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Post by dougs on Apr 14, 2018 5:02:48 GMT
How did we become an EJ fan?
I think that we did this years ago on the Hercules site but let's open it up to everyone here and now. How did you become an Elton John fan?
I always liked "Daniel" as a young kid and then thought "Bennie and the Jets" was the coolest sounding song but it was "Philadelphia Freedom" in the spring of 1975 that sold me! I loved the vocal by Elton and the bass from Dee the most. The song had more bounce to the ounce and had fills and support from everything from flutes to guitars to strings to horns and its tempo was just what I was into. I didn't really know it at the time but I was most into R&B flavoured rock music and "Philadelphia Freedom" was it. The 45-single also had the cool sleeve photo of Elton with Nigel, Dee, Davey, and Ray - the same one that was on the inside of CAPTAIN FANTASTIC AND THE BROWN DIRT COWBOY. What a cool looking cast of characters for a young kid like me at the time. When "Pinball Wizard" was next released to radio in Canada (and other places) right after "Philadelphia Freedom" I was an Elton John fan hook, line, & sinker. Plus, I couldn't turn on the radio without hearing everything Elton had done for the past 5 years!
Doug
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Post by BiteUrLip on Apr 14, 2018 5:33:28 GMT
Okay, I will share my story but only because we lost the material of the old board. So, my fandom started in about 2002, and slowly turned into bigger appreciation of Elton's music and music generally, and also made me write, play, record and produce my own music. Going more into details, I shall start from my childhood. I didn't know very much what was Elton - I knew "Crocodile Rock" and felt the la-la-la's annoying!  I saw The Lion King in a cinema which was probably my first movie theater experience. I liked Elton's music in it! In our apartment, there were a few cd's that I sometimes liked to play. There were three Phil Collins cd's, Auberge by Chris Rea, Crossing by Paul Young and so on. Also listened to some vinyls. The funny thing is, that although I really liked the recordings at home, I never had a plan to ask my parents to buy more! I just played those recordings sometimes. When I went to school, my interest towards music started to drop, maybe mostly because I was put pressure to go to learn about classical music, which wasn't much my thang. I just went to the lessons because I had to. But, in 2001 my father gave an Elton John compilation called Greatest Hits 1970-2002 to my mother as a Christmas gift, and that was a turning point. I remember listening to the songs in the car on the way back home from our cottage, and the first songs I remember really loving were "The One" and "Live Like Horses". At home it was pretty amusing to notify that hey, I'm actually using my stereos again!  I hadn't played anything in them in years. After 2001, my interest grew steadily. I started to love more songs from the compilation, and then bought slowly his albums and discovering other greats like The Beatles and Elvis Presley. In five years I became a hardcore fan. And now I am not only a huge Elton fan, I also love Bee Gees, Chris Rea, John Denver and many others. But more importantly, Elton encouraged me to make own music, and that's what I'm most grateful of. If I send a letter to him some day, I am going to thank him of it. |
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Post by dougs on Apr 15, 2018 2:00:12 GMT
BiteUrLip:
Yeah, "The One" is a very good song and it has almost become under-appreciated. It really has that classic Elton feel to it. When it came out it got massive airplay and then on the 1992, 1995, and 1997-98 world tours it became a real centrepiece of the concerts - done back-to-back with "Simple Life" whether as concert openers or placed within the set list. Great combo. Too bad that those songs are rarely or never played live anymore. "Live Like Horses" is a good one. I never hear it on the radio or hear anyone talk about it. Apparently not an easy one to play live?
Doug
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Post by rocketman on May 22, 2018 15:17:43 GMT
I bought Elton John's Greatest Hits and liked it well enough, but that wasn't what made me a fan, since it was the only album of his that I had. At that time, he was nothing more to me than any other artist I had heard. Then, a local AM (yes, AM) radio station had an Elton John Weekend. I was in my car and heard Honky Tonk Women played off of the 11-17-70 album. When Elton made that chicken-like sound at the very end, it really got my attention. This was an artist worth checking out further. So I started buying his catalog - Honky Chateau was first, I believe, then other albums. I was hooked further and further with each album I bought. By that time, Captain Fantastic was soon to be out, and that would be the first album I bought in 'real time' as it was released instead of back-buying his catalog.
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Post by dougs on May 25, 2018 18:40:00 GMT
rocketman:
Yeah, both AM and FM radio in Canada and the USA embraced Elton's music in those days (mid-70s). He obviously had mastered the art of AM pop music (eg. "Crocodile Rock") but FM embraced his more serious singer-songwriter efforts ("Indian Sunset" and Mona Lisa and Mad Hatters") plus his more rocking ("Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" and "Meal Ticket") songs as well.
In 1975 when you looked back and bought some of EJ's earlier releases, which one became your favourite?
