The rock singer Elton John said made “the best records”

Posted On December 26, 2025December 26, 2025

In the grand tradition of rock and roll, no one could have scripted someone like Elton John becoming one of the biggest names in music.

Reginald Dwight was certainly not going to get into the same realm as Elvis Presley when he first started making waves in Bliesology, but beyond being a fantastic songwriter, his extravagant outfits and massive stage shows were the only way to do many of those songs justice. He and Bernie Taupin were used to writing some of the most epic pop tunes the world had ever known, but John never forgot his rock and roll roots, either.

After all, he first fell in love with the genre the minute he saw Presley shaking his ass on television, and once The Beatles started making waves, he knew that there was a way for a kid like him to become a rock and roll star. But given his situation, he pretty much needed to do something more than sit in the back of the stage behind the piano every single time he made his tunes.

Because, really, keyboards weren’t necessarily seen as the coolest instrument in the world. There were certainly rock stars who liked to get behind the piano if they were singing a heartbreaking ballad, but there’s a reason the guitar got picked up as the genre’s weapon of choice. It was light, efficient, and since you could move around onstage with it, it felt like an extension of the player’s body half the time. 

Not necessarily so with the piano, but John figured that he could still bring that same fire if he knew the right people to follow. Jerry Lee Lewis had shown everyone the reckless abandon that could come from someone pounding the life out of their piano, but way before ‘Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On’ reached the airwaves, Little Richard was practically the prototype for what John would eventually become.

Richard never once thought about subtlety whenever he played, and his intensity onstage was enough to make any other guitarist shake in their boots. Even when someone like Jimi Hendrix was his session guitarist, there was no one taking their eyes off of Richard for a second, whether that was because of his androgynous approach to his stage makeup or that shriek every time he opened his mouth. This was the pure sound of rock and roll, and John wanted to be as close to it as possible.

Presley had certainly given a face to rock and roll at the time, but John placed Richard miles above anything ‘The King’ had done, saying, “I think Little Richard is more of a pounder. I think his rock and roll records are the best rock and roll records ever made, as far as just the genuine sound on them goes. Apart from ‘Hound Dog,’ which is amazing.” And you can really hear it in the way that John approached his rock and roll tunes.

There’s a good chance that Richard didn’t necessarily inspire ‘Candle in the Wind’ or anything, but a lot of what John was doing was a more sophisticated take on Richard’s style of playing. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road might be packed to the brim with fantastic ballads, but everything from ‘Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting’ to ‘Grey Seal’ are perfect examples of John kicking up the tempo and playing piano in a more crude way than what he was taught in school.

Because if Bach and Beethoven taught John about the intricate sounds of harmony whenever he played their musical inventions, Richard was the one showing everyone the percussive nature of the instrument. In rock and roll, the piano might be an important instrument, but you don’t simply play a piano. You beat the life out of a piano, and John and Richard both have had a history of slamming the ivories until they heard the sounds in their head.

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