Elton John still carries the weight of the chaos he unleashed during the years he spent trapped in the grip of addiction. From the mid-'70s to 1990, drugs clouded his life, leaving a trail of damaged relationships and derailed creativity.
It was a nightmare for Elton's longtime lyricist and collaborator, Bernie Taupin. "I was terrified for him," Taupin admitted. "It was absolutely horrible." He acknowledged that the music they made during those years was far from their best. "I wasn't able to creatively invest any time in writing material that related to him until he actually found himself, and then it was easier for me to reflect upon it"
Elton's road to recovery began with a stint in rehab, but even now, at 77, one particular moment still stings. "It was the most embarrassing thing in my life," he told Time magazine, which recently named him their Icon of the Year. "I couldn't work a washing machine. I thought, 'F**k, you're 43 years old, and you can't even do this. That's how fucked up you are.'"
This humbling realization was one of many stark truths Elton faced about his behavior during those years. "You make terrible decisions on drugs," he said. "I wanted love so badly, I'd just take hostages. I'd see someone I liked and spend three or four months together, and then they would resent me because they had nothing in their life apart from me. It really upsets me, thinking back on how many people I probably hurt."
Taupin, who grappled with his own addiction issues while standing by Elton through the turmoil, remains unequivocal in his admiration. "What people didn't realize in the '70s and '80s and '90s, but I think they realize now, is that he's one of the best f***ing piano players on the planet 'There are a lot of people that have great catalogs and great songs, but I don't think anybody of our peers has songs that are so varied"
This versatility, Taupin joked, has made their catalog almost inescapable. "Do you know how many requests I get a day for the use of our songs on things like America's Got Talent, The Voice, or the silly show where they dress up as poodles?
"I don't think Bob Dylan gets a lot of requests [from] The Masked Singer."
Elton's journey has been one of triumph, regret, creative brilliance, and human frailty. But through it all, he has managed to rise above, forging music that will outlive the darkest chapters of his life. And for Taupin, the evolution of their work—from the depths of addiction to the clarity of recovery—tells its own story. "Once he found himself again, everything changed. We could finally do the work we were meant to do together."
