You got me wrong, I wasn't a-hatin'. I think you got it spot on.

When I first listened to Elton John it was the year he released Honky Chateau, we didn't know he was ***. To us he was just a new artist trying to establish himself in a music scene completely dominated by guitar oriented rock. His uh flamboyant tendencies didn't surface until he became famous, specifically after he released "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", which is my favorite album. Amazingly enough even when we all found out about his sexual preferences, it didn't affect his popularity as a heavyweight in the music world, and back in the 70's homosexuality wasn't even discussed or accepted the way it is now.

Although I was much more into the hard rock scene back then, whenever we had parties Elton was one of the staples, especially because the girls all liked his music and to keep them happy we would listen to their favorites too. Besides we could always play our Deep Purple, Stones, Steppenwolf albums when it was just us guys hanging out or getting psyched to play football etc. I followed Elton right up to Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, and then lost interest, I think he lost something and never really rose to the creative level of his earlier recordings.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Greatest Hits Vol. 1
Greatest Hits Vol. 2

The only 3 recordings of Elton's I still have in the library.

Elton John is deffinately one of the best melodic writers of the 20th century and of all time. i saw him live in 2002. he was incredible. my favorite album is songs from the west

I think he only came forward as out and out *** as late as 1988 or something. Though he came out as bisexual in the very late 70s. I guess that by the point he did, the height of his popularity and success had probably long passed by.

he's not considered the best song writer of all time because he doesn't write his songs entirely.. he writes the music, not the lyrics. The team of Elton and Taupin are up there with Lennon/McCartney and Jagger/Richards in the rock n roll circuit.

Elton is one of my favorites... I think for a man to be a great artist all around being G A Y actually helps because it allows for a broader range, reaching a broader audience. Fortunately I got into Queen, Elton, Bowie, etc... before my mind was subjected to all the prejudices revolving around the g a y s so I was able to enjoy them for their art before thinking about their sexual preferences.

Aha. You do realize that David Bowie isn't gay, right? :/

My feelings about Elton John is when he writes good songs they are amazing, but when he writes bad songs, holy ****.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is a classic though.

says who? Bowie? oh because he's married? forgot about that. Anyway, *** or not the guy performs as if he can be *** which only helps him. Personally I don't care what he is.

Yeah RJ he probably came out publicly around that time, but we suspected way earlier about his preferences. Think about it, the only piano player more flamboyant than Elton was Liberace and we knew he was ***. My best friends older brothers both saw Elton live in 1975 and he put on a spectacular show, in fact he was the most popular performer in the world for a couple of years. However they both said that according to all the rumours they heard that Elton was bisexual and he never really tried to hide anything just didn't make a big deal about it period. Regardless he was a great artist in his prime and I still like playing his old recordings.

Bowie "outed" himself as a bisexual in some interview in the 70s, but it was all just an image/marketing hike. Eventually he decided it was more of a detriment to be perceived as such, so he declared that he wasn't really bisexual at all - he described himself, humorously, as a "closet heterosexual", which he had been for a "long time".