136 - Elton John - Greatest Hits - Wayne Federman

Summary

The 500 with Josh Adam Meyers – Episode 136

Elton John: Greatest Hits (1974) – With Wayne Federman & Special Guest Adam Chester
Released: October 29, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode tackles the Rolling Stone #136 album: Elton John – Greatest Hits (1974). Host Josh Adam Meyers is joined by recurring guest Wayne Federman—comedian, pianist, and avid Elton fan—for a deep-dive into Elton’s unique career and the place of greatest hits albums in music history. Early in the conversation, they pull off a rare and delightful guest pop-in: Adam Chester, Elton John’s rehearsal pianist for over 20 years, joins for an intimate look behind the scenes of Elton’s process, live performance secrets, and personal stories. The trio cover Elton's genius, his unique working relationship with Bernie Taupin, and weigh in on whether albums like this should count among the "greatest" of all time.

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Key Segments & Discussion Points

[03:06] Setting the Scene & Guest Introduction

• Josh shares recent live show stories, tour dates, and road plans.
• Explains challenge booking a guest for Elton, resulting in the inspired fill-in by Wayne Federman.
• Reveals the bonus guest: Adam Chester, Elton John’s trusted rehearsal pianist.

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[06:43] Wayne Joins & The Adam Chester Surprise

• Wayne describes Adam’s indispensable role as “Elton’s rehearsal pianist—he plays with the band when Elton isn’t there.”
• Live, in-episode coordination to bring Adam into the conversation.

Memorable Exchange:

Wayne: “He’s one of those dudes that's unlike me...you can play him a song on your iPhone and he can figure it out.”
Josh: “That’s the best kind of musician.”
[09:12]

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[10:52–29:57] Adam Chester on Elton: Techniques, Rehearsals, & Memories

Elton’s Instinctive Genius

• Adam: “He’s just so good at the piano because he doesn’t think about it...it’s all very natural...he just sits down...it really is that easy for him.” [11:06]

On Playing by Ear & Early Influences

• Both Adam and Elton could play songs by ear from childhood.
• Adam recounts falling in love with Elton’s music after hearing “Funeral for a Friend” on the radio in the '70s.

  “From that moment on, I was completely hooked. Posters on the wall, every bootleg record possible. That was my passion. So it’s odd that I do what I do.” [14:59]

First Meeting Elton John

• Adam shares the story of being introduced to Elton during Captain Fantastic reunion rehearsals in 2005:
  • Recounts Elton’s humor (“Is he gay?” question), the nerve-wracking rehearsal, and providing the correct chords when Elton inquired onstage.
  • Adam was invited to join the concert choir: “They didn’t like me...that was very, very weird because they told me, 'We have some dance moves we need to teach you too.'” [19:54]

Gospel & Church Music in Elton's Style

• Elton’s signature gospel-influenced voicings (“Someone Saved My Life Tonight”)—technical breakdown provided.

  “He starts it…it’s an A flat chord over E. That’s a very gospel voicing...It’s crazy how the way he plays his creations... is very dependent on gospel voicing.” [20:45]

Elton’s Hands & Live Performance Technique

• Discussion of Elton’s “chubby fingers” and remarkable fluidity on piano.

  “He’s got these stubby little paws that...fly over the keyboard.” [21:57]

Influence & Artistic Collaboration

• Josh and Adam note Elton’s ability to adapt, improvise, and accept suggestions, even live.

"Greatest Hits" Track Talk & Song Requests

• Adam reveals that for a Dubai private show, Elton was requested to perform "Honky Cat," "Pinball Wizard," "The One," and "Sacrifice"—including songs he hadn’t played in years.

  “It must be great to be able to get Elton John to play your jukebox of your favorites.” [28:16] “They had to pay up, you know, of course.” [28:23]

Elton's Band & Zero Ego

• Adam pays tribute to the musicianship and humility within Elton’s band.

  “There’s zero ego involved in any of them...and the band doesn’t get enough credit.” [31:20]

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[33:44] The Elton John/Bernie Taupin Dynamic & Songwriting Process

• Wayne: Elton is “unique in that he is a collaborator,” composing to Bernie’s lyrics, often writing songs “in less than half an hour.”

  “They don’t [work together]. They collaborate. [Bernie] gives him the lyrics...he reads the lyrics like, ‘Oh, this sings to me,’ and he usually writes these songs in less than half an hour.” [34:10–34:38]

• They discuss the famous NME ad that brought Elton and Bernie together—a fluke meeting with massive impact on pop history.

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[37:18+] Album Breakdown: Elton John – Greatest Hits

• The compilation spans "Your Song," "Daniel," "Honky Cat," "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting," "Rocket Man," "Bennie and the Jets," "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me," "Border Song," "Crocodile Rock."
• Notes which songs come from which previous albums; applause for the consistent run of hits across the era.

Standout Quote:

“It’s very hard to go to an Elton John concert without him playing [‘Your Song’]...it’s a perfect song.” – Wayne [37:22]

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[43:57] Are Greatest Hits Albums "Legit" for the List?

• Spirited debate on whether compilations belong on the “greatest albums” lists.
• Wayne: “It’s the biggest selling record of 1975”—over 17 million sold.
• Josh: “You just can’t deny that the album itself...existed. It was a thing.”

Other compilations—Legend by Bob Marley, Eagles Greatest Hits, Immaculate Collection by Madonna—are considered with similar logic.

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[49:38] Elton John vs. Billy Joel (and Beyond)

• Wayne compares their different styles:
  • Billy Joel: Complex, written structure, “locked in” songs.
  • Elton: “Never plays it the same way twice...it’s about the feel of the moment.”
• Elton is described as “one of the most important musical artists in the history of music.” [54:00]

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[54:30] Modern Parallels: Who's This Generation's Elton John?

• Josh nominates Trent Reznor for his transition from alternative/industrial stardom to acclaimed soundtrack composer and multi-award-winner.
• Spirited but friendly pushback from Wayne on mainstream versus cult icon success.

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[58:15] The Elton John Persona, Sobriety, and Life Stages

• They touch on themes from Rocketman: young Reg creates the Elton persona for confidence and freedom, and struggles with addiction.
• Wayne: “There was a disconnect between Elton John, this Persona he created...and the chubby kid, Reg inside him—the disconnect was bridged with alcohol and drugs.” [58:16]

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[61:45] Commercial Stats & Kiss-Offs

• Josh: “This was our fourth time talking about Elton...” Ran through past album episodes and covered where this album lands in the discography.
• “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” comes up soon, ranked #91.
• Adam and others confirm Elton John Greatest Hits as one of the best-selling albums of the 1970s.
• Discussion about “Candle in the Wind 97” as the best-selling physical single since modern tracking, still rivaling “White Christmas.”
• Extended riffing on richest musicians lists, best-selling “Greatest Hits” albums (Eagles, Queen, Bob Marley, ABBA).

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[70:12] Personal Picks & Elton’s Range

• Wayne’s favorite: “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.”

  “Where Goodbye Yellow Brick Road moves emotionally for me is just wild.” [70:19]

• Josh’s pick: “Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)” as a showcase of Elton’s rock energy.
• Honorable mention to “Your Song” and deep cuts like “Madman Across the Water,” plus shoutouts to “Tiny Dancer” (not even on this collection) and other ballads.
• Least favorite: Josh votes “Crocodile Rock.”

  “I’ve never liked it...I think it’s Cheeseball McGee. It’s like my least favorite type of...on a record like this, which has such great stuff.” [75:09]

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[73:14] The Elton/Bernie Secret Sauce

• Wayne: “It’s just so unique, for someone to only write music but not lyrics, to have a collaborator at that level...”
• Wonders what would have happened if they’d never met.

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[82:17] Final Thoughts: Why Start with This Album?

• Wayne: “If you don’t know Elton John at all...this is a great starter album. This is what the fuss was all about...why he’s one of the greatest artists of all time.” [82:17]
• Josh asserts that greatest hits serve as taste-makers leading people to the full albums and hidden gems.

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Notable Quotes

• Adam Chester, on Elton’s Piano Style:
  “He’s just so good at the piano because he doesn’t think about it...He sits down, he starts joking, he plays. I mean, it really is that easy for him.” [11:05]

• Wayne Federman, on ‘Your Song’:
  “I keep getting more out of that song the older I get. I like playing it now more than I did.” [37:28]

• Josh Adam Meyers, on Elton John’s Range:
  “He can write a gorgeous, emotional song...and then he can kick you in the dick with ‘Saturday Night’s All Right for Fighting,’ which is a rock and roll...” [71:01]

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Discussion Highlights

• Greatest Hits Album Placement: While usually controversial, this album is defended both for its cultural impact and as an actual, standalone phenomenon ("it existed...it was a thing").
• Elton & Bernie's Collaboration: Their partnership is unlike most, with music written to supplied lyrics, and with minimal direct interaction—yet yielding a timeless songbook.
• Elton's Persona: Reinvention was key to Elton’s success and personal liberation—“sometimes you have to create a Persona” (parallels to Lady Gaga).
• Live Performance Magic: Elton’s shows are total-euphoria events, with piano technique and band support highlighted as keys to his magic.
• Modern Comparison: Playful debate on modern equivalents: is there a current Elton John? (Josh: “Trent Reznor”, Wayne: “Not mainstream enough.”)
• Broader Career: Elton as an EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony), successful solo artist, film composer, and collaborator.

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Episode Timestamps

• 03:06 – Opening context, guest setup, and Elton John overview
• 06:43 – Wayne arrives, orchestrates Adam Chester’s appearance
• 10:52 – Adam Chester joins: Elton rehearsal stories, playing by ear
• 16:26 – Adam’s first meeting with Elton
• 20:31 – The gospel and country roots in Elton’s music
• 29:57 – Adam exits, effusive thanks; Wayne and Josh reflect
• 33:44 – Elton/Bernie creative dynamic discussion
• 37:18 – Greatest hits album breakdown (“Your Song” and beyond)
• 43:57 – Should compilations count as “greatest” albums?
• 54:30 – Modern artists as Elton equivalents
• 58:15 – Elton’s stage persona and struggles
• 61:45 – Comparative stats and hit record trivia
• 70:12 – Hosts’ favorite and least favorite tracks
• 82:17 – Final thoughts: best introduction to Elton John

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Conclusion

This episode turns what could have been a routine album discussion into an unexpectedly intimate and revealing exploration of Elton John’s genius, the peculiarities of “Greatest Hits” albums, and the rare chance to hear a member of Elton’s inner music circle speak candidly. Wayne Federman’s comic warmth and music geekery keeps things light and insightful, while Adam Chester's stories provide real fan service and deep cut appreciation. The conversation will delight longtime Elton fans and new listeners alike, and offers smart context for the importance of this record in pop music history.

