Elton John or John Denver?

The Rocketry Forum

Help Support The Rocketry Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Elton John or John Denver?

  • Elton John

  • John Denver


Results are only viewable after voting.

dlazarus6660

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2010
Messages
3,885
Reaction score
12
OK Kids,

Who dominated the '70's?

John Denver has the awards to prove it.

Elton John has the hits.

Who was (is) more popular?
 
making-a-good-thing-better-a.jpg
 
These groups made the most-heard music of the 1970s:

fleetwoodmac.jpg


AND

2fe2fc9e8383f56462a3b71a09cc1fb7.jpg


AND

Bee-Gees.jpg


AND

3132_imgDonna%20Summer3.jpg
 
Last edited:
If his hoarding gasoline and drunk driving didn't get you down, then go Henry John Deutschendorf! And that Rocky Mountain High song is JUST about the altitude! Elton may be the rocket man but Henry was the high flier.
 
I was into harder stuff during the 70s but "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" kicks the #$%^ out of anything John Denver ever did. Of course Denver was the whole package as a singer song writer, who knows where Elton John would have been without Taupin.

There was so much better music happening during the seventies than either Elton John or John Denver. I can still remember the first time I heard the switched on Blues of Led Zeppelin or the heavy demonic sounds of Black Sabbath, that music is as much a part of me and who I am as any other influences before or since. I suppose that's the case with every generation. I remember my Dad jamming to Mares Eat Oats and Three Little Fishies in an Itty Bitty Poo. My kids thought Pearl Jam and Nirvana was the shiz. I can't even relate to Lady Gaga or Marilyn Manson, dang kids today and their @#$%ed up "music".
 
There was so much better music happening during the seventies than either Elton John or John Denver.

So true Jeff. Too many people look back at the popular music of the 70s and "pigeon hole it" into disco, or some other single category. But those of us who lived and breathed by the vinyl of those days can testify that the music of the 70s was extremely diverse!

In my mind, this poll is like going into Baskin Robins and asking: "Which is the better flavor, Rainbow Sherbet or Butter Pecan?"
 
Who dominated the '70's? As far as I'm concerned, that could quite possibly be the best decade for rock, ever.

JD's "Country Roads" is classic, I don't care who you ask. EJ's "Madmen Across the Water," I would consider a classic album.

For me, it was all about Jefferson Airplane/Starship (Dragonfly anyway, not so much the others that came after), Led Zepplin, The Who, Lynrd Skynerd(sp?), The Doors, Roxy Music, John McLaughlin, King Crimson, Deep Purple, Captain Beyond, Pink Floyd, Brian Eno, Mountain, Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, T Rex, Atomic Rooster, The Bubble Puppy, Aerosmith, Angel, Blue Ouster Cult, Traffic, Spirit, XTC, Zappa, etc., etc., etc. I could go on but I don't feel like typing that much. Far too much to list here.

And an album was three bucks and change. Oh, and this is a big admission, but I like the Bee Gees of the pre-disco era. I couldn't say that out loud back then.
 
Last edited:
I was into harder stuff during the 70s but "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" kicks the #$%^ out of anything John Denver ever did. Of course Denver was the whole package as a singer song writer, who knows where Elton John would have been without Taupin.

There was so much better music happening during the seventies than either Elton John or John Denver. I can still remember the first time I heard the switched on Blues of Led Zeppelin or the heavy demonic sounds of Black Sabbath, that music is as much a part of me and who I am as any other influences before or since.
Absolutely!

As for the poll, the awards came from critics. Dominance comes from record sales....the people. Elton John wins hands down. Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding, Madman Across the Water, Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting....he could flat out rock back in the early 70's, especially live when Davey Johnstone got to turn up as loud as the keyboards.
 
Who dominated the '70's? As far as I'm concerned, that could quite possibly be the best decade for rock, ever.

JD's "Country Roads" is classic, I don't care who you ask. EJ's "Madmen Across the Water," I would consider a classic album.

For me, it was all about Jefferson Airplane/Starship (Dragonfly anyway, not so much the others that came after), Led Zepplin, The Who, Lynrd Skynerd(sp?), The Doors, Roxy Music, John McLaughlin, King Crimson, Deep Purple, Captain Beyond, Pink Floyd, Brian Eno, Mountain, Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, T Rex, Atomic Rooster, The Bubble Puppy, Aerosmith, Angel, Blue Ouster Cult, Traffic, Spirit, XTC, Zappa, etc., etc., etc. I could go on but I don't feel like typing that much. Far too much to list here.

And an album was three bucks and change. Oh, and this is a big admission, but I like the Bee Gees of the pre-disco era. I couldn't say that out loud back then.

T-REX and Zappa :handshake:

T-Rex was the first concert I had ever been to.Went with my sister and her boyfriend (in his souped up 55 Chevy) to the local university.I had never seen so many people wearing Top Hats !!

Even my sister had a top hat.Mark Bolan dided way too young ! But thne ,didn`t most of the band die also.

Zappa will always rock !! He died way too early too :(

Paul T

And pretty much all you mentioned !!
 
