Hello,

On which DVD are the recordings available of The Rolling Stones at SNL live 1978? I can remember they were released somewhere not too long ago???


thanks!

The Rolling Stones, as well as Peter Tosh with Mick's walk-on, are on the Season 4 DVD set.

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elwoodpdowd
The Rolling Stones, as well as Peter Tosh with Mick's walk-on, are on the Season 4 DVD set.

I saw it on sale at Costco last week for about 16 bucks.

Their worst live television appearance ever.

You don't love it , but, I do love it. One of the best appearance.

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24FPS
Their worst live television appearance ever.

I have never played an instrument in my life, so I can't understand why they were so off on SNL. How do you sound like that in rehearsels and during the tour and then suck playing 3 songs live. I know you will say drugs but obviously they were doing drugs during rehearsels too.

I'm with Shezeboss...maybe not technically good, but a pleasure to watch. Mick tearing up the shirt and his gesture at the end are just great fun.

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brianwalker

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24FPS
Their worst live television appearance ever.

I have never played an instrument in my life, so I can't understand why they were so off on SNL. How do you sound like that in rehearsels and during the tour and then suck playing 3 songs live. I know you will say drugs but obviously they were doing drugs during rehearsels too.

I believe the story is, it was a week long party, but Keith especially had been up all night/possibly a few days with Belushi the night before the broadcast, and the partying finally just caught up with them. That's why they were more together during the rehearsals.

Apparently Belushi was passed out on a couch until just a few minutes before the show went on the air, and they were concerned he wouldn't be able to perform.

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24FPS
Their worst live television appearance ever.

Very helpful answer for mrrockandroll

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Keep On Rolling

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Rolling Hansie

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24FPS
Their worst live television appearance ever.

Very helpful answer for mrrockandroll

Thank you, with deep appreciation and sincerity.

I loved the snl performance, completely disagree with the negative reaction to it

I have a question about the SNL dvd's.
Are the SNL season dvd's with the music as it was played in those episodes?
I heard that that the dvd's on sale now don't contain the music anymore. If it does I would certainly buy it.

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barbabang
I have a question about the SNL dvd's.
Are the SNL season dvd's with the music as it was played in those episodes?
I heard that that the dvd's on sale now don't contain the music anymore. If it does I would certainly buy it.

You would certainly buy the DVDs if they didn't contain the music anymore? Or you would buy separate DVDs with just the music on it? They do have a five DVD boxset of just musical performances from SNL, although the Stones aren't included. But, the SNL boxsets currently on sale are indeed complete episodes with all original musical performances pertaining to each episode. Personally I find myself pretty much ignoring the old comedy bits and watching only the musical performances. The Fifth season is worth it for Bowie alone, although you also get Blondie, Dylan, J.Geils, and the Specials. There's also a Grateful Dead performance, but you should get the DVD set anyway.

"they were doing drugs during rehearsels too"

What did you expect frankly? SNL gang and crew + "post-Toronto" Rolling Stones = total mayhem!

Agree with Melillo... I loved this set, as I was just about 8 years old when I saw the repeat of it (about two years after it aired initially) and it is one of the very first times I ever saw them playing on TV. This set is one of the reasons I became the raging psycho Stones fan I remain to this day. I own the 78-79 season dvd set, btw,it is 7 dvds, all include musical guests full performances... besides the Stones there is the Tosh/Jagger episode, Frank Zappa, Talking Heads, Grateful Dead, Rickie Lee Jones, James Taylor... pretty cool.

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24FPS
Their worst live television appearance ever.

Agreed.


If you say you "love" this train-wreck, you must be approaching it from the point of view of a They-can-do-no-wrong fan, or the nostalgia of It-was-the-first-time-I-saw-them-on-TV kid who is still buzzing on the heady initial experience of staying up past their bedtime.


Here is one factoid: Whatever the cause--hard partying, the flu, etc.--at showtime the Vocalist HAD ONLY SHREDS OF A VOICE!! It doesn't matter how good the rehearsals sounded, because NO ONE SAW THEM THAT NIGHT.

To "love" the SNL performance, is to approach it from some sort of non-musical, abstract, conceptual slant. The Stones are out-punking the Punks in 1978, demonstrating that they were the Original Bad Boys, giving the finger to America on network TV, croaking through their songs and telling the world that they are not bound to their petty standards of musicianship and vocal chops.

Or maybe they are giving the finger to an earlier version of themselves. This is only five years after the uber-professionalism of Brussels. The '72/'73 Stones would laugh this ragtag outfit off the stage. They would never have let any of the decadence that surrounded them have an adverse impact on the music they performed on stage.

Certainly there are different ways to view/value different groups. A person might say that The Who are "great" and that Darby Crash is "great." I think most fans agree there is an unspoken sliding scale there, and process that in their use of the word.

Just because a group has an awful night--and has the sorry luck of having it in front of a nationwide audience on live TV--doesn't mean that you can suddenly click on to a different standard and measure them by another criteria.

Jagger's performance was a huge, HUGE disappointment. The expectations of seeing the Stones play live on U.S. TV since....probably Ed Sullivan in '66(?) were enormous. And because the disappointment was so great, there was a lot of denial afterwards.

If you "love" the SNL Stones, what you celebrate is them playing at the role of being "The Stones" and not The Stones as a musical outfit doing a good job at playing their music.

Coming off a summer tour and their biggest album ever, it could have been one of the greatest nights of their career. The only thing professional about their performance was Mick being a trouper and saying the show must go on. But artistically, it was a huge mistake, and at that point their darkest hour.