You couldn't go two hours without hearing Elton on radio. I remember just scanning the AM dial and every scan (left to right on the dial) found an Elton song. This didn't happen occasionally, it happened every time! People forget and in the case of younger people, have never known how extraordinarily popular Elton was in the 70s.
Doug
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Post by Dr Johnny Fever on Jun 5, 2018 0:08:53 GMT
Well I've told this story a few times...so here goes again....way, way, way back in the black and white world of the late 60s early 70s...I used to stay sometimes at my Grandads and Nans house in the middle of nowhere....a young wet behind the ears kid of about 9-10 when I started to stay there....I had two cousin that lived down the road, but they were older than me and I didn't really get on with them...but through them I meet a girl about my age, called Karen and would knock about with her all the time...my cousins moved away...so there was just us in the end...I looked forward to seeing her and the same the other way around...and we really got on...so cutting to the chace....one day (and I remember it was like yesterday) she said "do you like Elton John?" ...me, who?..."he sings crocodile rock" ...oh, is that the one that goes la.la.la..."yes, that's it"....er, yes he's ok....wasn't blown away by this Elton bloke, but I did start to listen out for his songs on the radio (just for something else to talk about really)....as a family we didn't have money to spend on records....so it wasn't till I started work in the mid 70s that I went out and bought the GBYBR album on cassette, and I guess was blown away by it, it's not a album, you can put your finger on...as in it doesn't all sound the same...blues, reggae, rock and roll, ballads etc....and then started to buy back albums and any new albums that he put out...went to my first show in 82...and would see him every year after that...over 30 years of seeing him...and having found Karen on FB...I rang her up and thanked her for getting me into Elton...what a softly I am...
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Post by dougs on Jun 5, 2018 1:25:31 GMT
Dr John:
What a first concert of Elton's to see! Those 1982 JUMP UP! shows were high energy for sure. I had a blast at two of them. Where did you see EJ in 1982? Also, it sounds like you became a fan in the mid-70s; what did you think of BLUE MOVES when it came out?
Doug
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Post by Dr Johnny Fever on Jun 5, 2018 9:08:43 GMT
Yes, first show was a 82 one in Belgium, the one where the band came in in the afternoon and practice it, as a one off, I thought it was a brilliant show and my hands were so sore from clapping, with a young lad in front of me, not clapping once, with me thinking, how can he not clap?...turned out he taped the show, I guess a fan from 72 or whenever "Crocodile rock" was in the charts in the U.K....as for Bluemoves..I don't know, it was a long time ago and I've slept since then...I'd guess I was blown away by "Tonight"...I love wordy songs, ones that tell a story, or ones I can relate with...and think Bernie can really do that, when he puts his mind to it, "Indian sunset" is another one that springs to mind along with "Bullet in the gun of Robert Ford"...."Gypsy heart"...
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Post by rocketman on Jun 5, 2018 19:21:05 GMT
rocketman: Yeah, both AM and FM radio in Canada and the USA embraced Elton's music in those days (mid-70s). He obviously had mastered the art of AM pop music (eg. "Crocodile Rock") but FM embraced his more serious singer-songwriter efforts ("Indian Sunset" and Mona Lisa and Mad Hatters") plus his more rocking ("Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" and "Meal Ticket") songs as well. In 1975 when you looked back and bought some of EJ's earlier releases, which one became your favourite? You couldn't go two hours without hearing Elton on radio. I remember just scanning the AM dial and every scan (left to right on the dial) found an Elton song. This didn't happen occasionally, it happened every time! People forget and in the case of younger people, have never known how extraordinarily popular Elton was in the 70s. Doug Doug, thanks for the question...I especially liked Tumbleweed and Honky Chateau. I enjoyed DSM but it took me a while to appreciate songs like Blues For Baby, Have Mercy and Midnight Creeper. I also remember being pleasantly surprised by how enjoyable the Elton John album was because its somber, dark cover suggested an equally somber musical tone, but I found the album to be different in tone. I played GBYBR a lot too and loved it.
Yes, Elton was everywhere back then. I remember some of my friends almost tiring of him, but I couldn't get enough. I was aware of the possibility of over-saturation but I didn't care because I was just eating up everything.
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Post by dougs on Jun 5, 2018 23:41:20 GMT
rocketman:
Thanks for the journey back to the 70s!
You are so right about "over-saturation." It did impact on Elton and you could see it setting in by early 1976. The same thing happened to Queen in North America (not in other countries) after their 1980 THE GAME album. Massive millions of copies sold followed by a big decline in being cool, smaller concerts, and a big reduction in album sales. It happened to lots of artists over here; the backlash after the incredible rise to the top.
Elton's 1980s albums like TOO LOW FOR ZERO and BREAKING HEARTS and ICE ON FIRE charted much worse here and in the USA than in most other countries worldwide. People were hesitant to embrace his new music.
Doug
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I saw The Lion King in a cinema which was probably my first movie theater experience. I liked Elton's music in it!
I hadn't played anything in them in years.