I have to put B.O.C. up there ,, but ironically I recall one of the biggest bands of the 70's was Aerosmith.
of course Kiss was big, Frampton , Boston, Steve Miller

best decade in music in my opinion ,, even with disco and punk moving in.
I like the old one hit wonder pop stuff when I'm building,, happy music...lol
 
We all like the Big Hi Power Hard Rock Bands of the 70's. Monster O motors in rockets with Flames and Skulls over the glassy emeron black paint. Rock on DUDES! :headbang:

But the biggest hit of the 70's was "You Light Up My Life" by Debbie Boone. Ohhh Smurf! Back to the Care Bears and an A8-3 in your Estes Alpha.:puke:
 
I was the only one in my group of friends that did not like, and still don't like, Led Zepplin.

Allman Brothers, Grateful Dead, Eagles, CCR were more to my liking.
 
I was the only one in my group of friends that did not like, and still don't like, Led Zepplin.

Allman Brothers, Grateful Dead, Eagles, CCR were more to my liking.

I didn't have a choice about listening to Led Zep. Older siblings. I didn't care for them either but they grew on me many years later.
 
It seemed every week, Elton John was coming out with a new album in the 70s.
 
BobH48 said:
I was the only one in my group of friends that did not like, and still don't like, Led Zepplin.
What?!?! :y:
I like your friends. :p
:D
It's kinda interesting how the perspectives change over time. When I was in college - childhood friends of mine were at THE Who concert in Cinci in 79 - the perspective was that the four all-time must-see concerts were: the Beatles (already defunct by then), the Stones, the Who and Led Zeppelin.

I saw the Stones a couple years later, and regret not going to Cincinnati that night.

Anyway, nowadays, the Who are looked on more as a curiosity than as an essential part of rock and roll history, and I find that a little surprising. Maybe I'm getting old :)

Regardless of the Who's reputation, I do find it surprising that Led Zeppelin has seemingly shrunk from such revered status as well. It may be that they didn't stay together long enough to be etched into rock and roll perpetuity. But I still find it surprising they are disliked.

Bob, let me ask, is it Zep you don't like? Or all the hype surrounding them? That is, you found your friends' worship of them to be over the top?

I know for me many times it's not that I dislike something, but I can't understand everyone else's over-the-top love of it. Caddyshack and Car Wash come to mind :D:D:D

Doug

.
 
I didn't like Led Zeppelin very much in the 1970s when I was in high school. I was OK with their half-dozen biggest hits but after that, I wrote 'em off.

For me, it was the Beatles, Stones and Who, in that order. About 1990 when CDs first came out somebody gave me the Zep box set, and I was knocked out.

They're not my fave-rave group of all time or anything, but I definitely had to reassess my "LZ suxx" viewpoint of my school years.


I think a lot of the critical derision comes from the fact that on AOR radio from about 1975-85, Led Zeppelin was on absolutely all the time. A lot of people got sick of them.
 
The real question might be: Would you rather visit "The Blue Oyster Bar" with Elton John, or go for a Glider ride with John Denver in a plane he built in his garage???
 
Video killed the radio star, we did not know how true the words, said in jest.

some were, some weren't, but they could sing more than one stanza and a chorus!
 
Ya know, back in the day--high school --70's, I'd have to give that one to EJ. I say that as I sit here listening to my collection of Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennet---Fly me to the moon baby !!!:wink::wink:
 
I think a lot of the critical derision comes from the fact that on AOR radio from about 1975-85, Led Zeppelin was on absolutely all the time. A lot of people got sick of them.
They made a ton of music, but the radio was saturated with four songs, Whole Lotta Love, Stairway, Kashmir, and Rock and Roll, and got heavy play on four or five more. That's why a lot of people hate them. I like them because of everything they did other than those four songs. Everything from Celtic acoustic folk to early metal.
 
The real question might be: Would you rather visit "The Blue Oyster Bar" with Elton John, or go for a Glider ride with John Denver in a plane he built in his garage???
I'd rather build my own plane and fly to see Blue Oyster Cult. :D
 
Bob, let me ask, is it Zep you don't like? Or all the hype surrounding them? That is, you found your friends' worship of them to be over the top?
I really didn't care for their sound all that much but probably could have toterated them if the radio didn't play Stairway to Heaven to death. I ended up not being able to stand that song and in my mind, it evolved into anything by Zepplin sounding the same and I would switch stations as soon as they came on the radio.

A similar situation happened when we went camping and all we had was a portable radio and we could only get one station. The station was one of those that played the most popular songs over and over. I swear they played Clapton's song, I Shot the Sheriff, at least every hour for the entire week I was camping. I didn't hate the song at the beginning of the week but I still can't bear to hear it played.
 
I swear they played Clapton's song, I Shot the Sheriff, at least every hour for the entire week I was camping. I didn't hate the song at the beginning of the week but I still can't bear to hear it played.
I don't listen to top 40 stations anymore, but back in the day, when a song was high on the charts, they might well play it more than once an hour :)

That can turn anyone against a good song.

Doug

.
 
I was the only one in my group of friends that did not like, and still don't like, Led Zepplin.

Allman Brothers, Grateful Dead, Eagles, CCR were more to my liking.


I concur.
 
Back
Top