Today’s video vault entry is a rarity and has a bit of a story behind it!
Costello wanted to play “Radio Radio” on SNL. Columbia Records (Costello’s US label) on the other hand, was interested in having an already-established song performed on SNL to stoke the fires of interest prior to the American release of My Aim Is True and This Year’s Model. Costello began the SNL performance playing “Less than Zero.” After a few bars however, he turned to the Attractions waving his hand yelling, “Stop! Stop!” Then, he said to the audience, “I’m sorry, ladies and gentlemen, there’s no reason to do this song here.” This was perhaps a reference to the obscure story behind “Less than Zero,” written as a reply to British fascist Oswald Mosley. The band then broke into a rousing live version of “Radio Radio.” As a result, Costello was banned from Saturday Night Live for twelve years. This version of “Radio Radio” (fading into the “false start”) can be found (in monaural) on Saturday Night Live: 25 Years of Musical Performances, Vol. 1 (track time - 3:08).I’m a big Elvis Costello fan - I saw him perform an open-air concert in Manchester New Hampshire back in ’89 (f*ck that’s closing in on 20 years ago!) So, any piece of obscure Costello trivia is welcome indeed and now that YouTube is around it‘s a helluva a lot easier to find things like this:
Also, I’ve included the clip of Costello’s performance when he returned during a special celebration many years later:
