Elvis Costello recalls the 1977 stunt that got him banned from SNL

Billboard

Costello's Dec. 17, 1977 abrupt switch to "Radio, Radio," which criticized the commercialization of broadcasting, led to him being banned from Saturday Night Live until 1989. "We did end up on Saturday Night Live," Costello said Monday in an interview with Apple Music's Zane Lowe. "And I just wanted them to remember us. I didn't really have anything against the show. I was more pissed off at being told what to play by the record company than I was NBC, truthfully. I can't remember whether I said what I was going to do, but I think I just said, 'Watch me.'"