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

The greatest band in the world landed on tv’s hottest present when the Rolling Stones visited Saturday Night Live on Oct. 7, 1978.

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

To Michaels, touchdown the Stones for SNL’s season 4 premiere could be an indication of validation. The sketch present had launched with loads of doubters and a shoestring funds. Yet in its first few seasons, the collection cast an indelible influence on popular culture, whereas additionally spawning two film stars in Chevy Chase and John Belushi. The Stones’ look would cement Saturday Night Live as TV’s coolest present.

However, not everybody was enthusiastic about the gig. Studio safety fearful about followers forcing their method into the constructing, whereas NBC’s censors have been cautious of the band’s penchant for partying and wild antics. Some of those fears turned out to be legitimate.

Wild Nights Leading Up to the Show

In the weekdays main as much as their Saturday Night Live efficiency, the Rolling Stones rehearsed in a New York studio referred to as Bill’s. Though the band was simply practising for his or her TV gig, they held nothing again. The rehearsals have been rambunctious affairs, and the handful of SNL workers who stopped by to see how issues have been going left flabbergasted at the chaos.

Meanwhile, Belushi – who had turn out to be a rock star in his personal proper due to Animal House and the reputation of the Blues Brothers characters – welcomed Mick Jagger and Keith Richards over to his place for some late-night jam periods.

The partying continued when the Stones confirmed up at the SNL studio for his or her Friday evening rehearsal. According to the e-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 popularity, inebriation did not hinder the Stones’ skill to ship and interesting rehearsal efficiency. “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 throughout gown rehearsal. At one level Richards, who has seemingly run out of booze, made a name to Rebel Yell whiskey and stated, “Hello, this is Mick Jagger from the Rolling Stones. We need some Rebel Yell. Would you send us some cases?”

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

Anxiety was working excessive 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 have been promoting faux tickets for greater than $500 every.

Things weren’t a lot calmer inside the studio. Officially, the Rolling Stones have been each host and musical performer for the present. As such, Jagger appeared in a few sketches. Richards was additionally supposed to point out his performing chops, however his components have been reduce following gown rehearsal after the guitarist struggled to recollect his strains. “It’s nice to be standing and working with a dead person,” solid member Laraine Newman later stated of Richards.

READ MORE: 15 Musicians Who Almost Joined the Rolling Stones

NBC’s censor was additionally involved with Jagger’s revealing clothes. After seeing what he deemed was an excessive amount of of the singer throughout rehearsals, the censor requested assistant costume designer Karen Roston if Jagger might be coated up extra 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 evening, the Stones carried out three songs from their then soon-to-be-released album Some Girls: “Beast of Burden,” “Respectable” and “Shattered.” Sure sufficient Jagger’s tight pants and gyrations garnered a little bit of airtime, although it actually may have been extra. “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 famous afterward.

What was noticeable, nevertheless, was Jagger’s vocals. The singer’s voice appeared weaker and raspier than the powerhouse most have been anticipating, seemingly on account of the band’s arduous partying main as much as the SNL gig (it was additionally noticeable throughout his look reverse Dan Aykroyd in the ‘Tomorrow’ sketch). Still, the Stones have been largely capable of ship on the immense hype that surrounded their look on the present, scratchy throat be damned.

After the episode aired, however earlier than the band and SNL solid adjourned to the afterparty, Jagger sat in Michaels’ workplace to look at a recording of the Stones efficiency. “Maybe this wasn’t such a good show,” the frontman famous as Michaels pushed the tape into the VCR. Good or not, it was actually wild.