Dream Wired
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Celebrity
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • TV
  • Music
  • Comics
  • Shop
  • Home
  • Celebrity
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • TV
  • Music
  • Comics
  • Shop
No Result
View All Result
Dream Wired
No Result
View All Result
Home Music

Why the Rolling Stones’ ‘Saturday Night Live’ Gig Was Chaos

rmtsa by rmtsa
October 7, 2023
in Music
0
Why the Rolling Stones’ ‘Saturday Night Live’ Gig Was Chaos
74
SHARES
1.2k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


You might also like

Permit Issues Indefinitely Postpone Brooklyn Mirage Reopening

Is the Who Announcing Another Farewell Tour?

Musicians Needed For ‘Conservative Rage Against the Machine’

The biggest band in the world landed on television’s hottest show when the Rolling Stones visited Saturday Night Live on Oct. 7, 1978.

It had been roughly 10 years since the Stones’ last TV performance. SNL head honcho Lorne Michaels reportedly booked the band after running into Earl McGrath, president of Rolling Stones Records, at a Bob Dylan concert in Paris.

To Michaels, landing the Stones for SNL’s season four premiere would be a sign of validation. The sketch show had launched with plenty of doubters and a shoestring budget. Yet in its first few seasons, the series forged an indelible impact on pop culture, while also spawning two movie stars in Chevy Chase and John Belushi. The Stones’ appearance would cement Saturday Night Live as TV’s coolest show.

However, not everyone was excited about the gig. Studio security worried about fans forcing their way into the building, while NBC’s censors were wary of the band’s penchant for partying and wild antics. Some of these fears turned out to be valid.

Fred Bronson/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal, Getty Images

Fred Bronson/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal, Getty Images

Wild Nights Leading Up to the Show

In the weekdays leading up to their Saturday Night Live performance, the Rolling Stones rehearsed in a New York studio called Bill’s. Though the band was just practicing for their TV gig, they held nothing back. The rehearsals were rambunctious affairs, and the handful of SNL staff who stopped by to see how things were going left flabbergasted at the chaos.

Meanwhile, Belushi – who had become a rock star in his own right thanks to Animal House and the popularity of the Blues Brothers characters – welcomed Mick Jagger and Keith Richards over to his place for some late-night jam sessions.

The partying continued when the Stones showed up at the SNL studio for their Friday night rehearsal. According to the book Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live, the band “lived up to their legendary rowdiness, drinking Scotch and vodka and snorting coke openly in the studio, oblivious to the Rockefeller Center security guards on special duty all around them.”

READ MORE: The Best Song From Every Rolling Stones Album

Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the band’s reputation, inebriation didn’t hinder the Stones’ ability to deliver and engaging rehearsal performance. “When the Stones finally played, Jagger was so drunk he was staggering across the stage, but again they rocked without restraint.”

This scene was more-or-less reenacted the following day during dress rehearsal. At one point Richards, who has seemingly run out of booze, made a call to Rebel Yell whiskey and said, “Hello, this is Mick Jagger from the Rolling Stones. We need some Rebel Yell. Would you send us some cases?”

Fred Bronson/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal, Getty Images

Fred Bronson/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal, Getty Images

Live From New York… It’s the Rolling Stones!

Anxiety was running high as showtime approached. As the Washington Post reported: “The appearance of the Stones on the show Saturday night was unquestionably, for the moment, the hottest ticket in New York. Building entrances were jammed with teeny-boppers, some of them not so short in the tooth.” Outside Rockefeller Plaza, counterfeiters were selling fake tickets for more than $500 each.

Things weren’t much calmer inside the studio. Officially, the Rolling Stones were both host and musical performer for the show. As such, Jagger appeared in a couple of sketches. Richards was also supposed to show his acting chops, but his parts were cut following dress rehearsal after the guitarist struggled to remember his lines. “It’s nice to be standing and working with a dead person,” cast member Laraine Newman later said of Richards.

READ MORE: 15 Musicians Who Almost Joined the Rolling Stones

NBC’s censor was also concerned with Jagger’s revealing clothing. After seeing what he deemed was too much of the singer during rehearsals, the censor asked assistant costume designer Karen Roston if Jagger could be covered up more appropriately. She laughed in response. “If you want to go up to Mick Jagger and tell him he has to wear underwear, be my guest.”

