———

“I don’t want to change the world

I don’t want the world to change me”

1

“Black Sabbath” was too far out there.

You’ve got to remember, in 1970 Led Zeppelin was considered heavy metal. Sabbath had a new, younger audience. Despite getting terrible reviews, the band gained traction. Kind of like KISS. But KISS was flamboyant, the fantasy of middle class players (and listeners!), Sabbath was dark and dirty and the band came from Birmingham, not London. What other acts came from Birmingham? The Move, which never broke here. And the Moody Blues, but by time they hit with “Tuesday Afternoon” and “Nights in White Satin” they were aligned with London. But Birmingham? Industrial, anything but Carnaby Street/lovey-dovey.

But by time the second album came out, AOR had permeated the hinterlands, you were no longer a victim of AM Top 40. And this was before Lee Abrams shortened the playlist, such that people heard “Iron Man” and “Paranoid” and Black Sabbath gathered more and more fans.

But were still despised by the cognoscenti, who gave a pass for prog rock but abhorred meat and potatoes bands like Grand Funk. As for Sabbath? They were in their own world. Their own alienated world.

And there are a lot of alienated people in America. Then and even more now. And Black Sabbath spoke to them and has continued to speak to them. Sometime in the nineties the younger generations cottoned to Sabbath, Ozzy became a legend, but before that…

2

How in the hell do you kick the lead singer out of your band? This made no sense. And now Ozzy Osbourne was going to make SOLO ALBUMS? This rarely worked, and Ozzy was not seen as a musical genius. But somehow he got hooked up with Randy Rhoads, who’d left Quiet Riot, after two Japanese albums but long before they broke through in America, and now Ozzy was all over the airwaves, more than he ever was with Sabbath, Ozzy was a STAR!

But I still hated him.

As a matter of fact, Michael Jensen was working with him and gave me a copy of the live album, which I ultimately threw out, because I was afraid someone would come over and see it and judge me negatively.

But then came “No More Tears.”

Randy Rhoads was long gone. MTV was shifting into long-form content and hip-hop. And suddenly Ozzy Osbourne triumphs with a new guitarist, Zakk Wylde, and that’s when I got on board. “No More Tears” was hooky and HEAVY!

“Would you like some sweeties little girl?

Come a little closer

I’m gonna show you a brand new world tonight”

This was DANGEROUS! Despite being sued for “Suicide Solution,” Ozzy wasn’t pulling back, he was DOUBLING DOWN! While everybody else was shearing off the rough edges to be MTV compatible, Ozzy didn’t care. He was rejuvenated. This was the sound of the seventies, albeit with a lot more hooks. It was STUNNING!

Now eventually “Mama, I’m Coming Home” became an AOR and MTV standard. But that was long after the album came out. To discover it blind, upon first play, you were caught off guard, Ozzy could do sensitive no problem, without sacrificing, without becoming a wimp.

The album continued with “Desire,” which was in your face and heavy, another winner. But what put the album over the top, what showed Ozzy not only was still at it, but eclipsed all comers, was “No More Tears.” There was that heavy bass intro… This is headbanging music, this is what you put on when you want to squeeze out the rest of the world and be in your own space.

And I did. I put the disc in the CD player, cranked it up and shook my body and played something akin to air guitar, I LOVE this music. This is not today’s Active Rock… There was melody, changes, understandable lyrics and Ozzy could SING!

No more tears!

No more tears!

No more tears!

This was a tour-de-force, with that vibrating bass at the bottom and the crunchy guitars on top. Recorded pristinely with all the new techniques, this was beyond magic, this was everything you wanted, faders pushed all the way, the Millennium Falcon in hyperdrive.

And then deeper into the LP there was the driving beat of the Lemmy co-write HELLRAISER! Lemmy ultimately recorded his own version, and it’s great, but Ozzy’s is one step beyond.

“I’m living on an endless road

Around the world for rock and roll

Sometimes it feels so tough

But I still ain’t had enough”

Not enough, NEVER ENOUGH! This was the rock and roll ethos. This was the job. It came with drugs, alcohol and groupies, but that was all. You were not a brand, you sold t-shirts but you didn’t get involved with the Fortune 500, you were too dangerous, you were the OTHER! And that was just fine with you.

“Feeling all right in the noise and the light

But that’s what lights my fire”

A pre-chorus! Ozzy was a huge Beatles fan. He learned all the lessons, he learned all the tricks.

And the drums are pounding and the guitars are sawing and…

“Hellraiser, in the thunder and heat

Hellraiser, rock you back in your seat

Hellraiser, and I’ll make it come true

Hellraiser, I’ll put a spell on you”

The rest of the acts were wearing spandex, cleaned up for mainstream consumption, and Ozzy was still down and dirty. This is the music you listened to while you drank beer and went wild, not worrying about the consequences, this is the music that infected you and drove you, this was ROCK AND ROLL!

3

Now I had to see him.

I’d gotten the CD from Epic, I was just giving it a chance, and now I was hooked. So I got ahold of the label and got tickets for the show at the Universal Amphitheatre. I took Jeff Laufer, who kept telling me to be prepared.

Yeah, right.

But Ozzy was crazier than the audience. Throwing water not only on them, but himself. Imploring everybody to go F*CKING CRAZY! It was a cross between heavy metal and a cartoon. And it felt so good.

And this is when I realized all those songs from early in Ozzy’s solo career…I knew them and dug them.

I couldn’t get over “Flying High Again,” not that I ever knew that was the title of the song, it was indecipherable as it came out of my car speakers every weekend, it was an FM staple.

“Mama’s going to worry

I’ve been a bad, bad boy

No use saying sorry

It’s something that I enjoy”

This was 1981, before MTV embraced metal. All you had was the record and the rags. Listening you’d think the song title was something about mama worrying. As for “flying high again,” I couldn’t make it out over the airwaves.

And there was the energy of Randy Rhoads’s guitar. Anybody can play guitar, anybody can learn the licks, but extracting a sound that inspires and levitates, that’s a special skill.

I’d learned to love “Flying High Again,” even if I didn’t know its title. But at the concert I realized I knew all of Ozzy’s hits and this show made me LOVE THEM! “Crazy Train,” “Goodbye to Romance,” “Mr. Crowley,” “Over the Mountain,” “Shot in the Dark”… I was a fan and didn’t even know it! Seeing Ozzy live brought it all together, made me a BELIEVER!

4

So my nephew Blake told me I had to come upstairs to hear something, he had to play me a record. He was eight.

He was so excited. We got upstairs, he dropped the needle on this LP, and he played me PARANOID!

He’s looking me in the eye. And then he starts banging his head to the music. I was both amazed and amused. It was a great experience. BUT HOW DID HE KNOW THIS RECORD!

Whatever he said, I don’t remember.

But when Ozzy went back on the road in support of “Ozzmosis,” I took him to the Forum to see it, his very first concert. Those in our row were amazed, that not only was he at the show, but it was his FIRST!

When Ozzy hit the stage, Blake stood up and banged his head, danced just like Beavis and Butthead. Made me smile.

5

I wanted the subsequent albums to be as good as “No More Tears,” they weren’t, but I listened. Actually, Ozzy’s last work, with Andrew Watt, recaptured the magic, but by this time the scene had changed. Nobody dominated, a new album release didn’t impact the culture at large, no matter who the act was. Whereas when Ozzy ruled, we all knew the hits. Because they were all over the radio and MTV.

