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NEW YORK — "Some people tell me I should calm down, be patient and hope for the best," says Elvis Costello, one of rock 'n' roll's faster-rising stars. "But I'm not prepared to play the game that way."
Costello looks meek and mild-mannered, but with two critically-acclaimed albums, My Aim Is True and This Year's Model, already under his belt, he has a bad-boy image with the press that just won't go away — especially when he keeps destroying guitars on stage or stomping off because the sound system isn't just right.
"It's all been exaggerated," says Costello in one of the few interviews he has given to the press. He doesn't care for the press in general, and he likes American reporters, in particular, even less.
"1 avoid journalists because most of them lack the imagination to grasp anything but the most obvious or foremost aspects of a personality," he says. "They grab part of what you say and turn you into a cardboard figure.
"Sure there's anger in my songs. Young people today are angry. Dreams don't seem to be coming true for anybody anymore. We want so much, and the world has suddenly gone to sleep. But there are other emotions in my songs, too. I'm extremely irate about some things, but it's pointless to be irate about everything. Perpetual rage loses its impact. It's like someone who goes around grouching all the time. Pretty soon, you don't want to be around him."
For someone who was working as a computer technician less than two years ago, the 23-year-old singer and songwriter has enjoyed a remarkable rise. His two albums did much better in sales than anyone predicted.
Still, Costello is working hard at broadening his audience.
"I'm not a punk rocker who only appeals to a small group of people," Costello states. "I'm a mainstream rock and roller who just wants to get all the pap off the radio and get some more rock back on."
Though Costello's style is far more musical and accessible than the Sex Pistols and other new wave British bands, there is an energy and vitality to it that has caused many — especially radio programmers — to think of Costello as part of the punk movement.
Costello, though, says he's more like Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Van Morrison than the punkers.
He and his band, the Attractions, are also as capable of having fun as any group of young rockers. Steve Young, the Attractions' keyboard player, bought a security guard's uniform while the group was in Hollywood and played guard to the rest of the group whenever they went out in public.
Costello, whose real name is Declan Patrick MacManus, is the son of jazz musician and he didn't think much about a pop career until he was well into his teens. Armed with dozens of songs, he made the rounds of various British record companies. He was turned down repeatedly.
Finally, Stiff Records took a chance with Costello, and they made his first album for the astonishingly low cost of $3500.
The anger in Costello's music is mostly against apathy, and against people who give in too easily when it comes to letting the state take care of everything for them.
"It's real encouraging when people come up and say they enjoy the music," says Costello. "I get real strength from that. I don't want to be just a cult band, I want to reach everyone. I can't do that until the radio stations begin to play my music.
"That's why I wrote "Radio, Radio," attacking the guys who run the stations for giving us the same kind of music hour after hour. There's no spirit in radio today. I want to break down the formats and the formulas, so you don't have to listen to just disco or that heavy metal rubbish.
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