POP legend Sir Elton John wants the internet CLOSED DOWN.
Never one to keep his opinions to himself, the Rocket Man has waded into cyberspace with all guns blazing. He claims it is destroying good music, saying:
“The internet has stopped people from going out and being with each other, creating stuff. Instead they sit at home and make their own records, which is sometimes OK but it doesn’t bode well for long-term artistic vision. It’s just a means to an end. We’re talking about things that are going to change the world and change the way people listen to music and that’s not going to happen with people blogging on the internet. I mean, get out there — communicate. Hopefully the next movement in music will tear down the internet. Let’s get out in the streets and march and protest instead of sitting at home and blogging. I do think it would be an incredible experiment to shut down the whole internet for five years and see what sort of art is produced over that span. There’s too much technology available. I’m sure, as far as music goes, it would be much more interesting than it is today.”
Never one to keep his opinions to himself, the Rocket Man has waded into cyberspace with all guns blazing. He claims it is destroying good music, saying:
“The internet has stopped people from going out and being with each other, creating stuff. Instead they sit at home and make their own records, which is sometimes OK but it doesn’t bode well for long-term artistic vision. It’s just a means to an end. We’re talking about things that are going to change the world and change the way people listen to music and that’s not going to happen with people blogging on the internet. I mean, get out there — communicate. Hopefully the next movement in music will tear down the internet. Let’s get out in the streets and march and protest instead of sitting at home and blogging. I do think it would be an incredible experiment to shut down the whole internet for five years and see what sort of art is produced over that span. There’s too much technology available. I’m sure, as far as music goes, it would be much more interesting than it is today.”
Multi-millionaire Elton, who turned 60 earlier this year, has admitted in the past that he is a bit behind the times. The Grammy award-winner was once quoted as saying: “I am the biggest technophobe of all time. I don’t have a mobile phone or an iPod or anything. I am such a Luddite when it comes to making music. All I can do is write at the piano.”
Sales of Elton’s last album The Captain & The Kid were disappointing — it barely shifted 100,000 copies. And in the past Sir Elt has opposed illegal downloading of his music from the net. But the flamboyant singer has embraced the web in other ways. The 60th birthday concert Sir Elton played to a 20,000-strong crowd at New York’s Madison Square Garden was streamed live over the internet. The singer also announced earlier this year that his entire back catalogue of albums would be made available for digital download.
The internet has played a huge role in kick-starting the careers of some of Britain’s best new talent. Sandi Thom shot to fame after broadcasting webcam concerts from her London basement flat, while both the Arctic Monkeys and Lily Allen acknowledge the part played by the web in their success. But Elton also complained about the quality of music being released. He said: “In the early Seventies there were at least ten albums released every week that were fantastic. Now you’re lucky to find ten albums a year of that quality. And there are more albums released each week now than there were then.”
I guess that’s what Sir Elt would call a net loss . . .
News source: The Sun
Might go download a few of his songs.
LOFL!!!
lols
Well, with the internet shut down we won't be able to buy his albums online, his accesories or gig tickets for his shows, thus resulting in a huge loss of money for both him and other artists. But hey, as long as he's ok with that (Y)
maybe the plan was to remind the public he's out there. get them listening again. and you took the bait, dude.
I wouldn't waste the bandwidth. I'd rather listen to that crap rapper that was on Top Gear of the Pops, what was his name, Jizzy Tissue.
A pathetic, homophobic comment
Last edited by bangbang023 on 04 Aug 2007 - 17:42
Thats what he wants. I mean, the ppl dont brough his music and he blames the internet for this.
To Elton John, you are OUT... OUT OUT OUT. Dont blame the internet because of that. The ppl still on the street going out and creating alot of stuff and dont need that someone with a mind tricked tell them what to do. Less with their freedom. And thats includes buy bad music like yours.
I like his music, and we even met him in Vegas, but his ego is bigger than the planet earth.
Poor Elton is loosing $$$$$$$$$$ in royalties, since the inception of the internet, strange he never mentioned this when the wife & I went too see him @ Caesers Palace, he did complain that his penis wasn't long enough, hence this is the problem, it's not big enough to fit in between his husband's bum cheeks.
So Elton has too complain about the internet, well we should all pull the plug on the internet now, Elton says we can't be online anymore.... But when you come to think about Elton, maybe you should take the lead and shut your website down, I mean eltonjohn.com is such an waste of evil bandwidth, after all I could spend the next 10+ hours sitting in front of my computer signing up for all these memberships you have to offer on your website, not too mention concert tickets and merchandise, who needs Google when you have the media and a mouth.
