Elton John

The BBQ Pit
61

Captain Amazing and Gravity, no one else seems willing to step up to the plate to do this for you, so I will: I wish for both of you that a battallion of good-looking gay men will swarm all over you and kiss you into submission. Do you feel better now? :slight_smile:

As for the OP, there are so many truly bad musicians getting rich, couldn’t you have found someone more deserving of your scorn? You might not like his music, but, echoing sentiments already seen here, one does not garner a track record like Sir Elton’s if one has no talent!

I was fortunate enough to see Elton John and Billy Joel on the Rocket Man Meets The Piano Man tour. My SIL is a huge Elton John fan, and stood in line all night to get good tickets for four of us. Our seats were so close to the stage that we could, with the help of binoculars, see the playlist taped to the front of EJ’s piano. The concert totally kicked ass!!

Yes, by all means let’s save our respect for drug addicts who can’t afford the drugs and have to resort to violent crime, shall we?:wally

62

The idea that Elton John just writes pop tunes is ridiculous. Consider:

Funeral for a Friend — a classical dirge that changes keys from C-minor (harmonic) to A via an unusual diminished F with a suspended 4th.

Holiday Inn — a spectacular tour-de-force of time signatures, from 5/8 to 7/12.

I’ve Seen the Saucers — the only “pop” song I’ve ever heard that was entirely chromatic.

Ticking — a piano masterpiece so compellingly played that the lone instrument sounds like an orchestra.

Gosh, there are so many examples of innovation and musical genius in his work that I could be here all day enumerating them.

In the documentary Two Rooms, I watched him compose Tiny Dancer. It was breathtaking to see him work. He had a whole stack of lyrics from Bernie on his piano. He picked up the top sheet and put it alone in front of him. He read the poem silently as he swayed a bit back and forth.

Suddenly, he looked up at the camera as though talking directly to us. “Well, this is obviously a ballad, not a rock and roll song. Blue jean baby… Seamstress for the band… And it’s cleverly written… Handing tickets out for God… And now she’s in me, always with me…”

He positioned one hand over the keys, and blocked out a few chords, humming as he played. Here and there, he would sing a whole phrase. When he got to the chorus, he started playing something unfamiliar, and then he stopped.

“No!” he said, “This needs to build up.”

And then he proceeded to block out the chords of the famous bridge. “But oh, how it feels so real… Lying here, with no one near… Only you… And you can hear me… When I say softly… Slowly…”

Suddenly, his left hand joined in, and he unleashed the full harmonies that are so familiar in this beautiful song. It was as though he could hear in his head what should come next. He lifted his head, having already memorized the words, singing at the ceiling while his voice blended with the rich piano. “Hold me closer Tiny Dancer… Count the headlights on the highway… Lay me down in sheets of linen… You had a busy day today…”

It was the most incredible thing I’d ever seen. Ultimately, he tweaked the phrasing a bit, and added an intro and whatnot, but the essence of the song was finished in about fifteen minutes.

Anyone who does not concede that he is a musical genius is a musical idiot.

63

I love Elton John’s music, myself. I’m the one who cackled like a fiend, able to pick up a second-hand copy of Leather Jackets (“At last! At last!”), and still out looking for The Fox, to name just those.

No, I like him. He went too commercial for a while there, so it seemed, but his older stuff is superb.

I quite frankly don’t care what he looks like now.

64

What galled me was that IIRC he didn’t even fucking write it - Bernie(?) wrote the new lyrics. So he didn’t write any music or any words for Diana, he just did a crap, maudlin performance of it in a bizarre Geordie accent.

“You were the greee-ace that pleee-aced itself…”

65

You and people like you spit on Diana. She loved Elton John.

He’s not a lyricist. He selected Candle in the Wind because montages of Diana with that song had already been showing in England for two days. He didn’t even have time to rehearse it before his performance was cleared with the Queen and the Abbey. He risked blowing the lyrics in front of a billion people, since he had sung it with the old lyrics for decades. And after singing it for Diana, he retired it, never performed it again, and gave proceeds from its sales to her charity. About $30,000,000. He single-handedly launched her foundation.

How much did you give? Asshole.

66

Libertarian, you’re not Elton’s publicist. You’re not his booking agent or his official biographer. You’re not his roadie, his manager, nor anyone that has any vested interest in Elton’s good name.

