Today – 16th September – is the day Elton John’s latest record “the diving board” comes out, which at first glance may seem to contradict recent blogs here about the irresistable coolness of Kathleen Hanna and Mark Kozelek, but give me Elton John over Paul McCartney solo albums any day.

The first cd’s I ever bought were Elton John’s greatest hits and a best of Elvis Presley. I was 11 years old, and all i listened to before was radio pop music. Back then I had no idea what alternative music was, and going to the record shop was my introduction to rock’n’roll. I admit by the time I was 16 and my wall was covered with pictures of skinny indie stars from NME and Select, and I think I donated my early cd’s to the Oxfam charity shop or secretly threw them in the bin when my Sonic Youth indie girlfriend came around.

Anyway, the cool thing about getting older is all that stuff about trying to look cool is irrelevant, and that’s kind of the point of words and guitars, so driving around in an old citreon with a 1970’s Elton John tape blasting away in the tape deck (alongside the new Sebadoh released, strangely, on tape) is what it’s all about.

I saw the Arctic Monkeys concert on tv and it didn’t make me feel guilty for choosing the strypes cd over “AM” at the record shop last week. Last night I saw Elton John’s concert on tv and it kind of puts things in context. The guy’s kind of crazy, but that’s how rock stars should be, right? Alex Turner is too smooth for me sometimes. I guess old Elton gets an extra point from me too for introducing me to the awesome music of the strypes.

Here’s an old old song, but one of the best songs of the 20th century.