# Does Billy Joel have a bad song that exists? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 6, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-billy-joel-have-a-bad-song-that-exists/595417 "2011-09-06T18:18:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-billy-joel-have-a-bad-song-that-exists/595417/1 "2011-09-06T18:18:03Z")
For the life of me, I can’t think of one. Someone earlier told me that he’s one of the rare singers that she likes every song by. I find that’s true for me, too. Anyone here not like one of his songs (and if so, which one)? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-billy-joel-have-a-bad-song-that-exists/595417/2 "2011-09-06T18:18:49Z")
All of them? Can’t stand the man or his music. ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-billy-joel-have-a-bad-song-that-exists/595417/3 "2011-09-06T18:26:05Z")
Look, you’d be hard-pressed to find a bigger fan of Billy Joel than me. He’s the reason I started playing piano, he’s the reason I started writing songs, and he’s the reason I’ve been married three times (that last one’s a joke). Having said that, “This is the Time” has got to be one of the worst songs not only by Billy Joel, but by _anyone anywhere_. P.S. I do wonder why you’d start this thread though, as Billy is constantly being skewered by critics and everyone seems to love to hate him. I have no doubt most of the answers in this thread will mirror **silenus** ’s “contribution”. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-billy-joel-have-a-bad-song-that-exists/595417/4 "2011-09-06T18:32:12Z")
> [@DooWahDiddy](#): > > P.S. I do wonder why you’d start this thread though, as Billy is constantly being skewered by critics and everyone seems to love to hate him. I have no doubt most of the answers in this thread will mirror **silenus** ’s “contribution”. Huh. Well consider me in the dark about that, then. I wasn’t aware he was disliked by critics and I hadn’t noticed a huge dislike for him on here. I guess this will be the topic for it, if it exists. : p ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-billy-joel-have-a-bad-song-that-exists/595417/5 "2011-09-06T18:43:08Z")
> [@DooWahDiddy](#): > > P.S. I do wonder why you’d start this thread though, as Billy is constantly being skewered by critics and everyone seems to love to hate him. I have no doubt most of the answers in this thread will mirror **silenus** ’s “contribution”. Had the OP posted “Who here loves Billy Joel?” I never would have even opened the thread. But the question _wasn’t_ posed that way, and my answer was a straight-forward response to the OP as stated. So you can take those quotation marks and forward them to Mr. Joel. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-billy-joel-have-a-bad-song-that-exists/595417/6 "2011-09-06T18:53:19Z")
“We Didn’t Start the Fire”. Bleh. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-billy-joel-have-a-bad-song-that-exists/595417/7 "2011-09-06T19:06:33Z")
“Leave a Tender Moment Alone”. About the ONLY Joel song I dislike, and I’m a HUGE Joel fan. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-billy-joel-have-a-bad-song-that-exists/595417/8 "2011-09-06T19:10:35Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > “We Didn’t Start the Fire”. Bleh. The absolute nadir, IMO, though I’m not a fan. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-billy-joel-have-a-bad-song-that-exists/595417/9 "2011-09-06T19:16:19Z")
With a skilled but conventional songwriter like Joel, the problem is more boring songs than “bad” songs. The only full album I’ve got by the man is **Glass Houses** , and the last 3 songs on the album are comparatively weak. I’ve probably listened to them 10-15 times in the past 15 years and they haven’t stuck in my mind at all. I just listened to right now for test purposes. _C’etat Toi (You were the one)_– meh. _Close To the Borderline_ – meh. _Through the Long Night_ – It’s the album closer and has a touch more hook than the other two, but still meh. As for the rest of the album, I’m very fond on _All for Lenya_, _Sleeping With the Television On_, and _Sometimes a Fantasy_. (All of which rock somewhat…) And the just okay stuff: _It’s Still Rock n’ Roll to Me_, _Don’t Ask Me Why_, _I Don’t Want To Be Alone Anymore_. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-billy-joel-have-a-bad-song-that-exists/595417/10 "2011-09-06T19:17:03Z")
Billy Joel has a whole _album_ of bad songs. It’s called “California Flash,” and it’s from his old early days in a band called “Attila.” I know this is true because my spouse, who’s a Billy Joel fan, owns the album. It’s really, really bad. ---
