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Elton John “gutted” by record label snub

By Andy Malt | Published on Monday 23 November 2015

Elton John has told Rolling Stone that he was “gutted” when Capitol Records declined to put out his latest album, ‘Wonderful Crazy Night’. It will instead be released in America through another of Universal’s labels, Island US, next February.

“I was gutted, I have to say”, he indeed said. “I thought, ‘This is a fucking good record, and I can’t understand why they don’t want to put it out’. But they’ve done me a favour. I was so upset for about a week, and then I landed on Island’s doorstep with David Massey and they are so thrilled. They have a lot of young artists on their label. I am, by far, the oldest artist they have. They have The Killers, who are friends of mine. I’m 68 years old, and I’ve made 33 studio albums. All I’m asking for at this age is for them to like it, to be enthusiastic and to do their best. I can ask for no more”.

He added that he doesn’t have unrealistic hopes for the album, saying: “I’m not going to sell a million albums. I’m not expecting to”, but noted that the songs on it were suited to being played in arenas.

‘Wonderful Crazy Night’ is out on 5 Feb. Read the full Rolling Stone interview here.