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Next Episode: #135 – Pavement, Slanted and Enchanted
Do your homework, stay fleecy!

Transcript

[Josh Adam Myers]

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[Podcast Announcer]

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[Dan Nordheim]

Hey, this is Dan Nordheim, host of the documentary podcast Life of the Record. Join me as I interview the artists, musicians and producers that were involved in the making of a classic album. Each episode tells the story of how one album came to be directly from the people who were there. You'll hear from artists like Spoon, Pixies, the Shins, Violent Femmes, Bonnie Prince, Billy, Minor Threat, and Richard and Linda Thompson. The podcast includes in depth interviews with the creators who offer surprising insights into each track on the Record. With episodes covering albums across different eras, music scenes and genres, Life of the Record has something unique to offer music fans. Subscribe to Life of the Record on your favorite podcast platform.

[Josh Adam Myers]

This show is brought to you by Distrokid Bring youg Music to the masses.

[Fletch]

The 500 the 500 JM been walking us down through that 2012 edition so it ain't nothing too new. Hundreds more to go and in need of a friend the King of Peace for angelo talking the 500 until the end talking the 500 until the end with my man JL on the 500 talking the 500 until the end.

[Josh Adam Myers]

That is Honky Cat. It's by Elton John and it's from his greatest hits from 1974. It's also number 136 out of 500 on the 500 with me, Josh Adam Myers, Addie's Fleece Army. How's everybody doing? Big shout out to Fletch. Saw Fletch in Jansville, Wisconsin this weekend. He brought some family brought to the gayest, the only gay guys in Jansville, Wisconsin. One of them wearing a Count Chocula shirt. Read into that however you will, but good God did we have a good time. Thank you to everybody that came out. I got the weekend off but I am back out on the road on November 6th through the 8th, I'm at the House of Comedy in Phoenix. Then I'll be at skank Fest the 14th through the 16th, which is my birthday weekend. Then I'm doing a huge show in Baltimore, Maryland. So if you are in the DMV, come one, come all. November 22nd, Horseshoe Casino, Baltimore, Maryland. Then Charlotte, Connecticut. Yeah, man. Then 2026 is kind of starting to fill up. I think we're going to Australia. There might be another jelly roll tour. A lot of good going on. So go to joshadamyers.com for tickets at Josh Adam Myers on all social media. I want to see everybody at the shows. Bring be Fletch. Bring everybody. Why is my nose stuffed up right now? Subscribe to the YouTube YouTube.com backslash the 500 podcast. Subscribe to the Patreon. We got to start rocking and rolling with those master fleece theaters. Now that I'm back in America, I could see us doing that. Patreon.com backslash the 500 podcast. Join the fleece army. We love you and you love us. And we are almost done. We are almost done. All right, let's just get to it. So Elton John, obviously, we sent out the bad signal to a lot of guests. We had a couple people lined up. They dropped out last minute. And stepping in as usual is the one and only Wayne Fetterman. It's Elton. Wayne's a piano comic. Not totally, but he plays piano amongst many other instruments. So this is one of those gifts to Wayne. But what's cool is that we have a special guest that works with Elton that we bring on very early into the podcast to get some intel about his playing style, what he's like, and great stories. So Wayne Fetterman is our guest and then chipping in just for a little bit, the one and only Adam Chester, who happens to be Elton John's rehearsal pianist. So Elton doesn't show up for rehearsals, Adam does. It tours with them. It was so cool. And dude, me and Wayne, we really go into it after this. We talk about do greatest hits albums deserve to be on here? The best selling ones. But we really got into it and it's just, you know, I love Wayne, I love him to death. Congrats on booking some some work and having us to wait till the last minute to do this. But either way, man, this was always fun. I love him to death. I know you guys love him. That's why we bring him back. Raid review and most importantly, subscribe to the 500 listen free on all platforms. Or any way you get your podcast, Follow me at Josh Adam Myers on all social media. Follow the podcast at the 500 Podcast, email the podcast at [e-mail], or follow the Facebook group run by Crazy Evan. And for all things 500, go to the website the500podcast.com. All right, y'. All. Nothing left to say, but here we go with number 136 out of 500 with Elton John's greatest hits. I'm.

[Wayne Fetterman]

I'm.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I'm glad you're here, though, because.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Thank you. Thank you.

[Josh Adam Myers]

This was Which. Which is funny, because if this was an actual Elton John record, like, I would be. We would have been very, very. We were very thorough and who we were trying to ask. And we had a couple people, and then they fell through, and then.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Can I recommend somebody? I assume there's got to be at least one more Elton John.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I really think there's, like. There's some. There's some really good ones coming in. Yeah, I'm pretty sure.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Can I recommend somebody to talk to about it?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Who do you got?

[Wayne Fetterman]

You can't get Bernie Tin or Elton. I recommend this guy, Adam Chester. He's a friend of mine. He is Elton's. He is the rehearsal piano player for Elton's band. So Elton doesn't rehearse with the band, but he does. So he tours with Elton. He's known El. Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Can you call him? Right. Can you get him on to come in for a few minutes right now? I don't know it.

[Wayne Fetterman]

I mean, I. I guess I can.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Text him and say he come, then we don't have to then, you know.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Hold on, hold on, hold on. That'll be happening in real time.

[Josh Adam Myers]

This is happening in real time.

[Wayne Fetterman]

This is real.

[Josh Adam Myers]

This happened before, dude. We've had. We've had.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yes.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. Mike Love. We were doing John Stamos, and he was like, I'm gonna call Mike Love. And then he called.

[Wayne Fetterman]

So what do I do? I call him or text him?

[Josh Adam Myers]

I would. I would text him. Well, you know, it's up to you. You figure out whichever way you think would be the easiest. Say, hey, I'm doing an episode of the 500. I'm doing a podcast about Elton John. Do you want to pop in for a few minutes so we can ask you questions? Dude, if you do this, I don't know.

[Wayne Fetterman]

He's such a cool dude. He plays. He's just an incredible. He's funny.

[Josh Adam Myers]

He knows Elton.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Oh, yeah. He knows Elton.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Really? Yeah.

[Wayne Fetterman]

In that last concert, Elton did When Elton sang the duet with Don't Go Breaking My Heart with Kiki D, he was playing piano on stage at Dodger Stadium.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, no way.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah, Adam. And I'm not hearing anything from him.

[Josh Adam Myers]

But you just sent it.

[Wayne Fetterman]

I know. I haven't heard a thing.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, yeah, but you just said it.

[Wayne Fetterman]

I'll keep you posted.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Okay, Keep me posted. If not, we'll call Morty. Morty will come in in the end, and he'll just go clean up our mess.

[Wayne Fetterman]

This is not going to be a mess. Oh, wait, three dots. Three dots.

[Podcast Announcer]

Oh.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Oh, wow. He's just a brilliant piano player. He's one of those dudes that's unlike me that, like, you can play him a song in the. You know, on your iPhone and you.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Can figure it out. Oh, I love that he's got that ear. Yeah. That's the best. That's the best kind of musician.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah. Yeah, that's.

[Josh Adam Myers]

That is.

[Wayne Fetterman]

That is.

[Josh Adam Myers]

That's the coolest of the other cool.

[Wayne Fetterman]

He's like, so. And he's. He's a family guy, and he just. And then he got that.

[Adam Chester]

Yeah.

[Wayne Fetterman]

I want to know about the gig. There's a lot I want to know about him, but.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Well, I'm glad you. This is happening. I can't believe it either.

[Wayne Fetterman]

I don't know. Let's see. Let's see.

[Josh Adam Myers]

The 500 is magical. Just, you know, Wayne, you've done 20 some odd episodes now you've. Up. Here we go.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Wait.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Install a thing. Come up.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yes, Adam, thank you. This is Josh. You're listening to Josh. Introduce yourself.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Hey, buddy. I'm the host of the podcast, Josh Adam Myers. We're going through Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums. We've been doing it for seven years. And today's episode is about Elton John's greatest hits from 1974. So before we start asking you questions, the. Nice to see you, buddy. How are you? Before we start asking you questions, this. Wayne has been on the episodes. I mean, been on the podcast God knows how many times. I think for 30 of them, it seems like. And we shot for Elton, couldn't get him.

[Wayne Fetterman]

We.

[Josh Adam Myers]

We get big guess. And then we.

[Adam Chester]

Elton, come here a sec. Put some clothes on.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Thank you for doing this. This is a crazy. I was just singing your praises, thinking, that's so funny. There would be another episode where you could be on. And then it was like, why don't you reach out to him? I was like, all right, I will. I will.

[Adam Chester]

That's funny.

[Wayne Fetterman]

So thank You. So let's just, first of all, tell us what the secret of Elton John's piano playing is. As someone who is his band's rehearsal piano player.

[Adam Chester]

He is. First of all, thank you for. I mean, this is so cool. I'm sitting in my backyard completely unshowered, and, you know, we just had rehearsals with him.

[Wayne Fetterman]

What.

[Adam Chester]

What's today? Today's Tuesday. So we rehearsed last Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. So I'm fresh off of that absolute incredible high. And I've been doing this for over 20 years now. And last week was just remarkable. He's just so good at the piano because he doesn't think about it, you know, I mean, this is. It's all very natural. It's what he does. You know, there's no other way to put it. He doesn't. He doesn't have to think. Sits down, he starts joking, he plays. I mean, it really is that easy for him.

[Wayne Fetterman]

All right, I have a question for you. I have a question. Yeah. I've seen you be able to hear a song and then instantly play it on the piano without, you know, having sheet music or anything. And apparently he could do this as a child. Yeah, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Adam Chester]

It's something. It's something you start doing. I mean, I was doing it as a kid, too, and I, I. You know, it's just kind of second nature, you know, when you're just doing one thing your whole life, you know, you just start, you know, dialing into certain things you didn't even know you could do. So that's what that is.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Does anyone still call him Reg? Is there anyone? No, no, no, no.

[Adam Chester]

Not that I know of. I mean, there's never anybody yelling Reg on the set, you know.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Right.

[Adam Chester]

And. And last week it was.

[Wayne Fetterman]

We.

[Adam Chester]

We did rehearsals at the Peacock Theater downtown. And it was. It was just. It was surreal is what it was.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Is he doing an A residency there? Is he going to do one?

[Adam Chester]

No, no, no, no.

[Wayne Fetterman]

We, we.

[Adam Chester]

We were doing rehearsals for his coming show. He gets hired to do these one.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Offs and he heard that he will do. He will play anyone's wedding for a million dollars.

[Adam Chester]

Yeah, something like that. Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah.

[Adam Chester]

I was thinking about getting divorced and getting remarried just to have him play the wedding.

[Josh Adam Myers]

He.

[Adam Chester]

A couple h. Dubai, and so they've got a show in Dubai next month, which I guess is coming up. So he. The couple asked him to do five songs that he hasn't done in a long time. So, you know, that was part of.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Their demand is one of the songs Skyline Pigeon.

