The man who hated Billy Joel

[Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew]

The main problem with that essay is that the author gives “The Longest Time” a pass, when in fact it’s one of the most infuriatingly obnoxious chunks of drivel in Joel’s whole repulsive oeuvre.

[Alessan]

@RealityChuck

The only serious argument I read from a Joel-hating critic was that the problem was the Joel really was a Broadway composer. And I think that’s dead on. If Joel were twenty years older, his work would be on Broadway, and it’s likely he’d be perfectly at home.

You mean like this?

Ladies and gentlemen, Stanley Donen!

Anyway, I’m a big Billy Joel fan, I’m not from LI, and I have no idea why people accuse him of not rocking. Paul Simon doesn’t rock; neither do Lou Reed, Leonard Cohen or Sting. I think Joel is singled out because he comes off as a bit of a dork. That’s OK - maybe he is a bit of a dork. But he’s a dork who writes good music.

[cochrane]

Even as a huge Billy Joel fan, I can still get behind Weird Al’s It’s Still Billy Joel To Me more than I can that article.

[The_Second_Stone]

@Marley23

Like I said earlier, if you live here it’s impossible not to have heard the songs he writes about. I’ve never bought a Billy Joel CD, I’ve never put one of his CDs or songs on at someone else’s house. (In full disclosure I did like Downeaster Alexa as a kid.) And yet I’ve heard every song listed in that article with the possible exception of She’s Always a Woman. It is unavoidable. Buying the box set was excessive and he could’ve proved his point without it, but there you go.

Well in all fairness you live in New York and it’s impossible to go out walking without a drunk Billy Joel running you down on the sidewalk. He’s not played quite so much on the left coast. If you ever do want to listen to a whole album, I’d recommend “River of Dreams” which is easy enough and a lot more mature than the earlier work.