I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen, there's no reason to do this song here

[spatch]

Radio Radio is coming out for Rock Band DLC today.

I hope it starts with a few bars of Less Than Zero.

Comments

[ubiquity75.livejournal.com]

i.e. Why was he precluded from doing that song in the first place?

[fancycwabs.livejournal.com]

The record company wanted him to play the song folks already knew, according to the always-correct Wikipedia entry.

[spatch]

I grind my teeth down to nothing when I'm forced to read bad Wikipedia writing.

On SNL's 25th anniversary show in 1999, Costello burst in on Beastie Boys — 'sabotaging' their performance of "Sabotage" — and they performed "Radio Radio" together.

I'd edit out the oh-so-cutesy air quotes around "sabotaging" but they don't like it when you write FUCK YOU AND YOUR CRAP STYLE as the reason for the edit.

ALSO THIS ARTICLE NEEDS AT LEAST ONE ANIME POP CULTURE REFERENCE, JESUS GUYS, GET ON THE BALL, TVTROPES IS WINNING

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

* Elvis Costello was then magically transformed into a girl in El Goonish Shive.

[spatch]

He wanted to play Radio Radio on SNL, the label insisted he play the "hit" single (or at least not the song that's all about the commercialization and bastardization of the medium) so he bit the hand that fed him and played it anyway.

Depending on who you believe, Costello was banned from SNL either from label pressure because he played "the bad song" or (and this is the reason I believe, and it's mentioned in Tom Shales' excellent history of the show) the song ran over his allotted segment time and Lorne Michaels, who runs a tight live schedule, went apeshit.

(For the producer of a live show that prides itself on the "anything could happen" factor, Lorne absolutely hates it when something unexpected throws off the schedule.)