Undisputed_ How to Become the World Champion in 1,372 Easy Steps - Chris Jericho [113]
Rich and I decided that we would make it our mission to meet Sir Elton. We’d been keeping a watchful eye out for him for a few days, to no avail; then one afternoon while listening to one of my takes, we saw a shiny black SUV pull into the parking lot. The door opened and a massive block of humanity sidled out of the driver’s seat. He walked around to open the passenger door and out climbed Elton himself—a short pudgy man with chipmunk cheeks, wearing a black tracksuit.
I screamed and ran down the stairs as fast as my little legs could carry me to cut him off at the pass. Treesound was a big studio, maze-like in its setup, and I took a few wrong turns. Finally I burst into the lobby and made a beeline toward the big boy room just as the door was closing. I asked the desk clerk if I could pop my head in and say hi but was told, “Sorry, it’s a closed session. No one’s allowed to go in.”
Closed session? Who did Elton think he was, Sarsippius?
I begged and pleaded but the guy wouldn’t budge, so I turned to go back to work.
Suddenly the studio door opened and out walked Elton’s gianormous driver. The receptionist had disappeared at this point, so the Kraken turned to me and said in a perfect C3PO English accent, “Excuse me, do you know the address of this studio?”
“No man, I’m just here recording upstairs. Why’s that?”
“Oh my. Well, Elton’s hairdresser is coming and he needs to know where we are.”
“Hairdresser? Is Elton filming something today?”
“No, no. Elton just likes to have his hair done while he’s recording.”
Sir Elton John had to have his hair styled and looking perfect in order to make an album. How rock and roll is that? I went directly to the bathroom and combed my tresses—it was the least I could do.
We never did meet Elton, but just knowing we were recording in the same airspace as Captain Fantastic was an incredible feeling. It was a sign that we were about to say goodbye to the yellow brick road of our past and become our own madmen across the water.
Wow, that was pretty bad, wasn’t it?
Don’t shoot me, I’m only the book writer.
After dealing with all the various record company bullshit from Mega-force and Palm, we still “owed” them money even though our first two records had more than recouped. I’d had enough of record companies ripping us off, so I decided to take matters into my own hands and start my own. So we released our third album, All That Remains, in January 2005 on Ash Records.
Another sad truth of the music business is that in order for a band of our size to get airplay in big markets like New York or L.A. we’d have to pay some serious cash. So we decided to concentrate on getting played in secondary (and free) markets like Grand Rapids, Alberquerque, Des Moines. That’s what we did, and our song “Enemy” became a sort of hit, getting airplay on over eighty stations across the country.
The next step was to make a video. We filmed the clip for “Enemy” on the top of a government building in San Diego and based it around the concept of a guy with one leg climbing up the stairs to the roof. After struggling to make it to the top, he promptly threw himself over the edge. It was the feel-good story of the spring.
Apparently because “Enemy” featured a one-legged man committing suicide, MTV banned it after one showing on Headbangers Ball. Even though being banned (like the original album cover for Yesterday and Today ) was very rock and roll, it also made no sense. MTV was also airing the “99 Problems” video by Jay-Z (which depicted him being assassinated) in heavy rotation at the same time. There was machine gun fire