[Adam Chester]

Oh, no, unfortunately not. I love that tune. I love that tune. That was off of Empty sky originally.

[Wayne Fetterman]

That's the first album that's before Elton John, right?

[Adam Chester]

Yep. Well, he did put out this. This odd album that came. That was supposed to come out prior to Empty Sky. Some fan will know it. It's Reginald Sergeant Rego or something like that. And it was very Beatlesque. You can find it on Amazon, too. I don't think I. I didn't even buy it. So it's odd.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Let's talk about these greatest hits. Your first time hearing Elton and what you heard as a young piano player.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, tell me that.

[Adam Chester]

First thing I heard it was. First thing I heard was in June. I was in junior high, so it was like, I don't know, 70. I was late to the party, so maybe it was 75. And I heard Funeral for a Friend for the first time playing on. On the AM radio station. And I was like, great frequency. Yeah. And I was like, what is this? Because it had that long intro, you know, A Funeral for a Friend before it got to Love. Love Lies Bleeding. And I thought, oh, my God, this is incredible. And from that moment on, I was completely hooked. Posters on the wall, every bootleg record possible. I mean, it was. That was my passion. So it's odd that I do what I do. It really is crazy.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Well, how.

[Adam Chester]

Karma.

[Josh Adam Myers]

But then. But then, how did you know? It sounded like you were like this prodigy at a young age. And I can imagine you probably just. You. I don't even. Because your ear to buy the songbook. You just listen to the songs and then just regurgitated it on the piano. So, yeah, so then. So then let's. Let's cut to the meeting. Let's cut to you linking up with Elton. I mean, what was the first experience? Go ahead, take me the. The.

[Adam Chester]

The first experience with Elton was. Let's see, we were in Boston rehearsing for the Cabin Fantastic reunion tour, I guess it was. So it was 2005 when the rehearsal, when the show happened, and I was rehearsing the band in LA because some of the band members had never played, you know, the whole Captain Fantastic album. The only original members at that time were Davy Johnstone and Nigel Olson and Ray Cooper. So we had to, you know, teach everybody those songs. So there were about a week and a half of rehearsals in la and we flew to Boston for the rehearsals with Elton because Elton heard from the band, from Davey, who's the music director and guitarist, you know, this guy Adam Chester. You know, he always called me, this guy, Adam Chester.

[Wayne Fetterman]

And.

[Adam Chester]

And this guy was rehearsing us and you gotta meet him and he can rehearse you in Boston. Bring him on. And I think the first thing he asked was, is he, is he gay? And, you know, David was like, no, no. Oh, okay. All right. So I went to Boston and we were rehearsing on the stage at this theater and in walked Elton. And there he was. We had a handshake, a hug, and we started rehearsing. And he was at the nine foot piano, the band was there, a small choir, lighting people, and then, you know, a couple of backstage people, whatever, and we started playing. What is that song? Better Off Dead. We started playing Better Off Dead from Captain Fantastic. And so we're playing it and I'm just sitting there watching from my keyboard and they're playing and Elton says, stop, stop. What are those chords? And I was like, well, it's A, A flat over C. I just, I didn't think twice. I was like into the mic telling him what the chords were, and. And he got it. And then I sat back and the rehearsal continued. And that was my first experience doing what I do with Elton. It was remarkable. It was unbelievable. Then he invited me to be part of the show and sing with the choir. And this choir was a 10 member choir and I was this dude and I was. They were a set choir. And I felt really bad because I was the intruder, you know.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, of course.

[Adam Chester]

And they didn't like me. And you know, it was, it was, it was really. It was. That was very, very weird because they told me, you know, we have some dance moves we need to teach you too. God.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Adam, I have a question for you. Yes, yes. Tell me the influence. Just as you, as someone hears this music, especially these early songs, because we're doing greatest hits from 74, I'm sure you know those 10 songs, obviously.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Of.

[Wayne Fetterman]

God, of church music and gospel music to Elton's playing. What.

[Adam Chester]

What relation do they have?

[Wayne Fetterman]

Well, I don't know. Just. Do you feel like there's a lot of it? There's not.

[Adam Chester]

Yeah, there's definitely a lot of it. And one of the things he does, you'll hear it in a song like Someone Saved My life Tonight.

[Wayne Fetterman]

And I love that.

[Adam Chester]

It's the most brilliant example of gospel because it starts. It used to be an A flat, now it's an F. But regardless, he starts it. It's an A flat chord over E. And that's the fifth of the chord and that's A very gospel voicing. And if you try playing that song just on the root, if you play it on the A flat, it's, it's not, it's not that, that magic. It's, it's crazy how the way he plays his creations, the way he created that. Yeah, it's very dependent upon gospel voicing. And I was trying to keep that, you know, not so technical, but it's, it's brilliant the way he does it.

[Wayne Fetterman]

What about, like, whenever I watch him, I'm always amazed at how fluid he is with those little chubby fingers of his. Like, do you have those piano fingers?

[Adam Chester]

I know. My, my hands are fat and, and, and chubby and, and little too. I, I get it. It is, it is humorous to see, you know, the speed and the accuracy with which he approaches the piano. It's, it's very impressive. You know, you typically see players with long, thin fingers gracing over the keys and, you know, and yeah, he's got these stubby little paws that just, you know, fly, fly over the keyboard.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I love it.

[Wayne Fetterman]

I love it. And, yeah, and is there anything you learned watching him play piano that you've adapted as a piano player or.

[Adam Chester]

No, not, not. Well, not that I can think of. I mean, I'm sure there's some country licks, you know, because there was a lot of country in the early Elton, you know, Tumbleweed Connection and.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, we did, we did that earlier. That was one of the first, as the first Elton record we did. And I love that for me, that was like such a mind blowing thing because I, I, I had only really listened to all the hits of Elton. And then you hear something like that and you're like, oh, my God, this is like another layer of the onion. And just shows how brilliant he is because it was such a great story and just the music, I mean, it was, I think some of, that's some of his best work, you know, Country Comfort. I mean, it's incredible. It was an incredible record. Yeah. So good. I mean, to cut you off.

[Adam Chester]

I, I, I love that record too. What, what was, I say, oh. So, you know, the funny thing is, I, I don't, I'm not taking credit for anything. Okay. But in the song Someone Saved My Life Tonight, when he plays it live, I had this, I was like, we should stop after we go bum bum bum bum bum bum bum bum bum bum bum bum bum bum bum. And the way he was playing it, I was told he was letting, he was letting the chord, like, linger and ring and it didn't have that dramatic, you know, full stop. And so he started doing that. I don't think that was because of me, but it. It was really cool.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Take credit.

[Adam Chester]

It was really cool.

[Josh Adam Myers]

You deserve it.

[Wayne Fetterman]

I don't know. But.

[Adam Chester]

But that's just one of those thrilling moments live.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I want to ask you, because we are talking about his greatest hits, which is like your song, Daniel. Honky Cat, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Saturday Night's All Right For Fighting, Rocket Man, Benny and the Jets, Don't Let the Sun Go Down, Border Song, Crocodile Rock. Do you. Have you ever talked to him about any of those songs, like, where he's been able to give you, like, whether it was. Because we know it's the. It's him and Bernie both working together symbiotically and. And creating these great. This great music. But have you ever, like, just been, like, jamming with them or just even just. And just talk to him about anything? Just give us intel in that.

[Adam Chester]

Yeah. The only time I literally was sitting across the table from him in London, it was 2007 and we were on a break at Royal Academy of Music and I was literally at the table with him sitting across from me, and he had just released an album called the Diving Board. And this doesn't pertain to all those greatest hits, because we never spoke about those. We spoke about this album, Diving Board, and I said. I said something about one of the tunes on there being so stunning that it brought me back to the classic Elton John creations. It's a song called Voyeur, and if you listen to it, guys, I swear to you, it's going to take you back to early Elton. He sounded brilliant. The piano lick was brilliant. It was literally. And I said that song, to me is. Is beyond, you know, and he says, I just sat down and played that lick and then it all sort of flowed. And that's why we were having these rehearsals, because I was basically helping him rediscover what he played and created on the spot on the fly, because he didn't remember everything. So we had to go through songs like Voyeur and Home, Home Again, which I actually did the choir part for. I wrote the choir part, which literally made me completely tear up at Royal Academy Music when I heard their choir singing. What. I was in my living room at my little blue piano, jotting down and it's that. That, to me, was the most. One of the most beautiful interactions. But the other beautiful thing happened just last week and it was crazy.

[Wayne Fetterman]

I can't believe we're catching it right after that.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. Wait, this is the. You're saying this is the Dodger Stadium show? This is. No, wait.

[Adam Chester]

No, no, no.

[Wayne Fetterman]

The.

[Adam Chester]

The one where I was talking to him was in 2007.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Okay.

[Adam Chester]

And then what just happened last week was it was. I. I. I felt like I was.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Family, you know, which was the rehearsal for the Dubai.

[Adam Chester]

For the Dubai. Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Okay. Yeah. Because I remember you were just saying, like, when you were talking.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Can you tell us the five songs they recommended?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yes.

[Adam Chester]

Yeah. That he hadn't played in a long time. Honky Cat.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah.

[Adam Chester]

Which he popped right back into and was like. It was me. He did Honky Cat, Pinball Wizard. The one. All I ever needed was the one. What was the sacrifice?

[Wayne Fetterman]

It must be great to be able to get a Elton John to play your jukebox of your favorites.

[Adam Chester]

Well, listen, they had to pay up, you know, of course.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Of course.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Buy chocolate. They gotta sell.

[Wayne Fetterman]

I don't.

[Adam Chester]

I don't know, but I hope he brings some back. And the other one, I'm blanking on, but those were the four biggies.

[Wayne Fetterman]

That's interesting. That is. That. That was. And now.

[Adam Chester]

Now he. He did a gig in Anaheim just Saturday. It was a private gig in Anaheim for a company called Life Wave, I think it was. And.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And he.

[Adam Chester]

He played Honky Cat. And it was like, I haven't played this song in 30 years. And.

[Wayne Fetterman]

And.

[Adam Chester]

And here we go. It was. It was great. It was great.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Oh, well, I know you said you only had 10 minutes. You've gone. Thank you so much.

[Adam Chester]

You guys are great, man. I. I so appreciate this.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Thank you. That guy. I'm trying to say what side he's on, but. But thank Wayne. Wayne is. Wayne is my go to. He's my brother, man. And. And he mentioned you when. He mentioned you when he. Because we. This is like. We get these huge guests for every record, and sometimes just things fall out and. And then Wayne's my. Wayne's my binge. I called him from the bull.

