Veteran songwriter and rock icon Elvis Costello had choice words for music critics who are reviewing his work.
Around the time Costello released King of America and Blood and Chocolate, he was asked about contemporary reviews of his albums. It’s safe to say Costello was no fan of the criticism of the times, with a particular review from an unnamed journalist singled out as an example of how some may “infer” meaning where there is none. Speaking at the time about the readings into his work, Costello called it “outrageous” that some could see his songwriting as telling signs of alleged alcoholism or trouble at home. Costello denied both in an interview back in 1986, where he also slammed the quality of music journalism at the time.
He said: “It should shut up and listen. Still, the press must be more than just an information channel because there’s such a lot of terrible stuff put out that shouldn’t go uncriticized. But the press tends to imagine itself much more importantly than it actually is and occasionally behaves in an outrageously presumptuous way. My new album was recently reviewed in England.
“This guy hated the record but he wouldn’t just leave it at that. He went on to worry about my troubled mental state, my artistic block and my troubled love life. I haven’t got any trouble in my love life. Over the past couple of years, my marriage reached an unhappy level. I failed in keeping that relationship going, but hopefully nobody has lost and she and I will be stronger apart than we were together. And I love Cait very much, so I’m not unhappy and I’m not an alcoholic. I can drink a lot when I want to. I don’t take any drugs. That London critic’s review didn’t just infer these things — he stated them as though they were fact.”
Costello’s read on the music world is perhaps far stronger than most would give him credit, with the Pump It Up hitmaker once defending Olivia Rodrigo for using samples from his song. Some had called out Rodrigo for using a sample of Pump It Up on her song, Brutal. But Costello sprung to her defence and shared why artists should be free to use what they want, when they can.
Costello told The Times: “That’s too silly to talk about. Well, I met Olivia and she was lovely. I said, ‘Look, this is just a riff,’ and how could I be arrogant enough to sue on the basis of originality when my song is based on Subterranean Homesick Blues? Did Bob Dylan sue me? He teased me about it but didn’t sue. And did Chuck Berry sue Bob because his song was like Too Much Monkey Business?”
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