But Ozzy kept working.

There were the Ozzfests, innovative in their own way, ultimately featuring Black Sabbath reunions, something we thought we’d never see.

And then there was the TV show…

Ozzy was made to be a bumbling clown. A man out of time. An old rocker living in a mansion years later. The show made Sharon a star, a household name, the kids, other than Aimee, who chose not to be in it, milked it, but Ozzy either screamed for Sharon or was sitting on the couch…

Writing lyrics in his notebook. He was still a rock star. This was what he did, it was inspiring.

And then he had his ATV accident and Sharon was all over TV and Ozzy kind of faded into the background and now he’s dead.

How weird is this? Just after the tribute show/celebration? This never happens. The tribute usually comes after the death, or long before, this is eerie. I was stunned when I found out Ozzy passed, became numb. I was surprised I was so affected. But when you strip away all the dross, all the externalities, Ozzy Osbourne was just another nobody from nowhere who heard the Beatles and decided I CAN DO THAT! And he wanted to do that. And he stuck with it. And truly became crazy, to the point of being kicked out of his own band, I mean how much do you have to drink, and then he came back solo, stronger than ever! This is not the typical rock star arc. And it’s not the arc of the hoi polloi. Making it from nothing, destroying your career AND COMING BACK?

Ozzy was known by everybody, weird to use the past tense now. And there are multiple images. But if you were his contemporary, if you were alive and saw it all, you know that first and foremost Ozzy was a frontman, who wrote the lyrics, the guy who got on that crazy train and lived the rock and roll lifestyle and continued to do so for DECADES!

Until today.

6

Whatever I write Sharon won’t be happy. She learned her scorched earth style from her father, who ripped-off Sabbath and by time he was seen in “The Osbournes” was a dawdling old man with dementia.

The truth is that sans Sharon, Ozzy never would have made it as a solo act. She deserves all the credit. But god forbid you don’t agree with her vision, you’re EXCORIATED!

I know from personal experience.

And at this point, everybody’s got their own experience. Not only those rockers at the recent show, but individuals.

Upon hearing the news, Felice texted me:

“I remember when he was out on his patio at Malibu and looked over at us and said – ‘Isn’t this f*cking great?!'”

Yes, Ozzy lived next door…not from the Liverpool docks to the Hollywood Bowl, but from gritty Birmingham to the beach in sunny California. If that ain’t living the dream.

And when you listen to the music, you too are living the dream. You don’t see the TV show in your head, you don’t listen casually, because Ozzy demands total attention, whether solo or with Sabbath, that’s the kind of music he made. Always in your face. Never compromised.

And somehow by doing it his own way it resonated with everybody, Ozzy is more famous now than he’s ever been, everybody knows who he is, and his music. He did it HIS WAY! And TRIUMPHED!

Well, until he died.

It’s all over now. We used to love not only Ozzy, but rock and roll. But it’s in the rearview mirror. The formula seems to have been lost. Like I said, the jokes in Active Rock wearing their leather making noise…that appeals to few, whereas Ozzy Osbourne’s music appealed to MANY!

Sabbath was innovative, to the point where most people didn’t even get it in the early days. But when Ozzy found the formula, he didn’t really change it that much, he just dug deeper, found new ways to do it, sounding fresh all the while, which is an amazing achievement.

Ozzy was sui generis, one of a kind. We may never see his likes again. He burned brightly and his flame was snuffed out today, but his aura, it still shines.

CODA

“Standing at the crossroads, world spinning ’round and ’round

Know which way I’m going, you can’t bring me down

Don’t you try to teach me no original sin

I don’t need your pity for the shape I’m in”

This is not the groupthink of today. This is what we’ve lost. Ozzy was happy in who he was, he didn’t care what you thought, stop telling him to change. Furthermore, you’re expecting me to believe that religious story? My religion is ROCK AND ROLL!

And he’s not wavering:

“Tell me I’m a sinner, I’ve got news for you

I spoke to God this morning and he don’t like you”

You’re not the only one who can dish it out, as a matter of fact, I’ve got more fans than you do, here’s the middle finger to you!

“Don’t tell me stories ’cause yesterday’s glories

Have gone away, so far away

I’ve heard it said there’s a light up ahead

Lord I hope and pray I’m here to stay”

Sure, Ozzy sang the hits, but he kept making new albums, unlike many of his contemporaries. There was always something over the horizon that he was searching for.

But not anymore.

“I don’t want to change the world

I don’t want the world to change me”

Stop telling me who to be, to do it your way, just let me be. But no, you want to be in my face, putting me down.

And it’s not only Ozzy, it’s ME!

Maybe it’s you too. We don’t fit into this world, but when we hear Ozzy’s music not only does it make us feel all right, it inspires us to carry on, march forward, for new experiences, for a better life.

That’s the essence of rock and roll. You were bitten by the bug, you just had to listen, you just had to participate. You built your whole world around it. There were heroes, icons, and Ozzy Osbourne was one of them. He was a guiding light. I mean how much more simply can you say it?

“I don’t want to change the world

I don’t want the world to change me”

Everybody’s in your business. Just let us be.

This is a fight I’ve been enduring my entire life. I’m going to hear from zillions that they were Ozzy fans earlier, that I got it wrong, that they have the key and I missed the plot.

Why are you trying to make me feel bad, change me, make me beholden to you? I heard this music and it affected me.

And I’m not the only one.

Bob,

About an hour into part one.  Riveting, but what a rollercoaster ride…already.

I grew up in Hicksville, lived 3 blocks from Billy Joel’s childhood home, a stone’s throw from (“…remember those nights hanging out at”)  the Village Green.

Back then, for kids from Long Island, he was our hometown hero.  Over the years, he’d give props to our collective geography. In NY area shows when singing the line from “New York State of Mind”

“…the New York Times, the Daily News”, he’d add “…and Newsday too”, our local paper.

Billy’s Long Island roots ran deep, Cole Spring Harbor, Oyster Bay and of course Hicksville where as as delinquent student,  Billy received the praise of one Mr. Charles “Chuck” Arnold, Hicksville High School’s long time music teacher.

Many years later, Mr. Arnold and the Hicksville High School chorus appeared on the recording of “Leningrad” on 1989’s Storm Front. When Mr. Arnold retired—Billy returned to the school’s auditorium to speak at a “Mr. Holland’s Opus “ style retirement event to return the praise for a man who changed his life.

I was fortunate to enter the music business predominately with MTV as the gateway, in 1981.  I had two encounters with my Hicksville hero.  The latter was a meeting that Jeff Schock (Billy’s dearly departed and longtime man of many talents) and I had before a Billy Joel concert in New Jersey.  We were there to convince Billy to perform for his televised induction into the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame.

A man who was proud of his work, Billy didn’t want to put himself in the spotlight, but finally bought into a proposed idea of him singing “Only the Good Die Young” to follow Jann Wenner’s annual roll call of those lost the year before. That’s the best we could get from the Piano Man.  We took it.

But the moment that sticks with me, that reinforced–for good, bad or indifferent that Billy is a man who never lost his Long Island roots, was about 10 years before that.

I happened to be north of the border and sessions for “Storm Front” were taking place at a friend’s home.  Another friend was producing and when said friends learned I was in town, they insisted I come over the next day for a hang.  Billy was there, and as I watched him record vocals, I felt like Kevin Costner in “Field of Dreams….

