St. Vincent pays tribute to Elvis Costello

On Conan Monday night, St. Vincent tweaked one of live television's most notorious musical moments when singer-songwriter Annie Clark and company began their performance by launching into Elvis Costello's "Radio Radio."

On the December 17, 1977 episode of Saturday Night Live, musical guest Elvis Costello and the Attractions (a last-minute substitution for The Sex Pistols) began playing their song "Less Than Zero" before Costello cut the band short and said "I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen, there's no reason to do this song here" before ripping into the brand-new, unreleased "Radio Radio." Incensed at the uncleared substitution, producer Lorne Michaels banned Costello from SNL for the next 12 years.

After cutting short the Costello song, complete with Clark's word-for-word apology, St. Vincent then performed their own "Cheerleader," from last year's Critical Mob fave Strange Mercy.

This is not the first time Clark has tweaked the conventions of being a late night musical guest: last November on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, St. Vincent performed a ripping version of "She Is Beyond Good and Evil" by early '80s post-punk icons The Pop Group instead of one of her own songs.