The one singer Elton John called a perfect pop star: “From another planet”
When Elton John first started writing songs, becoming one of the biggest names in music was probably the last thing on his mind.
No one expects to turn into a rock and roll legend overnight, and considering the biggest names in rock at the time were people like Robert Plant and Mick Jagger, it’s not like Reginald Dwight exactly fit the mould of what a frontman was supposed to be. But after honing his craft and breaking out some of those glamorous outfits, John learned the trade of what a rock and roll star should be pretty quickly.
Because, really, all those early rock and roll stars were only being themselves half the time. Not everyone was going to believe that David Bowie was really an alien or that Eric Clapton was a guitar god who had descended from the heavens, but as long as they kept playing what they felt inside, there was always going to be an audience that connected with the kind of tunes they were playing. And as for John, he was more than happy to bring life to Bernie Taupin’s poetry every time he played.
They were the perfect pair to be working on tunes together, but both of them couldn’t have been more different as well. Taupin was more interested in living a quiet life away from the limelight, and even if he was behind some of the most iconic lines of the 1970s, he was happier to have written something great than worrying about his own star power. Then again, it’s not like John was trying to run away from the spotlight.
By the time he reached the top of the charts, rock and roll fashion had already started changing, and in the era of glam rock, he seemed to fit right in. He didn’t have that much to do with what ‘The Starman’ was doing, and he was far more sophisticated than bands like Sweet and Mott the Hoople, but somehow he didn’t feel that out of place when standing next to them in his oversized glasses and sequined suits.
Bowie definitely busted down the door for the glam era, but even in the golden age of glitter, Marc Bolan seemed to come from another planet. Not everything he did was necessarily all that new, but after spending years playing out the folksy angle, hearing Electric Warrior was like watching someone truly find their higher calling in rock and roll. He was every bit the star that Jagger was back in the day, and John figured he wouldn’t stand a chance.
He could pound the hell out of his piano and wear the kind of clothes that would make Liberace blush, but he felt that Bolan had everything you’d need in a pop star, saying, “Marc Bolan seemed like he had come from another planet, just passing through Earth on his way somewhere else. At a time when I was still becoming Elton John, he was a great mentor and it was a privilege to play ‘Bang A Gong (Get It On)’ with T. Rex on Top Of The Pops in 1971. Marc was a good friend, and the perfect pop star.”
Bolan was definitely a one-of-a-kind star, but there comes a point where his songs tend to get overshadowed by his look. Sure, there are thousands of people that remember ‘Bang a Gong’, but if you look past the more bluesy riffs in his arsenal, ‘Children of the Revolution’ and ‘Ride A White Swan’ are some of the best examples of what pop rock can sound like when in the hands of a master.
While it’s a shame that Bolan only managed to last for a few years before his tragic passing, his place in rock history is as secure as any of his contemporaries. John can still release as many albums as he wants to, but when looking back on his career, none of his songs can come close to matching Bolan’s swagger.