”I am pitching to Shoeless Joe Jackson”

A “take five” in the action led to my heading upstairs to the kitchen in my friend’s home studio and as I was making some tea, in walked the man  himself…just me and him.

Billy was kind of sizing me up and so I went for it.

“So, uh…I’m sure you hear this all the time, but I’m from Hicksville”.  Somewhat delighted, but cautious,  he looked at me and shot back “Oh yeah? What street?”  I told him and he shot back his street.

I responded with “I know the street where your house was…right near Fork Lane Elementary”  “Yeah, okay, so did you go to Fork Lane?”, Billy asked. “Yep”, I volleyed back.

He then went deeper.  “Who’d you have for music?” Total recall kicked in and I responded “Miss Miladantre (sp)” For visual purposes, I remember her looking like a chain-smoking Olive Oyl from the Popeye cartoons.

I guess he had the same recall and without hesitation, Billy put two fingers to his lips like he was taking a drag off an imaginary cigarette and with a Brenda Vacarro-like growl said “Okay kids, do the chorus one more time” and he feigned Miss M. walking away like she was more interested in her cigarette than the kids.

We both cracked up. “Man”, he added, “that woman? She needed to get laid”.

And 36 years later (and in part one alone), he’s still the same lovable wise guy from Long Island.

Brian Diamond

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Bob, Billy Joel came into my office in Hollywood looking for work on November 8, 1972.  I still have his hand written resume.  He seemed pretty desperate.  I personally thought he was unfriendly, all business, but later realized this was typical of New Yorkers.  I gave his number to a top 40 lounge agent who auditioned him and later told me that he was terrific, but he couldn’t book him because “all he wanted to play was his own originals!”

Sterling Howard, founder/owner
https://www.MusiciansContact.com

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When you say “Billy continued to have hits and figured out MTV,” it’s only fair to point out that it was director Russell Mulcahey who figured MTV out (among Russell’s many brilliant videos was the very first to open MTV – “Video Killed The Radio Star”). Russell directed “Allentown,” “Pressure” and “She’s Right on Time” – all from “The Nylon Currtain” album – which broke Billy on MTV. Russell later followed up with the video for “A Matter of Trust” (which I produced) that Billy has called his favorite of all his music videos.

Paul Flattery

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Re: McCartney’s comment about “Just The Way You Are” (a song he wished he had written).

I was once at a songwriters round table event/performance at NY’s Bottom Line…

Alan Toussant was a participant and was asked what song he wished he had written and his response was “Muskrat Love” – He was dead on serious and preceded to perform it ! You never know!

Doug Pomerantz

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I’m glad I didn’t take your advice. I was not a fan of Billy Joel, but I am now. I lived in a very small rural town and we had two radio stations to choose from. A classical music station or the adult station, so I got to hear Billy Joel.  I had forgotten the impact he had on me in my childhood years. His songs told me stories about adults. But I only heard whatever the program director at that adult station wanted me to hear, so some of his music escaped me. Until last night. I watched part one and then I ran to Spotify to listen to some old favorites I had forgotten about an discovered some new ones. I was shocked to see he has 38 million monthly listeners! I am looking forward to part two.

Keith Michaels

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“Re: “However, what really happened with the Family Productions legal situation… Rumor was always that Billy signed with Columbia and they didn’t know he was already under contract. This could be untrue, but I would have liked to have heard more about the nitty-gritty of the ultimate settlement.””

Artie is still around and not who you and most people think he is. He lives in the LA area and I’d be happy to connect you. I haven’t seen the movie, but if they didn’t talk about how Billy was re-united with his biological father and equally talented sibling, they didn’t cover the significance of Artie’s involvement.

I worked for him at Family Productions and managed the associated Fidelity Studios during the time when the Billy Joel Columbia contract – I was told it was the biggest single artist contract ever at the time and was given a paper copy to peruse – provided the revenue for Artie’s operations. Billy Joel royalties paid part of our salaries, and the controversy over “Cold Spring Harbor” was active.

As the popular refrain now goes, “I don’t want to get ahead of my (former) boss”, but I assure you that there’s an entire movie’s worth of material around that period – but that’s Artie’s story to tell….

Victor Levine

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The term documentary suggests a candid, balanced representation of a given subject, but they’re often anything but these days. That’s especially true of documentaries featuring recording artists given their direct and indirect participation in their making. Glenn Frey (History of the Eagles), Taylor Swift (Miss Americana), Billie Eilish (The World’s a Little Blurry), Bruce Springsteen (Western Stars), Paul McCartney (McCartney 3,2,1) are among the artists who served as executive producers of documentaries in which they are featured.

 

Steve Cohen, Billy Joel’s longtime creative director and collaborator, is an executive producer of Billy Joel: And So It Goes.

 

For many recording artists, documentaries constitute an additional revenue stream, not to mention the opportunity to airbrush their legacy. That doesn’t make them any less entertaining, but let’s not delude ourselves into believing that these artists are showing us anything they don’t want us to see.

 

Bob Knott

Baltimore, MD

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Broadway rocker is a good description.  I like him, but not enough to watch a documentary more than 30 minutes.  He had a dozen top 10 hits in the 70s and 80s, and as you say, not all that interesting back story.

Thanks for watching so I don’t have to.

Edmund J. Kelly

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Perfect analysis, thank you. I felt the same – but when the artists themselves put these things together, what can we expect? Always gonna be at least somewhat absent of ‘awkward’ facts.

Adam Howell

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Completely disagree
i’ve never been a Billy Joel fan. After watcvhing the doc, I have respect for him and his craft.

Defne Tabori

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“Others have come down off our thrones and realized our roots are who we are, public school and single family dwellings on a plot of land.”

This! Thats us …

Billy is our Beatle, Bob!

Got to MSG twice in May and June of 23. Best. Live. Experience. Ever. Home court advantage. 3 hour sing along!

Glass Houses …owned it on vinyl and 8 Track …

The night we were there…he played 6 tracks off of it, never before, never since.

All for Leyna, Sleeping with the Television On,

C’etait Toi…plus the hits …like the Beatles, the whole album is Fab three more singles could’ve been released at least!

Keep Rockin!

Blaine Leeds

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Count me in the camp that recognizes Billy Joel’s great musical talent but is not a fan of it. I particularly detest the trite and egomaniacal lyrics of his megahit “Piano Man”, so I found this essay both hilarious and on target. Enjoy the humor if you haven’t read it yet.

https://substack.com/home/post/p-158845411

Regards,

Barry Ekstrand

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When I started reading your rundown of the new documentary about Billy Joel, I said to myself “obviously Bob’s not from New York.”  To us New Yorkers, Billy Joel is the closest thing we have to a Poet Laureate.

We grew up with him, we grew up with his music. His narratives had real meaning to us – his references were our references – from the ode to NY loser kids on Long Island in Captain Jack to his references to a crumbling NYC in Miami 2017 to our unofficial anthem NY State of Mind to the tale of a drunken night of abandon at Elanie’s in Big Shot to Scenes from an Italian Restaurant to the desire to the stories of working class New Yorkers people trying to break out of their wasted lives in Movin’ Out and even schmaltzy hits about a working class guy falling in love with a rich Upper East Side girl like in Uptown Girl.

There’s so many more references I could provide, but these songs, many of which had international success, resonate with Every New Yorker in a way that’s incomprehensible for people to understand that didn’t grow up here. Not just the Bridge and Tunnel crowd – all of us.