Watch the Rolling Stones Perform ‘Beast of Burden’ on ‘Saturday Night Live’

On the night, the Stones performed three songs from their then soon-to-be-released album Some Girls: “Beast of Burden,” “Respectable” and “Shattered.” Sure enough Jagger’s tight pants and gyrations garnered a bit of airtime, though it certainly could have been more. “The live cameras did not fully capture two or three of Jagger’s more sexually demonstrative gestures, such as grabbing a significant portion of guitarist Keith Richards’ pants,” the Washington Post noted afterward.

What was noticeable, however, was Jagger’s vocals. The singer’s voice seemed weaker and raspier than the powerhouse most were expecting, likely due to the band’s hard partying leading up to the SNL gig (it was also noticeable during his appearance opposite Dan Aykroyd in the ‘Tomorrow’ sketch). Still, the Stones were largely able to deliver on the immense hype that surrounded their appearance on the show, scratchy throat be damned.

After the episode aired, but before the band and SNL cast adjourned to the afterparty, Jagger sat in Michaels’ office to watch a recording of the Stones performance. “Maybe this wasn’t such a good show,” the frontman noted as Michaels pushed the tape into the VCR. Good or not, it was certainly wild.

Rock’s 60 Biggest ‘Saturday Night Live’ Performances

Gallery Credit: Corey Irwin



Source link

Tags: CHAOSGigLivenightRollingSaturdaystones
Share30Tweet19
rmtsa

rmtsa

Recommended For You

Permit Issues Indefinitely Postpone Brooklyn Mirage Reopening

by rmtsa
May 8, 2025
0
Permit Issues Indefinitely Postpone Brooklyn Mirage Reopening

Brooklyn Mirage's planned reopening has been indefinitely postponed due to pending inspection approvals, affecting a series of upcoming shows, Billboard reports.Originally set to return with a pair of...

Read more

Is the Who Announcing Another Farewell Tour?

by rmtsa
May 8, 2025
0
Is the Who Announcing Another Farewell Tour?

Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey of the Who will reportedly hold a press conference in London on Thursday, though the exact topic of the event has yet to...

Read more

Musicians Needed For ‘Conservative Rage Against the Machine’

by rmtsa
May 8, 2025
0
Musicians Needed For ‘Conservative Rage Against the Machine’

An online ad looking for musicians to form a "conservative" version of Rage Against the Machine has the internet wondering if someone missed the point of the source...

Read more

Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ Streams Double After Tour Kickoff

by rmtsa
May 7, 2025
0
Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ Streams Double After Tour Kickoff

Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up newsletter, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have caught the music industry’s attention. Some have come...

Read more

Weezer, Janelle Monáe, Bright Eyes Bound For Bumbershoot

by rmtsa
May 7, 2025
0
Weezer, Janelle Monáe, Bright Eyes Bound For Bumbershoot

Weezer, Bright Eyes, Janelle Monáe, Sylvan Esso, Aurora and Car Seat Headrest will make some noise at the 52nd edition of the Bumbershoot Arts & Music Festival, which...

Read more
Next Post
Darren Epstein on Stargate & Dune Ships

Darren Epstein on Stargate & Dune Ships

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Browse by Category

  • Celebrity
  • Comics
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • Music
  • TV
  • Uncategorized

CATEGORIES

  • Celebrity
  • Comics
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • Music
  • TV
  • Uncategorized
No Result
View All Result

Recent News

  • Matthew Shear, ‘Fantasy Life’ Filmmaker,’ Signs With Gersh
  • Survivor’s Jeff Probst Reacts to Announcing Wrong Challenge Winner
  • Kourtney Kardashian Is ‘Laying Down The Law’ For Stepdaughter

Copyright © 2023 DramaWired.
DramaWired is a content aggregator and not responsible for the content of external sites.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Celebrity
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • TV
  • Music
  • Comics
  • Shop

Copyright © 2023 DramaWired.
DramaWired is a content aggregator and not responsible for the content of external sites.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In