[Adam Chester]

Oh, that's so cool, man.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And. And it was just gonna be me and him shooting the. And the second he mentioned you column, I was like, if it works, it works because it's. The fans love this stuff, and I find it so interesting. And it's like, dude, you know, there's. This is such a weird thing to do. His greatest hits because the specific records are. Are like. There's a whole story behind it.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

This is just all the hits that everybody knows. So I was like, we can sit here and talk about the history, which We've done before, but to have you on, man, what a treat. And I really thank you.

[Adam Chester]

So it's such a pleasure, because I'm so. I'm so passionate. I know I'm going over, but now you got me thinking. And, like, there's just so many. I met Paul Buckmaster. You know, he passed away. He was the orchestrator on the album Elton John. And, God, he did Life on Mars by Bowie. I mean, this guy was huge. Do you guys know who Ray Cooper is?

[Wayne Fetterman]

The percussionist?

[Adam Chester]

Yeah.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah.

[Adam Chester]

Watching him play live is like a show of its own. I. I mean, and he's the most modest. It's so funny. You gotta check this out. Somebody on TikTok, this girl walked up to him randomly in the street in London and said, excuse me, I like your style, the way you dress.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Who.

[Adam Chester]

Who are you?

[Josh Adam Myers]

And.

[Adam Chester]

And they had this conversation, and it's gone somewhat viral. And he. He was just being his charming, gentlemanly self, you know, I'm Ray Cooper. I work with Elton John. And, you know, and, you know, these.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Guys collapsed in and. Bowie, right?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yes.

[Adam Chester]

Yeah. And it's just like the legends that I'm hanging around with there. There's zero ego involved in any of them.

[Josh Adam Myers]

They're.

[Adam Chester]

They're just a bunch of guys, you know, who happen to be extremely talented, who happen to work with Elton John, and it. The band doesn't get enough credit. Seriously, Nigel and Davey and Ray John, Kim and Matt, they're. They're brilliant, brilliant musicians. And I'm a lucky dude for getting to hang with them.

[Wayne Fetterman]

All right.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Thank you so much.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Killed it, buddy. Thank you.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Thank you, man.

[Adam Chester]

Appreciate it.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Hang up your phone and we'll talk.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I want free tickets. Get me free tickets. Get him to play. All right.

[Adam Chester]

I'll put him in the mail.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Dude, what a great guy.

[Wayne Fetterman]

I told you, he's a very regular dude.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Look what you just did.

[Wayne Fetterman]

We got.

[Dan Nordheim]

We did.

[Josh Adam Myers]

We had to drop in. It was like. It was like the old Mervyn Griffin show. Just doing. I'm doing a pop on. That was so great.

[Wayne Fetterman]

So good.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Thanks for recommending. I had no idea that could even happen. But, yeah, Adam's an interesting guy. And, you know, one of these gifted you. You nailed it. When you said, oh, so you never have to buy the songbook.

[Josh Adam Myers]

There's some people. I used to be like that. I mean, if I would have really applied myself. And I had a dad that was in a. You know, that was like, no, you should. You know, I need you to play this Eng instrument. I Could have figured out because I play like eight instruments, you know, at like a C level and. And I just hear it and then I can regurgitate it. It might take a few minutes for me to tinker. Piano is the complicated one because the second he started saying it's an A minor over B this and a high bob and a doo doo, and I'm just like, damn it. That's like. I can play it on the most basic chords and then sometimes I can find like, the minor or the sharp. Like, dude, it took me. It took me years before I started even using the black keys. But. But it was because I had no idea what they did. It's like, oh. And then you're like, no, these all do that. And they do this. And. And so it's quite interesting. So. So, yeah, so now that we got, you know, I feel like we buried the lead. We should have had him come up at the end.

[Wayne Fetterman]

But look, we got him at all. Was a miracle.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I was great.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah. Okay, so first of all, the thing that I always think about Elton John is you. He is unique in that he is a collaborator when it comes to his music. Unlike Billy Joel, unlike Carole King, unlike the singer songwriters of that era, James Tail all that was the era of like, oh, you write and play your own songs.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Sure.

[Wayne Fetterman]

He does write the music for all of them. And even when you said earlier, it's like that they work together. They don't. They collaborate.

[Josh Adam Myers]

He gives them the lyrics. And then. And then. And then. Which is incredible, too.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Almost never in the same room. Almost. This is not like knee to knee. This is what he's like. He reads the lyrics like, oh, this sings to me a little bit. And he usually writes these songs in less than half an hour.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, I saw that in the movie.

[Wayne Fetterman]

It's insane. Yeah. Yes, exactly. It's in that movie. So he just, like, that's. That's that technique. I mean, can you imagine that he found this guy from an. You know, from an ad.

[Josh Adam Myers]

From an. From an ad in like. Which is so. Because that's how they used to find each stress. Yeah. Which is now one of the most respected British music magazines out there. But just, dude, I bet they. That was like, you know, just to. To get, you know, people, like, involved. You know, we were the reason Bernie and Elton got together. Just so you know, we're nme. Okay. Just so you know that this honky cat wouldn't exist if it wasn't for us.

[Wayne Fetterman]

I mean, it's unbelievable. And that. I don't know the whole, the whole story of Elton John is incredible.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It really is.

[Wayne Fetterman]

It's like kid, this piano prodigy, and then he really, like, sort of takes on this Persona of Elton John. He changes his name. He doesn't want to be Reg anymore, and then that allows him to be flamboyant and confident, vocally confident, musically, and, and he just, it just explodes. It just goes to show you, like, sometimes you have to, like, oh, create something, a Persona.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Lady Gaga.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Lady Gaga was. When she was Stephanie. When she was Stephanie, people were like, you're never gonna make it. She became Lady. Yeah. And she became Lady Gaga. And then it's easier to. Yeah, it's easier to, to be free and ditch the old self. Because, you know, and I think Elton, probably a gay man growing up in England, you know, in the closet in bands named Reginald, you know, and, and then if it is true that he was, like, in a band with a guy named Elton, and he goes, oh, I'm gonna use your name. Yeah, I made it sound more like a beetle than, than Elton, but I'm gonna use your name. That's a Beatles voice. What do you think about, you know, this. To dial it into these greatest hits? Like, like, yes, one. I, I, you know, we always argue about this. It's like, does this record deserve to be on here? Of course this record, Desert, deserves to be on here because it's a great record. But, you know, each one of these individual records, like, we've done Honky Chateau, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, I don't know if any of the other stuff is on there as well. There's. But there's three songs off Goodbye the Yellow Brick. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. There's two from Honky Chateau.

[Wayne Fetterman]

There's two from his first, our second album, Elton John. Right. There's.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, there's others. It opens with your song, which is.

[Wayne Fetterman]

That's it. That's the song, by the way. That's the song he's played in concert more than any other song.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Is it really?

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yes, it's very hard to go to Elton John concert without him playing that song. And I just read an interview with him, and he's like, what can I tell you? It's a perfect song. And what makes it great for me is I keep getting more out of that song the older I get. I like playing it now more than I did. When you're in the 70s and 80s, like, that is. That's everything. You know, obviously, these musicians, you know them, a lot of people are like, all right, let's strap it on and play, you know, you know, our hit song again or Johnny Be Good or whatever your song is or Satisfaction. And he loves, obviously he plays it more than any other tune. And that's the. I mean, come on. Come on, Elton.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, it's a beautiful song.

[Wayne Fetterman]

The song. And you know, there was this another song by this guy around the same time. And maybe some of your fans can help me out with. I don't know, I think Elton beat him by a month or so. Called not your song, but this song's for you by Leon Russell. Do you know that song?

[Josh Adam Myers]

He worked with Leon Russell eventually, right?

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because he learned all those country licks from Leon Russell and Interesting. And yeah, because Leon Russell was part of the Wrecking Crew, you know, and then went on his own. But it's almost the same song. It's like this song's for you or your song? Like, it's. And they're both piano based songs about someone they're in love with. It's. And this.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Is this his first hit?

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yes, that is his first hit. He put out Border Song before it. It did. Okay, but then your song blew up and that, you know, and then obviously you had this famous show at the Troubadour right over here in Santa Monica.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I think. I think that performance. I think you can get that. It's really. It's. I think on Spotify because there was a. Morty told me about that. He was like, you need to listen to it because it's just him and two other guys and it literally sounds like this incredible full rock and roll band. And I'm. I'm pretty sure it's like. It's like the date. If I. If you go on it, you'll. You can find it. I mean, it really is. It really is.

[Wayne Fetterman]

What.

[Josh Adam Myers]

When I think when I was doing Tumbleweed or was early on in the podcast, he told me to listen to that. And it really does make you realize how much of a rock star he was. He wasn't always the flamboyant. Like, you know, he's always flamboyant, but it was like he was a. He was a rock star, like playing, you know, like, which. I mean, for a piano guy to be playing stadiums, like, how fast? Because you would know. How fast would. Would he go from being. From your song coming out and it charting in 1970. 1970. Jesus Place. How fast from that to him being like a superstar?

[Wayne Fetterman]

I. I know it's got to be five. It's got to be those five years it's, you know, it's within five years. There's no question about it. Because he just. Every album would have, like, a monster.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Song on it, except for Tumbleweed Connections. That has really. No, it has like an arena, which is all great, but it's like that's his next record after Elton. And then I guess it's Honky Chateau, which, I mean, Honky Cat is so funky.

[Wayne Fetterman]

And then what is Rocket man on that?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Rocket man is on Honky Chateau. Yes.

[Wayne Fetterman]

That was his. That song was even bigger than your song, believe it or not. So that, like, put him at. And then the two of them, they just kept getting one huge hit out of minimum. One huge hit out of each album. Obviously. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. There's like three huge hits on that, right?

[Josh Adam Myers]

I think that's. I think that one's. Brian, will you do me a favor and look at the list and find out when Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is coming up? I feel like that's in the bottom hundred. It has to be, because we just did Captain Fantastic in the brown whatever.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Which is sort of a. A. An allusion to. Elton is Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy is Bernie Taupin.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yes. And. And we did that.

[Wayne Fetterman]

You talked all about that, right?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, yeah, we did that. We did a great episode with Michael Portnoy. Michael Portney, Mike Portnoy, the drummer from Dream Theater. Oh, wow. Just. He. He was so. He just loved the record. We talked about the artwork, we talked about the band and the methane. Did he bring the practice pianist from the. Elton's band? No, you did that. But still, it's a. But that was a great record too. I mean, there's like. It's like. What's cool about him is that he has these hits, but then he has these, like, deep cuts that people. Of course.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Of course.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Well, that was the thing is that even your buddy's name was Adam, right?

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah, Adam Chester.

