I'm such an easy going person normally but I HATE Elton John. Which was why I was distressed to hear this news today:
Elton John is looking on course this Sunday to join an ultra-exclusive club by replacing himself at number one on the UK singles chart.
Early retail reports suggest his Rocket/Mercury-issued Billy Elliot cut Electricity will end the three-week chart-topping run of 2Pac's Interscope/Polydor single Ghetto Gospel on which the UK artist performs.
Only a handful of artists have replaced themselves at number one in the 52-year history of the UK singles chart, including Elvis Presley during Sony BMG's re-issues programme of all his number one singles earlier this year. The feat has also been achieved by The Beatles and John Lennon.
Electricity, which would became Elton John's eighth chart-topping UK single in total, is expected to be joined in the chart by a handful of new entries towards the bottom end of the Top 20. Among those debuting will be Inaya Day's Nasty Girl (All Around The World), Blood by Editors (Kitchenware), Deep Dish's Say Hello (Positiva) and REM's Wanderlust (Warner Bros).
One guy on the mailing list where this was posted added this explanation:
Have you seen how Elton is doing it, though. It's via a competition on his website. If you download the single from the website you are automatically entered into some sort of draw to win something. Without downloads, Elton would only be at 15! Surely this is in breach of chart rules. It's like the rules for physical singles not allowing promotional devices like stickers to be given away free with CDs. Is there anyone we can complain to about this? He shouldn't be allowed to get away with it...
And then he signed off with the coup de grace:
Especially since the record is crap.
I haven't heard it but ... yes, he's right. It is.
