Billy Joel Ruined My Life
Long Island ruined me. Growing up there, listening to WBAB [a classic rock radio station] led me to believe that Billy Joel was among the elite in rock music. Their dependance on William Joel's weak-ass catalog robbed me from learning just how good artists like David Bowie, Queen, The Who and Elton John really were. Not to mention ignoring some of the giants of rock that get ignored by most radio stations, the Stooges, Velvet Underground and the Clash.
You never hear 'The Entertainer', 'Miami 2017' or 'The Ballad of Billy The Kid' on the airwaves anywhere else except on Long Island. 'Piano Man' is the only song heard at 5pm on Fridays on any station and a wedding on the Island isn't complete without either 'She's Got A Way' or 'Just The Way You Are' [which is possibly the wussiest song in the history of rock music]. Don't believe me? Really listen to the song, I mean really listen like you didn't grow up on the Island, then get back to me. And don't even get me started on 'We Didn't Start The Fire.'
I was led to think he was Long Island's answer to Jersey's Springsteen. Oh how wrong I was. He's maybe 32% as good as Bruce and even that is stretching it. Joel's best album 'The Stranger' is almost as good as Bruce's 4th or 5th best album.
It's not to say he's got no good songs. 'Only The Good Die Young' & 'Movin' Out' are classics, 'Scenes From An Italian Restaurant' & 'Captain Jack' are epics and 'Goodnight Saigon' gave one of my general managers flashbacks to 'Nam (always a bonus).
I also can't say that I am not a fan, its just that I don't deify him like many people from Nassau and Suffolk. His greatest hits package, Volume 1 & 2, is essential in any music collection. I know the lyrics to just about every song on those discs. But there was a time that I would turn off the radio any time one of his songs was on, I had been burned out on The Joel and needed to step away.
Then about 2 years ago I heard Piano Man on the radio and decided to ride it out. I knew every word (as they had been seared into my brain during my teenage years) and sang along. It was then I decided to remove the song from my 'Songs I Hate & Will Turn Off Immediately' list and give Billy a chance.
The conclusion I came to might make my Long Island aunts hate me, but he's nothing more than a second rate Elton John. He's got about a half dozen songs that belong on classic rock stations, but another twenty that fit perfectly on oldies stations with names like Mix 105 or The River 107.
He's never going to go away, and he will continue to ruin the musical tastes of Long Islanders for generations to come. So, as a warning to all teens on Long Island, before you go out and buy 'The Nylon Curtain' or 'Glass Houses' on cd pick up 'Exile On Main Street' by the Stones (criminally ignored by the airwaves) or either of the first two Talking Heads albums '77' or 'More Songs About Buildings And Food'. You can thank me later.
You never hear 'The Entertainer', 'Miami 2017' or 'The Ballad of Billy The Kid' on the airwaves anywhere else except on Long Island. 'Piano Man' is the only song heard at 5pm on Fridays on any station and a wedding on the Island isn't complete without either 'She's Got A Way' or 'Just The Way You Are' [which is possibly the wussiest song in the history of rock music]. Don't believe me? Really listen to the song, I mean really listen like you didn't grow up on the Island, then get back to me. And don't even get me started on 'We Didn't Start The Fire.'
I was led to think he was Long Island's answer to Jersey's Springsteen. Oh how wrong I was. He's maybe 32% as good as Bruce and even that is stretching it. Joel's best album 'The Stranger' is almost as good as Bruce's 4th or 5th best album.
It's not to say he's got no good songs. 'Only The Good Die Young' & 'Movin' Out' are classics, 'Scenes From An Italian Restaurant' & 'Captain Jack' are epics and 'Goodnight Saigon' gave one of my general managers flashbacks to 'Nam (always a bonus).
I also can't say that I am not a fan, its just that I don't deify him like many people from Nassau and Suffolk. His greatest hits package, Volume 1 & 2, is essential in any music collection. I know the lyrics to just about every song on those discs. But there was a time that I would turn off the radio any time one of his songs was on, I had been burned out on The Joel and needed to step away.
Then about 2 years ago I heard Piano Man on the radio and decided to ride it out. I knew every word (as they had been seared into my brain during my teenage years) and sang along. It was then I decided to remove the song from my 'Songs I Hate & Will Turn Off Immediately' list and give Billy a chance.
The conclusion I came to might make my Long Island aunts hate me, but he's nothing more than a second rate Elton John. He's got about a half dozen songs that belong on classic rock stations, but another twenty that fit perfectly on oldies stations with names like Mix 105 or The River 107.
He's never going to go away, and he will continue to ruin the musical tastes of Long Islanders for generations to come. So, as a warning to all teens on Long Island, before you go out and buy 'The Nylon Curtain' or 'Glass Houses' on cd pick up 'Exile On Main Street' by the Stones (criminally ignored by the airwaves) or either of the first two Talking Heads albums '77' or 'More Songs About Buildings And Food'. You can thank me later.
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