December 17, 1977: Saturday Night Live airs on NBC. The show was honoring the winner of an "Anyone Can Host" contest. The winner was Miskel Spillman, an 80-year-old German immigrant and grandmother from New Orleans. She remains the only non-celebrity to host, and was the oldest host in the show's history until 2010, when Betty White hosted at age 88.
Mrs. Spillman participated in a marijuana-themed sketch with John Belushi, and remained a fan of the show until her death in 1992. But she's not the main reason this episode of SNL is remembered.
The musical guest was supposed to be British punk rock band The Sex Pistols, then touring the U.S. But they canceled. So another British rock band was hired, although they were more in the realm of what would come to be called "New Wave": Elvis Costello & The Attractions.
The band's leader was Declan Patrick MacManus, then 23. He was the son of a jazz trumpeter of some renown in London, who had taken to calling himself Day Costello. He would later play on some of his son's albums. With his hair, horn-rimmed glasses, and sharp suits, Declan looked a lot like Buddy Holly, the American rock and roll pioneer who died in a plane crash in 1959, and was always more popular in Britain.
He eventually took up his father's stage surname, and used his own initials, becoming D.P. Costello. In March 1977, his manager suggested changing it to Elvis Costello, in honor of Elvis Presley, who died soon after. I'm presuming there was no connection.
The Attractions were: Lead guitarist Costello, bass guitarist Bruce Thomas, drummer Pete Thomas (no relation) and organist Steve Nieve. Nick Lowe, who later became a rock star in his own right, produced Costello's 1st album, My Aim Is True, which featured not the as-yet-unformed Attractions, but a Los Angeles-based band named Clover. It was released on July 22, 1977, and was a hit. The title came from a line in his 1st single from the album, "Alison."
The album also included "Less Than Zero," which became the title of a 1985 novel by Bret Easton Ellis, and the 1987 film based on it. Costello explained: "'Less Than Zero' was a song I had written after seeing the despicable Oswald Mosley being interviewed on BBC television. The former leader of the British Union of Fascists seemed unrepentant about his poisonous actions of the 1930s. The song was more of a slandering fantasy than a reasoned argument."
Indeed, Britain had seen a rise in right-wing sentiment in the 1970s, culminating in the election of Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister in 1979, and the recruitment of young British men into groups like the openly neo-Nazi National Front, particularly at soccer games. (Or, as they would say over there, football matches. Costello was a Liverpool FC fan.) Mosley, who falsely claimed in a memoir, "I am not, and never have been, a man of the right. My position was on the left and is now in the centre of politics," died in 1980, at age 84.
But by December 1977, "Less Than Zero" had yet to hit the American singles charts. U.S. audiences didn't get it, because they weren't familiar with British politics, current or otherwise. Many listeners heard the name "Mr. Oswald, with the swastika tattoo" in the opening line, and thought it referenced Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of John F. Kennedy, even though that Oswald had been a Communist rather than a Fascist.
On Saturday Night Live, Elvis and The Attractions played "Watching the Detectives," which was not included on the album. His label, Stiff Records (owned by Columbia Records), insisted that he also play "Less Than Zero." Instead, he wanted to play "Radio Radio," also not on My Aim Is True. It was a song which smacked the British media establishment. Columbia told him not to play it.
SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels also told him not to play it, not because of the song's anti-media bias, but because Michaels was a stickler for order, and did not put up with disobedience of any kind. Elvis Costello did not put up with being given orders.
So Elvis played "Less Than Zero" -- for 6 seconds. Then he turned to The Attractions, waved his arms, and said, "Stop! Stop!" They did. Then he turned to the audience, and said, "I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen. There's no reason to do this song here." He turned back to the band, and told them to play "Radio Radio." They did, and the audience liked it.
Michaels didn't. Furious, he banned Costello from the show. The ban lasted a little over 11 years. On March 25, 1989, Costello appeared again, without incident. He and original castmember Chevy Chase are the only performers ever to have bans from SNL rescinded.
On September 27, 1999, SNL aired its 25th Anniversary special. The Beastie Boys played the 1st 10 seconds of their song "Sabotage," then stopped. Costello walked onto the stage, waited for a standing ovation to stop, and, once again, said, "I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen. There's no reason to do this song here." Together, he and the Beasties played "Radio Radio." Michaels, who had left and returned as executive producer, planned it with them beforehand, so it was all on the up-and-up.
In 2003, Elvis Costello & The Attractions -- the entire band -- were elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. As of December 17, 2022, Elvis Costello, Bruce Thomas, Pete Thomas, Steve Nieve and Nick Lowe are all still alive.
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December 17, 1977 was, obviously, a Saturday. Baseball was out of season. Three games were played in the NFL, with the rest of the weekend's games being played the next day or the following night:
* The Washington Redskins beat the Los Angeles Rams, 17-14 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington.
* The Miami Dolphins beat the Buffalo Bills, 31-14 at the Orange Bowl in Miami.
* And the Minnesota Vikings beat the Detroit Lions, 30-21 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.
There was 1 college football game played that day, the Independence Bowl, at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana. Louisiana Tech beat the University of Louisville, 24-14.
There were 6 games played in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks beat the Chicago Bulls, 112-103 at Madison Square Garden.
* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 129-116 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. Michael Campanella "Campy" Russell, later to play for the Knicks, scored 38 points.
* The Buffalo Braves beat the Detroit Pistons, 126-122 in double overtime at Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place) in Detroit. Randy Smith scored 31. Bob Lanier scored 36 in a losing effort.
* The Kansas City Kings beat the New Orleans Jazz, 115-93 at the Kemper Arena (now the Hy-Vee Arena) in Kansas City. "Pistol" Pete Maravich scored 34 in a losing effort.
* The Phoenix Suns beat the Houston Rockets, 101-97 at The Summit in Houston. (The arena has since been converted into the Central Campus of the Lakewood Church, Dr. Joel Osteen's "megachurch.")
* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Washington Bullets, 117-104 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum. In spite of this, the Bullets would replace the Blazers as NBA Champions.
The entire NHL, all 18 teams, were in action:
* The New York Rangers lost to the Cleveland Barons, 4-2 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio. In spite of this, the Barons were bankrupt. Before the 1978-79 season began, they would be merged with another bankrupt team, the Minnesota North Stars, keeping that team's name. The Barons remain the last major league sports team in North America to go out of business.
* The New York Islanders beat the Boston Bruins, 4-1 at the Nassau Coliseum.
* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Atlanta Flames, 4-3 at The Omni in Atlanta.
* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 7-1 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Montreal Canadiens, 5-3 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.
* The Detroit Red Wings beat the St. Louis Blues, 3-2 at the St. Louis Arena, or the Checkerdome as it was then known.
* The Colorado Rockies beat the Minnesota North Stars, 5-1 at the McNichols Arena in Denver.
* The Washington Capitals beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 2-1 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.
* And the Vancouver Canucks and the Buffalo Sabres played to a tie, 5-5 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.
And there were 2 games in the World Hockey Association. The Winnipeg Jets beat the New England Whalers, 6-3 at the Hartford Civic Center (now the PeoplesBank Arena). And the Soviet All-Stars, in an ill-fated experiment for the WHA, beat the Cincinnati Stingers, 5-4 at the Riverfront Coliseum (now the Heritage Bank Center).
And in English soccer, North London team Arsenal went to the West Midlands, and beat Coventry City, 2-1 at Highfield Road.
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