The gutter that runs beside the road of rock history is littered with artists who squandered their talent, who flamed out, washed up, went in the tank. The reasons are many, the most popular being some manner of self-destructiveness. Artists who were real good at that sort of thing — from Hendrix to Cobain — left this mortal coil with their legacies intact.
But that’s an old rock ’n’ roll saw.
For today’s discussion, I’m interested in a more subtle type of squandering, the type whose reasons are not always easy to pinpoint. Often times, it’s little more than running out of ideas but continuing to hang on. In the process, they've ruined their legacies, or at the very least put them in serious peril.
So who in rock annals are the biggest talent-squanderers, who have authored the biggest falls from artist grace? Let me nominate a few, and pick a winner. As always, feel free to weigh in.
Elton John — From vibrant singer/songwriter and firebrand showman to chubby old queen with a braying voice. Elton reached his artistic pinnacle in 1973 with Goodbye Yellow Brick Road — that’s 35 years ago for those who don’t feel like doing the math — and was basically done two years later with Rock of the Westies.
This article appears in Jul 2-8, 2008.