Trivia / Elton John

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• Banned in China: In 2013, the Malaysian government tried to appease the extremist conservatives by attempting to ban John on the grounds of his homosexuality. However, the concert was in the state of Pahang, whose own sultan was a big fan of John and vetoed the ban on his own.
• Breakthrough Hit: His Self-Titled Album and its single "Your Song". Not to mention Goodbye Yellow Brick Road that is still his artistically and commercially most successful record.
• Career Resurrection: His 1983 album Too Low for Zero. Elton reunited with lyricist Bernie Taupin and his backing band, and that album produced a couple hit singles: "I'm Still Standing" and "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues".
• Channel Hop: John originally signed onto fledgling indie label DJM Records in the UK and MCA in the US; MCA initially handled his work through subsidiary label Uni Records before switching to distributing John's work themselves in 1973. In 1976, John switched over to his vanity imprint, the Rocket Record Company, which had previously been an outlet for other artists for three years; Rocket would switch distributors to Phonogram in 1978, while John's would sign a new Stateside deal with Geffen Records in 1981. John would move back to MCA in the US during the second half of the '80s before switching to PolyGram worldwide in the mid-90s, with them handling his releases through various scattered sublabels, a practice that would continue after PolyGram's absorption into Universal Music Group in 1999.
• Chart Displacement: Given how iconic "Tiny Dancer" is, it's shocking to learn that it wasn't even released as a single in the UK in 1972,^note Though it charted in 2015 after it was used in a TV commercial for the John Lewis store chain and in the US it only got to #41 on the Billboard Hot 100.^note It did slightly better in Billboard's main chart rivals CashBox (#29) and Record World (#32) In America, where he hadn't quite established himself as a superstar yet ("Your Song" was his only Top 10 hit at that point), it was hurt by Top 40 radio shying away from it because his label released the full 6:12 album version as a single instead of an edit, and stations in more conservative areas objected to the "Jesus freaks" lines.
• Creator Backlash:
  • Elton has revealed that he can't stand playing "Crocodile Rock" anymore.
  • Elton has criticized much of his output from the 1980s, thanks to his various personal troubles that he felt had a negative impact on the quality of his work.
  • He doesn't look back fondly on Victim of Love due to it being released concurrently with the rise of the Disco Sucks movement in the US.
• Creator Breakdown: The Blue Moves album and many songs Bernie Taupin wrote lyrics to from 1976-78 reflect Taupin's breakdown after his first marriage collapsed and he spiraled into cocaine and alcohol abuse, and Elton was burnt out from fame, substance abuse and the struggles of being openly gay in a time when it was still considered taboo.
• Distanced from Current Events: "Candle in the Wind 1997" pointedly avoided one particular line from the original ("Even when you died the press still hounded you"), as using a tribute song for much-beloved Princess Diana to vent conspiracies about paparazzi playing an indirect role in her fatal car accident would have been seen as incredibly tactless (not helped by the wall-to-wall news coverage of her death). If you knew the original, though, the implication is still there.
• Edited for Syndication: The first CD release of Blue Moves, originally a double album, cut four songs so that the entire album could be released on a single CD. A complete version would eventually be released a few years later.
• Go-Karting with Bowser: Elton, at least by Word of God, seems to believe (his occasional beef with celebrities aside) in trying to mend fences rather than fuel rivalries, and often forms unlikely friendships with celebrities accused of (or guilty of) homophobia (Rush Limbaugh, Eminem, Axl Rose, etc.) to demonstrate this. Often it does lead to backdraft from gay rights advocates.
• He Also Did:
  • Probably not a lot of fans realize that he did a duet with Australian country singer Catherine Britt titled "Where We Both Say Goodbye". The song came and went without much recognition.
  • He and Bernie wrote songs for Kiki Dee, Ringo Starr and Rod Stewart during his peak period in The '70s.
  • Pre-fame, he sang on soundalike budget compilations for department stores, and played piano on various sessions, including the piano part on The Hollies' hit, "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother".
