Up next
Who won Great British Menu 2022?
Elvis Costello and his band weren’t an immediate hit, as Far Out Magazine reports. Debut record “My Aim Is True” saw him start to gather a dedicated following in the United Kingdom, before Columbia Records decided his talent may have the impetus for an enormous project: a tour of the vast musical market that is the United States.
Elvis Costello and the Attractions, quite by chance, were then given the opportunity of performing on “Saturday Night Live.” Per Far Out Magazine, this was largely because the Sex Pistols were unavailable for their own scheduled appearance on the show, but it wasn’t a chance that any musicians would want to let slip by.
According to Groovy History, the band’s host on the evening of December 17, 1977, was one Miskel Spillman, who had won the honor through a contest held by the show called “Anyone Can Host”. Spillman and everybody else watching were due to hear the band’s single “Less Than Zero,” as arranged by their label, but Costello had other plans.
As seen in the footage (above) the band got a few seconds into the song before Costello abruptly turns to his fellow performers and shouted, “Stop!” Turning back to the cameras, he says, “I’m sorry, ladies and gentlemen, there’s no reason to do this song here.” The briefest hushed deliberation between the musicians follows, before they launch straight into an energetic rendition of their song “Radio Radio.”
