(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please CLICK HERE)
Elton John - "Bennie and the Jets"
Hit Number 1: April 13, 1974
Stay at Number 1: 1 Week
1974 must've felt like a weird time for music. The music-buying public didn't know what to expect anymore: philly soul was starting to dominate, which would lead to disco, and another thing that probably seemed very strange at the time was glam rock. Glam rock is hard to describe, but the best way I can think of describing it is being very "futuristic" sounding. We of course know what music would eventually lead to, but at that current time, it must have seemed like music was rapidly changing, and it was unknown what the next few years would bring. (They would bring disco. Lots and lots of disco) I wouldn't describe Elton John as being a glam rock artist, but he certainly looked like one. He dressed up in some of the weirdest crap you'll ever see, often what would be considered "cross-dressing," and he had some respect for the growing glam rock genre. He decided to write a song about glam rock with "Bennie and the Jets".
We've seen a few songs pop up in here that I described as accidents that worked. Everything that's identifiable about "Bennie and the Jets" was accidental. Recorded for part of the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road sessions, "Bennie and the Jets" was supposed to be your standard pop hit. But John accidentally played the opening piano chord a little bit too early before the real song started, which led to everything we know "Bennie and the Jets" by. The producer for the song was Gus Dudgeon, and he said he was doing the mix for the song and that accidental chord kept coming on. He asked his engineer what that one chord reminded him of, and he said it reminded him of something someone would do before performing a song at a live show. That sealed it. Dudgeon added a fake live sound to "Bennie and the Jets", and that's now the song's most identifiable feature. I can't imagine the song without it.
Of course, John was already a star by the time "Bennie and the Jets" hit the radio rotations. His debut single, "Your Song", made it into the top ten, peaking at #8 in 1971. (It's an 8) He also achieved his first ever chart-topper with the lively nod to old '50s culture "Crocodile Rock", and nearly hit #1 again with the title track of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. (It peaked at #2, and it's another 8) But "Bennie and the Jets" was something new for John. It's a song about the changing of music, and the ways people were dressing while performing their music. The song is about a fictional band named Bennie & the Jets of course, and Bennie is a front woman who dresses in electric boots and a mohair suit. The narrator is fascinated by the band, and does what we would call today "fangirling" over them. They play "electric music" with solid walls of sound, a nod to Phil Spector's Wall of Sound technique in producing music. All things considered, "Bennie and the Jets" is just a song about what the music world was beginning to look like in the mid '70s. It was a fascinating time.
I think what the most fascinating thing about "Bennie and the Jets" is, though, is how futuristic the entire thing sounds. Sure, the fake live sound is great, but I'm more drawn to the rest of the music production. I love the classic John piano sound/solo, the little weird synths towards the end of the song, and the falsetto John reaches for: "Bennie! Bennie! Bennie and the Jeeeeets!" It's nothing like what anyone ever heard before hand. It was an obvious nod to the rising glam rock genre, while still keeping a soft jazz rock sound that gave it a familiar pop feel. It's nearly impossible to place "Bennie and the Jets" into a genre. It's its own thing. If anyone was going to be comfortable enough to try out something different with the course of music, it would've been Elton John. The record sounds expensive, but it sounds magical.
"Bennie and the Jets" put John over the top, even more so than "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road". He was already a star, but this song made him a superstar. "Bennie and Jets" turned John into a pop star that couldn't miss for the rest of the '70s. We'll see him again in this blog several more times.
GRADE: 10/10
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