30 years ago today, on December 17, in the year 2007 minus 30, Elvis Costello and the Attractions made history by appearing on Saturday Night Live and pissing the crap out of Lorne Michaels.
Interestingly, the host of the episode was an old woman named Miskel Spillman who won SNL's inaugural (and only) "Anyone Can Host" contest. She was gonna get matched up with the Sex Pistols, which probably would've been oddly entertaining, kinda like when Martha Stewart was paired with Busta Rhymes at the MTV Video Music Awards in 1997. Damn, the blog missed that anniversary.
Anyway, because of visa problems, most likely stemming from their numerous run-ins with the law, the Sex Pistols couldn't make the show. Enter: Elvis C.
The guys were asked to play "Less Than Zero," a song about some British fascist that had almost no bearing at all on the American audience, so the band stopped the song and instead played "Radio Radio," a criticism of commercial radio. They were subsequently banned from SNL for 12 years.
If you read the pertaining section in one of the SNL history books, it's been said that once Elvis Costello switched songs, Lorne Michaels stood in the wings and gave him the bird through the duration of the performance.
Now that you're good and prepped, here it is, in all its original glory:
2 hours ago
1 comment:
12 seems like an arbitrary number.
i love elvis costello. we have similar glasses.
Post a Comment