  • His work as chairman of Watford Football Club, during which time Watford rose from the Fourth to the First Division and reached the FA Cup Final for the first time in its history, also counts, as does his charity work for AIDS relief.
• Leslie Nielsen Syndrome: In a non-acting sense, yes. Elton started out with an image and music more in keeping with the "singer-songwriters" of The '70s like James Taylor, Jim Croce or Randy Newman. He wore regular clothes, hair and glasses, sang mid-tempo, often acoustical pieces heavy on orchestration, and released theatrical and ambitious albums like Tumbleweed Connection and Madman Across The Water. His Self-Titled Album showed him draped in darkness with a sullen look on his face, and the most showmanship he exhibited on stage (usually as a piano-bass-drums trio with Dee Murray and Nigel Olsson) was kicking the piano stool and playing while standing up, Jerry Lee Lewis-style. Gradually, the glitz and camp (and a more commercial pop-rock style with electric guitars, synthesizers, brass sections, etc.) crept in, with more humor and showmanship, and Elton took to wearing crazy costumes, huge platform shoes and goofy eyewear by 1972 or 1973. Interestingly enough, his reviews became less favorable as he gained more fame. He only really toned down the flamboyancy (relatively speaking) by the beginning of The '90s, though traces of the glam period can still be found.
• Missing Episode: Bernie Taupin wrote a third verse for "Daniel" explaining the reason the title character was injured, why the narrator missed him, and so on: he was a veteran of The Vietnam War. However, Elton cut it because he felt the song was too long, and unfortunately, neither Elton nor Bernie recalls it.
• Money, Dear Boy: Performing at Rush Limbaugh's fourth wedding for a cool 1 million dollars.
  • Not to mention he got backdraft over doing this. Though after performing, Elton said he found a new friend in Rush and his new wife and said that he'd gladly invite him over for dinner any time.
• Production Posse: The combination of Elton, lyricist Bernie Taupin, his backing band of Davey Johnstone (guitar), the late Dee Murray (bass), Nigel Olsson (drums) and sometimes Ray Cooper (percussion), with production by the late Gus Dudgeon and Paul Buckmaster or Del Newman conducting orchestral parts, was arguably collectively responsible for the classic Elton John sound of 1972-1975, and has partially if not fully been involved with Elton ever since. Davey and Nigel have stayed as part of Elton's backing band since 2001, while Bernie has stayed (with few exceptions) as Elton's full-time lyricist since 1983.
• Rarely Performed Song:
  • In spite of the single's popularity and it being his biggest hit since his 1976 duet with Kiki Dee "Don't Go Breaking My Heart", he has only performed his 1980 song "Little Jeannie" on his World Tour from the same year and the One Night Only performance twenty years later.
  • His only performance of the 1997 version of "Candle In The Wind", which was dedicated to his good friend Princess Diana, was at her funeral. He has said that he will only play the song again if her sons Prince William and Prince Harry personally request it.
• Shrug of God: A notable amount of people have questioned why one of Elton's eyebrows seems to move so oddly whenever he sings. (He and David Furnish even brought it up in the commentary for "Tantrums and Tiaras".) Even he doesn't know why this happens, but he does know that it drives him crazy.
  • Neither he nor Bernie Taupin have any idea what "Take Me to the Pilot" means.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Auditioned for vocalist of King Crimson and Gentle Giant before he was famous.
  • He also made some demos of Nick Drake's songs, being very impressed with Drake's songwriting but eventually started composing his own material.
  • The original plan for "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" was for it to be a duet with Dusty Springfield, but she was unavailable due to ill health.
  • He, Rod Stewart and Freddie Mercury were considering making a band together. Things didn't quite work in their favor for that.
  • Elton was to record a hip-hop-flavored album in 2006 with friend Eminem's production crew assisting him. The death of another one of Eminem's friends and associates, rapper Proof, put an end to those plans. Elton ended up recording the more 1970s-retro Captain Fantastic sequel The Captain & the Kid instead.

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