Elton was asked what would he do if everybody stopped buying his records?, his respone was "it will NEVER happen so why talk about it".
Um, maybe cause the art of music has been industrialized considerably in the past 40 years and the "artists" of today are only looking to make a quick buck and maybe a dash of fame, not some sort of lasting mark in the world.
I dont have any idea why he's blaming the internet for this though, the internet seems to be the exception of this rule that everythign has become an industry. Copyright is being breached so people can enjoy music sure its stealing but in the end your art is reaching millions who might never have heard it otherwise. Its not like Elton John is living on the streets...and its not like 70% of record sales go to the artist and not the record company..
does anyone actually take heed of anything the old fishwife says?
Hes a bit of a hypocrite seeing as he has his own website LMFAO do us all a favour Elton take down your website as an example...(whats that OH.......didnt think so either, a case of do as i say not as i do)
also Id take it all with a pinch of salt with it being in "The Sun"
I fail to see how the Internet stops musicians in any way being creative. Many many artists still get popular via the traditional means of playing small gigs and building up. Hell bar the few music show winners I seriously don't know of any artist that has achieved fame through releasing their material online. Yes many people do it but I doubt I could look at the charts and see anyone there that spent the 1st 5 years of their career blogging and got the record deal based on songs off their blog.
As for the quality of music nowdays, thats purely subjective. Theres a good deal of crap that was released years ago as well, just different crap but crap none the less. If elton thinks music is lacking nowdays hes still perhaps one of the most talented musicians of the past few decades so perhaps he should release something worthy of some of his classics. It's not like people wouldnt buy his album if he released something truely great today.
If anything getting rid off the net would just discourage start ups who toy around with music as a hobby and go on to produce material when they realise maybe they have a knack for it.
Nope, absolutely no small-minded personal agenda detected, Captain.
Nope, absolutely no small-minded personal agenda detected, Captain.
Pretty much sums this whole news post up.
+1 Internets.
In otherwords, to put it into an older perspective...dont watch tv all day, go out and play with your friends
For all intensive purposes bloggers and home musicians are as likely to get out as any other people and saying otherwise holds about as much water as saying something such as world of warcraft players have no life when in reality most live as "good" a life as anyone else (neglecting the debate on what even constitutes a life). It's really just some stupid generalization without much merit.
I'm not trying to be pedantic or rude, as I agreed with your point, but just wanted to make you aware for future reference that the phrase is actually 'for all intents and purposes'. It makes much more sense that way than the homophonic way that you have written it out. Anyway, carry on.
For all intensive purposes bloggers and home musicians are as likely to get out as any other people and saying otherwise holds about as much water as saying something such as world of warcraft players have no life when in reality most live as "good" a life as anyone else (neglecting the debate on what even constitutes a life). It's really just some stupid generalization without much merit.
Its not even important that you get out x% of the time. Even someone who spends a lot of his life quietly by himself in his house isn't necessarily blind to what the world is like. Everyone gets in touch with reality sometime, and reality doesn't even necessarily mean 'other people', even if for some person, thats out of the picture. Someone who spends all his life socializing may also have a completely distorted view of what the world is like. You can have someone who spends his life watching TV and get a distorted view, and you can get someone who does the same but is intelligent enough to understand things deeper.
Many of the world's greatest artists were recluses and anti-social. And even though Elton John has some nice songs, if he were put on a list of the world's greatest artists to have lived he wouldn't be far up.
This is just a lot of prejudice from the baby boom generation who believe in certain values about what "living" is. "Living" is experiencing things and having wild times, and if you're living your life quietly and modestly you aren't living. A lot of these are pronounced like morals and baby boomers will be as judgmental as anyone else.
Elton John's statements were offensive to me, because he said that because I live a lot of my life by myself in my house, my life isn't as worthwhile as his, and I will never produce art as great as his. f u Elton John.
i totally about the part that people should demonstrate on streets rather than in blogs, then again, hell..
actually the internet can be a great tool to develop your idea, collaborate, etc... its just a matter of what you do with it.
if a musician is unable to use technology to make better music, he or she should stick to his old tools of creation, but stfu about the rest of the world.
no1 ordered a world mommy.
Glassed Silver:mac
Go out and communicate? Damn I can communicate with people all over the friggin' world because of teh intarwebz. I don't think the guy knows his stuff.