I eat drink live and breathe the stones since 1965. As a 19 year old, I attended the SNL rehearsals, a dream come true, they were great, amazing.

Most of my friends were not in to the stones, they did not have a big commercial hit since 71, 72, with Brown Sugar, tumblin Dice..Angie was not a favorite of rockers at the time.. Black n Blue was weak by most accounts.Love You Live was good, but the casual fan didn't hear it.


Finally, with the live SNL appearance Oct 7th 1978, I could show my friends, and the world why the stones were so great, the greatest, perhaps the first time many people would be seeing them live.

Finally, Lorraine Newman announces them, Ladies and Gentleman, the Rolling Stones, out comes Mick and my boys, then Jagger starts singing....


I was dissapointed, annoyed, and embarrased. The voice, the tinny sound, the licking of Woodys lips by Jagger, the rediculous antics durng shattered, the world would not see the stones as they really are.

thank goodness for Start Me Up 3 years later, the stones were bigger than ever in 81, but they lost out on new fans, possibly old fans for the 3 years after SNL.

I enjoy the SNL appearance for nostalgia now only. And now we know they would return, we didn't know then.

Wow, I never looked at this appearance in such a profound manner. Mick's not sounding great here, they do appear a bit fried, but it is still a very close-up view of a great rock and roll band, and a great front man. I love live performances because you get something different from the studio version, and I love live performances because the band is really on the spot... only one take allowed, it's live. I love seeing mistakes and what a band does when they have a handicap, such as a hoarse lead singer or limited space or a crapped out amp or a broken string. This SNL appearance, from my 8-yr-old perspective, was awesome. It was great music and a cool performance. Compared to other '78 tour appearances (including rehearsals) it may have been weak, but it obviously didn't stall the Some Girls sales! Not a poor career move at all, imo.

Thank you detailed/thoughtful contributors, this is a great thread

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deardoctortake1
I eat drink live and breathe the stones since 1965. As a 19 year old, I attended the SNL rehearsals, a dream come true, they were great, amazing.

Most of my friends were not in to the stones, they did not have a big commercial hit since 71, 72, with Brown Sugar, tumblin Dice..Angie was not a favorite of rockers at the time.. Black n Blue was weak by most accounts.Love You Live was good, but the casual fan didn't hear it.


Finally, with the live SNL appearance Oct 7th 1978, I could show my friends, and the world why the stones were so great, the greatest, perhaps the first time many people would be seeing them live.

Finally, Lorraine Newman announces them, Ladies and Gentleman, the Rolling Stones, out comes Mick and my boys, then Jagger starts singing....


I was dissapointed, annoyed, and embarrased. The voice, the tinny sound, the licking of Woodys lips by Jagger, the rediculous antics durng shattered, the world would not see the stones as they really are.

thank goodness for Start Me Up 3 years later, the stones were bigger than ever in 81, but they lost out on new fans, possibly old fans for the 3 years after SNL.

I enjoy the SNL appearance for nostalgia now only. And now we know they would return, we didn't know then.

I was 20 that year and I totally get your post. So did you get to see "the rehearsals" that the band did on their own, or an earlier dress rehearsal of the entire program the day of the show? Either way, I envy you for that!


Your reaction--"disappointed, annoyed, embarrassed"--is totally right on the money. That's exactly how I felt. I remember reading Greil Marcus reaction in a column he wrote for some non-rock magazine, where he said they were sloppy, out of tune...and wonderful, or words to that effect. My bullshit detector went off, because suddenly The World's Greatest Rock n Roll Band is being treated like some up-and-coming garage band.

Like you said, at the time we didn't know they would return. Now, it's easy to shrug off an off night. But if someone can imagine and put themselves back in our shoes at that time, with all our hopes enormously high for what could very well be the greatest night of rock and roll on TV ever...


...then a person might understand why it's such a big deal that it was such a lousy performance.

This has to be one of the worst performances vocally for Jagger. His voice is shot! TOAST! But it is fun as hell to watch. When he licked Ronnie's face you could hear a nation gasp.

You Da Man schillid... THX

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schillid

"uh Rhonda.... Ronnie, you're part of the group" 6:17 pt1.... lmao



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-09-14 06:57 by Max'sKansasCity.

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whitem8
This has to be one of the worst performances vocally for Jagger. His voice is shot! TOAST! But it is fun as hell to watch. When he licked Ronnie's face you could hear a nation gasp.

When Mick started singing, you could hear an entire nation GROAN...

The guitars sound great, I think. And we do get Beast Of Burden in the key of D
and Keith using his Travis Bean. I recorded it on a cassette recorder in front of my TV. This was pre-VCR, so you only saw it once.

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loog droog

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whitem8
This has to be one of the worst performances vocally for Jagger. His voice is shot! TOAST! But it is fun as hell to watch. When he licked Ronnie's face you could hear a nation gasp.

When Mick started singing, you could hear an entire nation GROAN...

Yup. Mick's voice is dreadful on this.

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24FPS
Thank you

You're welcome

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Keep On Rolling

The gig was great, but Mick had voice problems. As the true professional he is, he put on a little extra showmanship. I loved it!

snl was vintage raunchy rolling stones with the classic keith and woody backing vocals , not good ? are you kidding me?you can keep your steel wheels through bigger bang stones gimme 78 any day!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Totally embaraasing. They were supposed to be the greatest rock n roll band in the world and turns out to be a joke on national TV.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-09-14 16:26 by More Hot Rocks.