I spent much of my teenage years being pissy and rebellious. Not pissy in the emo way, or rebellious in the cool way, just a little dissatisfied and willing to espouse my contrarian beliefs to anyone who would listen. I was also a bit of a nerd, which makes it logical that my closest musical doppelganger was Elvis Costello.
Bursting on the scene with unironic black-framed glasses, Costello wrapped up his anger in searing wit and Americana-saturated pop rock. If, at 15, I was as awesome as Costello (and as interested in him as I am now), this is the album I would have written. Unfortunately, I wasn’t, and therefore I can only observe the unaged pop brilliance he displays in songs like “Miracle Man,” “Watching the Detectives” and “Alison.”
Costello, a Brit, effortlessly embodied three decades of American musical tradition and helped usher in the golden age of punk and new wave. Perhaps his greatest accomplishment, however, was his ability to empower angry nerds 20 years before Marilyn Manson could only try to do the same.