You like and respect him. Fair enough. Others don’t. Stop taking insults directed at him so damn personally.

67

You can say that his fake hair looks goofy. You can say that he’s said and done some stupid things. You can even say that from time to time he made certain compromises in his music.

But say that he is a talentless hack, or that he shortchanged Diana, or that his performances are crap — say those things and you are an ignorant moron. And I will jump down your throat with facts that prove you wrong.

Stop interfering with the Straight Dope mission.

68

JFTR, Libertarian speaks for me in every detail (except for those I had not known before he posted them here).

69

For me as well.

70

Here in NZ, we have what’s called the “Tall Poppy Syndrome”. It’s where the very good, the great, those who manage to get their head and shoulders up above the mediocrity around them, risk getting ripped down and stuck on the compost heap as yesterday’s rubbish for daring to be a cut above the rest in any field.

I can’t stand the Tall Poppy Syndrome. If someone entertains, adds to the shades of joy which, at times, are bloody hard to find – then let them be themselves.

The Elton John detractors can go get knotted. I’m with Libertarian too.

71

For my money, Elton has pretty much sucked since about “I’m Still Standing.”

Talentless? No.
Hack? For the most part, no (although he has pumped out a lot of mediocre tunes from time to time).
Lost his flair and seems more like a Vegas lounge act for the last decade or so? I’d say so.

I love his '70’s stuff. It’s melodic, it rocks, it’s poignant, he sounds great … but once the 80’s hit, he got too formulaic for my tastes. Now he seems to care more about causes than his music. Which is fine. But it doesn’t really make for very memorable music from him.

72

Elton John is a respectable musician. His hair, his glasses or sexual preference I could care less about.

73

I have one thing to say on Elton/Reg’s behalf.

Does anyone remember Ryan White, the kid who got HIV from a blood tranfusion? Elton makes hospital visits on occasion (probably due to the Diana influence; half her job seemed to be visiting sick kids). For some reason, maybe his knowledge that he could have met a similar fate, and not from a blood transfusion either, he started devoting himself to the White family’s welfare.

It’s expensive as hell to die of AIDS, especially when you had a medical condition to begin with, and when you’re a kid with siblings who also have to be supported by your parents. Elton had/has more money than god, but he also has a sense of propriety that told him the parents wouldn’t accept a donation outright. Still, he found a lot of ways to smooth things out. “You’re too tired to drive; I’ll have my car brought around.” “Here’s my phone card; call Grandma. Heck, call anyone in Indiana.” “You must not have had time to eat; I’ve ordered Chinese for everyone, including the medical staff.” I have no doubt that all that made a difference, and since it was all in the context of “favors”, there was no sense of being beholden.

(Incidentally, our guy MJ was also a visitor, but as soon as the photographers left, so did he.)

74

Thanks, Rilchiam. I knew that Elton had been helpful to Ryan, but I didn’t know those details. He has a heart as vast as his talent.

75

Elton’s not my cup of tea, but only a fool can call him a talentless hack. Few artists were nearly as successful or influential in the 70’s. That’s verifiable.

I doubt there’s even one of us hasn’t gleefully hummed or sung at least one Elton John song.

76

I’m thinking about one of the last Lennon interviews–it stuck in my mind, but it’s far from a direct quote: the interviewer asked him how he felt about someone’s music, I want to say Madonna, and John made an analogy to a furniture builder–something along the lines of, “I can look at a chair and appreciate the quality of the craft and effort that went into making it, but that doesn’t mean I’d have it in my living room!”.
That’s how I feel about a lot of Elton’s work.
I like the very early stuff best–when he replaced the electric guitar with a grand piano in a rock power trio!
–Alan Q

77

Ummmmmm :dubious: . . . . Never mind.

78

AAAAAAAAKKK!

It’s happened again!

Who bumped this thread?

I see.

May I ask why you needed to bump it?

See, some of us are driven crazy by this.

Please, never do it again.

79

[best soothing voice]Shhhhh. There, there, masonite. Look. It was a newbie; an alien creature unfamiliar with our ways. I’m sure that what happened was he stumbled upon the boards, and in his enthusiasm has been reading everything, including the really old threads, and doesn’t realize that this drives some of us crazy. Now, take your pills and get in bed and it will be all better by morning.[/best soothing voice]

80

Thanks, I needed that. :smiley: