During the âgoodnightsâ of this past weekendâs episode of Saturday Night Live, Machine Gun Kelly fell off the stage.
To be fair, Pete Davidsonâs hug contributed to Machine Gun Kelly falling off the stage. The 30-year old MGK and Davidson bonded while filming The King of Staten Island. Kelly plays the tattoo artist Davidsonâs character hopes will employ him.
This is not Kellyâs first rodeo (and by rodeo I mean âacting jobâ). He was a titular roadie on Cameron Croweâs Roadies. He has played the ex in Beyond The Lights and Starbucks enthusiast Tommy Lee in the Mötley CrĂŒe biopic The Dirt. If you cut out all the music videos on his IMDB, Kelly has a nice little resumĂ©. He might not have any UCB classes under his belt, but I figured heâd be in a sketch or a pre-tape or SOMETHING. I figured wrong!
For most of his career, Machine Gun Kelly was a rapper. He started interpolating emo-rap into his sound a few years ago, but 2020âs Tickets To My Downfall is fully a pop-punk album. Travis Barker produced most of it, and somehow in the year of our Lord 2020, a pop-punk album was a Billboard number one.
(I was hoping Barker would join MGKâs performances, but as he is an adult man with a family, he probably didnât want to travel to New York during a global pandemic. Makes sense to me!) [Editorâs Note: A good reader & friend pointed out that Barker doesnât fly anymore after being in a plane crash in 2008]
With Barkerâs influence, Tickets To My Downfall gets many blink-182 comparisons, but the songs performed on SNL strike me more as Box Car Racer - less exuberant, less clever, but still propulsive. Kelly adds a sneer neither Tom DeLonge nor Mark Hoppus have on blink albums (DeLongeâs whine is more earnest. Maybe Matt Skiba sort of does but letâs not discuss that). Itâs not a new sound, but its return to pop consciousness is weird and nostalgic in an unexpected way.
The performances were fine (nu-metal Ibanez bass notwithstanding), but the big MGK item of the evening was him falling off the stage. He just fell right off! Imagine the pratfalls you could have had if he had been in a sketch.
I jokingly mentioned that MGK was the first pop-punk guest in a while, so I went through the archives to see who else has played Studio 8H. Twenty-One Pilots performed when Lin-Manuel Miranda hosted in October 2016 in an episode that probably cemented the 2016 election results. Then there are names you would expect from this area of music - Sum 41, Fall Out Boy, a very bad early career Panic! At The Disco performance, Jimmy Eat World, AFI shows up somehow, The Black Parade-era My Chemical Romance. Travis Barker performed during blink-182âs full glory in 2000. A veritable Whoâs Who of Alternative Press cover stars.
No Notes
No musical sketches this week!
Megan Fox is dating Machine Gun Kelly, so she posted encouraging words for MGK saying it was the â[b]est performance that show has ever seenâ which rules because when Megan Fox hosted SNL, U2 performed. Fuck you, Bono!
After SOPHIEâs passing, Bowen Yang wore some SOPHIE merch during goodnights (when Machine Gun Kelly fell off the stage). SOPHIE rules.
Next week: Dan Levy! Phoebe Bridgers! Excitement.