[Josh Adam Myers]

When Adam. When Adam. He. The first song you mentioned was a song off of Captain Fantastic, which Someone Saved My Life Tonight, which has literally become my. One of my favorite. Why, Elton? Because it's. There's just something very beautiful about it. And I love the chord structure and I love the. All those little, like, you know, I don't know the words, obviously, but I don't know the words to anything. And. And then the big ending with the. I just feel like that has. It's almost like a very low key. It feels like it's a few songs in one, yet still under the same umbrella. It's not as different as like, you know, the bottle of red.

[Wayne Fetterman]

No. Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Seeds from an Italian restaurant. Or, or like A day in the Life. But it, but it just feels like it's, it's, it's a couple things put together. Brian, what do you got? 2020 list. It was ranked 112. Yeah. So it's coming up, so. And that's the record. Yeah. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.

[Wayne Fetterman]

We're going for it comes out like it's either the one right before this Greatest Hits or two before this Greatest Hits. And yeah, I mean, and then he's, he's on his way. He's just. I mean now he's solidified. Now he's huge.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Well, this, I mean, the fact that it's almost like Eagles doing a greatest hit so early as well and then putting that out, which feels like a cash grab for a lot of artists. But then at a certain point. No, but hear me out. I saw you put the hand up at a certain point. They've got enough to fill two sides of a record.

[Wayne Fetterman]

I mean, it's the biggest selling record of 1975. You know, it came out in the. It came out for Christmas. 74. I remember when the record came out and then it sold more than any other record in 1975 in the United States, that record. Because there was a lot of people that like didn't have all of the albums or just wanted to hear those hits or something like that. I mean, it's in a. Yeah, but the debate of whether greatest hits albums should be on this list is. It's really interesting and you feel like there's no doubt about it.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Hey everybody. So you guys have probably heard me talk about how I've been in bands my whole life. I love writing songs and performing in front of crowds. Just like with comedy. As a musician, it can be kind of hard to cut through the noise and really stand out as an artist. I feel like half the music projects I've been in have ended just because we couldn't figure out the answer to that eternal question of how do we get people to hear us? But then again, that was before there was Distrokid. Distrokid is a digital music distribution service that brings your sound to the masses. It's a one stop shop for getting your songs on itunes, Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Amazon, Deezer, Tidal, and many more. What's Deezer? I never even heard of Deezer. How many of them are there? I know that's like the holy grail of streaming services though. And getting paid they want to. We want to get you paid for your music. That's huge because a lot of bands go broke before they get big. But Distrokid collects earnings and payments and sends 100% of these earnings to artists minus banking fees and applicable taxes. And that's just one of the tons of benefits of using Distrokid. You can send big files to anyone with their Instant Share feature. You can use the Hyper Follow feature to promote your release and get pre saves on your song. You can even create personal landing pages for yourself, your band, your brand, and whatever you like. It has a free Spotify Canvas generator too, to generate your own Spotify canvas for your songs. And the Mixia feature instantly masters your tracks for higher quality audio. So if you're ready to bring your band to the next level, it's time to check out Distrokid. The Distrokid app is now available on iOS and Android. Go to the app or Play Store to download it. Listeners of this show can get 30% off their first year by going to distrokid.com VIP the 500. That's distrokid.com VIP the500 for 30% off your first year. Dig it.

[Adam Chester]

When segregation was a law, one mysterious black club owner, Charlie Fitzgerald had his own rules.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Segregation in the day, integration at night. It was like stepping in another world.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Was he a businessman?

[Adam Chester]

A criminal, A hero?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Charlie was an example of power. They had to crush him.

[Adam Chester]

Charlie's Place from Atlas Obscura and visit Myrtle Beach. Listen to Charlie's Place wherever you get your podcasts.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Well, we've talked about this a couple times, you know, and. And me and Morty have gone back and forth with this because he's just like, why would they put this on when it's like, you got Good by Yellow Brick Road, you got Captain Fantastic, you got. We did Tumbleweed, we did Honky Chateau, right? But I guess it's more or less that you just can't deny that the album itself, whether it's the greatest hits or not, it existed. But it was a thing. Immaculate Collection by Madonna was a thing. Now she put like two extra songs on there, two of them being Justify My Love and then the other one. And, you know, and then like, because something like Legend by Bob Marley, which is going to be on the list later, it's, everybody owns Legend. Nobody owns Natty Dread. Nobody owns Natural. You know, name another. I don't know enough solo. I don't know enough solo Bob Marley records because everybody just owned Legend and. And Even the, even Eagles. That record like, just like this was one of the biggest selling of all.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Time and it doesn't have Hotel California on it. If we can speak about the Eagles.

[Josh Adam Myers]

We can speak about. We can speak about the Eagles. I'm solemn live.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Steely Dan opened Celia. Damn. I was, I was third row dead center at Madison Square Garden and. And it was just. I mean, dude, Steely Dan just blew me away. And then Eagles just sound great. This is after what's his face died. Oh my God. Yeah. And so they have that, that, that Christian singer, country singer. Now what is his name? He was married to something Gill.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Oh, not Vince Gill.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Vince. Yeah, Vince Gill. Vince Gill, yeah. Vince Gill is now in Eagles. But oh, I actually saw Elton John at. Where did I Go? It was at the Staples Center. This is during year five of his farewell tour which went on for another nine.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yes.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It. We had the worst seats in the. I mean we were literally behind. Like you could barely see him and. But his piano moved and I mean he just played everything for the most part that you want.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Well, it was interesting. You know he toured with Billy Joel. I saw that tour.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, I remember. I would have loved to have seen that.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Oh yeah, I saw it. And then I know Billy Joel was mad at him because. Because they would go back and forth, you know, they trade off songs and. And Billy was like, ah, this is good. We could play some deep cuts. It'll be fun. And then Elton just kept playing hit after hit and like, oh, great, now I have to match your thing. And now suddenly I have to play New York State of Mind again or something. It was just, it was funny. He was like upset with him.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I don't know how that, that. I mean off stage. Yes, but you're talking about two of the greatest piano playing rock stars.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Well, it's interesting because they're two different styles. As someone who plays their music a lot, the. In a way, Billy Joel songs are more complex than Elton's, but Elton is in a like a better piano player in that he almost doesn't play the song the same way ever. Like even that solo and Benny and the jets, he plays it different every time. So he's more of a natural piano player. Whereas Billy Joel, like once it's locked in, that's the way it's going to be played. And his songs are much more complex, but Elton's are much more about like the feel of the moment and like just what Adam was saying earlier, just. He's just sounding those fat little fingers of him fly over the keyboards, those little chubbies.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Dude, he's got little sausage fingers. He's got a little chubby sausage thing.

[Wayne Fetterman]

It's amazing, his touch.

[Josh Adam Myers]

You ever seen. Speaking of huge hands, you ever watch. You ever watch Troy Aikman, like, you know, do like the play by play of a football game? And then they cut to him and. And Joe Buck, and you see Aikman's hands, and they're just enormous. And it's like, to keep them off camera, I can't look at them. Like, it's.

[Wayne Fetterman]

It's freakish.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It's like that ball must have looked like a little. Like, he must have just flicked it. It's so huge. Yeah. I love that you said that about the fingers, because every piano teacher that I ever had had these beautiful, like. Right. You know, like, Arsenio hall would have been a really good piano player because he had those long, like. You can move his finger. You can feel it. Oh, man. What else is there to talk about? Should we get Morty?

[Wayne Fetterman]

No, no, no, we haven't. I mean, there's a lot to talk about. It's like, well, take me there. Yeah. That Elton John was. Is it egot?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Did he do the egot? He did the fully.

[Wayne Fetterman]

God, yes. He got the ego. He got his Tony for aid. Wrote a number of Broadway shows, but he got his Tony for egot. He did Lestat, which bomb. Was a big, unbelievably huge bomb for him, which seems incredible. You know, when you think of these guys, it's like, oh, they don't miss. It's like this. That did. And. Yes, and he got obviously his academy Award. Two Academy Awards. One of them for the Lion King. The Lion King. Or can you feel the love tonight? Although I. According to.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I think it was Circle of Life was the one that.

[Wayne Fetterman]

No, no, he. He likes Circle of Life more. But I think can you feel the love Tonight is the one that won it. And then obviously tons of Grammys, right? Yeah. And so, yes, he's an egot. He's. He nailed it. He's one of the few. One of the few. God, yeah. And I always felt like, you know, to me, this album represents, to me, peak. Elton John, like, when he, like, found his voice, when he found his writing style with this guy Bernie, where they just would collaborate and create these obviously iconics. He's one of the most important musical artists in the history of music.

[Josh Adam Myers]

He really is. Yeah.

[Wayne Fetterman]

No, it's not even a question.

[Josh Adam Myers]

He's in the discussion, for sure of top 10. Yeah.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah, no question. And then he. But then he has this film animation career where he writes with Tim Rice with these Disney songs. And if he just had that and didn't have any of the other, he would still be a great songwriter. Like that's how talented this friggin guy is.

[Josh Adam Myers]

You want to know who's. You want to know who's the. The. My generations. Elton John. And I don't know if it's apt, but I'm gonna say it. And I, I think I'm curious if any listeners might agree with me. Trent Reznor.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Oh, I was. No, not gonna say Johnny Greenwood.

[Josh Adam Myers]

No. Well, yeah, but. But that is more of a collaboration with all of. With, with Tom. Him and Johnny are like. They're like. Well, you know, because they. I think Radiohead kind of writes as a group. Whereas Trent Reznor, you know, really Nine Inch Nails was just him for years.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Well, what Johnny Greenwood does, those scores like for those PTA movies still hasn't.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Won the Oscars though. He still doesn't won the Oscars. And so far Trent Reznor, I think he's won two and then he won an Emmy. He's won. He's a Tony. He's a Tony Award from an egotist.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And his soundtracks are I think his scores because I love Johnny Greenwoods from Radiohead, but I think Trent Reznors are like. I mean, just phenomenal. What he did in the Social Network and then. Yeah, you know, he was the best thing about that Tron Aries crap that just came out.

[Wayne Fetterman]

You saw it?

[Josh Adam Myers]

No, but I mean that's all there's. I listen to the soundtrack because the soundtrack was great.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Oh, wow, that's a good. That's an interesting point. My pushback. My counterpoint to your argument is that I feel. Well, Johnny more than try, felt like Trent was never a mainstream pop star like Elton John was.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I agree. Agree.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Right.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah.

[Wayne Fetterman]

How would you describe his career is like outside of the music composing, I mean the film composing.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Just.

[Wayne Fetterman]

How do you. What is his genre? What is the genre of Nine Inch Nails?

