I want to know where this station is. If I heard anything but “Roundabout,” “Long Distance Runaround” or “Your Move/All Good People” by Yes, or anything by Focus on my local “classic rock” station (WARW 94.7 in Washington, DC) I’d have a heart attack.
Well, I’d prefer not to have to tolerate him at all 
[sub]Ok, so he does belong on classic rock stations; I just don’t like him, and am being cranky. Thbbbbt![/sub]
…
I second that. Also, any Beatles. Despite their continued popularity, nobody plays them round here.
What bothers me is The Beatles on “Oldies Stations”, which used to play songs from the Golden Age of “rock and roll”, but as time goes on, will play anything more than 25 years old.
Maybe, maybe not. I wouldn’t stick him right near the top or the bottom of the hour, and he probably does better in midday than in drive time (although probably better in morning drive than in afternoon drive). Still, I bet he tests suprisingly high among males 18-49 and males 35-49, especially in East Coast markets. You’re in what–DFW, Houston, one of those markets? He probably doesn’t play as well down there.
Ok, stop that; it’s creepy.
Mostly because I have the feeling that if I checked that, you’d be right.
Billy Joel is occasionally a bit smarmy and cloying but over all, as a musician and songwriter, he stands tall in the pantheon of modern music.
With respect to the amusing question of whether he “rocks” sufficiently to deserve radio playtime on the arena rock/redneck rock/metal rock stations I’ll have to go back to my trailer and burn through a pack of Kools before I can answer that stumper.
my capitalistic answer would be… if he didn’t belong, then he wouldn’t be played. Obviously the target audience thinks so or else every classic rock station wouldn’t be playing it.
But don’t mind me… I’m still trying to figure out what a “modern hit of the 80s” is supposed to be. (our local station runs that promo).
I change the station whenever he comes on, but I do think Billy Joel belongs on a classic rock station. I can’t think of anywhere else to put him…besides the garbage can
Billy Joel is one of the top lyricists in rock, one of the very few who rank with the best lyricists of all time. Musically, he’s good, if not entirely great.
Joel probably would have naturally gravitated toward Broadway if the musical wasn’t so moribund. But he does work in rock and deserves to be played as such.
I can’t believe all the Billy Joel haters on this board. Oh, well. Like a friend of mine says whenever I insult his beloved Dallas Cowboys, “The Good Book says ‘haters never prosper.’”
If you take all the acts/artists who, since the beginning of the rock era, put out 12 or more albums on notable commercial labels, BJoel has to be considered among the best. He has demonstrated good songwriting craftmanship, good performing skills, and the ability to grow and mature as a singer/songwriter/performer.
He hasn’t held onto himself as a 25 year old, rather, he has changed as we all do, as he has aged. His apex, I’d say, 1979 or so, may not has been as high as a Led Zep, Grateful Dead, or Rolling Stones, but he is definitely an important figure in popular music for the last 1/4 century.