Billy Joel - Song By Song

[clive gash]

[Matt Wilson]

Too bad. You'd really piss off the usual suspects (suspect?) had you started a Joel thread...

[Twang]

He has. Beginning in '67



Alas, 70s Billy Joel, underrated

[Sneelock]

how can someone who has sold a gazillion records and seems perfectly capable of touring until he keels over be underrated?
it seems to me people who are this popular are rated very highly by the people who fork it over to see them and tune in to hear Larry King ask them how they overcame life's hardships.

Billy Joel is popular. popular people are rated by the very definition of popularity.

[Matt Wilson]

She means underrated around here.

[Sneelock]

Maybe. I’ll bet he’d win in a “Billy Joel” versus backlash d’jour poll.

[Matt Wilson]

He'd probably lose to James Taylor.

[Sneelock]

God, I should hope so.

Sorry, I don’t mean to be a dick. Bashing popular people I don’t like is a bit of a hobby. I must admit, I’m not as hard on BJ as I used to be. I always found him derivative but I don’t guess that bothers me as much as it used to.

[Matt Wilson]

Dickishness is a BCB tradition. I have at least a Masters in Dickdom, some here have a PHD.

In other words, don't worry about it!

[Twang]

I did mean underrated around here. I dislike most of the succession of hits starting around "My Life" but I think he made some pretty good albums before that.

[Sneelock]

I did mean underrated around here.

everything but the Smiths is underrated around here.

I dislike most of the succession of hits starting around "My Life" but I think he made some pretty good albums before that.

it's good to like stuff, I'm sure of it. I guess I'm just a naturally contrary character."My Life" is one of his songs I always liked.
the early stuff - I was a Harry Chapin fan so I always thought Billy Joel ripped him off more than a little bit.
like I say, it doesn't bother me as much these days and I know people who don't agree or who it doesn't bother at all.
it's all good.

I heard Ray Charles on TV say "I just LOVE Billy Joel". I decided then and there that nobody gives a fuck if I like Billy Joel or not. I guess I'm getting forgetful in my old age.

[naughty boy]

I did mean underrated around here. I dislike most of the succession of hits starting around "My Life" but I think he made some pretty good albums before that.

Let's hear about them then!

[Davey the Fat Boy]

I was a fan as a kid, and I still have some residual warmth for a handful of his songs.

I don’t know that I would stick my next out and make any great claims for a track like this. But it hits a certain spot for me:

[George P. Smackers]

Someone on some other forum linked to this Rolling Stone review of Glass Houses:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albu ... s-19800501

I read it and thought by Jove this fellow may be onto something.

Representative passages:

"...in general behaves like a perfect asshole, blames his girl for his actions when she points out that he's nuts, and then sums up everything with the logic of an egomaniac..."

"...Joel sings in a voice that's pushy and bossy and whiny at the same time, like a rush-hour bus driver bawling out his hapless, weary passengers..."

"...Billy Joel loves to play the bully. He's always laying down terms, drawing lines in the dirt that he dares you to cross. Especially if you're a woman. "What's the matter with the clothes I'm wearing? ... What's the matter with the car I'm driving?" he keeps asking in "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me," the LP's two-pronged philosophical bummer..."

[Matt Wilson]

I've decided I like Billy Joel. At first I didn't know what to think, so I did what I always do when confronted with a conundrum. I consulted my worn copies of various Rolling Stone Album Guides. But alas, the writers don't like Billy Joel! What was I to do? In the past, under extreme duress, I've actually broke protocol and contacted Jann personally, and this seemed like just such an occasion. So I did so, a tad nervous, but as always, excited when being in the great man's presence. He told me not to worry about appearances, that Joel was an okay guy with some pretty good LPs.

So I'm going with that.

[George P. Smackers]

Well, that's fine.

But that review crystalized something for me that I hadn't really thought of before. It's not that I've disliked Billy Joel all these years just because he's uncool, or writes songs full of cliches, or has a cheesy show-biz side. I actually could like those things when done right. It's that he comes across as a bossy dick.

[Matt Wilson]

I don't know if he does though. Bossy to whom? He always seems pretty laid back in his interviews, and I'm not sure there's any disgruntled band member stories floating around. If you don't like is voice, then there's going to be a problem, obviously. I've never heard any charges of misogyny in his lyrics, so this bullying thing is the first I've heard of it.

[naughty boy]

'Just The Way You Are' is lyrically condescending at best

[Matt Wilson]

'Just The Way You Are' is lyrically condescending at best

Probably, but then so is "Just Like a Woman."

I don't think a little condescending in song lyrics is such a detriment, frankly.

[naughty boy]

Someone here once described him as a 'hack' - you know, does the job, writes the Motown pastiche, the doo-wop tribute, the Dylan homage. There isn't much Joel there. He didn't do anything new.

He's playing his only UK gig right now (in Manchester) - my sis has gone with her family and they're really excited. And I'm sure it'll be a blast.

You know, none of you are strangers to the idea of holding two or three seemingly contradictory opinions - right?