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His only other recent troubles have also been matters of mistaken identity. In the early '70s the youthful population, still politicized and ever on the alert for potential messiahs, passed the word that Elton was the new "heavy"—sort of a Bob Dylan with sequins. Encouraged by pop's desperately sober critical establishment, they began combing his works for "messages." Worse, they were pretty sure they found some. The King Must Die was obviously about the Memphis assassination, while Honky Chateau was clearly a code word for the White House, Madman Across the Water a musical portrait of Richard Nixon. Elton has denied such suggestions, almost to the point of blowing his cool: "I can't stand some half-stoned junkie coming onstage to yell out his political ideas."
Other than these flurries, he has become increasingly relaxed about his success. He took it in stride when critics said he had sold out, edging in toward the musical center line they so deplore —as if there were something deplorable about pop music's actually being popular. They also observed that Elton was derivative—at one moment of the Rolling Stones, at another of Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, whomever. In fact, everyone in pop is influenced by others at one time or another. How can it be otherwise in a tight little world where the assimilation of newer, farther-out musical ideas is an honorable endeavor —one that was once performed by the Beatles? Elton may absorb more because he listens more. He spends hours in record stores and eventually buys quad, stereo, cassette and 8-track cartridge versions of the same album. Then he compares them for quality. His record collection alone numbers 30,000.
This kind of talk might have bothered him more if he were more hooked on the notion that he was a powerful creative force ("All these people spend all this time creating masterpieces. I could never believe they took themselves so seriously") or more conscious of creating the mystique of an artist around him ("I hate that. It's all bull shit"). Instead, he has watched his newer songs reach heights of popularity on the charts and is content, at last, to enjoy the fruits of his not-too-arduous labors.
I'd have a cardiac if I had such luck.