Over the past day pearl-clutching controversy has hit a groundswell in response to Phoebe Bridgers excellent Saturday Night Live appearance.
The controversy was sparked by Bridgers closing her climactic apocalypse anthem ‘I Know The End’ by attempting to smash her Danelectro Dano ’56 baritone guitar on stage.
For some reason, this action ignited anger in those that watched Phoebe’s performance — despite smashing guitars and rock and roll being intrinsically linked since Peter Townsend first smashed his Rickenbacker way back in 1964.
One histrionic Twitter user took to Twitter to express his (yeah, you guessed it, his) disapproval of Phoebe’s theatrics. “Why did this woman, Phoebe Bridgers, destroy her guitar on SNL?” he wrote. “I mean, I didn’t care much for the song either, but that seemed extra.”
Fans and fellow musicians were quick to come to Bridgers’ defence, including Jason Isbell, who emphasised that the guitar was an affordable model that only goes for around USD $85. Whilst Phoebe confirmed that she warned Danelectro in advance that she’d be smashing the axe (“I told Danelectro I was going to do it,” the singer replied to Isbell. “And they wished me luck and told me they’re hard to break.”)
Now, David Crosby of Crosby, Stills & Nash fame has weighed in on the performance. In a tweet earlier today, Crosby was asked “What did you think of Phoebe Bridgers’ attempt to smash a guitar last night on SNL?”
To which he merely responded with a quote tweet, “pathetic.”
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Naturally, Phoebe Bridgers wasn’t going to let an old head rock dog dampen her achievement, so in all her infinite glory, she clapped back with a KO: “little bitch.”
little bitch.
— traitor joe (@phoebe_bridgers) February 9, 2021
The backlash that Phoebe Bridgers’ performance is exhausting. Every time I hold out hope that we’re finally over the discourse surrounding the hypocritical way women and men are treated in rock are treated something like this happens. Phoebe Bridgers fucking rules and her performance was perfect and everything it needed to be.
Check out Phoebe Bridgers perform ‘I Know The End’ on SNL:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LE5tafaayc
