<P> "Bennie and the Jets" was featured on side one of the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album, and Elton John was set against releasing it as a single, believing it would fail . CKLW in Windsor, Ontario, began heavy airplay of the song and it became the #1 song in the Detroit market . This attention caused other American and Canadian Top 40 stations to add it to their playlists as well and as a result, the song peaked at #1 on the US singles chart in 1974 . In the US, it was certified Gold on 8 April 1974 and Platinum on 13 September 1995 by the RIAA, and had sold 2.8 million copies by August 1976 . </P> <P> "Bennie and the Jets" was also John's first Top 40 hit on what at the time was called the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart, where it peaked at #15, the highest position out of the three of his singles which reached that chart . The acceptance of "Bennie" on R&B radio helped land John, a huge soul music fan, a guest appearance on the 17 May 1975 edition of Soul Train, where he played "Bennie and the Jets" and "Philadelphia Freedom". In Canada, it held the #1 spot on the RPM national singles chart for two weeks (13--20 April), becoming his first #1 single of 1974 and his fourth overall . </P> <P> The song tells of "Bennie and the Jets", a fictional band of whom the song's narrator is a fan . The song is written in the key of G major . In interviews, Taupin has said that the song's lyrics are a satire on the music industry of the 1970s . The greed and glitz of the early 1970s music scene is portrayed by Taupin's words: </P> <Dl> <Dd> We'll kill the fatted calf tonight, so stick around, </Dd> <Dd> you're gonna hear electric music, solid walls of sound . </Dd> </Dl>

Who was bennie and the jets written about