Trivia / Elvis Costello

• Acclaimed Flop: Imperial Bedroom received high praise from publications such as NME, Rolling Stone, and The New York Times, but its three singles barely charted in the UK and didn't chart at all in the US, with the album only reaching #30 in the Billboard Albums Chart.
• Black Sheep Hit: EC has said that "Every Day I Write The Book" is his most overrated song.
• Creator Backlash:
  • Costello has expressed disappointment with Goodbye Cruel World. The liner notes to the 1995 reissue open with the sentence "Congratulations, you've just bought our worst album", but continue by explaining that he feels this way because the period in which it was made was marred by personal concerns and he chose the wrong approach to recording the songs. In 2004, he noted that:
  "Now, with the benefit of a little more distance, I am able to say that it is probably the worst record that I could have made of a decent bunch of songs."
  • He's urged radio stations to stop playing his song "Oliver's Army" because the lyrics include the N word.
  • He seems to view his debut single "Less Than Zero" as this. It's only appeared on one of his numerous best-of compilations, and he's made some unenthusiastic comments about it over the years (basically regretting what he considers a lack of subtlety in the song).
• Creator Breakdown:
  • While making Blood & Chocolate, Costello had just had a messy divorce, was going through some trouble with his backing band The Attractions, and was rumored to be drinking an absolutely heroic amount of alcohol to cope. It's one of his bitterest albums, and (to some) one of the most underrated. His marital difficulties also contributed to Goodbye Cruel World's bland '80s production. On the other hand, his problems also inspired much of the material on Imperial Bedroom, which many fans consider to be his masterpiece and many critics list as one of the greatest albums of all time.
  • The liner notes to his 1990's Rykodisc reissues explain a gradual story of Costello, married and advancing in his career, determined not to fall prey to the temptations and vices of pop stardom and failing miserably at it. Promiscuity, substance abuse (mainly amphetamines and alcohol) and occasional slip-ups like the Ray Charles slurring incident would follow him in the early years with the Attractions. His first marriage would deteriorate, as would his friendship with bassist Bruce Thomas; these incidents and circumstances would inform many of his songs in the eighties and influence much of his musical decision making (and the feel of many of his records), at least as far back as Get Happy!!, if not earlier.
• Fan Nickname: "The Other Elvis", another famous musician is referred to as simply "Elvis".
• Missing Episode:
  • In his memoirs he talks about finding the master tape of Joe Jackson's "Is She Really Going Out With Him?" at a recording studio he was working at. Since that song was often characterized as being In the Style of Costello, Costello decided to jokingly dub his own lead vocal to the backing track. Then after listening back to it, he promptly had the vocal track erased.
  • The Greatest Hits Album Extreme Honey was originally going to include a Cover Version of "Pop Life" with altered lyrics as its token new recording. Prince denied permission, so Costello constructed a new original song, "The Bridge I Burned", out of elements of his intended arrangement of "Pop Life" . If you know what you're looking for, there are some similarities in the final product, and the very first words sung in the song are still "pop life".
• What Could Have Been:
  • Costello was approached by R.E.M. to produce their third album, Fables of the Reconstruction, but he dropped out for unspecified reasons; production duties were ultimately taken up by Joe Boyd.
  • He agreed to produce They Might Be Giants' fourth album Apollo 18, but he was asked without Elektra asking the band, and the band declined due to wanting to produce the album themselves.
• Working Title:
  • Little Hitler, Girls! Girls! Girls!^note taken from an album by the original Elvis and The King of Belgium^note whom Costello allegedly resembled for This Year's Model. Costello used two of these later—"Two Little Hitlers" became a song on Armed Forces^note "Little Hitler" itself had already become a Nick Lowe song, and Girls! Girls! Girls! became a Greatest Hits compilation.
  • Emotional Fascism for Armed Forces. The phrase still appears on the album's innersleeve.
  • Idiophone for Brutal Youth.

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