More than that, he’s one of us. You’d see him at Nello’s on the Upper East Side having a drink, you’d go see him play The Garden, you’d turn the corner of a street and see him recording a music video – and if you were lucky like me, get to join in.

Growing up in NYC, I was into The Talking Heads, the Jam, The Clash, Blondie, all kinds of dance music, New Wave, Punk, but Billy Joel, even at his worst was never uncool or irrelevant to us New Yorkers. He’s part of the fabric of our state, our city and our lives. But more than that, he’s a great artist and his music resonates not only with New Yorkers but with people across the planet.

As to the documentary?  It’s not too bad.  Worth a watch and listen.  But if you want to know his story, just dig into his catalogue.

Mark Frieser – Sync Summit

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I’m quite amazed how accurate you can be sometimes.

Billy Joel IS a national songwriting treasure.

I’m seen a few clips of him on Stern’s show and he comes off very much like one of us.  I imagine though to work with him on stage might be a big challenge.

Thanks,

Will Eggleston

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Beautiful review touching  all the dots that connect to make a superstar career..
My only add-on would be a tip of the hat to his amazing band.. they delivered every night!

Marty Simon.

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WRONG

Kathleen Stagg

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I was born in 74, so my consciousness of music begins right around the time Billy Joel was blowing up. His songs were all over WLS in Chicago. The late 70’s were a weird time for rock. KISS and Aerosmith were on their way down, even if they didn’t know it yet. Disco was huge. Punk was a movement, but was never going to be mainstream. Van Halen was just getting started. Soft rock/yacht rock was also huge. There weren’t a lot of true rock n’ roll bands carrying the torch, so by those standards Joel was considered rock n’ roll. And parents loved it because it wasn’t metal and it was music they liked listening to as well. Therein lies the true test, right? If it’s something both you and your parents can enjoy together, how rock n’ roll is it? Regardless, he certainly did well for himself even if he seemed hell bent on signing bad deals and getting ripped off.

Neil Johnson

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Bob, you always described growing up in the Northeast — specifically the Tri-State Area – so perfectly, within the context of the music you love. You’ve got 20 years on me, but the feeling absolutely still resonates with Billy Joel. “Summer Highland Falls” — when I listen to it — it smells and sounds like New York. Hence, getting out of the city and going to the respite places. Being with your people — the friends and family who punch you on your shoulder and put you down as a sign of endearment. I love Billy and can’t wait to watch this doc.

Josh Valentine

Longmont, Colorado (via Rockland and Bergen Counties)

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My wife was/is a big Billy Joel fan.

When I met her in 85 I had a pretty negative view of him. Growing up in London I really only knew “Just the way you are” and “Piano Man”, neither of which impressed me. Yeah, I thought he was a schmaltzy MOR piano man, like you would hear at a Holiday Inn.

So the wife convinced me to go with her to his next gig. She had seen him many times back in the pre-arena days.

It only took one live experience at MSG to put me straight as to his chops, his incredible catalog and his dynamic stage presence.

Like Bruce, if you don’t get him then you’ve likely never seen him live.

I thought the doc was solid, I liked how they covered every album.

But at 2 and a half hours it was a bit of a slog. With typical English snark I suggest they should have called it “And slow it goes.”

Looking forward to part 2 though.

Mrak Hudson

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Billy Joel attended the opening of the Billy Joel exhibition, Billy Joel – My Life, A Piano Man’s Journey at the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame and before addressing the guests looked around and said, quite humbly, “I guess I really did have a life”.

He was speechless, in awe of himself and his success as he took in his entire life and career showcased in one 5000 square foot room.

The tens of thousands of fans who have visited the exhibition come because they see themselves in his songs and love him because he’s still a regular guy from Long Island singing about their everyday lives.

No pretense. No frills. Just the piano man.

Ernie Canadeo

Chairman

Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame

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Thanks for letting me recoup some time in my life.

I f*cking hate Billy Joel, so your first sentence was very helpful in that regard.

Cheers.

Doug Collitz

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Looking forward to Billy’s doc. I’ve always been a big fan. First learned about Billy from a progressive AM station in Allentown, PA. I lived in Easton, PA nearby. The station, WSAN, now an oldies outlet, played tracks from Cold Spring Harbor, and then Piano Man. She’s Got a Way, from Cold Spring was probably the first tune of his I heard. Loved it. Then the station announced he would be playing at the Roxy Theatre in Northampton, PA.

My wife,then, and I pounced on those tix. They cost either $2.50 or $5.00. I forget.

Anyway, the show was amazing. The theatre sat 500. He played songs from both albums.

My faves were: Captain Jack, Stop in Nevada, and Billy the Kid. He told cool stories between tunes and sang like a dream. He told how he used the name Billy Martin when he played at the bar where he drew the inspiration for Piano Man. Cool.

His opening act was also a treat, Henry Gross, now mostly forgotten, but he also had a big voice and loads of energy.

His cover of Meet Me on the Corner was perfect.

But the Billy tune I’m dying to mention is from the album 52nd Street. Until the Night.

The blessed night when things really begin to pop. I was having an affair. It was this tune  dthat carried me along so many nights, and made me cry.

Thanks for talking about the doc and including Billy as the real deal!

Until the Night.

Mighty Tim Young.

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that’s the trouble…
people re-writing reality for a perception they WANT, but isn’t true.
why not pull back, really consider the singularity and polish that?
Billy Joel spoke to the disenfranchised frustration of those suburban kids who wanted to go to Studio 54, but were too bridge and tunnel… who weren’t nihilistic enough to be Lou Reed, poetic and arty enough to be Patti Smith
there were so many more of them.
living in Cleveland, Ohio, Joel was the heart of Murray Hill, the Little Italy piece of the east side that STILL has brick streets.
their own culture, their own cool, Sinatra (and Dean-o, Tony Bennett) never went out of fashion, and yes, show tunes!

why can’t that be brilliant for holding up the light to that piece of the population?
they didn’t have to be Petty/Browne/Springsteen kids, they were something more, different, but just as impassioned — and as “Deer Hunter” demonstrated profoundly — as well as fed up with being marginalized
these kids went to dinner with red checkered table cloths, church, shoveling the stoop, but they burned just as much.

if what you say is true, making him over as something other than that is a tragedy
celebrate his specific slice of the American Pie — because it was robust and glorious with a bit of the Spector drama thrown in!

holly gleason

a kid who grew up in Cleveland, Ohio when Kid Leo ruled the air, Michael Stanley was our king + WMMS won all the Rolling Stone Readers’ polls

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If “Piano Man” is an inferior “Taxi”, then “Just the Way You Are” is an inferior “I’m Not In Love “

Best,
Tom Quinn

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This piece is a nice little companion to the doc:

“‘No matter what, I will always be a Jew.’ Billy Joel opens up about his family’s Holocaust history.”:

https://forward.com/culture/film-tv/755308/billy-joel-and-so-it-goes-hbo-documentary-holocaust/

Vince Welsh

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“She’s always a woman” what a tune

May not be Springsteen, but u can’t say sh*t about that song.

