Into The Saturday Night Live Firestorm: How Julee Cruise Doused The Most Controversial Episode Of 1990

On May 12, 1990, the atmosphere at NBC’s Studio 8H was combustible. The host of Saturday Night Live was Andrew Dice Clay, a comedian whose brand of abrasive, misogynistic humor had sparked a firestorm of protest before he even stepped on stage. SNL cast member Nora Dunn famously boycotted the episode in protest, and the original musical guest, Sinead O’Connor, followed suit, refusing to perform on the same bill as the “Diceman” just three days before the live broadcast.

In the midst of this controversy, the replacement act who stepped into the spotlight offered the starkest contrast imaginable: dream-pop chanteuse Julee Cruise. Twin Peaks had premiered just a month earlier on ABC, and “Twin Peaks mania” was definitely a thing. This was a wonderful opportunity to increase the series’ musical impact. With protesters outside Rockefeller Center, security guards even having to remove some of them from the studio during Clay’s opening monologue, Julee Cruise braved the storm. For four minutes, she transported the studio audience and millions of viewers at home into another place… somewhere in the Pacific Northwest.

For most of the audience, this was the first time hearing the lyrics to the famous theme, if they had even heard the song before at all. In front of a slowly cycling traffic light, Julee’s performance was of a fragile, ethereal beauty. The Roadhouse singer was backed by the Saturday Night Live Band with bandleader and co-musical director G.E. Smith prominently featured on guitar. I’m not sure about this, but it looks like Kinny Landrum filled in for the house band’s keyboardist, Leon Pendarvis. A New York-based synthesizer player on the original recording of “Falling,” Landrum has performed the song live alongside Angelo Badalamenti at The Music of David Lynch in 2015, and later at David Lynch’s Festival of Disruption in L.A. Maybe this was his first live performance of the song ever?

Coincidentally, Sinead O’Connor, who had refused to appear in this episode, eventually made her return to SNL just four months later, on September 29, 1990. The host of that episode? None other than Kyle MacLachlan.

In the end, Julee Cruise’s appearance became the highlight of an episode defined by chaos. A replacement act ended up being more memorable and culturally relevant than the host. When Julee was asked for her opinion on Andrew Dice, she responded, “I don’t necessarily find his work amusing; he just doesn’t threaten me in any way.”

Enjoy the show-stopping performance below…