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Elton's 15 F-words in a minute as he rants at his record label
Last updated at 09:22am on 05.11.06
Elton John: Foul-mouthed Elton at the New York concert where he shocked his fans
Sir Elton John shocked fans at a sell-out concert as he launched into a foul-mouthed outburst.
The star, famed for his volcanic temper, used the F-word 15 times in just one minute, according to stunned fans.
The outburst came as he introduced a new number called Postcards From Richard Nixon. He raged: "I'm going to play a song but I'm sure you haven't heard it because the f*****s haven't promoted it."
To the amazement of the mostly female middle-aged audience at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, New York, Elton carried on with a stream of profanities, adding: "My record label isn't doing anything to help. F*** Universal."
One of the fans later asked: "What is wrong with Sir Elton? He needs an ego check. What has got into him?".
Sir Elton claimed that Universal Records had not spent "a dollar" on publicising his new album Captain And The Kid, which dropped rapidly down the charts after its launch in September.
He added: "They're useless. Here's a message to Universal Records: Please drop me. Just let me go somewhere else."
Last week's outburst came only days after his manager, Merck Mercuriadis of Twenty-First Artists, stepped down by 'mutual agreement', according to a statement.
This has led to speculation that the change in management was also linked to Sir Elton's fury over disappointing sales.
An insider said: "He gets away with it because he is Elton. But very few artists could bad-mouth their label like that."
Sir Elton's outbursts have become legendary. At Taiwan airport in 2004, dressed in an orange toupee and shiny blue tracksuit, he screamed at a group of TV crews and photographers: "Rude vile pigs! Pigs! Pigs!'
Madonna was the subject of another tirade at the Q music awards the same year, when Sir Elton interrupted a standing ovation to spit: "Madonna, best f****** live act? F*** off."
He is once said to have shouted the F-word 20 times at an aide who forgot to collect his costume.
Captain And The Kid was released on September 19. But although it peaked at No6 in the UK's album charts, it had fallen to 24 in the second week after release.
By the third week it had dropped off the Top 40. In the US it peaked at 18.
Last night Sir Elton's agent, Gary Farrow, said the star had no concerns over promotion of his new album.
"I think you'll find it was tongue-in-cheek over the record company,' he said.
"You have to look for the humour. If you look at the reviews Elton's had over the past six months, they have been the best he's ever had for a record for ten years."
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PS: And yes, it was not the appropriate venue for Elton to badmouth his Label and use rude language. A public statement to the Media would have been a better option, but he wouldn't have been able to use that type of language.
But he's obviously under a great deal of pressure from the lack of promotion for his latest CD, and perhaps facing further pressure as he considers retirement and growing older in a rock-based business.
So although it was tacky of him to shout out the F word so many times at a public concert where people paid good money to hear quality music and not a public rant- at the same time, you have to understand the pressures he's been under and tension he may be feeling with uncertainty over the future.
He needn't worry, Elton is a classic and will be appreciated for years to come hopefully. But perhaps in his own mind he's worried--and took an impulsive moment in a public venue to speak his mind honestly. I do admire his realness as a person, and his ability to be articulate and speak the truth.
Elton worked hard to write and produce that CD--and his Label failed to live up to normal expectations by promoting it properly. Think how frustrated any Artist would feel in that situation. And consider how much enjoyment Elton has given this world for many, many years.
Hopefully by keeping things in perspective, this will all calm down.
Long live Elton!
- Barbara Ann, San Diego, CA USA
While it was probably not the appropriate venue for Elton to publically declare his anger and frustration with his Record Label, I can understand where it comes from.
A good part of a Record Label's job is to PROMOTE THE ARTIST and the CD. That is what they are hired for - after the album is produced, the Label's job is to promote the heck out of it and that is partly what they are paid for. Promotion is mostly what a Label does for an Artist, besides producing the actual music. It's just as important as the music itself to an Artist and serves the Public as well.
Therefore apparently Universal has not been earning their keep so to speak by failing to promote Elton's recent CD properly. They are getting paid to do a certain job-and they aren't doing it, meaning they are contracted to do a certain amount of promotion and have failed to do so in this case. Elton is having to put up with a major Record Label that refuses to do it's job properly. And he isn't getting his percentage of the profits due to their negligence.
So while it's easy to judge Elton John critically because of his public tirade, one must keep in mind he is getting stiffed by his own Record Label by their failure to honor their contract and DO THEIR JOB properly. Add that to any insecurity he may be feeling about getting older and losing his audience, and you have a time bomb waiting to go off.
Cut the guy some slack-he's contributed to this world for decades as a brilliant Musician, and he's Human.
- Barbara Ann, San Diego, CA USA
Elton's inabilitiy to control his temper at his own record label suggests a reason why he needs religion as much as the rest of us, to keep his ego and his temper in perspective. Religions act like the "Total Perspective Vortex" in "A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", giving you a big map of the universe with a tiny "You are Here". I think the former Reg Dwight, although a talented musuician, may be becoming a meglomaniac, suggesting that religion be outlawed is both authoritarian and might prove difficult to enforce!
- Stephen, Woodstock, Oxfordshire
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