I can't remember when I started listening to Elton John. It couldn't have been that long ago. I believe I arrived at his discography from Billy Joel. I probably wanted something piano-driven, and decided to give Elton John a listen.
My favorite Elton John album is definitely Madman Across the Water. That album is great. My second favorite is Captain Fantastic. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road would be my #3. I still don't like his discography as much as Billy Joel's, but that doesn't mean I haven't enjoyed his music a great deal. He lost me somewhere in the 80s, but then again, looking at collections of his "greatest hits," he lost a lot of people in the 80s.
With the above said I was bound to like the earlier chapters of his autobiography a lot more than the later chapters. My musical tastes tend to veer toward the late 60s/early 70s anyway, and reading about how a record label passed him over for The Groundhogs (!) brought a smile to my face. I love The Groundhogs, but Liberty Records made a serious mistake that day.
Elton John, on an early encounter:
"There was a funny little guy we knew who - in keeping with the flower-power mood of the times - had changed his name to Hans Christian Anderson. The aura of fairy tale otherworldliness conjured by this pseudonym was slightly punctured when he opened his mouth and a thick Lancashire accent came out. Eventually he changed his first name back to Jon and became the lead singer of Yes."
On hearing something for the first time:
"One morning, at the offices in South Audley Street, he said he wanted to play me something by one of his new clients that was going to be a huge hit all over the world. We listened to the song and I shook my head, incredulous.
"'You're not actually going to release that, are you?'
"He frowned 'What's wrong with it?'
"'Well, for one thing, it's about three hours long. For another, it's the campest thing I've ever heard in my life. And the title's absolutely ridiculous as well.'
"John was completely unfazed. 'I'm telling you now,' he said, lifting the test pressing of 'Bohemian Rhapsody' off the turntable, 'that is going to be one of the biggest records of all time.'"
Regarding a night out:
"...Crisco Disco once refused to let me in. I was with Divine, too, the legendary drag queen. I know, I know: Elton John and Divine getting turned away from a gay club. But he was wearing a kaftan, I had on a brightly coloured jacket and they said we were overdressed. 'Whaddya think this is? Fuckin' Halloween?'"
On dinner with Michael Jackson:
"It was a sunny day out and we had to sit inside with the curtains drawn because of Michael's vitiligo. The poor guy looked awful, really frail and ill. He was wearing make-up that looked like it had been applied by a maniac: it was all over the place. His nose was covered with a sticking plaster which kept what was left of it attached to his face. He sat there, not really saying anything, just giving off waves of discomfort the way some people give off an air of self-confidence."
And on Madonna's songwriter:
"It was hilarious, he was the guy who co-wrote 'Like a Prayer' and 'La Isla Bonita', but he was completely obsessed with Jethro Tull. He'd probably have been happier if Madonna had played a flute while standing on one leg."
The above passages were my favorite parts of this book. The rest of it? I think that Elton John has written an entertaining - and surprisingly self-deprecating - account of his life up to the year it was published. He's honest about himself to the point of embarrassment, and this honest self-appraisal makes his bouts of egomania and occasional jabs at other celebrities easier to digest.
If you are, like me, a fan of Elton John's music you'll enjoy this book a lot. It doesn't offer much that other rock biographies and autobiographies haven't done before, but the author's unique perspectives on the music business and what it means to be a gay man working in this business give an old formula new life. That, and Elton John really knew/knows EVERYBODY, from David Bowie right on down to Eminem. The guy has certainly been around.
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