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The 1970s in Britain was a decade of unemployment, labour unrest and massive inflation. In short, a breeding ground for pissed off youth with no money, no hope and a hell of a lot of time on their hands.
The decade of discontent spilled into the music world as big, bombastic rock bands grew physically distant from their fans as they played larger and larger arena shows. People began for searching something that spoke to their anger and frustration.
Enter snarly, stripped down sounds played by guys named Rat Scabies and Johnny Rotten and women like Poly Styrene.
It was in this world that Declan McManus toiled in pub rock bands around London. He was a suburban dad who dreamed of getting his break in the music biz as he slaved at his day job as a computer operator at Elizabeth Arden.
That break came by way of the freshly minted Stiff Records, a label that defied labelling. Stiff founders Jake Riviera and Dave Robinson saw in McManus a talented musician and songwriter, but a guy in need of a makeover. They gave him Buddy Holly glasses with the instructions “don’t f—ing take them off.” They dressed him in a narrow lapelled suit jacket and rolled stovepipe jeans. And they christened him with a new name because, according to McManus himself, the moniker Declan evoked images of “a guy in a cable-knit sweater singing whaling songs.” The year was 1977 and Elvis Costello was born.
In his new book, titled Elvis is King: Costello’s My Aim is True, film critic, Metro columnist and Costello super fan Richard Crouse details the making of the musician and his debut album. The book is a snapshot of a turbulent time in Britain’s music history. Through the book, Crouse examines Costello’s stylistic songwriting but, like most fans, is reticent to pigeonhole the singer-songwriter into one musical category. Instead, he analyzes the individual tracks and links them to the time and Costello’s own life.
“I can honestly say that probably a week hasn’t gone by since I first heard that record that I haven’t listened to at least part of it,” says Crouse in a recent interview. “Welcome to the Working Week is a song that gets played in the house at least once a day.”
Crouse was a 14-year-old in Liverpool, N.S. when his brother brought him My Aim is True.
“When I listen to this album, I’m immediately transported back to a very specific time in my life. My mom was ill for the entire time I was growing up and she died when I was 15 years old. I was this kid who was at home watching this woman who I adored get sicker and sicker and there wasn’t going to be a magic cure that came along and it pissed me off. And this record was the sound of my anger in a lot of ways,” he says.
In the book, Crouse writes of the album, “‘joy is fleeting’ seems to be Costello’s overarching message here.”
Indeed, Costello taps a universal truth: Life is hard and unfair, but you have to keep rockin’ on.
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