After a certain level of success in the industry, for some, the costumes and performances get bigger and louder, while for others, it can be hard to handle the massive fame and the constant attention. The two opposite sides of the spectrum can cause a bit of a ruckus. Elton John’s out there, belonging to the first group, with his costumes that differed from Captain Fantastic to a Pinball Wizard to Donald Duck. His one particular costume even caused John to make Iggy Pop incredibly scared.
The ’70s were wild for anyone involved in the rock scene, to say the least, and Elton John was no different. The singer, who had become known for his flamboyant costumes, decided to dress up as a gorilla to scare Iggy Pop onstage at a 1973 club gig. Although it was meant to be a funny joke, Iggy, who was intoxicated with more drugs than he could handle, didn’t take it well.
Pop was under the influence of a severe amount of drugs he had used the night before. Before he knew it, he came across someone wearing a gorilla costume. For everyone watching, it probably was obvious that it was a prank, but Pop, who was barely standing, actually felt in danger as he didn’t know who was inside the costume. He was afraid that the gorilla would hurt or, worse, kill him.
Although the prank was supposed to be funny and make people laugh, things didn’t go as planned for Elton John, as he explained to Yahoo Entertainment in 2018. The fun and game the rocker planned turned into a scare show, but he still recalled those days as the mad things he did.
Elton John’s words about his gorilla costume that infuriated Iggy Pop:
“I dressed as a gorilla and went onstage with Iggy Pop. In Richard’s Club, in Atlanta. I saw him the first night. He was so great; I wanted to go back the second night. I thought, ‘I know what. I’ll dress as a gorilla!’ I jumped onstage — and he freaked out. Years later, he told me he was tripping on acid when I did it.
It was the stinkiest gorilla outfit you could have possibly had. I thought it would be great, but it kind of backfired. In the end, they said, ‘Oh, by the way, that was Elton John in the gorilla suit.’ Everyone said, ‘Oh, yeah. Sure it was.’ It was one of my mad things. Those were the days, you know. Those were the days.”
The singer definitely went through a wild and carefree stage in the ’70s, where he lived nine lives in the span of a short time. He knew how to bring the party and the extravagant costumes with him. For people on board with this side of the rocker, it was all fun and games, but for Iggy Pop, who was high as a kite on that day, it was a danger zone, and he genuinely feared for his life. It’s just the rocker lifestyle, isn’t it?
