The one singer Elton John couldn’t be paid to see: “Fuck off”

Posted On January 19, 2026January 19, 2026

Elton John was the kind of person who lived to play live whenever he made a record back in the day. 

While plenty of artists have gone on one too many “farewell” tours over the years, it’s clear that John still had the same kind of fire in him that he did when he first went out onstage in those magnificent outfits in the age of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. He was more than willing to give it his all whenever he got to perform, but when listening to what the new world of rock and roll was like, he knew when people were being authentic and when people couldn’t be asked to give their all onstage.

Then again, it’s not like John hasn’t found himself in some hot water on the rare occasion for that kind of behaviour, either. His lifelong friendship with Billy Joel was on the rocks for a little while when he talked about the singer having a problem with drinking, but even when that was water under the bridge, it seemed like the British legend’s bullshit detector simply couldn’t be silenced.

John may have been at the top of the world when the punk regime came in to insult the hierarchy of rock and roll, but even people like John Lydon couldn’t be as cutthroat as John could on occasion. His feud with Madonna is among the stuff of pop music legend, and while he and Keith Richards have had their fair share of spats over the years, it’s easy for someone to agree to disagree than have a fundamental difference as musicians.

Granted, John had a fairly high standard for what every rock star should be able to do. No, he wasn’t expecting everyone to learn the ins and outs of classical composition the same way that he did in school, but if they had a great idea, it was about trying to play everything well. And while some of his friends did have their fair share of “help” onstage with backup singers and additional musicians, he was much more forgiving of that than someone playing music to a track.

Because, really, that was the antithesis of what a concert should be for him. The joy and the beauty of playing any gig is that people are seeing their favourite artist play their hits in the moment, and if there isn’t any wiggle room for people to start working a new song into the set or change up the way they perform a certain song, John would much rather go back to his house and listen to his old records.

So when he saw Janet Jackson performing some of her greatest hits with a backing track back in the day, John had his hands officially up ever seeing her, saying, “You know, fucking music magazines writing a review of Janet Jackson saying, ‘This is the greatest show – four and a half stars.’ It’s fucking lip-synced! Hello! That’s not a show! I’d rather go and see a drag queen. Fuck off.” To play devil’s advocate, though, it is technically a show for the fans. It’s just a show that doesn’t have that many interesting moments to it. 

While many fans are conditioned to think that something natural happening during a show means something went wrong with the production, it’s not like there’s anything wrong with playing everything live. That’s what made The Beatles so impressive back in the day, and even though some bands have an expansive band when they perform, it’s always a better time for people to cheer on musicians that are killing it as opposed to celebrating the choreography everyone was doing.

That’s not to discount what Jackson is like as a musician. She remains a brilliant musician and one of the greatest R&B artists to come out of the 1980s, but John saw through the red tape pretty quickly. There were two versions of Ms. Jackson: the pop juggernaut and the stage performer, and it’s clear that John didn’t much like the more extravagant one that danced around the stage.

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