The only genre Elvis Costello couldn’t stand: “These people are ludicrous”
From the very beginning of Elvis Costello’s career, during his Stiff Records punk rebellion, he always seemed to cast a wider sonic net than any of his contemporaries, embracing a wealth of different genres and refusing to nail himself to one specific sound. As it turns out, though, that doesn’t mean that he views all genres as equals.
Costello might have risen through the ranks during the punk age, but he never particularly subscribed to the idea that music’s past should be torn down in favour of this new generation of abrasive rock and roll. After all, the songwriter had been raised by a healthy diet of old-school soul, rock ‘n’ roll, and the kind of life-affirming sounds that were being broadcast from pirate radio stations back in the 1970s.
Even on his debut album, My Aim Is True, you get a sense of just how broad a music taste Costello is drawing from, and that spirit only expanded as his discography developed. At the same time, though, there were certainly artists and scenes which never endeared themselves to the songwriter, including, it would seem, his namesake.
“I didn’t hear Elvis Presley until about 1962 when a neighbour brought over ‘It’s Now or Never’,” the songwriter recalled to The Big Issue in 2018. Now, if Elvis Costello’s life were a cheesy Hollywood biopic, the moment that the needle hit the grooves of Presley’s 1960 single would be the moment that something clicked inside the head of a young Declan Patrick MacManus; his whole life path suddenly dictated by the sounds emanating from the speakers.
Costello’s life, however, is not a cheesy Hollywood biopic. “I thought it was fucking terrible,” he decalred. Explaining, “Can you imagine how square that sounds to a nine-year-old?”
Admittedly, ‘It’s Now or Never’ can hardly be considered among Presley’s greatest work, even if it was one of his best-selling singles. Seemingly, though, it was the track’s country music twang which rubbed Costello the wrong way.
“I can’t stand country music anymore,” he declared. “Are you kidding me? Mainstream country music is the worst music I’ve ever heard in my life.” Adding, “These people are ludicrous.” Although the songwriter didn’t explicitly explain why he harbours such an intense detest for modern country music, you would have to assume it goes back to ‘It’s Now or Never’ and its phoney country atmosphere, employed solely to sell records.
True country music, on the other hand, with all its grassroots honesty and emotive nature, has been a constant companion for Costello throughout his career. His 1981 record Almost Blue, for instance, is endlessly indebted to the authentic sounds of country music, including covers of tracks originally recorded by the likes of Hank Williams.
Elvis Presley, on the other hand, never had quite the same country authenticity as somebody like Williams, and even at nine-years-old, Elvis Costello could see through that façade. According to the songwriter, though, there are countless modern-day artists and, indeed, audiences, who are content with consuming this substanceless version of the timeless country sound.