If that was all he ever did that’s special . Like what’s better than than now. F*ck all

Todd Clark

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Phil Ramone was a great guy, but he destroyed the real singer-songwriter Billy Joel and replaced him with a plastic guy who wanted to own a Cadillac-ack-ack-ack-ack.  Out on Long Island, it was sad to watch the guy who wrote brilliant B-Sides like Captain Jack and Traveling Prayer to back classic standards like Piano Man and NYS of Mind churning out bubble gum junk like Only the Good Die Young and Uptown Girl for his wife to gawk around to.  And for the “documentary” to ignore the firestorm created with Ritchie Cannata over bringing in Phil Woods to do the Just the Way You Are alto solo is more proof that this doc was designed, as you say, to legitimize an image fallacy.

Charlie Sanders

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well written.  I have seen Billy twice, once earlier this year.  he is a pro, his supporting musicians are great and the songs are sung like they were when i was young.  hope i get to see him live one more time but i realize it is unlikely.

Roger Ellis

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Never have been a Billy Joel fan and along with Meatloaf & The Eagles, I almost always changed the station in the 70s when he came on except for ‘Moving Out’ & ‘She’s Always a Woman’.

I agree with most of what you said except the later years Elton comparisons. Joel didn’t ‘press on’ in the 80s or 90s. ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’ is a terribly tedious song and that’s pretty much the only thing in the later years that he’s known for before completely drying up creatively. Elton continued to make hits in the 80s and has continued to put out a slew of new music consistently like it or not. He had a 3 album dry run with Blue Moves, Single Man & Victim but then came back fairly quickly.

Anyway, I won’t be watching the Joel doc…
Lovingly sent from Jemal Jalal Hines’s iPhone

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The Stranger i know every word to every song…my teen years and beyond..that says it all

Chris Rodinis

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You sound implicitly critical (or skeptical ) in defining Billy as a “rocker” in the same vain as..say Bruce (or Jackson Browne). Not sure if that’s a fair comparison.

As someone who saw Billy perform at MSG in 1978, I witnessed a complete “rock show” that had 20,000 fans screaming the entire time. I came away wanting more.  But you are correct that his recent “residency” show at MSG were just as amazing.

Perhaps you need to take off the California hat and be in a “New York State of Mind “ to best appreciate both Billy’s story and the brilliance of his music.

I look forward to part 2 of the documentary.

Michael Borodinsky

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Shiite

Eric Brendo

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I never bought a Billy Joel album but I always liked the songs everyone liked and I loved some of his deep tracks like All For Leyna and Vienna.

When he passes, he’ll be worthy of being on the cover of Time magazine (if it still exists).

Jeff Sacks

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Bang on Bob. I knew Billy fairly well years ago and I can tell you the Artie Ripp story is true. Billy paid him a percentage of his recording profits for decades. I interviewed him also  around the mid 80s  when he’d written a song on the LP “The Bridge” about Artie and I said “Tell me you aren’t still paying Artie” and he confessed he was. I forget the amount but I think it was 5%. You know Billy is a natural mimic and comic and he is very entertaining. No interview question he won’t answer except maybe his persistent alleged alcoholism.

Larry LeBlanc

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“No one in the west cared about Oyster Bay, hadn’t even heard of it.”

 

100%

 

We in LA in 1975 didn’t care about “Thunder Road” or “Jungle Land” either. The East Coast seemed to love hearing about California girls and tequila sunrises, but this was not a symmetric sentiment – we couldn’t have cared less about the Jersey Shore, for the most part.

 

As a UCLA student, saw Bruce at the Roxy and was bored out of my mind, though the audience was into it. I had heard the first albums in the hallways at Dykstra – all critic’s darlings but I couldn’t relate to any of the lyrics until I moved back east. “Why’s he going on and on about these mundane places and people?”, we thought.

 

Then, something happened to me.

 

I was in the Air Force from ’78-’81. Every other week, I’d drive my MG, top down,  from Syracuse to Staten Island to hang out with my girlfriend, which I did once a week. We’d spent every day together going into Manhattan, seeing musicals, hanging out at Sweet Basil to see Jim Hall, buy books at the Strand, and then head back to Tottenville at the end of the day. But that didn’t help me get it.

 

On one trip in late ‘79, I was coming down on a late Friday night drive as usual from the Delaware Water Gap and into Jersey, I got lost. I ended up on a busy street in Kearny going all the way to the make out area on the Passaic River in what looked to me like a smelly, garbage-strewn superfund site loaded with kids making out in and out of their cars. I took that interesting scene in, then got my Rand McNally map out, plotted my back to the highway. And then it hit me as I drove down what appeared to be a main boulevard crowded with Friday night life.

 

The streets were full of young people on the stroll – sitting on curbs, some carrying guitars with no case down the street (like switchblades!, I realized), everyone just hanging out, there were literally girls sitting on the hoods of cars drinking beers. Warm, I imagined.

 

It hit me – it was all true!

 

I got to Tottenville at about 9, and we went to an Italian place up the road. Sitting there, with the jukebox playing songs from “The Stranger”, I looked around the restaurant and again realized, it was all true!

 

I never got any of this until I moved back east. We were clueless, as you point out. But it was all true, and more accurate than any Eagles song was about Los Angeles, I thought then.

Gary Lang

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I haven’t seen the new Billy Joel documentary yet, but I am pleased to see how Billy has over the last 20 years finally gotten the respect he’s deserved.  You’re right – he wasn’t cool for those in the rock crowd back then.  He wasn’t from the streets; he was suburban, non-threatening.  But he was a damned great songwriter.  I was fortunate to grow up near Philly, which embraced Billy early on (as I recall, WMMR was one of the first stations to put “Captain Jack” into their rotation), and so I got to hear a lot of Billy’s music.  The hits were great, but for me it’s all about the album tracks.  I love “Summer, Highland Falls.”  And “Vienna” – sure, it’s popular now, but this was a deep cut then.  And “Zanzibar” from 52nd Street, “All for Leyna” from Glass Houses…great, great stuff.

 

Of course, by the time you get to Storm Front, it was obvious Billy was getting tired of being a star – that album is as moribund as his earlier work is full of vitality and life.  And maybe quitting recording was the best move Billy made; it allowed us to step back and appreciate his body of work for what it was, and it’s a great body of work.

 

Take care,

Wes R. Benash

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I worked with Billy doing his publicity and he was one of   my favorite clients-no pretense – no ego- anxious to please and very serious about his music – I dealt with Elizabeth with no issues even tho I was warned about her- but she put him down in front of me and that was disgusting- he did not deserve what happened to him but he learned a hard lesson – anyway/ he will always be up on my top 5 list of clients! Carol Ross

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I read your review of recent Billy Joel  documentary .
I’m sitting here trying to figure which is worse
The Doc or your review.
Billy is a Pop icon, he’s had 50 years of hits on the radio.

You don’t like him, many other people do. Walk away,Bob.

Bo Overlock

FOR ONCE I COMPLETELY AGREE WITH YOU BOB!

My wife and I love Connelly and Bosch, and positivelty adore the audiobooks with Titus voice acting as Bosch. The ones that have Ballard have Christine Lakin doing the part of Renée and she IS the character, brought to life in full audio color. Ms Q is totally wrong for the part, not to mention the writing and production.  You nailed it!

Louis Judson

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Ballard merely a longform Law and Order. Predictable and dull. Wish more Titus Welliver. Commercials on Prime insulting. At least we get free shipping.

Oedipus

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I’m laughing. I watched 1 1/2 episodes and said, “this sucks.”

Was hoping for a “Bosch.” Not even f*cjing close!

John Hummer

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I was hoping this was going to be good. So disappointed. Couldn’t watch more than 2 episodes.

