Ladies and Gentlemen...

SNL and Questlove deliver a truly memorable cold open.

Feb 16, 2025

SNL 50 initially looked like a typical television marketing effort to celebrate a groundbreaking program and its history. Often these retrospectives are an homage to a program that might have outlasted its significance. Not this time.

For those of us who tuned into the documentary about 50 years of music on SNL, we were treated to a “cold open” that mesmerized. It began with the old stylized NBC peacock followed by the most captivating seven-minute mashup ever created for television.

Questlove, drummer for the Roots, produced the show by watching every single episode of SNL over the past 50 years. It reportedly took him a year just to produce the cold open montage. He told Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, “In the beginning, I think I was just going to compile like maybe the 50 best performances on the show, but around ’87, I realized there was way more iconic comedic moments musically on the show, like surpassing just the legendary performances. Music plays a major part on that show.”

And, like the DJ that he is, Questlove created an incredible music mix, not just with audio, but with multi-image video. It begins with quick cuts of various guest hosts and their signature music intro, “Ladies and Gentlemen,…” edited together like a DJ record-scratch to create a syncopated beat. Then, the onslaught begins. One after another musical act gets mashed together in perfect pitch that only an experienced DJ could pull off.

The Brooklyn Vegan music blog put it best: Things really kick in with Billy Preston on the first episode, which then gets spliced into the Funky Four Plus One (the first rap group on SNL, 1981) that is mashed up with Usher performing “Yeah” into Nelly doing “Hot in Herre” and Franz Ferdinand playing “Take Me Out,” mashing up the visuals too with dizzying split screens and smash cuts. Then we get Run DMC‘s performance of “Walk This Way” alongside Hall & Oates doing “I Can’t Go For That,” before Cher crashes in with her 1987 performance of “I Found Someone” that is then mashed up with Hanson‘s “Mmmbop,” which then mixes seamlessly into Queen performing “Under Pressure” in 1982…which is mixed with Dave Matthews Band doing “Ants Marching” and, of course, Vanilla Ice‘s “Ice Ice Baby,” but also Fine Young Cannibals‘ “She Drives Me Crazy” and Michael Bolton‘s “Love is a Wonderful Thing.”

As good a description as that is, it doesn’t come close to experiencing the barrage of music and visuals in real time. I watched the first airing of this special and was immediately knocked out. After 30 seconds of trying to name each act, I realized, OK…stop, just experience it. Only with the second airing did I turn up the volume and truly enjoy the incredible juxtaposition of musical genres in a seamless array. It speaks to the commonality and community that music can be. When you feel and hear REM mashed with Morris Day and the Time, you begin to understand this universal language.

Enough of me trying to describe this impeccably produced, unique tribute. Questlove said it best: "So doing this project was a NO BRAINER because I know this show like the back of my hand. So every second of this doc is a love letter of sorts," he continued. "Here is the cold open. A musical world in which EVERYONE fits in.”

Questlove shared it on his Instagram. Watch it here and TURN IT UP:

questlove

A post shared by @questlove

This is every song heard in the 50 Years of SNL Music cold open, plus the date of the original SNL performance as compiled by NBC Insider:

Billy Preston, "Fancy Lady" (October 11, 1975)
Taylor Swift, "Lover" (October 5, 2019)
Leo Sayer, "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" (January 29, 1977)
Elvis Costello, "Radio, Radio" (December 17, 1977)
Rick James, "Give It To Me Baby" (November 7, 1981)
Bruno Mars, “Uptown Funk” (November 22, 2014)
Sabrina Carpenter, “Feather” (May 18, 2024)
Usher, “Yeah!” (May 1, 2004)
Gwen Stefani, “Hollaback Girl” (March 19, 2005)
Funky Four Plus One, “That's the Joint” (February 14, 1981)
Eminem, “Without Me” (May 11, 2002)
Beyoncé, "Crazy in Love" (May 17, 2003)
Nelly, “Hot in Herre” (November 16, 2002)
Franz Ferdinand, “Take Me Out” (October 22, 2005)
Run-D.M.C., “Walk This Way” (October 18, 1986)
Hall and Oates, “I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do)" (February 27, 1982)
Cher, “I Found Someone” (November 21, 1987)
Hanson, “MMM Bop” (December 13, 1997)
Queen, “Under Pressure” (September 25, 1982)
Dave Matthews Band, “Ants Marching” (April 15, 1995)
Vanilla Ice, “Ice Ice Baby” (January 12, 1991)
Fine Young Cannibals, “She Drives Me Crazy” (May 13, 1989)
Michael Bolton, “Love Is a Wonderful Thing” (April 20, 1991)
Ashford & Simpson, "Don't Cost You Nothing" (February 25, 1978)
Billy Ocean, "Caribbean Queen" (January 19, 1985)
Peter Gabriel, “Steam" (April 10, 1993)
MC Hammer, "2 Legit 2 Quit" (December 7, 1991)
Morris Day and The Time, "Jerk Out" (October 20, 1990)
REM, “Losing My Religion” (April 13, 1991)
John Mellencamp, “Hurt So Good” (April 10, 1982)
Roy Orbison, “Pretty Woman” (December 6, 1988)
INXS, “Suicide Blonde” (February 9, 1991)
Prince “Party Up” (February 21, 1981)
Rick James “Superfreak” (November 7, 1981)
Duran Duran “Girls on Film” (March 19, 1983)
Weezer, “Hash Pipe” (May 19, 2001)
James Brown, "Rapp Payback" (December 13, 1980)
Lenny Kravitz “Are You Gonna Go My Way” (April 17, 1993)
Billie Eilish, “Bad Guy” (September 28, 2019)
U2, "Vertigo" (November 20, 2004)
Florence and the Machine, "Dog Days Are Over" (November 20, 2010)
Olivia Rodrigo, “Drivers License” (May 15, 2021)
Bobby McFerrin, "Drive" (December 10, 1988)
Busta Rhymes, "Tear Da Roof Off" (February 13, 1999)
TLC, “Creep” (May 6, 1995)
*NSYNC, “Bye Bye Bye” (March 11, 2000)
Dido, "Thank You/Stan" (October 7, 2000)
Destiny’s Child, "Survivor" (May 5, 2001)
Nicki Minaj, "Moment 4 Life" (January 29, 2011)
Taylor Swift “All Too Well” (November 13, 2021)
Billy Preston “Nothin from Nothin” (October 11, 1975)
Ed Sheeran, "Shape of You" (February 11, 2017)
Backstreet Boys “As Long As You Love Me” (March 14, 1998)
Salt and Pepa “Shoop” (March 14, 1998)
Simon and Garfunkel, "The Boxer" (October 18, 1975)
Spice Girls, "Wannabe" (April 12, 1997)
Tina Turner, “What’s Love Got to Do with It” (February 2, 1985)