\
  The most prestigious law school admissions discussion board in the world.
BackRefresh Options Airdrop

If Elvis Costello didn't say "nigger" in Oliver's Army it would be on classic FM

...
Supple whorehouse
  07/21/26
hard agree
heady karate feces
  07/21/26
he actually called a well-respected black musician a nigger ...
Cracking Startling Black Woman
  07/21/26
it was ray charles btw
Cracking Startling Black Woman
  07/21/26
actually it was the other way around, they came at costello ...
Cracking Startling Black Woman
  07/21/26
ray charles LOL. that story is hilarious. he was drunk at a ...
heady karate feces
  07/21/26
it's hard to imagine now in our context but Costello was bal...
Cracking Startling Black Woman
  07/21/26
i said this the other day but his first 3 (maybe 4) albums a...
heady karate feces
  07/21/26
tbh I enjoyed all of his stuff up to Spike which is awful im...
Cracking Startling Black Woman
  07/21/26
He got a shitload more success than 95% of punk acts. He had...
Supple whorehouse
  07/21/26
yeah and that's why he's able to do his folksy Americana-jaz...
Cracking Startling Black Woman
  07/21/26
Yeah his dad was a professional musician and he grew up in t...
Supple whorehouse
  07/21/26
rock music is derived from american blues musicians. all roc...
Cracking Startling Black Woman
  07/21/26
Yes but the essence of punk was that you got rid of guitar s...
Supple whorehouse
  07/21/26
...
Cracking Startling Black Woman
  07/21/26
He was really uninterested in America and never bothered to ...
Supple whorehouse
  07/21/26
wasn't he like a single dad or something? he basically was U...
Cracking Startling Black Woman
  07/21/26
He was super talented and high functioning but also very pro...
Supple whorehouse
  07/21/26
The Attractions were an incredible band in their own right t...
Cracking Startling Black Woman
  07/21/26
Yeah they became legendary studio musicians
Supple whorehouse
  07/21/26
Don't start that talking I could talk all night My mind wa...
Irradiated rambunctious point
  07/21/26
great song. really spoke to me as an expat.
richard clock
  07/21/26


Poast new message in this thread



Reply

Date: July 21st, 2026 6:27 PM
Author: Supple whorehouse



(https://xoxohth.com/thread.php?thread_id=5884867&forum_id=2#50015150)



Reply

Date: July 21st, 2026 6:32 PM
Author: heady karate feces

hard agree

(https://xoxohth.com/thread.php?thread_id=5884867&forum_id=2#50015158)



Reply

Date: July 21st, 2026 6:33 PM
Author: Cracking Startling Black Woman

he actually called a well-respected black musician a nigger irl (can't remember who) and then some American Scumbag retorted by calling him a "sawed-off limey" (lol) and it tarnished his career quite a bit iirc.

(https://xoxohth.com/thread.php?thread_id=5884867&forum_id=2#50015162)



Reply

Date: July 21st, 2026 6:35 PM
Author: Cracking Startling Black Woman

it was ray charles btw

(https://xoxohth.com/thread.php?thread_id=5884867&forum_id=2#50015170)



Reply

Date: July 21st, 2026 6:37 PM
Author: Cracking Startling Black Woman

actually it was the other way around, they came at costello first and then he dropped the N-bomb so kinda justified

(https://xoxohth.com/thread.php?thread_id=5884867&forum_id=2#50015175)



Reply

Date: July 21st, 2026 6:37 PM
Author: heady karate feces

ray charles LOL. that story is hilarious. he was drunk at a holiday inn in ohio in the 70s. absolutely goated dude.

(https://xoxohth.com/thread.php?thread_id=5884867&forum_id=2#50015176)



Reply

Date: July 21st, 2026 6:38 PM
Author: Cracking Startling Black Woman

it's hard to imagine now in our context but Costello was ballsy as fuck back then.

(https://xoxohth.com/thread.php?thread_id=5884867&forum_id=2#50015182)



Reply

Date: July 21st, 2026 6:41 PM
Author: heady karate feces

i said this the other day but his first 3 (maybe 4) albums are 10/10, god tier rock. he fell off so bad after that. almost as bad as weezer after pinkerton.

(https://xoxohth.com/thread.php?thread_id=5884867&forum_id=2#50015189)



Reply

Date: July 21st, 2026 6:50 PM
Author: Cracking Startling Black Woman

tbh I enjoyed all of his stuff up to Spike which is awful imo. yeah it's pretentious and overworked but I get it. if you are making a living as an artist you don't want to keep doing the same shit over and over.

(https://xoxohth.com/thread.php?thread_id=5884867&forum_id=2#50015212)



Reply

Date: July 21st, 2026 7:02 PM
Author: Supple whorehouse

He got a shitload more success than 95% of punk acts. He had big sales in the US even though he wasn't touring here. A lot of it was driven by positive reviews from music critics, who fell in love with him. He ended up with a bunch of singles that charted and he got rich off royalties, and then older musicians wanted to collaborate with him. Like I think he wrote Veronica with Paul McCartney. All that shit never never happened to The Clash or the Ramones

(https://xoxohth.com/thread.php?thread_id=5884867&forum_id=2#50015245)



Reply

Date: July 21st, 2026 7:07 PM
Author: Cracking Startling Black Woman

yeah and that's why he's able to do his folksy Americana-jazz retirement act now, kinda like Robert Plant.

