There are some musical artists that you like without knowing it. You've heard their songs, but did not know it was them. So it was for me and Elvis Costello. I didn't own any of his stuff in the early 1980s, but I certainly should have given the other bands I was listening to at the close of the 1970s (this was my favorite album in 1980), and the number of his songs that I already liked. It was not until much, much later that I realized how much I acutally liked his stuff.

Costello had an interesting, and notorious, American TV debut. In December 1977, Elvis Costello and the Attractions were invited to play on Saturday Night Live as last-minute fill-ins for the Sex Pistols (who had visa problems or some such). Costello wanted to play "Radio, Radio," off of This Year's Model. The song made a statement and included a Pistols reference. The SNL folks said no, however, as they wanted Elvis to play a single in anticipation of the U.S. release of his first two albums. Well, Elvis started out playing "Less than Zero," but only a few seconds into the song he stopped the band and called for "Radio, Radio." Word is this resulted in a "ban" from SNL for over a decade thereafter. Here's the video, and here is a taste of the lyrics:

Some of my friends sit around every evening
and they worry about the times ahead
But everybody else is overwhelmed by indifference
and the promise of an early bed
You either shut up or get cut up;
they don't wanna hear about it.
It's only inches on the reel-to-reel.
And the radio is in the hands of such a lot of fools
tryin' to anaesthetise the way that you feel