[Josh Adam Myers]

I would say it's industrial. Industrial, goth, industrial grunge. But. But then you see that he can write these beautiful songs when he writes something like Hurt. And you know, like every album has like, you know, if you strip away the, the, the noise. I don't call it noise, but the crunchiness and the electronics and you just break the songs down. I mean some of them are like. Are just, are incredible and just beautiful, but it's just he did something. He took the, you know, the Bauhaus and all of the, the, the, the pop punk or, or, or whatever that you, whatever you want to call that and, and just made something so different from what was out at the time. Because that was all like. It was all grunge music. It was all Pearl Jam and Nirvana. But there is something about Nine Inch Nails that, that people love and, and even now the way his show is and it's still like, like he's, he's selling out arenas and, and he's got this crazy light show and now he's working with DJs and he just is. He's just a cool guy. And I think like it's dark and that people can like identify with that because life is hard. But then it's also, you know, it's also rock and roll still and it can get you amped up before something. And I mean we did, I think we did two of his Wreck. No, we've only done one. We did a Downward spiral. We didn't do two. But there's just. He's. For my generation. I think he's just the people that get Nine Inch Nails because, Because he.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Also went into film scoring.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I, I think, yeah, I think that's when we could say. I'm not saying.

[Wayne Fetterman]

But Elton doesn't really do scores. He just does songs for musicals and movies. Right?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Sure, sure. You know, you're right, you're right.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah. But the way, I mean the genius of that friggin guy. And let me say, you know, he has, he's had. Obviously we all saw that Elton John movie. What was the name of that movie?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Rocket Man.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Rocket man. That he. There was a disconnect between Elton John, this Persona he created to go on stage and sing confidently and be flamboyant and all glammy up, all glammed up. And you know, this kid, the chubby kid, Reg inside him. And the disconnect was bridged with alcohol and drugs.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And drugs. Yeah.

[Wayne Fetterman]

And he was.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And sex. And sex. I mean they, they show that scene where it was like they do the big number, he's all on coke and this and then he just like falls into a pile of, of men and women and, and yeah, they really did a good job. I, I didn't, I didn't expect that I was gonna love a musical and. But it's all his music and so you're like, oh, this is so easy. And then has the second act, which is nothing that's on this record, but which we've covered at the jam. I'm still standing.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Right? That is. Yes, that is. I'm still standing. I guess that's why they call it the Blues. That was another big hit of this, you know, the later wave of him. Right.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I always. I always loved that song. And I. You know, it's way later the one. And I also like it because of the music video with Robert Downey Jr. I want love. Or I think that's what it's called. Oh, yeah. And it's literally after Robert Downey got out of jail. Yeah. And is cleaning his life up. It's just one static. Yeah.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah. Like his post 70s ex. Nuclear explosion is incredible. This is. Liz. Like, that alone would be a career that any musician would love to have.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Well, he. Did he have a. He didn't mean. Did he have a period? Like, the way that, you know, when I was talking to me and Jim Jeffries were talking about Oasis, and he's like, if you would have told somebody in. Oh, in 2008 that you liked Oasis, people were like, dude, you're lame. And then years later, they get back together. They're the biggest band in the world, you know, for this summer. Did Elton have that period where people were like, Elton John. Like, oh, dude, he's lame.

[Wayne Fetterman]

It's all. It's always that. And that's why, if you look at his career, he's always trying to stay relevant for no reason at all other than he needs it. So he's collaborating with Eminem, he's collaborating with the guy from Wham, he's collaborating with Britney Spears. He's collaborating with. Right now. He just did his latest albums with Brandy Carlisle. Like, he's always, like, finding a young artist that he can steal their soul and then. No. And, you know, collaborate and, like, get some inspiration from. And obviously, that Leon Russell record I really like also that he did. They did right before Leon died.

[Josh Adam Myers]

He sucks the energy, the lifeblood right out of them. Like in Weapons, he just.

[Wayne Fetterman]

He murdered Leon Russell. So. But he's always, if you notice, he's all through his career and obviously David Bowie and, you know, George Michael. Yes, George Michael. That's the guy. Yes. And there's way more than that. There's way more than that. He's. He does it all the time as a way just like, oh, like, I'm tired of being alone. I guess it's just I'm tired of being alone in a room writing these songs. I want to, you know, bounce some ideas off of somebody. Let's wrap up this Album.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Let's see. Let's get some stats just so we have this. So this was our fourth time talking about Elton. Ron Bennington did Tumbleweed Connection. Oh, Bill Engvall. Yeah. Did Honky Chateau. Mike Portnoy did Captain Fantastic. And then of course, today. And then we got Goodbye Yellow Brick Road coming in at 91. And that's going to be. Oh, it's going to be this year. Holy. We break into the final. The final hundred and. Oh, it's gonna be next year. It's 2026. I was like, September. And then goodbye Honky Chat toe climbed up. Goodbye fell 11. And these. This one and the. And the other one. Tumbleweed Connection didn't make the cut. And I want to see how many records this one sold.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Oh, this is. Yeah, it's 17 million or something. It's like again. I know. It's the biggest selling record of 1970. 75.

[Josh Adam Myers]

You know what's cool? You know it's cool. When I was with Jelly Roll, there's no doubt. No, I know you're going to try to get it out, but I've cut you off three times. No, there's no. The. When we went to. We went to Princess Dies crash site in like the memorial in Paris and. And I started singing this. Not this, but you know, Candle in the Wind. I mean, dude, that even. That was. That was the biggest selling song of all time.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Single. Best selling single, supposedly. I. I'd love to know the stats on that verse, White Christmas, but because that was always the most popular song of all time. So I don't know exactly how that would. But yes, and it was also. It raised money for Princess Diana Trust and. Hold on, they had redone the lyrics to that song. It was originally written about Marilyn Monroe.

[Josh Adam Myers]

No, I know. So it says. No, it still says best selling single of all time. This is AI. That's brought this up from. From Google, but Bing Crosby's 42 version, White Christmas. With over 50 million copies sold worldwide, Candle in the Wind 97 is the best selling physical single since modern tracking began.

[Wayne Fetterman]

This is what I'm talking about.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And then. Yes, interesting.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Well, let me guess. Build Me Up Buttercup by the Foundations is third.

[Josh Adam Myers]

No, let me just make sure this is right. Let me make sure this is right. Because I don't want to. Just some random thing.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Wait. I get knocked down but I get up again. That song, is that number three now, is it this right? Red Fred, whatever that thing is.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I'm too sexy for my man. New York, right side friend. Yeah.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Right side friend. Okay.

[Josh Adam Myers]

The right side. Right Said fret.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Right.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Right side Fred is right. That's a wrong. Yeah.

[Wayne Fetterman]

And wrong side Ernie. They used to tour together. Right. I remember that.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It's all right. So well now. All right. So now. Yeah, they're saying if this is true.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yes.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Now Elton has been dropped to number three. Number one is still bing with White Christmas. And number. And. And the second one is. I know the guy that wrote this.

[Wayne Fetterman]

What? Oh, well, let me guess. Is it a Christmas song?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yes.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Is it Mariah Carey? Yep. Yeah. Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Walter. Walter. His wife is. Is Katie. Can't think of her last name. She's so great. She owns Kookaburra Lounge, the comedy club in la. Walter is just duty to talk about. Like, I mean, he wrote that. He did. I think he did some of the stuff for the. For the Titanic movie, but he produced it. And I'm like, dude, talk about the gift that keeps on giving. One song, and it's about to start playing soon, next week.

[Wayne Fetterman]

You know, I feel. I feel like it's as good as any of those classic Christmas songs ever. It's got everything.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It's the Ronettes. Yeah, it's the Ronettes. It's. It's the. It's all the music we did, you know, during the pandemic when we did all the lady girl groups. It's the. It's the Motown. It's. It's. It's Sun Records. It's all just a. It's rock and roll. It's a rock and roll song.

[Wayne Fetterman]

It's.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It's that thing you do, you know, it's just. It's the same thing. It's catchy as. And then Elton John coming in at number three.

[Wayne Fetterman]

It's All I Want for Christmas is you is the name of that song.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It's number two. Yep. And then, I mean, I don't know how true this. This list is.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah, of course. It's fun to talk about.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, sure. Ink spots. Ink spots. One of my favorite groups of all time. If I didn't care. Coming in at 19 million. Guess how many there's ink spots gave. That they actually got. Probably in an ink spot. They got an ink spot.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, my Lord. All right, let's get out of here.

[Wayne Fetterman]

I didn't care.

[Josh Adam Myers]

If I didn't care. Oh, I love it. I love that crap so much. Yeah. This sold a shitload. This is. Does it deserve to be on here? Yes. But, you know, I. I think. I think in the contrast of the actual records that we've an actual. Yeah.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Album. Because this is not something that Bernie and Elton sat down and were like, okay, this is what we're gonna call the album. This is. It's not none of that. But I wonder.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I wonder, Wayne, I wonder how much they actually had to do with this or how much the record company was like, let's. And you know, because this is probably by this point, he's so busy just partying and. And enjoying life that they're like, we're gonna do a greatest hits. And he goes, like, I could give a more money. Can I buy more boas and glasses?

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah. But let me just say this. What's up? That song Someone Saved My Life Tonight is on his next album. He's on Captain Whatever. That is fantastic. And so he. So even with this album, he has this other huge hit coming right on the tail of it. Right on the tail of it.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Well, you said it. Everything. Everything is. For the most part, like, every one of his records has at least one.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Track at that time. They had. Yeah, that was. Yeah, that was excellent. Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

But, you know, I don't listen. It's. Of course, not every year you're always going to have, like, not duds, but, you know, when you put out. How many records. How many records has he put out?

[Wayne Fetterman]

It's over 30. I know that. I know that. And there are some duds on there, but he doesn't care. I mean, maybe he does care. Maybe he does care because he does. He's not like. I mean, like, Billy Joel stopped putting out records. Like Elton never did.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. Oh, the record I was talking about was. Was 17, 1170.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Oh, yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And that's it recorded. Oh, no, this isn't. Now, this is recorded in New York. It said.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah, that's the live one. Yeah, I know that.

[Podcast Announcer]

Right.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Damn it. That was. I thought that was the Troubadour show.

[Wayne Fetterman]

No, no, that is a great show, but that's not. That's not the Troubadour.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. I mean, it's interesting.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah. In Britain, that record is 1711 70. In the United States, it's 11, 17 70.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Looking at these.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Looking like driving on different side streets.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Of course. Of course. Yeah. Dude, they're, you know, metric system, pound, centimeters, kilogram, whatever. Like looking at all of these records.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Days before months, the day before a month.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Wear a hat for Christmas, Boxing Day.

[Wayne Fetterman]

What's going on?

