Comments on: Rock Court: The People vs. Elton John

By: Geoff

Geoff — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 16:44:46 +0000

Yeah, put “70srocked” on retainer as an Elton expert witness!

By: Geoff

Geoff — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:44:46 +0000

Yeah, put “70srocked” on retainer as an Elton expert witness!

By: 70srocked

70srocked — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 16:47:07 +0000

Thanks! Yes, I find the website to be a lot of fun and I hope to post on other topics as well. This one, as you can tell though, really pushes my button because, without going into it again, I have a hard time accepting the argument that Elton has collasped into substandard material since the hey day (and I also realize this is in fun as well).

By: jasonhare

jasonhare — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 03:52:59 +0000

Damn, I should have had you write the defense argument! Thanks for a great comment, hope you stick around and read more of Popdose.

By: Elaine

Elaine — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 17:15:26 +0000

Billy Elliott confuses me. The one time I saw those three kids perform (on a morning TV show) they kind of stunk. I'm no expert but I can tell when three dancers aren't in sync and are exhibiting bad technique. Maybe they were just having an off morning.

Incidentally, Billly Elliott won 10 of the 15 Tonys for which it was nominated last night. Best Score by Sir Elton was not one of them.

By: Brian

Brian — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 21:39:00 +0000

Made in England = chock full of classics with a couple of clunkers.
Songs from the West Coast = Modern Classic
Billy Elliott = redemption of Lion King
2009 = still doing it full on live

case closed

By: Geoff

Geoff — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 19:50:43 +0000

“A Word In Spanish” is a great piece of evidence for the defense, as are “Never Gonna Fall In Love Again”, “Little Jeannie”, “Moma Can't Buy You Love” (outstanding!), “I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues”, “I'm Still Standing” (very good), “Blue Eyes”, “Empty Garden”, “Sad Songs” (barely makes the cut), and almost everything on “Songs from the West Coast”. All and all enough to cast a shadow of a doubt on the prosecution's case.

As soon as he released “Rock of the Westies” Elton was on a “show me” basis with me. Now THAT LP was worthy of a rock court case all by itself, taking advantage of his then peerless reputation to foist a clunker off on the public. It entered the LP charts at #1 — I think only “Captain Fantastic” had accomplished that feat previously — well before that became routine for big name releases with lots of advanced publicity.

Getting back to the subject at hand: After “Westies” Elton was just another big name has-been until he proved otherwise. Sadly, he never has proved it. But he has come out with plenty of listenable and even good songs, as listed above. I ignore the many of his songs I do not like, e.g., the bombastic “Lion King” soundtrack songs.

If pop/rock stars could be convicted of being over the hill the rock court jails would be full. If they could be convicted of trading on their reputation or celebrity to overcome a deficiency of talent, many a legend and upcoming teen fave would never release another song. Elton just does not have the talent any more to fill up his releases. Too bad. That is what buying MP3's a song at a time is good for.

p.s. Notwithstanding all of the above, if you had caught me after the release of the 1997/Princess Di version of “Candle in the Wind” I might well of voted to convict. Only time and not having heard it in a decade have erased that abomination enough from my memory to leave psychic room for forgiveness.

By: Elaine

Elaine — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 17:28:25 +0000

Club at the end of the Street: I swear that “keyboard” riff sounds like it was played on a Casio in someone's living room. “Lord have mercy, can't sit still?” Yes we can. Wiki says it's considered to be a LGBT anthem since the sexes of the lovers in the song are never mentioned. Oh, brother.

By: nix

nix — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 06:56:44 +0000

Elton was always great, but some fuckfaces really think that only good music is those with “rock” in itself. :p
The truth is that Elton was never really a rock artists. He is classical musician with many different elements and flavors in his music- rock, pop, blues, gospel, country, etc.
IMHO, Elton was better and better every year and I would put songs like IGTWTCIT Blues, The One and Believe together with Rocket Man, Your Song and Philadelphia Freedom.
Sure, there were some weak albums like Leather Jackets and 21 At 33, but even those would be consider masterpieces if they were by someone else- Prince, Madonna or Michael Jackson for example. You can also find weak albums in “classic era” like Rock Of The Westies for example.
The true strength of Elton's music lies in his ability to compose a song and bring those songs to life. Anybody who is only capable for rewriting stupid reviews and repetiting cliches like “only Elton's 1970-1976 era is good) does not deserve to talk or listen to Elton's music. Thank You!

By: Cat

Cat — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 03:14:38 +0000

I propose we change the name of this web site to www.tastelessand insensitivebunch.com. For once in your life, please go to an intelligent web site en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elton_John and learn about this man who devoted his entire life to music. He is a perfectionist, overachiever genius, who has never stopped growing. He has developed into a complete artist, he can play, write, and compose it all, classical, jazz, folk, rock, pop, and all the rest. He writes extremely successful musicals, the new series â€œSpectacleâ€ on Sundance channel is a breath of fresh air. He loves, knows to appreciate, and is interested all aspects of art, including dance, photography, painting, sculpture, and probably more. He is constantly searching for new young artists with real talent, and helps promote them.
Furthermore, he is a philanthropist, giving and generous. He sure does not belong in this dumb court. He certainly is not stuck in the 1970â€™s, he keeps moving forward in all directions, because he is full of ideas, talent, eager to try new things, his energy is unbelievable. May be it is his incredible success which is bothering you all.