Sabotage(d)...

25th Anniversary of SNL had the Beastie Boys as the musical guests. High praise for the 'Boys, but somewhat auspicious for musics fans. Imagine the delight when watching this, seeing Elvis Costello jump on and crank "Radio, Radio" with the Beastie Boys.

A little background for you... in 1977, Costello and the Attractions were slated to play on SNL, but NBC deemed the chosen song "Radio Radio" too subversive for airplay at the time. So, the band was told to perform "Less than Zero," which they did. Of course, owing to their Punk roots, they stopped a few bars in. Costello famously stated, "...I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen, there's no reason to do this song here... (particularly due to the UK-pointed nature of the lyrics of "Zero")" then launched into "Radio Radio."

This act banned Elvis Costello from SNL for 12 years. Yes, apparently you can get banned from SNL. Hence, the breaking back onto the stage and singing the song that once had him banned was totally cool. Of course, the song was not without it's flaws. The noticeable slowdown in the bridge was lamentable, but understandable... the Beastie Boys are not The Attractions.


Rock on,
-om