Thread: Elton John

Like others of my age, Elton John wasn't an obvious listen. He was already sort of past his prime when Too Low for Zero came out in my early childhood. I was around 9 or 10 and she played that record all the time. I loved it.

Then later I heard Rocket Man and that's a freaking banger. It was sorta Pink Floyd -esque.

Then I borrowed a Goodbye Yellow Brick Road cassette from my grandma and grandpa. I actually didn't get super into the whole album despite how good every song is, apparently. I just listened to the title song a whole bunch as well as Grey Seal.

I've heard all the hits. Never really hit home like they do with others. Candle in the Wind was always a great song, but has always felt too "adult contemporary" for me. I liked them plenty, but was more into "my own thing."

Anyways, I am now doing a deep dive into Elton's deeper cuts. But instead of doing it album-wise, I've made a more concise list that's sort of an Elton Box set like the Led Zep box set. And I like that idea because his band was an evolving who's who of exceptional talent at the position.

I pulled from a super-recent episode of Tastes Like Music doing their top 10 Elton John songs (x3 dudes) and then pulling from popular songs in the comments (peeps submitted their own lists and I pulled the ones that kept getting mentioned).

So here's the list on Spotify. It's 50 songs, all the bangers (except Don't Go Breaking My Heart) but mainly deeper cuts that are loved by devotees.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6c...f4b67f70054b9a

(in no order)

Love Song
Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters
Mellow
Susie (Dramas)
Rocket Man
Honky Cat
Street Kids
Candle in the Wind
Your Song
Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding
The Ballad of Danny Bailey
Tower of Babel
Fanfare/Chloe
Come Down in Time
Grey Seal
Sugar on the Floor
Curtains
Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me
Pinky
Ticking
I've Seen That Movie Too
Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy
The Bitch is Back
Harmony
Bitter Fingers
Tiny Dancer
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Someone Saved My Life Tonight
Step into Christmas
Salvation
Tell Me When the Whistle Blows
My Father's Gun
I've Seen the Saucers
Levon
Amoreena
Ego
Take Me to the Pilot
Daniel
So Sad the Renegade
Saturday Night's Alright
Meal Ticket
I Think I'm Going To Kill Myself
Sweet Painted Lady
Madman Across the Water
Country Comfort
Bennie and the Jets
Crocadile Rock
I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues
I'm Still Standing
Kiss the Bride

So, I'd love to hear thoughts on Elton John. Maybe some notable cuts I missed. Or even someone else like me to dig in and find out if he's all that good or it's just not that impressive.

Never did much of a deep dive with John, love Rocket Man and Saturday Nights Alright for Fighting a lot though. Im sure he has a few others i enjoy though from his early years. I remember him most during the 80's and remember my baby sitter taking me to the drive in to see Tommy in which he makes an appearance. Either way, class guy and i guess i should address him as SIR Elton John. Definitely allows other artist to have fun with his music though.

He’s an icon. But never resonated with me.

Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding is a proggy ballad/banger that might be his best song ever.

It hit about 7 months after Dark Side of the Moon, and it def has those stoner/psychedelic rock vibes, Elton Style.

Fun fact: Elton John was directly responsible for Alice in Chains.

How the original 1971 recording of Elton John's "Goodbye" inspired Cantrell to record his own version for Brighten

"Listen to how much emotion and drama is in a minute-and-46-seconds song. That's what turned me on to music when I was a kid. And the first artist that I had that connection with was Elton John. That's when the lights went on, like, 'Oh, my God.' That's when I saw a little movies in my head.

"I made that connection at a very early age, and I have wanted to be somebody that could create emotions like that. I listened to ["Goodbye"] and I am moved by that. Doesn't matter if that's me or Elton's version. It's perfect songwriting, production and execution."

In a seperate interview with Amoeba, Cantrell pointed to the album that did it, discussing John’s record Madman Across the Water: “There’s something magical about that record. I love every song on that record: ‘Levon’, ‘Madman Across the Water’. Probably the main guy who wanted me to be a musician”.

After listening to Elton John, Cantrell went in a different direction with grunge. As Cantrell got immersed into the Seattle music scene, he gravitated towards heavier bands like Black Sabbath and Pantera, which informed his songwriting when cutting the early Alice demos. As he began to write with Layne Staley, John’s approach to melody kept creeping in slightly.

