For more than six decades, Elton John has not merely survived the merciless grind of the music industry — he has flourished within it. With a career that has scaled heights and endured seasons of reinvention, his perspective is not born of fleeting success but of hard-won experience. In a recent exchange with Rolling Stone UK, the ever-vibrant musician offered a stark warning to those who seek to traverse the turbulent waters of fame without the fortitude born of real experience.
John's advice was deceptively simple: play live, as much as possible, to as few as are willing to listen. "That’s the way you improve as a musician and songwriter," he explained. "It doesn’t matter if you’re playing to 40 people. The more experience you get playing to nobody, the better." Recalling his early days with a hint of nostalgia, John spoke of his time in "Musicology" — a likely slip for Bluesology, his first band — when audiences were often sparse and inattentive.
To some, this counsel might seem quaint in an era when social media and televised competitions can catapult an artist to stardom without the laborious rites of gigging in dingy clubs. Yet John remains unyielding in his belief that such groundwork is essential not only to hone one's craft but to forge an inner resilience.
"That experience stood me in great stead for when I became Elton John because I had backbone," he asserted. "And backbone is so important, because the worst thing that can happen to you in the industry are things like X Factor and instant fame on television, where you have no experience of playing live. You get put on stage, you go, and you can’t do it. That’s the worst thing. American Idol — just the worst."
There is a quiet tragedy in John's observation: the hollow success that arrives too soon, before the artist is tempered by failure, by obscurity, by the sheer persistence required to play to an audience that may as well be absent. Fame without foundation is a brittle thing.
John’s prescription for the modern aspirant is unvarnished: “Take risks. Go and play in a pub.” The romance of the struggling musician, eking out their craft in cramped, dim-lit venues, is not merely a narrative trope — it is a crucible that breeds both skill and self-reliance.
Approaching his 78th birthday, John remains animated by music. Though he has drawn the curtain on his touring career, the stage has not lost its hold upon him; charity events and fundraisers still echo with his unmistakable voice. "I can’t live without music," he reflected. "It nearly killed me, but it also kept me alive, and it keeps me alive today." Yet it is not nostalgia that sustains him — not the comfort of past glories. "It’s the music of the future that keeps me alive."
The future, it seems, includes a collaboration with Brandi Carlile on an album titled Who Believes in Angels?, set for release on April 4, with the pair appearing on Saturday Night Live the following night. Speaking of Carlile, John’s admiration was profound and unguarded: “I love her so much and not just as a person, but I love what’s inside of her musically and creatively. And it hasn’t really touched the surface. I think it’s beginning to, but it’s got so much further to go. She’s like an embryo at the moment, and she’s done a hell of a lot to be an embryo, but she’s going to just burst.”
John’s reflection is both a celebration of artistry and a caution against the allure of rapid ascent. In a world increasingly obsessed with immediacy, he remains an advocate for the slow, grinding journey — the one that builds backbone.