Loren Parkins

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I agree…give me Bosch

Jeff Laufer

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We enjoyed Ballard, flaws and all. For us, it was the writing. Bosch Legacy from the get go was so obviously underfunded. If you hadn’t watched either series and then watched any episode of Bosch and then an episode of Legacy,  you could see the difference in almost every aspect of the show. Just my opinion.

Bruce Greenberg

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Right on all accounts.

bepn

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Yeah but we got a cameo by J Edgar!

Tag Gross

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Bless you for going deep in this show. You’re a mensch. I watched 20 minutes and switched to something better. Ballard is Drivel.

Garrett Waltzer

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Nailed it!  I watched it all (mostly in the hope that some of the Bosch characters  would appear) but can’t really even remember whodunit.  Didn’t care.  Network cop show with wooden characters not even up to the level of The Rookie.  Sad, but maybe redeemable with a mostly new cast.  Sadly, most likely one and done.

Peter Burnside

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Ballard was a slog.

Josie Moore

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Wow.

Totally agree with you 100%.

Tom Cartwright

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Spot on

Doug Coleman

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But there WAS a J Edgar appearance! I think we loved Bosch so much that we like Ballard enough to keep watching it. But I really miss Bosch too.

Kevin Twit

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This show! I was so disappointed and like you, had to finish to see how it ended out of principal.

1. Knock off memes – the basement. Maggie Q is NOT Dept. Q.

2. The f*cjing car, seriously, another cop driving a vintage car???

3. The trailer at the beach. Okay, Bosch consulted on a film and made the big bucks to buy that mid century gem up in the canyon, but what is her backstory that her family has hung onto this million dollar park spot?

4. Wardrobe – former Hollywood Stylist here. First, those cut up t-shirts she’s wearing in her shed while she makes the surfboard…as carefree and independent as she attempts to be, these t-shirts were not aged at all. They look brand new. As for her trousers, well a little bit tight. The blouses are too high quality and custom fit for someone who lives in a trailer and drives a vintage car.

5. Rebecca Fields, the volunteer side kick. Sigh. I am tired of the chubby okay “fat girl” with the pretty face being the quirky, goofy side-kick. Such a trope.

And sneaking Bosch in for such a few moments, we never really get to remember what the issues were with them I barely recall the episode in Bosch where they meet and or clash. But his hair! That hair parted on the side…so odd.

Everyone I talk to about this is stunned. Yet we watched and are continuing to talk about it.

Thanks for always showing up and pulling back the curtain, Bob

Cheers,

Linda Zrroz

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I watched Ballard for the same reason as you, because I wanted to see the level in which Titus was involved.  The show was just ok.  There is too much available to spend time with “just ok.”

Clyde Bass

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I don’t pretend to have a critic’s skill or experience such as yours but perhaps sometimes it’s a blessing. In the case of the show “Ballard” I understand (I think) some of your issues with the series but I also think you are way off base with Maggie Q’s role. I have read every Michael Connelly book including all the Renee Ballard books. It is not clear from your review that you have. Renee Ballard, like Harry Bosch, is a very complex character with a lot of issues – and she is definitely NOT a warm and fuzzy person. Yes, I am a Maggie Q fan and I’m not sure how you think Ballard should be portrayed but I think she is spot on for the character. The fact that she has essentially the same ethnicity as the character is just a part of the deal and makes it that much more believable.

I agree that this series, so far, is no Harry Bosch but then what is? It may or may not go as many seasons but I think you need to just either give it a little more time or simply let it go.

Thanks for your newsletter – it always  invites a response!

D Roger Pederson

Mpls, MN

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Agreed: Ballard is awful. I couldn’t finish the first episode. But I think you’re too hard on Maggie Q. The problem is the terrible writing. I don’t think any actor can fix it.

Robert Saenz

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The very first time that Ballard appeared in a Connelly Ballard was at Green Lake in Seattle, I read a bunch of it and I swore even if Bosch appeared it couldn’t be held together. I have never have or or will read or watch that again.

Pat Mallahan

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I have to say, a big letdown from Bosch. As you say, formulaic and very ‘Mannix’-ish. I don’t dislike Maggie Q as much as you do, but it’s a far cry from Welliver in a leading role

bfletcher28

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You nailed it. Something is way wrong with Maggie Q on this show. She is so self-conscious.  Hair always perfect. Never a convincing moment in that role. Not for one second. They need to dump her. Then again, there is little else to care about in that basement. Hard pass for me.

“The Day of The Jackal” and “The Recruit” are so much better in every way:  casting, script, acting, action. They would both be huge if they had that kind of push “Ballard” is all hype. Nothing more.

Susan Levy Rash

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Thanks for warning me. I also started watching because of the connection to Bosch, but I just can’t even get through the first episode… 🙁

– Roy Liu

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Couldn’t even get through the first episode. 20 minutes in I was out.

Kelly Gross

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My wife and I gave up after the first episode, but part of it was also the partner. Having two big-nothings as the heart of a show signals failure on all fronts.

Christopher Hall

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As a big BOSCH fan and shows of that nature, I was pleased to watch this new show.
As I began watching it,I didn’t even realize that Bosch and company would even be involved.
I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to the new series.

Rita Gentry

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stop Asian hate

Borsch

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Sadly, gotta agree. Her character in the books is better drawn – with an actual inner life – and not totally devoid of humor

Steve Dougherty

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Well, you totally got this one right?.. we were sucked in waiting for something to happen.. we have no idea how this actress Maggie Q got the gig.. it was like watching a wet noodle.. and now there’s gonna be a season two… yikes

Peace,Jason Miles

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Hi Bob, I couldn’t agree more with your scathing review of Ballard.  It deserved it. I remember reading after Bosch Legacy was over that they  planned to do 2 shows. One was Ballard and the other one was the great J.Edgar. Two spin offs. We all know and love J.Edgar….aka Jamie Hector aka Marlo Stanfield and so many others. And then they pulled the J. Edgar show. Big mistake. Who knows why but whoever makes those decisions made the wrong one.  I desperately missed the Bosch supporting cast as well.  Ballard stinks.  For J. Edgar, I would have been counting the days for it to start.

Janice Rosen

Toronto

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I must disagree.

Maggie Q is good actress with martial arts skill. Your guy Titus is habitually self-conscious and although he’s improved over the years, he has trouble walking, never mind acting.

But the star of Bosch, Ballard and the Lincoln Lawyer is Michael Connelly and the key supporting actor in all three shows is Los Angeles.

Ballard is already a hit and its very strong female cast is a big part of the reason.

Keith Brown

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Sadisticly cruel and un-called for. Go ahead and criticize pointedly but leave the personal knife-twisting out, after  you’ve made your point. (Repeatedly). What did she ever do to you? So unnecessarily cruel.

I’m starting to worry about you, Bob.

Rosalie Howarth

1

Don’t watch this if you’re not a fan of Billy Joel.

This isn’t quite hagiography, there are negative aspects of Joel that are talked about, however there’s a desire to turn Billy Joel into something he is not, a credible rocker along the lines of Bruce Springsteen and Jackson Browne, both of whom testify about the Long Island musician here.

Billy Joel stands apart. He is sui generis. And either you like him or you don’t.

And a lot of the dyed-in-the-wool rockers do not.

