Turnstile Brings Hardcore Back to ‘SNL’ After 45 Years

Turnstile made its Saturday Night Live debut on October 3, ending a 45-year gap between headline performances by hardcore bands on the long-running NBC show.

The Baltimore group opened with “BIRDS,” beginning with a drum solo from Daniel Fang, then returned later in the episode for a medley of “I CARE” and “DULL.” The second performance unfolded in front of a wall of telephones, with lighting built around a single blinking red phone during the transition.

A landmark booking with a long memory

The historical comparison reaches back to Fear’s chaotic 1981 appearance, a performance closely associated with SNL’s uneasy relationship with hardcore. Turnstile acknowledged that history in promotional material for the episode, joking before the broadcast about keeping the studio intact.

The new performance was energetic without recreating the disorder of that earlier moment. Singer Brendan Yates delivered the band’s physical stage presence, while the production gave the music a carefully designed television frame. The result presented hardcore as part of the show rather than as an interruption to it.

Host Dakota Johnson led the episode, which also included a surprise appearance by Taylor Swift during the opening monologue. Turnstile, however, held the musical-guest slot and used both performances to focus on material from its fourth album, Never Enough.

‘Never Enough’ continues its crossover run

Released in 2025, the album expanded the group’s audience beyond its hardcore foundation. “BIRDS” won a Grammy for best metal performance, while the album took best rock album. Turnstile also became the first act nominated across the rock, alternative and metal fields in a single Grammy ceremony.

The booking arrived one night after the band played Austin City Limits and just before its tour resumed in Oklahoma City. That schedule underscored how quickly Turnstile moved between festival scale, late-night television and its own live dates.

For SNL, the performance reopened a door that had been symbolically closed for decades. For Turnstile, it offered another sign that a band rooted in Baltimore hardcore can move into mainstream spaces without sanding away the sound and movement that made it distinctive.