[Josh Adam Myers]

The. Is that. Dude, he just. Last record, Regimental Sergeant Zippo came out in 2021 and then he did. He's just done a bunch of collaborative stuff, but dude, talk about a legend. And I'm excited to get into Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, too, when that comes up.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Oh, yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I think we can get Elton.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Get Elton. Or certainly get Morty. He's incredible. He knows all of this stuff.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Morty. Morty. Like, because he was aiming for us to get certain people. It's just. It's crazy just how what you think is the easiest record to book can become so difficult. Like, it's just, like. Because I would have thought, oh, anybody would want to do Elton. And then I was like, do I ask gay dudes? Do I ask piano players? Do I. Who do I ask? And it just became, this was great, because with you, it's thorough. And then we had a special drop in. We had a pop in.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Okay, let's do it.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Let's get us out of here, dude. All right. What was your. What's your favorite song off of the greatest hits record?

[Wayne Fetterman]

I hate to say it, but it's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.

[Josh Adam Myers]

More than your song? Yes, more than.

[Wayne Fetterman]

And I. Again, I agree with Elton that your song is a perfect song, but where Goodbye Yellow Brick Road moves emotionally for me is just wild. And also, your song has that insane lyric, right? The if I was it, but then again, no. What is that? If I was a. I don't know. It's like if I was a carpenter, but then again, no. Like. All right, you're not even trying to write a lyric here.

[Josh Adam Myers]

You know what? Instead of going with. Instead of going with one of the slow ones, which I. You know, I love those ballads, and I love the slow, emotional stuff. I think Saturday night's all right for fighting. I want Elementop covered that once at Moon Tower, and. And I was like, this song rules. I think that's what shows the true genius of him, is that he can write a gorgeous. I'm gonna weep because it's emotional song. Whether it's your song or Goodbye Yellow Brick Road or Somebody saved my life tonight. And then the can kick you in the dick with Saturday nights. All right. For fighting, which is a rock and roll. I mean, it's Jerry Lee Lewis.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, obviously the Jerry Lee. And who's the other guest that plays the piano? Paramin famous. The architecture of rock and roll. Oh, Little Richard.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Little Richard.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Little Richard.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yes.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

As a lot of that stuff, I love Little Richard. I love when he's about to give an award away in the Grammys and he goes, you know what? I'm the originator. The bigger data and the celebrator and y'. All ain't giving me.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah, I think it's. I think. Yeah, I think it's good. By Yellow Brick Road for me is my favorite song. Yeah, that's. To me, the. The cream of this thing. And also there's that, you know, Tiny Dancer isn't even on here yet. That's still coming up. It's so good.

[Josh Adam Myers]

What was the one? I remember they did it at my high school. Like, I had a. We had a talent show, and one of the theater kids sang with Madman over the water across the world. Yeah. I mean, just, like, there's so much. That's what makes him so good. And I think that is what's cool about. About working with Bernie, because whatever Bernie's going through, so if he's like, well, I'm gonna. I'm gonna tell a story of a, you know, a country western thing, and then that's the second record if he's like, you know, I'm gonna tell this thing about the astronauts or I'm gonna do this. It's like, it really. It forces Elton to, you know, really tell the story of whatever. Because Bernie is a storyteller. Like, he really is all of his.

[Wayne Fetterman]

But it is, you will admit, is one of the most. He's got to be outside of the vocalists, you know, who don't write any. You know, who don't write any of this. Like Celine Dion or something like that, or Houston, like, outside of the, you know, the pop vocalists. Like, I just can't think of anyone who writes just the music, but not the lyrics. I can't. There's not one that's anywhere near that level. Can you think of anyone. That's how unique a talent he is.

[Josh Adam Myers]

He found. He found his niche.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

You know what I mean? Yeah, he really did. He found the thing. I mean, good God, man, if. Dude, if Ellen doesn't answer that thing, what the. Is Bernie doing?

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

[Josh Adam Myers]

An English teacher, maybe. Yeah, Like a professor. Like, he wouldn't. He wouldn't be able to. Maybe he writes a book. But, you know, dude, I bet you Bernie, you know, I hope he sucked.

[Wayne Fetterman]

One of these days. One of these days we'll do a deep dive of the guy that had designed them to the recording con to the writing contract, which is Dick James, who somehow had the Beatles recorded. Own the Beatles publishing during the Beatles time. DICK James Music Really? Yeah. Crazy business guy. Yeah. Anyway, let's keep going.

[Josh Adam Myers]

All right. What's. What's. Was there a song on here that you skip over? Because I know mine I'm not gonna say it.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Oh, let me see. God, no. There is not a song I will skip over. I love Border Song, which is.

[Podcast Announcer]

Was.

[Wayne Fetterman]

That was his first single that didn't chart that. It did chart, but not like your song, but I love. There isn't a lot. I can't wait to hear the song you don't like on this Crocodile Rock.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I've never liked it.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Okay. Okay.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I think it's Cheeseball McGee. It's like my least favorite type of. Especially on a record like this, which has such great stuff. I just never got it. I, I can see why they would play it at a bar mitzvah. It's just. It's fun.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Okay.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It's a fun song, but just like honky cat, go yourself. That's a, That's a funky. Yeah, just the way that he just, he, he, you know, enunciates the words and punctuates the music. It really is like Benny and the Jets. I mean, shoot. Hannibal did that at the goddamn comedy jam in New York. You were there. The one that, you were there for, the one in New York City and just didn't know the words. And it was one of the coolest performances because you just, just. It's just the, the he. These songs have a, A, A, A euphoric cadence that you can.

[Wayne Fetterman]

I would kind of agree with you on the Crocodile Rock. Although it is a crowd pleaser in concert. That's my, that's how I'm defending that song. But I, I, I, I do agree with you. That's probably the weakest song.

[Podcast Announcer]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

All right. Can you neck to this?

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. To your song, of course. I mean, that's a, That's a given. And even I hate to say, because there's a double entendre with the. Don't let the sun go down on me. You have. That song also is very. Could be a sexual thing.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Very sexual. Very, very sexual.

[Wayne Fetterman]

That's as sexual as I get. This is.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. Dude, You're a playboy.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Even. But even. What about as another sexual song? Rocket Man.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, sure. No, I mean, it's. There's a, There's a real melancholy to Rocket Man. It feels like it's about an astronaut leaving his family.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

You know, it's about, it's about distance. It's about. And I think it's gonna be a long, long time. I mean, it's just.

[Wayne Fetterman]

What's the first lyric to that song that she packed? Yeah, yeah, that. God damn, so good. Thanks, Bernie.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Thanks, Bernie.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Thank you, Bernie. Bernie who lives here in la.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Well, doesn't Elton too? Or Elton?

[Wayne Fetterman]

No, Elton said still in England, but so would I. But. Incredible. No, Bernie was like, I'm out of here. I want to be the brown dirt cowboy. I'm. I'm here. I'm gonna.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Bernie's American, right?

[Wayne Fetterman]

No.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, no, he's English.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah, he's English. No.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Been married. Jesus Christ.

[Wayne Fetterman]

One, four times.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Two, three, four times.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah. Yeah. That's what happens when you. Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So a lot of money.

[Wayne Fetterman]

I know.

[Josh Adam Myers]

How much you think Elton's worth? Let's just see that. How much do you think?

[Wayne Fetterman]

Oh, I. I'm gonna say half a billion.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, I think he's a billion. 20, 25. All right, here we go. Oh, that was. I mean, this is also weird numbers, but. 650 million.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah, yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Making him one of the wealthiest musicians of all time.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Wait, ready?

[Josh Adam Myers]

All right, here you go. This is crazy.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Let me hear.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, this is insane. How is this the list? Music Arts. Nice. Net worth reported. All right. Yeah. Number one. Who do you think?

[Wayne Fetterman]

Oh, well, if you count the guy who wrote those musicals, because he's up there. He wrote Phantom of the Opera and all of that stuff. I know. He's made a lot of. A lot of money. Yes. Andrew Lloyd Webber. Thank you. Yes.

[Josh Adam Myers]

He's third according to this list. But then there's another list that I just don't know if I. I agree with, but I do agree with, because this is. Just says. This is reported by Sunday Rich Times. Now, this one feels like it makes sense. The number one, obviously. Of course. Number two. You two.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Oh, the band.

[Josh Adam Myers]

You too, because they ban YouTube. And then. And then you have Andrew Lloyd Webber and then Elton John and then Coldplay coming in, which Coldplay is.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Wow.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Coldplay's like the Nate Bar. Yeah, they're the Nate Bargazi in music, dude. They. Old people love them. Young people love them. It's totally clean. It's every. They go to the concerts. Funny.

[Wayne Fetterman]

That's.

[Josh Adam Myers]

They're incredible. That's what I'm saying. Anybody can get into it. But according to this. According to this other list, they're saying that. That the Jay Z would be the most. Because he's worth. He says he's worth 2.6 billion. Then it has Taylor Swift, then Bruce Springsteen, then Rihanna, then Jimmy Buffett, and then it just goes down the list.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Of, like, really can. I'd love to, like, do a deep dive on the, like, the systems they use to compile those numbers, because they're so divergent. I Mean, the top five are completely different on both of those lists.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah.

[Wayne Fetterman]

One has Rihanna and the other is like, oh.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I know. But that's the thing about like, even like hip hop now is like the originators of hip hop in the 80s and the 90s. Like, they made money, but not like the way these. Some young kid now that releases one song, gets an 8 million dollar offer and. And then they're off to the races. So these, they. Our guys had to work harder, you know, we had to work harder. Like the young kids. It's just even. It's even like the way comedy is now. Like, you know, Elaine Boozler, she didn't make money really until she married that Italian guy. She's one of. She's the first HBO special as a female. Was she?

[Wayne Fetterman]

Well, she did. It was for Showtime, but. Yeah, but there was HBO women did HBO specials before she did her. But for the young comedians. Yes.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Rita Rudner.

[Wayne Fetterman]

No. Tony Fields did one. And Phyllis Dillard. Both did specials for HBO in the. In that first wave. The first wave and the first wave.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Meeting the 60s and the 70s.

[Wayne Fetterman]

No. 70. 70.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Special is Robert Klein. 75. And then in 76, 77, 78. They'd had a lot of old timer comedians because believe it or not, there wasn't many young comedians who could like, do an hour.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And then it was what it was. Rodney Dangerfield doing that, that, that showcase show.

[Wayne Fetterman]

That's a perfect example. Roddy didn't do an hour special. It was like, let me put on Bob Saget and Andrew Dice Clay and Tennison, you know.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. Did Robert Klein in his first special do I can't feel my leg? Was he already doing that or.

[Wayne Fetterman]

No, he did it in his second special. I. I'm 100%.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Every special.

[Wayne Fetterman]

And then every special since then, he revived it.

[Josh Adam Myers]

He's like, I'm gonna do it with a band this time and we're gonna rock and roll. We're gonna do a big band version next time. Calypso. I can feel my leg. I can't feel my leg. All right, let's get you out of here, dude. Elton John, final thoughts?