More than the menacing riffs, the cornerstone of Alice’s sound was always the harmonies between Staley and Cantrell, reminiscent of the leading tones that John would put into albums like Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. Cantrell explored that melodic side deeper during Alice in Chains’ acoustic phase, playing songs like ‘No Excuses’ that were more downtempo than their worship of Sabbath.

"I think Elton John was Layne's first concert. The first record I ever got was an Elton John record. Sean's the same…and William and Mike - he affected us all. He was a person who really struck us at an early age.

Was Layne a fan of Elton?
Yep. And, coincidentally, about a week ago Layne’s mom reminded me that Elton John was Layne’s first concert and she said he was blown away. Layne told me that once, but I had totally forgotten about it. It brought back some really cool memories. There’s a lot of really weird things lining up here. Number one: the significance of Elton to Alice in Chains. Number two: it was Layne’s first concert. And to have Elton play on a song for Layne, whew, it means so much to us.

At 10:00-11:00 he discusses how Staley's vocal style was shaped by Elton John.

Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters is the banger

I hate to gush over a poster that I clearly have a lot of love for, but: Hawg's music threads add such a great zest to the board. For the longest time it was only Northman doing work in the music section. Now we have TWO music titans on the board.

So many good songs, Elton has always been one hell of a musician and has further influenced decades of other artists. At the end of the day isn’t that the goal for any musician? To make art that has a lasting impact?

Every song listed above plays in my head when I read the name, instantly recognizable. Some more than others obviously, Candle In The Wind, Your Song, Daniel, Rocket Man, etc. but I know every song listed.

Reminds me of the one time I was fortunate enough to see Billy Joel live, no opening band, dude went for four hours straight and I knew every song he played that night.

That says something and also tells me I’m looking forward to when Hawg does Billy Joel on this.

Not to derail but that first line of the original post got me thinking...what is some of the music your parents listened to that just really stuck with you? Like music during events that you remember or that shaped you.

For me, my mom cleaned the house on Saturday mornings and she would always tell me to go pick out the record we were going to clean to. I remember she had this Linda Ronstadt album with her with knee high socks, short shorts and roller skates. I thought it was the coolest when I was a kid and wanted to dress like that one day.

My favorite though...like absolute favorite, was jamming to Heart with my mom. We would dance all over the living room to Magic Man, Barracuda and Crazy on You. Fleetwood was ALWAYS on rotation in our house.

What I wouldn't give to just have one more of those Saturday morning cleans as a youngster with my mom. She's the best!!

She also introduced me to Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack. Still love that today!

Sorry for the derail, that first line just brought up a memory.

I think most of what i loved as a kid was through my babysitter because she used to love John, Heart, Zeppelin, etc.

Originally Posted by Northman

I think most of what i loved as a kid was through my babysitter because she used to love John, Heart, Zeppelin, etc.

Was she hot?

Originally Posted by Davii

Was she hot?

Man, I miss Linda. She was the hot metalhead babysitter of my youth. And she *liked* me despite the age disparity iykwim.

She was so sexy.

Originally Posted by Davii

Was she hot?

Actually yea.

Originally Posted by GEM

Not to derail but that first line of the original post got me thinking...what is some of the music your parents listened to that just really stuck with you? Like music during events that you remember or that shaped you.

For me, my mom cleaned the house on Saturday mornings and she would always tell me to go pick out the record we were going to clean to. I remember she had this Linda Ronstadt album with her with knee high socks, short shorts and roller skates. I thought it was the coolest when I was a kid and wanted to dress like that one day.

My favorite though...like absolute favorite, was jamming to Heart with my mom. We would dance all over the living room to Magic Man, Barracuda and Crazy on You. Fleetwood was ALWAYS on rotation in our house.

What I wouldn't give to just have one more of those Saturday morning cleans as a youngster with my mom. She's the best!!

She also introduced me to Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack. Still love that today!

Sorry for the derail, that first line just brought up a memory.

John Denver, Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdinck and Johnny Mathis were my Mom's favorites. Especially John Denver.

My mom was into Santana, Loverboy, Benetar, Ronstadt, Dire Straits.