Rocket Man!!!

Keeping with the Queer theme for December, I can't NOT talk about the Gayest musician in this world - Sir Elton John. He may be a total fruit cake but the guy can sing. I'm told he started playing the piano at the age of 3, now you don't do that unless you got some real talent. Now Elton's no spring chicken, hes like 65 yrs old and if anyone has googled some his pictures of him performing in his youth, you will realize, he was probably GAY at the age of 3 too. What outfits, whacky is an understatement, flowery hats and some audacious wardrobe selections that even Lady GaGa would be proud of. But let's not take anything away from Sir Elton John, gay or not, he's one of the greatest musicians to come out of England. Brilliant voice, amazing pianist, philanthropist, entertainer extraordinaire.

I think you owe it to Elton to have at least the Greatest Hits album on your iPod, some amazing songs in here I tell you - "Lucy In The Sky", "Rocket Man", "Crocodile Rock", "Daniel", "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", "Sacrifice", "Candle in The Wind", "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word" and my all time favorite Elton John song "Kiss The Bride". The irony of this song name is for everyone to see, but its a brilliant song, hell its a brilliant album. I would love to download his entire discography some day, about 15 studio albums but I think that would be a little too much Gay Man Music. Sorry I'm coming off as such a Homophobe, but sue me legal or not, Men bumping uglies was and will always be weird to me. Elton John commands a certain respect in the music community, he's collaborated with soo many artists and performed at so many events and countries. He's an absolute legend and his songs have been used in countless movies and TV shows. The most famous one has to be "Rocket Man", you know you've heard this song at least a dozen in times in movies, a lovely song this, there's absolutely nothing gay about this song, hell this song was used in Californication with the infamous Hank Moody and as many of you would know, he is anything but Gay.

Elton's not just known for his awesome music and piano playing skills, but he's also a philanthropist - he's actively involved in AIDS awareness and has his own AIDS foundation known as "Elton John AIDS Foundation". Apart from this he holds a rather large stake in Watford Football Club, and until recently he was actively involved in the day-to-day running of the club. He was brought up in Middlesex and has always been a lifelong Watford Fan, and this is something really commendable. He's performed many a time at Vicrage Road, although now he continues to support them just as a fan, having stepped down from the Board of Directors. He still has a lot of financial interest in the club, but he's no longer a majority stakeholder. Some life eh?? Making a living off doing what you love and what you are very good at and then going and buying your hometown team and take them to the FA Cup Final. If thats not living the dream I don't know what is. Long Live Elton, Long Live the ROCKET MAN !!!

I, Gautam Swaminathan am a HUGE fan of Sir Elton John and I am not ashamed to admit it.

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Michael Learns To Rock

This December I’m gonna focus my attention on certain artists, artists who are generally labelled as queer or GAY. Why they are labelled so I will never know. I know I’ve always advocated Classic Rock and how that’s the only genre of music worth listening to, well that’s not entirely true. The truth of it is that I appreciate good music whether its Dire Straits or Dhanush’s Kolaveri Di. Either way this December I want to prove that there are some wonderful bands and artists out there, whose music is just as good as those ‘cool rockstars’. Let me start with one of the most under-rated Alternative bands of the present generation – Michael Learns To Rock. 

Go ahead mock me, the first thought that comes to your head when I say MLTR is probably that of disgust, hell I myself was one of those people who would ridicule 4 middle aged men singing romantic songs, but once you hear their discography you can’t help but put your hand up and say, “MLTR are decent”. First of all if you are going to compare MLTR with Coldplay then they are going to come up short because you just can’t do that, when it comes to alternative Coldplay are on a level of their own. But think about it, apart from Coldplay how many bands are actually out there who can pass as proper alternative bands, RHCP, Pearl Jam etc. But even these bands are more prone towards rock rather than alternative. So that leaves bands like Switchfoot, Audioslave, Jet etc. LOL. Now MTLR are starting to look real classy don’t they. Now moving on, most of you who have heard about Michael Learns To Rock will bet your left hand that “The Actor” is their best song. #EPICFAIL. Sure the actor may have been one of their more popular songs, it is not even close to being one of their best songs – atleast in my book. Start playing the album “Colours” and you will start to understand why. Very very soothing music, very light, the ideal band to listen to when you’re driving your parents to the mall or in my case to the temple. Some great songs in this album, “Wild Women” is one of my favourites, also there’s “25 Minutes”, “Something Right”, “Sleeping Child”, “Complicated Heart”, “Ocean of Love”. Hell this whole album really, best MLTR album by a long shot. This album also has “The Actor” so yes this should be the first album you listen to. 

Now a few years back there was this album “Take Me To Your Heart” released in 2004 I think, and they had collaborated with Indian vocalist Shaan, yes that Tanha Dil walla Shaan. Now they basically decoded the title track “Take Me To Your Heart” into hindi, kinda pointless really, but there’s no denying it’s a nice song. Another classic MLTR album, very easy on the ear – all the songs are worth listening to. MLTR is that kind of band that you would just leave on shuffle on your iPod. All their songs are the peppy kind, very soothing and very easy to fall in love with. This album is 10 outta 10 for me but still if I had to be really picky about the best songs, I’d have to choose “Hit By Feeling”, “Salvation”, Frostbite”, Take Me To Your Heart”, “Hit By A Feeling” and “This Is Who I Am”. There next best album is undoubtedly Played on Pepper, with some good songs like “Naked Like The Moon”, “Take Off Your Clothes”, “Breaking The Rules”, “Someday”, “Love Will Never Lie” etc. Like I said all the MLTR songs are nice, not the type of music you can head bang to obviously, but something you can just leave playing all the way into the early hours of the morning. Good band this, a definite download and a double thumbs up from Swami G for the entire discography. Here’s the entire disco in order of preference of course: 

·     1993 – Colours

·     2004 - Take Me To Your Heart

·     1995 – Played on Pepper

·     1991 – Micheal Learns To Rock

·     1997 – Nothing to Lose

·     2008 – Eternity

The irony of this all is the fact that this is a Danish band, and none of them are called Michael. In one the interviews the lead singer revealed that Michael Jackson was the inspiration behind the band's name and although they were unsure about how it would be perceived, they decided to stick with the name after the huge success of their debut album. Good pop is still alive, though Michael's not around anymore, but Michael Learn's To Rock is and I hear they are coming out with a re-union album in 2012. I for one will be looking forward to it, great european band this, second only to Coldplay. Cheers guys. Happy Drinking this December !! :) 

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