those ages 18 to 29, women are swinging for Harris by 29 points. Trump, meanwhile, only has a 2-point advantage among men in the same age group.
North Carolina
In North Carolina, preliminary results show women going for Harris by 13 points while men go for Trump by 15 points.
That is a much wider gender gap than the state saw in 2020, according to exit polls. Biden won women by 7 points there while Trump won men by 9 points.
Among younger voters, Harris has a 33-point lead with women while Trump has a 23-point lead with men.
Pennsylvania
In Pennsylvania — a battleground that is considered to be a possible tipping point state — Harris has a 12-point lead among women: 55% compared to Trump’s 43%.
Trump’s lead with men is slightly higher: he has a 14-point among men: 56% compared to Harris’ 42%.
Again, preliminary exit poll results show a wider gender gap between Harris and Trump than between Biden and Trump. In 2020, women went for Biden by 11 points and men for Trump by 11 points.
Women ages 18 to 29 are swinging for Harris by a 40-point margin, while Trump is leading with men in that age range by 24 points.
Arizona
In Arizona, women are going for Harris by 3 points: 51% to Trump’s 48%.
Trump, meanwhile, boasts a bigger lead among men: 52% support from the group compared to Harris’ 45%.
That’s also a wider gender gap than in 2020, when Biden won women by 3 points and Trump men by 2 points.
Michigan
Harris boasts a 8-point advantage with women in the battleground state, according to preliminary results: 53% compared to Trump’s 45%.
Trump has a 11-point lead among men: 54% compared to Harris’ 43%.
Among younger voters ages 18 to 29, Harris has a 16-point lead with women while Trump has a 20-point lead with men, according to preliminary results.
Wisconsin
Harris is winning with women in Wisconsin by 11 points: 55% compared to Trump’s 44%. She is running slightly behind Biden’s 13-point advantage with women in 2020.
Trump has a 9-point lead with men: 54% compared to Harris’ 45%. Trump in 2020 won men by 10 points in the state.
Among younger voters ages 18 to 29, Harris has a 18-point lead with women while Trump has a 5-point lead with men, according to preliminary results.
Nevada
In Nevada, Harris is winning women 53% to Trump’s 43% — a 10-point gap.
Trump is winning men by a slightly larger margin, according to preliminary results: 55% to 41%.
(WASHINGTON) — The election will not only decide who will occupy the White House for the next four years, but also which party controls both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.
All 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 34 seats in the Senate are up for grabs.
Republicans currently control the House while Democrats retain a narrow majority in the Senate.
See how the balance of power is playing out as election results come in:
Significant shifts and what to watch in the Senate race
Jim Justice is projected to win the Senate seat in West Virginia, which flips the state from Democrat to Republican. Incumbent Joe Manchin decided not to run for reelection, putting Justice against Democrat Glenn Elliot and Libertarian Party candidate David Moran.
ABC News also projects that former President Donald Trump will win in West Virginia. As Dan Hopkins, a professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote for ABC News’ live election coverage, “In most years, a Senate where every state votes for the same party for Senate and president is a Senate where the Democrats fall short of a majority.”
Another Democratic seat was lost in Ohio, where Republican nominee Bernie Moreno is projected to take the Senate position previously held — for three terms — by Sherrod Brown, the Democratic incumbent. The presumed victory makes a large Republican majority in the Senate seem all the more likely.
In Maryland, Democratic Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks is projected to win against former Gov. Larry Hogan, a moderate Republican. She is expected to replace Sen. Ben Cardin, also a Democrat, who did not run for reelection, putting the state’s Democratic Senate seat at risk in a year where the party had none to lose if they hoped to retain their narrow majority.
Alsobrooks currently serves as the first woman elected to a county executive position in Maryland, and she now seems positioned to become the state’s first Black senator. She would also be making history, as Alsobrooks and Lisa Blunt Rochester are projected to be the first two Black women to serve on the Senate at the same time.
Rolling Stone has put together a ranking of what it calls the 50 best musical performances on Saturday Night Live.
Among those that made the cut are Radiohead playing “The National Anthem” in 2000 at #5, Rage Against the Machine playing “Bulls on Parade” in 1996 at #8, Jack White playing “Ball and Biscuit” in 2020 at #9, Pearl Jam playing “Alive” in 1992 at #14 and Nirvana playing “Rape Me” in 1993 at #22.
For #1, Rolling Stone picked David Bowie‘s performance of “The Man Who Sold the World” in 1979.
Also on the list are The Replacements, R.E.M., Phoebe Bridgers, The Pogues, U2, Billie Eilish, Hole, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Strokes and The Smashing Pumpkins.
SZA is one of the many celebrities urging people to go to the polls on Election Day. “Make sure [you] vote today or [you] can’t complain,” she wrote on her Instagram Story, noting she voted two weeks ago.
Ty Dolla $ign, Blxst and Doechii all appear on Ab-Soul‘s upcoming album, Soul Burger. The newly unveiled track list also shows features from Vince Staples, JID, Lupe Fiasco and more. Soul Burger arrives Friday.
Cardi B and Offset were upset after social media users created images of daughter Kulture having sex with Offset. “Y’all take things too f****** far,” Cardi said on Twitter Spaces. “That s*** be pissing me the f***off.” She believes the photos came after she highlighted son Wave‘s ability to spell his name on his own. Offset also reacted to the images, writing, “You ppl are disgusting on here with my kids. Inappropriate post wtf do you get from doing that God gone get you!!!”
(NEW YORK) — Americans are going to the polls Tuesday to cast their ballots in the historic election between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
Surveys ahead of Election Day found the two candidates in a virtual dead heat nationally and in several key swing states.
Broad economic discontent, sharp divisions about the nation’s future and polarized views of the major-party candidates mark voter attitudes nationally in ABC News’ preliminary exit poll results.
The state of democracy prevailed narrowly as the most important issue to voters out of five tested in the exit poll.
The country and democracy
Voters broadly express more negative than positive views about the country’s direction: Just 26% are enthusiastic or satisfied with the way things are going, versus 72% dissatisfied or angry.
More voters see American democracy as threatened than say it’s secure, 73% to 25%. Still, about six in 10 in these preliminary exit poll results say the country’s best days are ahead of it, versus about a third who say the country’s best days are in the past.
Extremism and candidate favorability
Fifty-five percent call Trump’s views “too extreme,” and he’s underwater in personal favorability, 44%-55%. Fewer call Harris’ views too extreme (46%), though she’s also underwater in personal favorability, albeit slightly, 48%-50%.
Favorability isn’t determinative: Just 40% saw Trump favorably in 2016, when he won the Electoral College (albeit not the popular vote). One reason is that almost as few, 43%, had a favorable view of his opponent that year, Hillary Clinton. (In 2020, Trump’s favorability rating was 46%; Joe Biden’s was 52%.)
Underscoring the emotion associated with the contest, preliminarily 36% of voters say they’d be “scared” if Trump were elected, while 29% would be scared by a Harris win.
The economy and Biden
The economy remains a key irritant. Voters say it’s in bad shape by 67%-32%. And 45% say their own financial situation is worse now than four years ago, versus 30% the same, with just 24% doing better. The “worse off” number exceeds its 2008 level, then 42%, and far outpaces its shares in 2020 (20%) and 2016 (28%).
Biden takes the heat, with just a 41% job approval rating (58% disapprove). It’s been a challenge for Harris to persuade voters she’s taking a new direction from Biden’s. (Biden’s approval rating is the lowest for an incumbent president in exit polls since George W. Bush’s 27% as he left office in 2008. Trump managed 50% job approval in 2020, yet Biden beat him anyway).
