FortyEightIsNotFifty
1977Ville
For various and sundry reasons, I will not likely be watching the SNL 50 year cash-in-aversary. Regardless, I am betting that Elvis Costello's first appearance on the show back in December of 1977 will be one of the highlighted bits.
What was so special about the former Declan MacManus' first appearance in LorneVille all those years ago?
Well, the record company had pushed him to do 'Watching The Detectives', which he and the Attractions started. However, a few bars in Costello suddenly stopped the proceedings and shouted:
'I'm sorry ladies and gentlemen, but there's no reason to do this song here.'
The band, which was only booked on the show because Malcom McLaren screwed up the Sex Pistols' visa applications, then immediately launched into the much more up-tempo 'Radio Radio'.
This turn of events sent Mr. Michaels into a tizzy given that it messed with the show's timing. Feet were stomped, things were shouted and Costello was apparently banned from the show forever.
But.
This bit of snot-nosed behaviour actually served Mr. Costello well and the entire thing became quite infamous, so much so that Mr. Michaels, who never met a bit of infamy, self-generated or not, that he didn't attempt to exploit, later recycled the incident when Costello suddenly cut in on a Beastie Boys performance to sing about old timey British rules about what could, and could not, be played on the long wave.
Anyway, in an oddly irony-free twist of fate, it turns out that, whenever things go really wrong at one of his shows, Weird Al Yancovic, will suddenly halt the proceedings, shout out Mr. Costello's immortal words and, well, you guessed it...
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8 comments:
Always good to see what the "young" people are doing. We gave the SNL thing a pass, mostly because we've never watched it live, and caught up with whatever musical adventures later on YouTube or on recordings (I have some GE Smith stuff I really like). Besides, it was really lovely to just leave the electronics off for the evening. Kids and grandkids were over per usual, and, since g'kids in particular are culture vultures in the current fashion, they often clamour for the view of whatever awards show in on the air on a given Sunday. I hate awards shows, though in the past I have (tongue firmly planted in cheek) advocated that there be only one awards show...for awards shows, and that we dispense with the rest. The conversation at table was lovely and lively. We ate empanadas and herbed navy beans, heard tales of local educational institutions, a new earthquake sensor, grandson carrying on the family tradition of bad puns and basked in general conviviality. We all know and share views on the currently unfolding demise of civilization, and, apart from a couple of glancing references, stayed right the hell away from it. I'm betting that the best of the SNL stuff will show up on-line any minute now.
It's past my bedtime...
Sounds like it was some evening Danneau!
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Yours and Bill Murray's...
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Didn't watch much of it, just surfed through a couple of times.
Then there were a group of musicians playing and Paul McCarteny trying to sing. There is a reason a lot of opera singers quit at a certain age. McCarteny ought to have just played guitar. His voice is shot. He's too old. Some times its just better to not sing and not destroy people's memory of how you used to sound. Might be an ego thing, but really it was terrible.
It's always a joy to hear some Elvis Costello. I was a huge fan back in the day. I somehow came upon a CD made by the Attractions post Elvis Costello and it is excellent.
Time to sort through the old CDs for another listen.
As far as SNL, I've never been a big fan.
Hey JP--
You might like this old guys-talking-about-music-from-the-past podcast.
The episode linked to above is about Joe Jackson's 'I'm the Man' but they spend a lot of time comparing and contrasting the triumvirate of Jackson, Costello and Graham Parker.
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Mucho gracias, Ross
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