Songfacts®:

• This song did not appear on the original 1982 Elvis Costello album, despite it sharing a title with the record. However, it does appear on as a bonus track on the 1994 CD re-issue.
• The song inspired the title of Bret Easton Ellis' novel Imperial Bedrooms, a sequel to Ellis' earlier novel Less Than Zero, whose title was borrowed from Costello's song "Less Than Zero." The author told the NME August 7, 2010: "Once I figured what (main character) Clay would be doing and realised it was a Hollywood novel, the main myth of Hollywood and how it runs on exploitation and that then I was going to delve into sexual exploitation, it was a no-brainer. I wanted to use an Elvis Costello song and boom - it was 'Imperial Bedroom,' I added the 's'. It was the perfect title."