I don’t know what they do down there, but Saturday Night Live has seriously got the worst sound ever in their live music segments. And thanks to folks like Ashley Simpson and Kanye West, their audio weakness has been in the news fairly recently. The things they lack as a music forum, though, are actually why I look to them as a litmus test for musicians. If you can sound good on SNL, you’ll sound good anywhere.

I remember seeing Pearl Jam on SNL in the early 1990s. They sounded as good on that accursed sound stage as they did on their albums, and I knew they’d sound as good live. It sealed the deal for me as a fan.

More recently, SNL affected my attitude towards three famous former-mousketeers. I never expected to respect Justin Timberlake or Christina Aguilera, but their respective performances in that ill-balanced context converted me. (It only reinforced my suspicions about the importance of studio effects on Brittney Spears’ work, though.)

Now, I wouldn’t call myself a fan of SNL by any stretch of the imagination. I would love to have Kristen Wiig at all of my parties (with her tiny baby hands in place), but that’s about as far as it goes these days. But my ears still perk up when I hear that a musician I’ve been on the fence about, very critical of, or completely enamored with is going to be on. I have to watch. I have to know. You know?

I can’t just mention that Kristen Wiig sketch and not show it. I know it’s not strictly live music, but…