NT's greatest hits, No. 18 (of 34)

These gaps must stop!

"Radio, Radio" by Elvis Costello and the Attractions

In late 1989, I was watching the Saturday Night Live 15th-anniversary (wow) special on TV, which featured a montage of brief clips of the show's musical guests. Included was a few seconds from Elvis Costello and the Attractions' 1977 performance. Watch:

ELVIS COSTELLO / RADIO, RADIO
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Apparently, the band was a last-minute replacement for the Sex Pistols, were pretty much unprepared and in a foul mood, and resented being asked to play "Less than Zero," an older single that they regarded as too Anglocentric for American TV. So 20 seconds in, just to take the piss, Elvis broke it off and directed his band to start in on "Radio, Radio."

The clip on the SNL special was a mere 25 seconds long; it cut off just a few notes into the keyboard intro of "Radio, Radio." I had no idea what the rest of the song sounded like. But I was hooked. That synthesizer riff was the greatest thing I'd ever heard. Soon after, I'd purchased the then-current edition of Costello's greatest hits (the first of many), and played the song over and over again. I still remember: track No. 8, three minutes and six seconds.

Shortly after, I made my first mixtape in a long and nerdily detailed series, and "Radio, Radio" was track one, side one. In college, I had a regular tradition of hosting an all–Elvis Costello radio show during "Dead Days"—the several days of downtime between classes and finals. I always felt like Costello's cynicism and anger perfectly suited the campus mood of the time. The show always ended with "Radio, Radio." It's such a wonderful song: tense but perceptive, hard rocking but full of so many different great sounds. And that keyboard riff: A friend once told me he dislikes it because it's "too raga," but I like color, I like a little ostentation, and no one did it better than the Attractions' keyboardist, Steve Nieve. (As great a songwriter as Costello is, never discount the importance or talent of Nieve, Bruce Thomas and Pete Thomas; best new-wave band ever.)

I used to be absolutely obsessed with Elvis Costello, but the fandom has faded a little. Like so many others, I'm not enamored of his more recent material—personally, I feel like become a rich and worshipped rock star has made Costello lose touch somewhat with his muse (how can you be the angry young outside when you're nailing a beautiful Canadian easy-listening star and having your ass kissed by Burt Bacharach?). But also, I realize how cliché it was for me to be such a big fan. (A contrarian once said that rock critics like Elvis Costello only because he looks like them; while I am neither a rock critic nor a glasses wearer, point taken.) His older music, though, has lost none of its luster, its energy and perceptiveness looking and sounding better by day. Such a lot of fools are still trying to anesthetize the way that we feel, after all.

NT's greatest hits, No. 11 (of 34)

And we're back. On tap for this volume of my favorite songs of all time: something you probably don't know, but should...
"Local Girls" by Graham Parker and the Rumour
When I was in college, I hosted a radio show (most semesters titled Noise Annoys) that focused on my favorite subgenre of rock & roll: punk and new wave of the late '70s and early '80s. All your favorites: Blondie, the Jam, the Cars, the Buzzcocks, the Ramones; I could get as arty as Roxy Music and as poppy as Men at Work.

At least from a rock geek's point of view, this is a pretty broad swathe of the rock idiom. (Go here for an especially savvy sampler.) It wasn't just punk and new wave; we also had power pop, new romantic, mod revival, ska, protopunk, the early glimmerings of electronica…and pub rock. Pub rock was a British style that sought to return the music to its basics: four or five sweaty young drunks bashing out good music for a small room of felow drunk hipsters. And the king of the pub rockers was Elvis Costell…er, Graham Parker.

Costello was the patron saint of my radio show, sure; I was obsessed with the guy in college (and my favorite of his songs will be featured in this series anon). But Parker, along with his band, the Rumour, released the single best album of the idiom—not just of the pub rock subsubgenre, but all of new wave, and perhaps all of rock music entirely: 1979's Squeezing Out Sparks. While I've since come to recognize broader differences between Costello's and Parker's music, I used to refer to Sparks as "the best Elvis Costello album ever." It's a simply blistering rock & roll album—arch, angular, exciting, dripping with both venom and self-aware humor, with hardly a weak song, and several stunningly excellent ones. And "Local Girls" is the unquestioned highlight.

Rarely has a rock recording featured a better performance. Watch and listen; this band is incredible:



Great video; that delicious charm that so many of the pre-MTV videos had, when simply playing music on camera was still a novelty. The song is a Kinksian slice of British life—Parker finds the ladies in his workaday British world to be both irresistible and tiresome, profressing his lack of interest as he subliminaly begs for their attention. The lyrics are good—"Don't bother with the local girls/They don't bother me" is a frequent refrain during my bitterest moments—but the band's performance is incredible. Curdled vocals, flawless support from the interdependent rhythm section, and that astonishing call-and-response between Brinsley Schwarz's lead guitar and Bob Andrews keyboard. All beautifully packaged as yet another "tension-release" song, with the song collapsing off the cliff as the chorus hits.

I played the shit of this song on my radio show; it so perfectly summed up what my show—what my favorite music—was all about. Angry but self-deprecating, awkward by cool, powerfully rocking but with a sense of humor. If every rock song sounded like this, I'd find this a much, much better world.

Earlier editions of NT's greatest hits:
"Don't Let's Start"
"Suffragette City"
"See-Saw"
"My Name Is Jonas"
"Mr. Tambourine Man"
"Reelin' in the Years"
"Objects of My Affection" and "Crimson and Clover"
"OK Apartment" and "Just What I Needed"