For a long time, Bruce was the only member of The Beach Boys to have a Grammy for that wretched song (I Write the Songs I mean) which is just insane. The band eventually did win an honorary Grammy in I think 2001 and Brian Wilson got one for Smile in 2004 and another one for the Smile box set in 2011.
If I have one complaint about Rocket Man, it’s that it didn’t really make Murray, Davey Johnstone, and Nigel Olsson characters in the story. Maybe that would have overstuffed it a little bit but they were also hugely important to Elton’s life, maybe just as much as Taupin.
Stevie Wonder’s “We Can Work It Out” definitely ranks up there, Aretha Franklin’s version of “Let It Be” (which predated the Beatles single by a couple of months), Ray Charles’ “Eleanor Rigby” is another really cool one.
And The Who returned the favor about a decade and a half later when they reunited to record "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" for the Two Rooms John/Taupin tribute album and it's probably one of my favorite Elton John covers and dare I say I might prefer it to the original. It also turned out to be the last time The Who would record in the studio with John Entwistle before his untimely death. One of my favorite parts is that in response to Elton John inserting "I Can't Explain" to "Pinball Wizard", Townshend does a little bit of "Take Me to the Pilot" in the middle of their cover and it works perfectly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdGc-RJ0_wU
I saw him and his band in December and he was in pretty rough shape. And I’ve seen him many times before so I know he’s not the most engaged performer but even so, it seemed like he was not doing well. I really hope he gets better soon and if he decides to retire from performing, so be it (and I say that even as I have tickets to see him with the Zombies in the fall). He doesn’t owe us anything at this point.
I think my favorite version of this song is when Billy Joel sang it at the Carole King tribute at the White House (back when performing in front of the President was considered honorable). https://youtu.be/FkHKc3LYW8I
Ringo did a really great and poignant version of this song at the Concert for George. After George’s death, I think it really took on a new meaning. “All I’ve got is this photograph and I realize you’re not coming back anymore...now you’re expecting me to live without you, well that’s not something that I’m looking forward to.” RIP George
I honestly don’t understand how people could defend him this point. Even if you think the boys weren’t physically assaulted, the relationships he had with them were still highly inappropriate and unhealthy. Guilty of sexual assault or not, he was clearly an incredibly screwed up guy and anyone who doesn’t see that is lying to themselves.
I've always found that one kind of Beatlesque, the guitar especially sounds very George Harrison. It's no surprise then that America's producer for most of their career was Sir George Martin. I also really like the song "Tin Man" which Martin plays piano on.
This song makes me think of the MST3K guys singing random songs over the end credits of Werewolf. "I've got a brand new pair of roller skates, you've got a brand new key... TUSK"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTsbcZpH2VI
It’s probably because it was also acting as a soundtrack to the movie and the movie ends with Get Back followed by Lennon’s “I hope we passed the audition” quip which is also tacked on to the end of the album. Let It Be Naked gets a lot of flack from Beatles purists (as it’s not really the “stripped down” album it claims to be) but I do agree that the sequencing is much better. I’m curious how the inevitable 2020 50th anniversary box set will handle the material. I imagine a remastered edition of the movie will be included (and it is long overdue).
There are ten credited writers on FourFiveSeconds including Mecca and Kanye. How is that even possible? It’s such a simple song and it’s only three minutes. There’s no way all those people contributed to the song.
This doesn’t surprise me at all. I remember a few years ago, he was gushing over anti-semite cult leader Louis Farrakhan in similar fashion but his fans brushed it off for the most part, as Farrakhan isn’t as notorious or relevant as Trump.
Will be cool to see if David Byrne and St. Vincent reunite during one of their respective sets. One of my favorite concerts was on their Love This Giant tour in 2013.
As a Jewish person, I find it a bit unsettling but I really don't blame her. She was viciously bullied by BDS supporters on social media and I imagine that's a lot of pressure for someone young and relatively new to celebrity to handle. Radiohead has been around for years and you see what they had to go through just to play one show. They were willing to stand up for their decision but they're much older and probably more informed on the subject. Lorde has never had to deal with this kind of backlash before.
“Please do what artists did in South Africa’s era of oppression: stay away, until apartheid is over.” That's not what Paul Simon did and we got Graceland out of it. He played with black South African musicians and brought their culture to the mainstream and I think that was a beautiful thing. I highly doubt the majority of Radiohead's fans in Israel are part of the Netanyahu ultra right-wing. For the most part, these are regular people who love music who just happen to be living under a corrupt administration and why should we deny them the right to enjoy themselves?
Left out Crosby Stills and Nash. Though I guess they weren't really a band as much as three solo artists who periodically recorded and toured together. But it was still surprising when they said they would never play together again.
"he hasn’t done anything with the other members of Pink Floyd since playing a one-off show with the band at Live 8 in 2005."
This is false. Both David Gilmour and Nick Mason appeared at The Wall show in London's O2 Arena in 2011.
The most batshit insane thing I've heard him say is that Michelle Obama is secretly a man and Joan Rivers was killed by the government because she made a joke about it.
Still one of the best singers of his generation. Can't wait to see The Who for the third time next month.
By the way, The Who did once appear on Letterman so the Tonight Show appearance won't be their first time on US TV since 67. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArEKZZho4Ao
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