Elton John was not amazed by one of the greatest rock anthems ever. It’s a very challenging task to find someone who can easily understand your musical vision. Even after the release of many iconic anthems in the history of rock ‘n roll, they doubt the unique quality that inspires people to sing. Everyone consistently criticizes the songs. Each classic song faces a lot of challenges.
John was determined to find out which was the total hit in the eyes of the public. He thought it before he was popular.
People knew John as a lyricist. He used to write songs about what others thought and needed. However, after meeting with lyricist Bernie Taupin, he became famous as a star who wrote the thoughts of his heart.
When John was on his way to success by creating songs like “Your Song” and “Tiny Dancer”, the Queen, who was on the other side of England, was panting their first masterpieces. Queen has always been superior in rock tradition. They always aimed for big in their music. They aimed for music coming out from the hard rock genre and gave masterpieces like “Great King Rat” in previous days.
The band scored a major hit by keeping a song like “Killer Queen” forward. But Freddie Mercury knew he had found the strike of gold after keeping “Bohemian Rhapsody” forward. Even though every member of the band contributed a lot to the music, like “A Night at the Opera”, “Bohemian Rhapsody” was the only person for Freddie Mercury to trust which contained three sections that moved in and out of one another and created a journey of six minutes.
Elton John thought the band was making a huge mistake. The manager asked him to listen to the single song. But he thought that the band was too determined to make a single song.
John shared his memory; he said,” When I heard the song, I shook my head in disbelief. I asked him if he was going to release the song. He replied, “Yes, what’s wrong with the song?” To that, John replied, “It’s a total waste, and how can you even imagine people watching this three-hour-long song? And the title of the song is Worst.”
Even though John disagreed, the band released the song as a single. Drummer Roger Taylor gave the idea of the single-song release. He talked about this decision, saying, “It was my idea to choose the song. I chose it because I loved the melody of “Mama, you just killed a man”. I thought it was a clever move. But at that time, the single song was not more than three minutes long.”
Despite being a bit harsh on his friend Mercury, John said that he has formed a beautiful and strong bond with him. He said, “I loved him from the time I met him… He was just wow, and I loved the way he was smart, adventurous, thoughtful, and funny.” John decided to perform with Axl Rose in honor of Mercury after he died of AIDS in 1991. Even though he didn’t like the singles, he loved the artist who was behind them.