It’s not that he’s from Long Island, after all Blue Oyster Cult and the Rascals started there, along with many more, but the fact is that his music derives not from the street, but Broadway. Joel is a piano player in a world dominated by the guitar. He may wear a leather jacket, but he’s never dangerous. He may be angry, but you don’t think he’s going to punch you in the face. He’s a suburbanite. And traditionally rock has been an inner city medium, or from hicksville, not Joel’s hometown, but the boonies.

So you’ve got a lot of people who hate Billy Joel on principle. They believe he’s not one of them. He may be alienated, but he isn’t working a job on the line, he may have been influenced by the Beatles, but he put in years of dues practicing piano. Billy Joel was the guy who lived down the street in a broken home who you knew from school, but you never hung out with him, you never went over to his house, he didn’t seem to be part of any group, but he was there. He didn’t get called in to the principal’s office. He was just there. If you grew up with Billy you were probably stunned that he became so big. Sure, you might have known he was in bands, but superstardom is not what is expected of Long Islanders, rather you stay with the tribe, fit in, get a job, get married, buy a house like…

The kids in “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant.”

2

This is not an Alex Gibney documentary, there’s no viewpoint, it’s just an endless smorgasbord of what happened. No rock is left unturned. It’s like there was only going to be one shot at the story of Billy’s life and this was it. If you knew absolutely nothing about Billy Joel going in, you’d come out quite educated.

In ninety minutes, even two hours, great documentaries have an angle, a thread, they want to say something about the subject that has never been previously revealed. The makers sit separate from the subject. They’re not intertwined. But “And So It Goes” resembles nothing so much as a PBS “American Masters,” which Susan Lacy made before this. You’re not going to watch it and get pissed off. This is not the Eagles doc with an exploration of the battles between Glenn Frey and Randy Meisner. Billy is an old man looking back on what once was. The emotions are absent. He even laughs at his old band Attila. Saying everybody was getting a record deal back then. NO, it was nearly impossible to get signed fifty-odd years ago. And although he makes fun of Attila’s music today, you know he took it damn seriously back then, everybody did, it was life or death, either you made it or you didn’t, nothing was done on a whim, sans success you starved.

Which Billy did. He was all in. Either this music thing was going to work or it wasn’t.

You can learn some lessons from this doc.

Hard work and dedication. Billy was anxious about marrying Elizabeth not because he didn’t love her, but because he could foresee stardom with endless time on the road and was that what a good husband did, leave their wife for the road?

Eventually Billy had children, but not until after his first wave of stardom. It would have interfered with the mission. And nothing could interfere with the mission. This is what almost no one gets. The one-mindedness. Nothing matters other than the career, NOTHING! And the constant chipping away, improving your chops, trying to figure out what will break you.

And then there’s the issue of inspiration and songwriting. Billy comes up with the idea for “New York State of Mind” on a bus ride, and when he gets home he doesn’t hang with Elizabeth like a good husband, doesn’t sit on the couch and talk about his day, he immediately goes upstairs and channels the song. That’s how it works. And it works for very few people.

3

There is very little here that students of Billy Joel’s game won’t know.

There is a full delineation of his relationship with Elizabeth. And that’s great. Especially when she becomes his manager.

And there’s Artie Ripp and the mastering error…

Like I said, the filmmakers wanted to include EVERYTHING! Whereas it might have been more interesting to dig deeper on a few things.

We get the story of each and every album. And they get it right, the turning point being “Just the Way You Are.” And Billy had it right, he didn’t want to put it on the album because it was schmaltzy and would define him, negatively to the rock crowd. It ultimately did. No one saw Billy as a rocker after that song.

But Billy’s instincts are right throughout. After getting f*cked by doing it the man’s way, he refuses to play the game and only does it his way. Won’t make an album with George Martin without his band. Punts after recording with James William Guercio. If you can’t say no… That’s a problem with today’s artists, they think they control their careers but they’re constantly compromising, business people tell them they have to. It’s subtle, but it’s there. Are you willing to put it all on the line, with the chance of going into free fall and ending up out of the game? If not, you are not an artist, you are not for the ages.

One of the highlights of the doc is when Billy says he can’t be too angry at Artie Ripp, because he gave him a chance when no one else would. Ripp got his foot in the door.

However, what really happened with the Family Productions legal situation… Rumor was always that Billy signed with Columbia and they didn’t know he was already under contract. This could be untrue, but I would have liked to have heard more about the nitty-gritty of the ultimate settlement.

I also would have liked to have seen more about Billy’s history, growing up. At first you think they miss it, but it comes back in the middle, which is contrary to typical, linear construction, and antithetical to the linearity of this film, but it is there. But I would have liked to know more about the dad. They didn’t mention his retreat back to the old country. And we don’t really get an investigation of what’s going through Billy’s head. Oh sure, he whips off some comments, but if I was talking to Billy I wouldn’t go back over the well-trodden history of the albums, but try to get further into his state of mind. Whether he felt separate from society. How he handled failure. Who Billy Joel is.

Bob Dylan obfuscates, because he doesn’t want you to know who he really is. Dylan has also gone on record that he does not reveal his hopes and dreams because people won’t take them seriously, they’ll laugh at them.

Bruce Springsteen had an intense father and dedicated himself to playing in unsigned bands on the Jersey Shore. 

Jackson Browne had success as a songwriter before he was twenty, with “These Days.”

Billy was professional early. The Hassles had albums. NO ONE had albums back then. Certainly not Bruce Springsteen, nor even Jackson Browne.

As for Paul McCartney saying the song he wished he’d written most was “Just the Way You Are”…

Give me a break. If I was with McCartney right now and I asked him what songs he’d wished he had written he might mention “Just the Way You Are,” but he’d probably come up with a slew of numbers. Maybe Gilbert & Sullivan, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Little Richard… I’m sure McCartney likes the Joel tune, but it is moments like this that make you wince, that are completely superfluous. Why has this become a feature of music documentaries. If the subject is great they don’t need people testifying, certainly not those who are not in his musical wheelhouse, like Jackson and the Boss here.

4

Billy Joel is New York.

Leslie West was New York. Felix Cavaliere too.

But Billy sang about his environs. He evidenced his environment. You could not take the east coast out of Billy. If you grew up there, you understand. And if you grew up on the east coast, where everything is so close together, you see your stars differently. They’re accessible, reachable, they’re more like you, you can identify. They might be heroes, but you can see their roots, their connection to you.

Billy was MUCH bigger on the east coast until “Glass Houses.” Just like Meat Loaf. They never even played “Paradise by the Dashboard Light’ in Los Angeles, NEVER EVER!

No one in the west cared about Oyster Bay, hadn’t even heard of it.

The west is all about freedom, room to move. Nobody’s in your face like back east. And this is touched upon in the doc. How everybody is friendly in L.A. but they’re not really your friend. How in New York you punch your friends in the shoulder to say hi, put them down as a sign of affection. The east is rough and tumble, nothing is held back, you’re constantly in the maelstrom. Whereas the west is more about the environment, laid back.

So what is it like to live in your head and live in the east? That should have been explored more.

Now I didn’t even like “Piano Man.” It was an endless number on AM radio. Some unknown guy singing this waltz, an inferior “Taxi.” Yes, Billy could be seen as a wannabe Harry Chapin, whom nobody saw as rock and roll. A story song guy.

And the follow-up “The Entertainer”? From the outside it looked like Billy was repeating the formula, singing about being a performer. No wonder it didn’t succeed.

