“Rocket Man” Elton John rued on Wednesday the thrust for instant success among undistinguished and indistinguishable modern pre-fabricated pop bands. “It is like packets of cereal. There are too many of them, and too many of them are just average and mediocre,” he told BBC television in an interview filmed during his current tour in the United States.
“It is just fodder. It doesn’t sound. It has no distinguishing marks. A lot of it you can’t tell one from the other. There is too much of it, just too much of it,” the high-spending flamboyant rock legend lamented.
The 54-year-old singer and composer, born Reginald Kenneth Dwight who was knighted in 1998, harked back to the old days when he burst onto the music scene in league with songwriter Bernie Taupin more than 30 years ago.
“I would ban every single video being made – by a new band anyway. I would just get them on the road…playing second on the bill to people. That is how I started out,” he said.
John, who petulantly announced he was quitting the music scene last year but is still going strong, regretted the emphasis put on immediate profits by the record companies.
“Nowadays, they think more about their quarterly earnings and there is no longevity. There is no thinking ‘we want this artist to be around in seven to 12 years time’,” he said.
“It is kind of heartbreaking because you see most of the emphasis placed on instant success.
“It is kind of disgusting really. It is about time some of these young acts were nurtured and given the time. There certainly is the talent out there. There is as much talent out there now as there was when I was getting going,” he added.
The tubby soccer fanatic said he had enjoyed his three decades at the top and remained young at heart, but that realistically his career was now in its sunset phase.
“In a way it is a relief. It is like ‘it is over Elton. You have had 31 years where you had a record in the America top 40 every year’. That can’t realistically happen any more,” he added.