Costello and his band were a lot more musically proficient than the typical "punk" band. Like dude could actually sing and play an instrument, while the Clash basically had a good bassist carrying the whole thing,

(https://xoxohth.com/thread.php?thread_id=5884867&forum_id=2#50015251)



Reply

Date: July 21st, 2026 7:23 PM
Author: Supple whorehouse

Yeah his dad was a professional musician and he grew up in the studio, so he had Jimmy Page level of understanding but without Jimmy Page's taste in music.

What I find interesting is how American his early stuff is. A lot of it could have been done by the Ronettes or the Beach Boys. He did the same thing the Ramones were trying to do but with top notch musicians and producers. He must have listened to that stuff and knew when to borrow from it, but didn't want to make a career out of it

(https://xoxohth.com/thread.php?thread_id=5884867&forum_id=2#50015276)



Reply

Date: July 21st, 2026 7:28 PM
Author: Cracking Startling Black Woman

rock music is derived from american blues musicians. all rock music is essentially american. the British tradition would be more like English Music Hall which you can clearly hear in the Beatles and the Kinks. the Rolling Stones were essentially doing a minstrel act at times lol.

(https://xoxohth.com/thread.php?thread_id=5884867&forum_id=2#50015287)



Reply

Date: July 21st, 2026 7:37 PM
Author: Supple whorehouse

Yes but the essence of punk was that you got rid of guitar solos and the focus on individual musicians that came with the British invasion. Those weren't native to America, and they had a corrupting effect. The Beatles themselves are not blamed for this, but later British acts brought this kind of foreign taint where the drummer does a 10 minute solo at every concert.

If you look at who wrote good punk songs, Dee Dee Ramone is probably the king in terms of raw number of melodies that got stuck in people's heads, and he was yugely obsessed with the beach boys. I think he probably should also get credit for doing it first. But I don't begrudge English acts that immediately seized the opportunity to do the same thing. EC as a songwriter is probably the only other songwriter from that era that runs with Dee Dee Ramone in terms of quantity and quality of melodies. It would have been 180 if Dee Dee Ramone did an album with Paul McCartney

(https://xoxohth.com/thread.php?thread_id=5884867&forum_id=2#50015300)



Reply

Date: July 21st, 2026 8:22 PM
Author: Cracking Startling Black Woman



(https://xoxohth.com/thread.php?thread_id=5884867&forum_id=2#50015390)



Reply

Date: July 21st, 2026 6:38 PM
Author: Supple whorehouse

He was really uninterested in America and never bothered to learn anything about it. He was laser focused on the UK and had UK white trash sensibilities. Even in his later years he would joke about "pygmies". There just never was never a time when he gave a fuck what Americans think of him.

(https://xoxohth.com/thread.php?thread_id=5884867&forum_id=2#50015179)



Reply

Date: July 21st, 2026 6:41 PM
Author: Cracking Startling Black Woman

wasn't he like a single dad or something? he basically was UK white trash but obviously a lot smarter and more talented.

(https://xoxohth.com/thread.php?thread_id=5884867&forum_id=2#50015187)



Reply

Date: July 21st, 2026 6:45 PM
Author: Supple whorehouse

He was super talented and high functioning but also very provincial.

Funny story: his backing band on his first album is The News minus Huey Lewis. They were all American. Then Elvis Costello fired them and went on tour with English musicians he hand selected. The News was a good fucking band (obviously), but they were American so he probably couldn't relate to them

(https://xoxohth.com/thread.php?thread_id=5884867&forum_id=2#50015200)



Reply

Date: July 21st, 2026 6:47 PM
Author: Cracking Startling Black Woman

The Attractions were an incredible band in their own right though, especially bass and drums.

(https://xoxohth.com/thread.php?thread_id=5884867&forum_id=2#50015203)



Reply

Date: July 21st, 2026 6:55 PM
Author: Supple whorehouse

Yeah they became legendary studio musicians

(https://xoxohth.com/thread.php?thread_id=5884867&forum_id=2#50015222)



Reply

Date: July 21st, 2026 6:35 PM
Author: Irradiated rambunctious point

Don't start that talking

I could talk all night

My mind was sleepwalking

While I'm putting the world to right

Call careers information

Have you got yourself an occupation?

Oliver's army is here to stay

Oliver's army are on their way

And I would rather be anywhere else

But here today

There was a Checkpoint Charlie

He didn't crack a smile

But it's no laughing party

When you've been on the murder mile

Only takes one itchy trigger

One more widow, one less white nigger

Oliver's Army is here to stay

Oliver's army are on their way

And I would rather be anywhere else

But here today

Hong Kong is up for grabs

London is full of Arabs

We could be in Palestine

Overrun by the Chinese line

With the boys from the Mersey and the Thames and the Tyne

But there's no danger

It's a professional career

Though it could be arranged

With just a word in Mr. Churchill's ear

If you're out of luck or out of work

We could send you to Johannesburg

Oliver's Army is here to stay

Oliver's army are on their way

And I would rather be anywhere else

But here today

And I would rather be anywhere else

But here today

And I would rather be anywhere else

But here today

Oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh

Oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh

(https://xoxohth.com/thread.php?thread_id=5884867&forum_id=2#50015167)



Reply
Solana
HdCkeCbtRd5mwddmuuZPCbCjdpRWDeriZYAzWixg1dkC
₿ Bitcoin
3FyqsMaUNBTpopSbjZvW8D7rWvpmdzbzsP
Ξ Ethereum
0xCE955F7F2A24fB8A7c3cd6F115F65E016c785EC8


Date: July 21st, 2026 7:29 PM
Author: richard clock

great song. really spoke to me as an expat.

(https://xoxohth.com/thread.php?thread_id=5884867&forum_id=2#50015288)