And then Billy was in the wilderness, until “The Stranger.” Which still didn’t get a ton of FM play in L.A.

Nor did 52nd Street.” I’m not saying no one owned them, but if you didn’t, you could be completely unfamiliar with them, other than the aforementioned “Just the Way You Are,” that was EVERYWHERE!

However, contradicting the above paragraph just a little bit…”My Life,” which was never even mentioned in the doc, did get some FM play and penetrated the public consciousness in a way what had come before had not. “My Life” may not have sounded like classic rock and roll, but the message was:

“I don’t care anymore this is my life

Go ahead with your own life, leave me alone”

This is the ESSENCE of rock and roll. The alienated other on his or her own path. Beneath the patina of entertainment, the jaunty melody, there’s encouragement to the rest of us who don’t fit in and are going our own way, if Billy can succeed, we can too.

Yes, us.

Not those working in the factory. Not those working on their cars. Not the blue collar, but the alienated middle class boomers who rebelled against their parents in the sixties and went their own way.

“My Life” probably inspired me to buy “Glass Houses.”

And “Glass Houses” inspired me to see Billy at the Forum, but even more it inspired me to buy the next album, “Songs In the Attic,” upon release.

5

“I’ve seen the lights go down on Broadway

I saw the Empire State laid low

And life went on beyond the Palisades

They all bought Cadillacs and left there long ago

They held a concert out in Brooklyn

To watch the Island bridges blow

They turned our power down

And drove us underground

But we went right on with the show”

All you had to do was drop the needle. There was crowd noise, a synthesizer note, a whoop up and down the scale on said synthesizer and then Billy started to tinkle the ivories and sing…

This was positively rock and roll. This was the power of a live show. This was everything the previous Billy Joel albums were not.

“Miami 2017” was unknown to almost everybody. Only the hardest of hard core Billy Joel fans were aware of it, from Billy’s self-produced album “Turnstiles.”

That’s the one with “New York State of Mind.” But that number did not become a classic until YEARS later. Kind of like the Eagles’ “Desperado.” Neither were Top 40 hits, they percolated in the marketplace and their presence and impact grew and grew…

“Miami 2017″… Not only is it intense, there are all the city references, the east coast references.

Cadillacs were an east coast thing, foreign automobiles ruled on the west coast, in L.A. you drove a Mercedes.

This was when Brooklyn was still a place you wanted to get out of.

The Palisades? Other than Freddy Cannon’s “Palisades Park,” most of the country knew nothing about the New Jersey side of the Hudson.

The Island? Which Island? LONG ISLAND! Today the Hamptons are hip, they were still country outposts back then, not the glamorous hotbeds of today.

And then straight into “Summer Highland Falls,” which sounded like summer in the Catskills, if you’ve ever been there. A respite from the city. The sun, the air, the water…

But you knew this album was something different when the record inched into “Streetlife Serenader.” This was nothing like the somewhat lame studio recording, this version was all-out, it had gravitas.

This is when I realized Billy Joel was the real deal.

6

Billy ultimately went on tour with Elton John. Which I never got. Because I always saw Elton as being the bigger star. Elton was iconic. Billy Joel was just another guy from Long Island. Elton was larger than life, Billy was little different from you and me. And Elton had a string of hits in different genres with absolute classics.

But today they’re seen as equal.

How did that happen?

Well, Elton burned out in the seventies, “Blue Moves” was the last hurrah, and it took him a while to find himself again.

Whereas Billy continued to have hits and figured out MTV. Once he gained traction, Billy’s career was never soft. He continued motoring, put out albums with peak after peak, he was aging but he was right there alongside the youngsters on music television, not compromising himself to make it. He didn’t get plastic surgery. He didn’t act like a young ‘un, he didn’t let the images overwhelm him, it was just him, and it worked.

Eventually it dried up. In the nineties Billy said he would write songs no more. There’d be news, but Billy was not front of mind.

But then we hit this century and as Billy eased himself back in, with college speaking appearances, not needing the adulation of the crowd, he ultimately became the last man standing. Not only did he have this songbook, HE COULD STILL SING IT!

Go to a Billy Joel show today and it’s not radically different from the seventies. His voice is still intact. He doesn’t sing every night, to save it, but when he opens his mouth, it’s there.

And almost no one else’s pipes are still the same.

Furthermore, Billy let himself age. Is fine with going bald. And makes fun of himself. By not needing to keep up the image, the image has only grown. It’s about Billy and his songs. Not only has he survived, he’s TRIUMPHED!

Now one thing Felice pointed out about the difference between Billy and Elton is that Billy wrote those words. Kudos.

But the bottom line is if you live long enough, public opinion comes around. It’s the work that remains and sustains. Or doesn’t.

Most boomer acts, even household names, are playing to dwindling audiences. But Billy? He still sells out every gig.

And people are not going for nostalgia, to close their eyes and think of where they were when this song was a hit, they go for the SONGS!

And Billy can still sing the songs straight. He might be wealthy, but he’s still the same guy inside. Just a guy from Hicksville.

And he says this in the doc, how he does not feel like a star.

But this still might not endear him to you. You still might not be open to Billy Joel.

However if you are…

I advise watching this documentary. It’s far from the best one about a musician ever made. But, once again, Billy is not exotic. Not a guy beaten by his dad who lived in poverty and built a guitar in the garage. No, Billy is a suburbanite. As for poverty… You couldn’t be that poor and live in Hicksville and have a home, and it was much easier to make it back then on a limited income, albeit not easy.

Billy is one of us.  And when we go to see him it feels like that.

And some of the tracks are dated, but so are we. If you’re a boomer you can’t be an angry young man. As for being an angry old man, sure, they exist, but even gang members go straight. If you live long enough, the rough edges get shorn away. You realize we’re more similar than dissimilar.

But that does not mean the system isn’t stacked against you. That does not mean you feel you fit in. Somewhere deep inside you still have hopes and dreams, optimism, and these are kindled into a fire when you hear the right songs. Billy Joel’s songs turn up the heat. They don’t set your mind free like life in Los Angeles, rather your eyes are wide open walking the street of Manhattan.

Or maybe Long Island.

Captain Jack may not get you high anymore. You may not go to your special island. But you remember those days. Of behavior and choices. Not life or death, but low-paying work or a career. Of deciding to get married or not. Of realizing you’ve become your parents…

There are stories in Billy Joel’s music, but it’s the melodies that put them over the top, the energy in the production.

You hear Billy talk in this documentary…

We’re used to old rockers, oftentimes still with long hair, barely getting it out with soft slow voices. Billy is still alive, if not presently exactly well. He’s the kind of grandpa you look up to. He may not get you high, but he’ll tell you all about it, give your underaged ass a swig from the bottle as he talks about the potential downsides.

You see Billy aged but never really grew up. He’s got all the success, but he can see he’s not really a big shot. That’s an act and it didn’t work.

He’s just William Martin Joel from the Island.

Like Jenny from the block if she never went on TV, got plastic surgery and focused so much on how she looked, and if she still lived in the Bronx.

There is nothing exotic about Billy Joel. And he won over Christie Brinkley on his personality, not his looks. He’s everyman, if everyman is a white guy from the suburbs.

Many of us are.

Some are still trying to act dangerous.

Others have come down off our thrones and realized our roots are who we are, public school and single family dwellings on a plot of land.

But it’s still rock and roll to us.

And always will be.