Elton John Talks About His “Herculean Effort” To Be Noticed In The 70s’

Published Jun 2, 2020 By John

via @AXS TV | Youtube

Elton John shared his stories to get noticed in the 70s’ were he’d “put the hours in” for his cocaine use. 

“It took a fairly Herculean effort to get yourself noticed for taking too much cocaine in the music industry of 1970s LA, but I was clearly prepared to put the hours in,” the singer tweeted reacting to a scene for his biopic film.

“No one forced me to do drugs and drinks,” he added. “In fact, a lot of people, including Bernie [Taupin], tried to warn me I was out of control, but I didn’t listen … Bernie was one of the people who tried to tell me to stop doing drugs and I wouldn’t listen, but he stuck by me and never gave up on me.”

John also talked about some aspects of the film, like his insistence on retaining fantasy elements, and also the moment where he knew that Egerton was the perfect actor to play his role. 

Talking about the moment when he levitates above the stage during his concert at the Troubador in Hollywood, he said, “That’s honestly what it felt like, when everything in the room starts levitating. I’d been slogging around the clubs back home, to so many people who weren’t interested, but then everything clicked at the Troubadour and my career went off like a missile. I left England in August 1970 more or less unknown, but came back a month later with the American critics calling me the saviour of rock’n’roll. Artists who I worshipped like Brian Wilson and Bob Dylan were turning up to say they loved what we were doing.”

That incident preceded him to clarify, “Some studios wanted us to lose the fantasy element, but I lived in my head a lot as a kid, and it was like that when my career took off – it didn’t feel real. My life has been so ‘larger than life’ that only a fantasy film could capture its true spirit.” He added: “I knew Taron Egerton was the right man to play me when I heard him sing ‘Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me’. It’s a really hard song and I even struggled with it myself! They shaved Taron’s head and thinned out his hair to make it look like mine in the ‘70s, which he hated. Welcome to my world, baby! At least yours will grow back…”

John also highlighted one of the film’s most heartfelt moments, saying, “I broke down the first time I saw this scene of me hugging Little Reggie. I’d spent most of my adult life running away from myself. It was time to re-embrace the real me.”