**Author:** ![LaurenIpsum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@LaurenIpsum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LaurenIpsum)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-billy-joel-have-a-bad-song-that-exists/595417/11 "2011-09-06T19:38:35Z")
I am a fan. I previously only had his 3 greatest hits CDs, but now I am starting to acquire the rest, in order. So far I am only on the 70s albums. I’d say “Streetlife Serenader” is probably my least favorite song so far, although I think the whole album was fairly “meh.” ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-billy-joel-have-a-bad-song-that-exists/595417/12 "2011-09-06T19:47:20Z")
I’m puzzled by the OP - is it possible that Billy Joel had bad songs that no longer exist because they were teleported into another dimension? We can dream. Among his non-good songs is “She’s Always A Woman”, which I found reassuring in that it would be horrifying to have a girlfriend who suddenly metamorphosed into a rabid raccoon. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-billy-joel-have-a-bad-song-that-exists/595417/13 "2011-09-06T19:58:39Z")
I’m a huge fan too, and I could live without “the Entertainer”. I also hate that awful synth solo in “Angry Young Man”, especially since the song’s piano intro may be the best music he ever wrote. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-billy-joel-have-a-bad-song-that-exists/595417/14 "2011-09-06T20:20:47Z")
Stranger is particularly awful, and that wound up on his Greatest Hits disc. But The Entertainer is awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-billy-joel-have-a-bad-song-that-exists/595417/15 "2011-09-06T20:23:04Z")
I like the great majority of his songs, but “Leningrad” is cloying and just awful. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-billy-joel-have-a-bad-song-that-exists/595417/16 "2011-09-06T20:24:41Z")
I like a lot of his stuff, love a couple and absolutely hate some others. Among the ones I hate: \*Easy Money Uptown Girl Careless Talk Christie Lee That’s Not Her Style Storm Front\* Most, if not all, of River of Dreams Most of The Nylon Curtain The ones I hate are bad. He has other bad songs that I like notwithstanding the fact that they’re so bad, but I like them because of the memories that they evoke from a time or place that I enjoyed and the song was playing at the time. It doesn’t mean they’re not bad, though. ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-billy-joel-have-a-bad-song-that-exists/595417/17 "2011-09-06T20:25:33Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Had the OP posted “Who here loves Billy Joel?” I never would have even opened the thread. But the question _wasn’t_ posed that way, and my answer was a straight-forward response to the OP as stated. So you can take those quotation marks and forward them to Mr. Joel. 😛 Hey, you were completely within your rights to respond that way; I didn’t mean to imply otherwise. It’s a valid point of view, and one I’ve heard many times before. It just wasn’t exactly what the OP was looking for, and you know it. 😛 > [@Infovore](#): > > Billy Joel has a whole _album_ of bad songs. It’s called “California Flash,” and it’s from his old early days in a band called “Attila.” I know this is true because my spouse, who’s a Billy Joel fan, owns the album. It’s really, really bad. Ha, tell me about it. His work with The Hassles wasn’t much better. You know you’re a _true_ fan if you can handle “The Tough Boy” and “Enough is Enough”. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-billy-joel-have-a-bad-song-that-exists/595417/18 "2011-09-06T20:25:59Z")
I’m not a huge fan, but wasn’t his first studio album (solo) recorded at the wrong speed? Ha, yes. Wikipedia, is there anything you don’t know? It was Cold Spring Harbor. [See here.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_Spring_Harbor_%28album%29) "According to a long standing rumor, when Joel first heard the finished product, he “ripped it off the turntable, ran out of the house, and threw [the record] down the street.” So there’s one guy at least that thinks Billy Joel had some bad songs. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-billy-joel-have-a-bad-song-that-exists/595417/19 "2011-09-06T20:26:09Z")
Yes, even on the Greatest Hits albums. Give me any artist with 100s(?) of published works, and I’m sure that at least 10% of them (probably more) could qualify as “bad,” no matter who it was. I’m looking at you, Mozart! ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-billy-joel-have-a-bad-song-that-exists/595417/20 "2011-09-06T20:28:39Z")
As a casual radio listener, I would nominate “Big Shot,” “Uptown Girl,” “The Longest Time,” “Tell Her About It,” and “Keeping the Faith.” And “We Didn’t Start The Fire” only has novelty value, IMO. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-billy-joel-have-a-bad-song-that-exists/595417.md?page=2)