Home > observations > Elton John shakes fist, yells; “Hey you kids!  Get the hell off my driveway!”

Elton John shakes fist, yells; “Hey you kids!  Get the hell off my driveway!”

August 2, 2007

Admittedly, Elton John isn’t up on the latest technology:

“I am the biggest technophobe of all time… “I don’t have a mobile phone or an iPod or anything.  I am such a Luddite when it comes to making music. All I can do is write at the piano.”

Which is fine, unless you let it blind you to the creativity of others in your field:

“I do think it would be an incredible experiment to shut down the whole internet for five years and see what sort of art is produced over that span. There’s too much technology available.

“I’m sure, as far as music goes, it would be much more interesting than it is today.”

And why?

“The internet has stopped people from going out and being with each other, creating stuff.

“Instead they sit at home and make their own records, which is sometimes OK but it doesn’t bode well for long-term artistic vision.

“It’s just a means to an end.

You see, things were better in the old days:

“In the early Seventies there were at least ten albums released every week that were fantastic. Now you’re lucky to find ten albums a year of that quality.

“And there are more albums released each week now than there were then.”

Elton John is a musical genius, but just dig out that old copy of Rock Of The Westies and see if he has any room to talk about anyone else’s early work.  Sure, he’s produced some gems since then, but quite a bit of commercialized mediocrity too.

Elton, when you’re stuck in the ‘70’s, try rocking it.  You can take that however you want. 

The Sun Online – Elton John: Why we must close the ‘Net

UPDATE:
Want to see a really creative new high-tech musical instrument?  Check out this singing Tesla coil

Categories: observations
  1. August 3, 2007 at 08:03 | #1

    And I thought DOF was old and decrepit…

    My only other thoughts on the issue

    BTW, that Tesla Coil was pretty friggin cool!

  2. August 3, 2007 at 19:46 | #2

    Well, first of all I don’t believe for a second that Sir Elton really wants the net shut down.  I do believe, old bean, that he sometimes uses hyperbole … have you seen some of the glasses he wears … not to mention other articles of fashion?

    Second, DOF seems at times a tich sensitive to those who call out technology gone wild long for “the good ole days”… well, mostly kidding, but you get my jist.  After all, DOF, you do rightly call out crappy interfaces, stupid design decisions, bloatware, etc.

    So, I think Elton’s real message is valuable.  That is, the side effects of super-heated technology growth are often counter to other valuable social objectives, and to core creativity.  I don’t think you can have technological evolution without this, but I do think the Elton John’s of the world can be scene as a “voice crying in the wilderness”.

    So, I’m off to Superior with Toyo 4×5 and Tri-X, OM and Kodachrome.  Yeah, baby.

  3. August 3, 2007 at 19:48 | #3

    Sorry for the grammatical and punctuation errors above.  I am so ashamed.

  4. August 3, 2007 at 22:59 | #4

    That’s all right, WD; you spelled all the important words correctly.  And your meaning was clear enough. ;-)

  5. August 3, 2007 at 23:40 | #5

    On the upside, the net brings together people who otherwise would never have a chance to meet.  I would think that has to have some positive benefit for creativity.

  6. August 4, 2007 at 12:18 | #6

    I’ve said this before, and this won’t be the last time, either. When I listen to the “oldies” stations, and the “soft rock” stations, I have to admit: if I knew then that I would still be listening to this stuff 20, 30, 40 years later, I wouldn’t have liked it so much the first time I heard it.

    Sir Elton John is the Ed McMahon of the music world. He lost all credibility when he re-wrote “Goodbye Norma Jean” for Princess Diana. The “Candle in the Wind” line was not even a stretch. It made no more f-ing sense than the Donald Duck costume that old Queen wore in Central Park. Without Bernie Taupin, he is just a composer and a showman, not a song writer.

    Things change, and technology changes things. The biggest threat to creativity is those who would try to keep things as they were, instead of letting them develop into what they are, or will become.

  7. August 4, 2007 at 13:03 | #7

    One more thing: “Crocodile Rockin’” never happened, and thanks to Elton John, Maurice Williams got “dissed” twice for one song.

  8. August 4, 2007 at 21:55 | #8

    I dunno about “soft rock” (whatever the hell that is), but there is a helluva lot of good music from 60s and 70s that is played A LOT these days and I still like it.  And I liked Candle in the Wind.

    Yes, the net brings a lot of people together.  I have new friends in the world of photography that are unbelievably good folk.  That just happens to be my avocation, so the internet has helped expand my world and increase my pleasure.  There are multiple facets to any technology evolution; what one makes of it is what’s important.  For those that hide in a cyberworld, I feel sorry for them.

  9. August 4, 2007 at 22:05 | #9

    “…hide in a cyberworld…”

    Hoo boy, have I got a post for you!  Will put it up tomorrow morning sometime.

    I see the ‘net as an extension to my physical world, which is in some ways a bit limiting.  I work all the time, can’t easily travel, but I get to talk to these amazing people all over the world.  Digital technology has restored my interest in writing, in photography, vastly opened my sources in learning about science and the natural world.

  10. Dante
    August 5, 2007 at 00:32 | #10

    Hey now, I Feel Like a Bullet in the Gun of Robert Ford is one if his greatest songs ever. Seriously. That single song atones for the rest of of the not-so-great stuff on Rock of the Westies.

  11. August 7, 2007 at 09:23 | #11

    Perhaps a foray into the digital realm might help Sir Elton as his latest efforts have been almost nauseating. After the Candle in the Wind re-write he lost any credibility. He’s done nothing of consequence since.

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