He made some good music, but.. he shouldn't say stupid stuff like this.
... sure there was some good music, but claiming that 10 good albums came out every week and now that many don't come out a year is just silly.
While the internet has given more people a voice, that voice is weaker than ever since no one hardly goes to the streets and takes action.
I believe that was his point, and he is right on in my opinion.
His point about music.... Well, it is technology destroying music, with Pro Tools and such making people who cannot sing actually sing, so again, I have to say I agree with him to a certain degree. He just went a little extreme with his example.
quality music, and music just for fun,
if some1 wants to sing who cannot, fine, but he or she shouldnt sell it as quality masterpiece, thats all.
damn, keep up freedom
Glassed Silver:mac
That would be his boyfriend.
Last edited by shockz on 04 Aug 2007 - 19:09
In that it takes one to know one sense.
When someone reads that much into a little quip or comment they are usually covering up for their own homophobic, racist, and/or bigoted feelings.
Or you could say that everyone also are pedophile because everyone dislike this kind of persons. And the same for zoophile, necrophile and more. O_o
"I would have liked to know you but the bloggers got in the way, Lets burn down the internet like the candle in the wind."
Last edited by neufuse on 04 Aug 2007 - 19:32
I don't know, maybe he's just scared of the Internet, lol.
It's not like the internet does anything else besides pirating music anyway, why even try to consider anything else.
The internet is that technology that allows people to communicate, exchange information, collaborate, do business through, manage others, make a living etc. The internet means that anyone in any part of the world with access to it, can do virtually anything at any age.
People have become stars through the internet, they got known by high powered people and now have a career because of the internet
Now here comes some old asshole with a stupid idea that getting rid of everything I mentioned above because he thinks it is screwing up the music industry, well I have some news for you, music is not everything in this world!
PS: The 70's was **** BECAUSE there was no internet!
"Elton John wants to shut down the Internet"
vs.
"I do think it would be an incredible experiment to shut down the whole internet for five years and see what sort of art is produced over that span"
Hardly the same statements. As much as I can't stand the Prima-donna or his more recent music, he does have a valid point. People do need to get out more and stop trying to live their lives through crap blogs and the Internet as a whole.
Also, since the internet is a recent invention, I'd say we've already gone longer than five years without it already.
Of course, this is largely as a result of technology, as opposed to just the Internet, which is what Sir Elton John eludes to in his statement. I guess that didn't make such a cutting headline though.
It's got nothing to do with the Internet. Music and it's culture as a whole has shifted, even before the internet became as big as it is today. We still have great artists. They may not be as memorable, but it has nothing to do with he Internet. A period in 2004 I remember had tonnes of great songs, yet it died down. Sometimes you'll get the REALLY awesome songs which come along (Darkness; I Believe in a Thing called love - For example), but that's up to the writing skills of the artist, nothing to do with the Internet.
I think what Elton has failed to see here, is that if the internet was to be shut down, the WHOLE world would change, for the worse. Name a well known company nowadays which doesn't have an online store, online service or whatnot. Many people have made a living FROM the internet, and shutting it down would completely ruin their businesses, lives, families etc. It'd be like the great Depression all over again for most people. I think John imagines that there's a little box with a small red switch somewhere in the world which when flipped just turns off the internet. Well We've got news John, that's not the case! This is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard. It doesn't even matter if the music isn't the same style as what it was 30 years ago. Music relies on taste, and he may not like the newer music, but others do. Anyway, The Who are still awesome
Love your Music though, John
Last edited by Speedstar-Nintendo-Guy on 05 Aug 2007 - 10:27
Yes there are many issues with society right now, but attributing them all to simply "The Internet" is narrowminded, uninformed and just plain stupid.
If he wanted to do something "amazing" for music, why doesn't he nullify his contract with his studio and release all his future music for free. Surely music is for the people regardless of their financial status?
Whilst I have thought about (and indeed have ideas) for pieces of music I wish to mix, I'm not thinking from this on a basis - that is loaded with the intent to solely "make money". It is about taking the best of the 70s, 80s and 90s - in fact - "the best from anything" with the view to being creative and utilising "in a creative way" the best elements from technology that can contribute towards enhancing one's experiences and emotions of the piece that was created. About sharing, informing and enjoying.
I respect all genres - even if I don't like some. There's a reason for whatever genre exists.
A lot of people are very proud to where you (Sir Elton) have progressed to today. If the purpose was not about making people happy, I wonder if you'd have got to &qu