Elvis Costello: Radio Radio

Elvis Costello & The Attractions

        Now more than ever radio in the USA is controlled by corporations that typically know very little about the communities they serve.  These corporate stations are programmed according to demographic studies and monitored by corporate accountants to ensure they are living up to their business model, but otherwise have no interest in the community.  Huge business conglomerates buy up radio stations in an area then perform studies to predict what formula the local audience will respond to.  Then, by tightly programming their content, they cater to that specific audience & the market usually responds in predictable ways.  They do this because they know that they can make a certain amount of money over a certain amount of time before market forces compel them to switch formats.  When the accountants inform the corporation that profits are starting to fall they change the format to whatever the demographers tell them will succeed next.  While this may make good business sense, it has the horrific side effect of stifling creativity.  This is damaging to the local communities as well as the music industry and it prevents listeners from discovering the wealth of artistic achievement available across every genre from the earliest periods of pop music all the way to today.   In fairness to the corporations they are in business to make money and have discovered a highly predictable way to control their earnings. 
        Rebellion and independence only sells when the political climate is ripe for it to do so.  In the late 60's and early 70's rebellion was the low hanging fruit in the radio industry.  There are two moments in broadcasting history which can be linked to the rise of that particular rebellious era in radio, and ironically both occurred on TV.  In 1967 the producers of the Ed Sullivan show asked The Doors to change the lyric of their song Light My Fire from "Girl we couldn't get much higher", a possible drug reference to "Girl we couldn't get much better".  The band accepted, but during the actual performance on live TV, singer Jim Morrison defied Sullivan and sang the original lyric.  They were banned from the show but the notoriety the controversy caused raised the public's awareness of The Doors. (During the Sullivan performance, linked above, notice the pinched look on keyboardist Ray Manzerek's face and guitarist Robby Krieger's smile when they realize Morrison had gone off script) 

Jim Morrison defied Ed Sullivan

       The second incident involved Jimi Hendrix and it occurred on BBC TV.  Hendrix, according to plan, began playing the song Hey Joe.  Suddenly he stopped playing and said  *"We’d like to stop playing this rubbish and dedicate a song to the Cream regardless of what kind of group they might be. I’d like to dedicate this to Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, and Jack Bruce." Then he launched into a cover of Sunshine Of Your Love (Hey Joe/Sunshine Of Your Love).  Cream had announced their breakup and apparently Hendrix felt moved enough to rebel against the people who were allowing him to reach a national audience.  
      Those incidents along with the protests against Viet Nam, the distrust of the political systems, and the increasing amount of recreational drug use were all voices of defiance.  Soon, radio became a reflection and even some of the leaders in the rebellion.  Of course the stations still had an obligation to make money and business communities are notoriously conservative.  This meant that most of these stations saw their profits decrease despite increases in the size of their audience.  Gradually each of these radio outlets succumbed to the profit pressure and the rebellion was eventually called off.

Move over Rover
and let Jimi take over

      At that very moment Punk Rock became a rising genre and very soon it's more well behaved sibling, called New Wave, began emerging.  Punk had no difficulty finding an audience, bands like Generation X, The Clash, & The Sex Pistols played to packed houses nightly.  However, their music had difficulty finding a home on broadcast outlets.  New Wave, being a  tamer brand of music, became the radio staple and were dominated by bands like The Cars, Blondie, The Talking Heads, and The Pretenders.  Musicians like Billy Idol & The Clash moved on from their punk roots and joined the new pop movement.  
       Into this mix walked a man named  Declan Patrick MacManus who had, quite understandably, changed his name to Elvis Costello.  **"Costello took his pseudonym from his father's stage name (Day Costello) & Elvis Presley".  He sported Buddy Holly glasses and sang in a medium high scratchy tenor.  Before the release of today's feature, he had a hit with the song Watching The Detectives.  Detectives is a really cool song.  It's the noir story of a man who kills his wife for his mistress and the investigation that ensues.  The mistress is so cold hearted that she actually files her nails while the police are dragging the lake looking for the wife's body. Performed to a slow reggae beat the song features a James Bond guitar under Costello's smart and extremely effective lyrics.

Watching The Detectives
"She looks so good that
he gets down and begs"

       Despite not including Watching The Detectives, Costellos first album, entitled My Aim Is True, was well recieved. Costello then released his next album entitled This Years Model and leading off on that album is today's featured song Radio Radio.  The song addresses the end of independent radio and the rise of coporate controlled media.  Costello had a strong rebellious side and he admitted it in the song when he said "I want to bite the hand that feeds me, I want to bite that hand so badly".  He called the record and radio execs fools who only wanted to play safe music that avoided anti-social or rebellious lyrics or attitudes.  This was a reflection of the times.  In 1978 the rise of the conservative movement had started to reel in the sex, drugs, and rock and roll attitude that was prevelent in first world societies at that time.  Whether that is a good thing or not is a matter of opinion  but  Costello's opinion seemed to be that it was not a good thing at all and he was not going to "do as you are told".  As a musician he felt that "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 anesthetize the way that you feel".  Today's video actually shows what Costello meant when he sang  the lyric "The radio is in the hands of lots of silly men" instead of  "The radio is in the hands of such a lot of fools".  
      I guess even the most ardent rebels have limits...

                   Radio Radio

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Radio
**http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004845/bio