[Wayne Fetterman]

Just what I said earlier. If you don't know who Elton John is at all, like, you're a kid, you're like, oh, this is. This thing my grandparents listened to. This is a great starter album, in my opinion, of, like, what was the fuss all about of this kid with the crazy flamboyant outfits with the big time show. Very show glammy sort of shows and just.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah.

[Wayne Fetterman]

This is what. This is what the fuss was all about. This is why he's one of the greatest artists of all time. And I would start with this album, believe it or not, more than. And then if you. Connects to you, then start buying the albums and you're gonna be beyond thrilled.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I think that's kind of the thing. I think that's what greatest hits are supposed to do. It's like for the people that back in the day when they couldn't. Not like now you can just stream the whole record. But. Yeah, yeah, but it was a way to be like, I got all the songs I love. And if you really love these, listen to the records you buy. You might buy the record because the record is really where I always feel like the best songs are. Hits are great, but that's where the best songs are. It's a great way.

[Wayne Fetterman]

You want to know about the artist. If you want to have a personal connection with the artist outside of the mega hits. Yeah, yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Because there's. There are people that. Their whole record collection is just greatest hits. And those people. I don't understand them. Yeah, very, very. They're thorough. Very thorough their lives.

[Wayne Fetterman]

I always like when somebody puts like you. Can we go back to that Madonna's comment you made earlier?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Which one? About immaculate collection.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Put two new songs on, add a couple tunes to their greatest hits to sort of like lure in. So the fans also now have to buy this greatest hits. Tom Petty did that. Good. Mary Jane's Last Dance is on. Only on the greatest hits.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It's a ploy. It's a ploy.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Excuse me. Let's stands for Mary Jane.

[Josh Adam Myers]

You had it. Yeah. Everybody knew what you were talking about. Mary Jane. No, no, it was good. It's. Dude, it's like. It's like five in the morning where you were at. You stayed up all night working on undisclosed project.

[Wayne Fetterman]

It's not undisclosed. It's. It's disclosed.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Non. Disclosed.

[Podcast Announcer]

Not.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I'm. Well and I think. I think like by doing that, especially someone like. Like Madonna. I mean, of course it is a cash grab because a lot of people already have the records and now this is a way to get, you know, the album.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Let me put it this way. If you were. Let's say you're a record company and you have a bunch of these artists and you're like, well, we could fill up our coffers by putting out a greatest hits album of this guy or this lady. And that would give us more money to produce and discover and a r. Young artists and Grow our company and maybe even find the next person. So just think about that. Because you have to invest a lot of money in these artists and a lot of them don't pay off as you know.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And. And I mean, but someone like Elton did, depending on his deal. Yeah, someone like Madonna did, depending on her deal. You know, most of the time, if you're looking at that list, the Ed Sheerans and the stings and the YouTubes and the Paul McCartney, even the guy that you said on the Beatles publishing, everybody was getting rich off the Beatles. It took the Beatles to get, you know, years to get. Even Taylor Swift. Like she didn't. She had to remake all of her records.

[Wayne Fetterman]

True. You know, Madonna, by the way, Madonna also, if I'm not mistaken, is the Immaculate Collection remix remakes of all the her hits. I think it might be. Can we check that out? And we're going deep dive into the ins and outs of the music industry.

[Josh Adam Myers]

This is good because after this I got to dive into Pavement and I've got. I'm doing the.

[Wayne Fetterman]

All right, just.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I'm so nervous about that episode too, because it's live and it's with the basis from whole Melissa off to her, I think her name is. And I was like, morty, do you know anything? He's like, nope, neither. I say her and I don't listen to Pavement. And I'm like, all right, looks like I'm on my own. Love you, Morty. Don't worry. Let's See. Contains 15 singles recorded throughout the 80s, as well as two brand new tracks, Justify My Love and Rescue Me. All the previous release material were reworked through QSON audio technology, becoming the first ever album to use it. I don't know what that means. It's Q sound. I guess it was a three dimensional.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Sound process, so they weren't redone. Okay.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So it. Yeah, so it was more just. They. They filtered it, but it made.

[Wayne Fetterman]

It wasn't like a Taylor Swift where you're like, this is.

[Josh Adam Myers]

No, but it. But it's. But it's sort of. That record was certified 11 times platinum. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Wait, wait, wait. All right, this is how we end.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

This is because I love. We know. Greatest. Hold on. List. List of best selling greatest hits.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Well, we know what number one is.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Do we?

[Wayne Fetterman]

Eagles. Yeah, Eagles part one. Eagles greatest hits. 74. Excuse me. 72 to 70.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I don't have. Hold on. America's greatest Hits. It doesn't. The top 10 best selling. Great. Here, I got it here. The top 10 best selling greatest hits records. All right now, dude, number one, what do you think? What's number one? I'll tell you what. Number one is not what you think it is. No. Yeah, it's Queen.

[Wayne Fetterman]

No.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yes, because in England.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Oh, I was. All right, I guess I'm talking the biggest selling.

[Josh Adam Myers]

This isn't Radio X. Is this just a. Is this a British thing?

[Wayne Fetterman]

This might be a British thing, yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I don't know, man.

[Wayne Fetterman]

I do like that album. I do like that. Queen's greatest.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Don't forget you're thinking of global number two.

[Wayne Fetterman]

No, I'm just saying whenever I see a list of the. Of the top selling records in the history of music. Eagles 72 to 75 or whatever it's called. Is. Or is. Is it 71 to 74?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Hold on, let me look, dude, I.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Want to get the right name of those. Those. Because I remember they kind of cheated.

[Josh Adam Myers]

All right, you were right. You're right.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah. What is the record?

[Josh Adam Myers]

The record of what?

[Wayne Fetterman]

What is just the name.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It's just, it's just Eagles. It's Eagles, their greatest hits. 71 to 75 to 75. Okay, and then number two, it says is Queen's greatest Hits. And then that would be Bob. Bob Marley, legend.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Oh, oh, we talked about that.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I love.

[Wayne Fetterman]

We're talking about this. Great.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And then hold on, I think there's a good list because there's other. Never is. Jesus Christ.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Right?

[Josh Adam Myers]

When you need it. Come on, Wikipedia. You're always, you're always this. God, let's keep saying best selling albums. No, I want. And then it's got Beatles number one. Oh, that came out in 2000.

[Wayne Fetterman]

That's the.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Because that was a way for every. No, that wasn't the blue. That was the red. That was a red record.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Number one. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And then you have, you have Queen Greatest Hits number two, came out in 91. And then you have ABBA.

[Dan Nordheim]

Wow.

[Josh Adam Myers]

ABBA Gold.

[Wayne Fetterman]

All right, gold.

[Josh Adam Myers]

But that's interesting.

[Wayne Fetterman]

There's two Queen act in the top five, right?

[Josh Adam Myers]

I think so, yeah. And I mean, I'm just looking at what you're looking at. The greatest hits records ever. And I mean like you have, you look and you see that like Saturday Night Fever and then Hot Rocks. I mean, don't forget the Rolling Stones had one. But yeah, yeah, there wasn't, you know, the hits. Garth Brooks. I bet you that's up there too.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah, dude, that's interesting. That's.

[Josh Adam Myers]

All right, let's wrap it up. Anything you're promoting?

[Wayne Fetterman]

Oh, let Me think. Let me think. I'm doing that gig. Oh, yes. Yeah. I'm going to start promoting. It's October in January 15th. January 15th. So that's coming up in two months. Is the updated version of the History of Stand up, my book that I teach a class on that. They teach it at Yale now, that book at Emerson. And it's going to have everything that's happened from COVID till now. That includes the Cancel Culture, the Slap Comedians Getting Attacked, Riyadh Festival, which you were part of. I don't know if you're promoting that.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I don't care. I mean, I'm. Dude.

[Wayne Fetterman]

All of the big things has happened. The rise of Nate Bergazzi, the. Oh, and one of the big things in this. The book is about crowd. The explosion of crowd work, content online.

[Josh Adam Myers]

The game changers. Yeah, it's crazy, dude. You're. You're gonna be writing this book up until the last day.

[Wayne Fetterman]

I know. I'm gonna miss something. I know. Hold on.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Now. Virtual comedy is a thing.

[Wayne Fetterman]

High comedy has destroyed the industry, brother. Thank you for having me for this. This is a fun one. Message. When you reached out to me, right.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I thought it was like, oh, was it? Oh, boy. And I was like, oh. I thought it was like, oh, no, it was. Oh, man. Or I was. But it was like, oh, shit.

[Wayne Fetterman]

It was.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, my. I was like, are we fucked? Is he not going to do it?

[Wayne Fetterman]

No. Oh, my God. I mean, this. I'm a piano player. Like, you know how many hours in my living room I spend playing these stupid songs of his?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Not stupid now.

[Wayne Fetterman]

They're incredible.

[Josh Adam Myers]

They're incredible.

[Wayne Fetterman]

I love you, Bernie Taupin. Thanks, Bernie Taupe. And I want to thank him.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And thank your buddy, too. Thank your buddy for coming, Adam Chester.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

What I tell you? What I tell you? The one and only Wayne Federem. Follow him on Instagram at instafatterman. And I think he's still on Twitter. He might not be there anymore, but go to that show, dude. Get his book. We'll put up the. We'll put up the. The link to it and. Yeah, man, just support Wayne. We love him. And big shout out to Adam Chester. What a nice guy and so cool to get the intel like that. Now we just listened to Elton's Greatest Hits from 1974, our new music pick this week, brought to you in part by Distro Kid. His track called Keep Enough by the Charlatans. And you can find links to the music on our website, the500podcast.com and if you were in a band and want your song Featured on the 500 show, whatever the this is, send us your song to 500podcast gmail.com Put the app album and artists that influenced you in the subject line. Next week it's 135 with pavement, slanted and enchanted. I gotta dig into this one because I'm recording it tomorrow. We got a good guess for it though. So yeah, we'll see you on the flip side. Do your homework. Stay fleecy.

[Fletch]

This is the beginning.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Cause.

[Fletch]

It feels like a star Remember where you were yesterday Keep it up keep it up keep it up Today I.

[Adam Chester]

Knew.

[Fletch]

The direction is key and you is the answer soon to be.

[Dan Nordheim]

My.

[Fletch]

Thoughts tend to linger oh friend and.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Man.

[Fletch]

Affections run deeper Keep it up, keep it up keep it it up keep it up keep it up.

[Josh Adam Myers]

We.

[Fletch]

Keeping up My affection is moving.

[Podcast Announcer]

I.

[Fletch]

Have the O in my hand.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Tempt.

[Fletch]

Me to agree I'm a sensitive man Is this the beginning? Does it feels like a star Remember where you yesterday Keep it up.

[Podcast Announcer]

Keep.

[Fletch]

It up keep it up keep it up keep it up Saunders for the Fleece Nation on the 500 the 500.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Next Chapter podcasts.