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Billy Joel.....The Piano Man, and my Indoctrinated Youth.

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T

The Salt Life

Banned
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It started off simple enough, I was born and raised in NY. But not the city, not the 5 boro's, and def not Jersey. No I was born and raised on Long Island NY, where at the age of 6 you're given a few choices in life. Mets or Yankees, Giants or Jets, Rangers or Islanders, Sink or Swim. If you were italian you were instructed to hate the irish, if you were irish you were instructed to hate the italians, There was one thing the youth did not have a choice in.........liking Billy Joel.

Like most kids in the 80's on the Island, you got your first tape for your walkman, it was a gift from mom and dad of course, Billy Joel's greatest hits. Don't worry, if you happen to lose said tape, your parents had the album on vinyl so they just made you a new copy.

Because Billy Joel a Long Island Idol, you heard him on the radio non stop, every car ride, every bbq, every family function. Being on an Island where you're always at least 10-20 minutes from a beach at any given time, guess what's playing on the radio, you know who. The cover band that is performing at your cousins sweet 16 or at your block party? That's right, Billy Joel covers all night long.

See you never really escape Billy Joel, because not only was he popular here, but he was popular all over the place apparently. You know how many times I seen Billy Joel in concert? I want to say......realistically....15 times in concert in my life (i'm 38) I went to Christiano's restaraunt more times I care to admit. I don't even think I have control at this point. I can't imagine a time where the man's music was not a part of my life. I'm pretty sure the first time I had sex, Billy Joel was on the radio..

I'm curious.....what does the man's music sound like to people that were not basically contractually obligated to listen to it since birth? Is he as good as I think he is? Do people in California listen to Billy Joel? Could they relate to his music? Or do I just relate to it more due to all the Long Island references? I don't get how people can relate to a place that is essentially NY's loud mouth dick of an appendage.

Anyway, of course I couldn't just blab like this with out mentioning my favorite hits, what kind of scream for help would this be if I didn't list my favorite tracks. (haha, even that is a lie, because I like all his tracks, because indoctrination)

Allentown - How can you not love a song about economic anxiety? I think the most powerful line in the whole song of course is "Every Child had a pretty good shot, to get as far as their old man got, something happened on the way to that place.....they threw an american flag in our face"

Which of course leads to this song
Goodnight Saigon - Anything with showing support to our armed forces hit's me in the feels pretty damn bad. Plus I was at this show, and you can just feel the emotion in the crowd, great moment.

Lennigrad = I love this song for two reasons, for one, the two different perspectives, one of someone growing up in Soviet Russia, the other perspective obviously Joel's well off suburban lifestyle. The lyrics that stand out to me here are "Cold world kids were hard to kill......under their desk in air raid drill" Because the irony that they would still be killed regardless of the "hiding under the desk" thing, and the opening of his second verse of "Kids were born in Levittown, hidden in shelters underground, till the soviets turned their ships around"

Downeaster Alexa - Man, this song hits home for a few reasons, I sailed out the Bell in Gardiners bay before, but this song hits home because it was something really happening. People were being pushed out of Montauk and the Hamptons were taking over, whole generations going back of fisher men, making a living doing what they do best, I know at least two friends fathers affected by new regulations so the lyrics were like 'damn, that is happening right here' but I think the lyric that hits the hardest is

"I was a bay man like my father was before, can't make a living as a bay man anymore, there's not much future for a man who works the sea, there's ain't no Island left for Islanders like me"

PRESSURE - "I'm sure you have some kind of cosmic rat..ional....now here you're in the 9th, 2 men out and three men on" Yeah....ok there was no reason for some guy in a Iroc Z to be blasting this at my Little League games but whatever


edit: that was a long post, sorry GAF, just had to get it off my chest
 
M

Moppeh

Banned
I'm not a big Billy Joel fan but I enjoy listening to him every once in a while.

Piano Man is fucking dope.
 
H

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
Seeing as everybody fucking loves Piano Man I'm guessing no you don't have to be indoctrinated
 
J

Jarmel

Banned
Allentown is my favorite song from him since I heard it a few years back. My mom was a big Billy Joel fan and yet I hadn't heard it growing up. Funnily enough it's still super relevant.
 
S

Sanjuro

Member
HStallion said:
Seeing as everybody fucking loves Piano Man I'm guessing no you don't have to be indoctrinated
Click to expand...

A lot of people I know hate him. I can't take them seriously now. Billy Joel is the metric where if you are going out of your way to actively dislike him, you are trying too hard.
 
S

Stormwatch

Member
I grew up in a NY suburb and Billy Joel's Storm Front was the first concert I ever went to. I've since moved to an Atlanta suburb and I'm going to see him again this Friday. I can't wait! It is going to be a nice shot of nostalgia.
 
Z

ZackieChan

Member
The Salt Life said:
[

Downeaster Alexa - Man, this song hits home for a few reasons, I sailed out the Bell in Gardiners bay before, but this song hits home because it was something really happening. People were being pushed out of Montauk and the Hamptons were taking over, whole generations going back of fisher men, making a living doing what they do best, I know at least two friends fathers affected by new regulations so the lyrics were like 'damn, that is happening right here' but I think the lyric that hits the hardest is

"I was a bay man like my father was before, can't make a living as a bay man anymore, there's not much future for a man who works the sea, there's ain't no Island left for Islanders like me"
Click to expand...

Between this and Keeping the Faith, some of my favorites. I grew up in South Jersey, and listened to a ton of Joel growing up. Somehow I avoided liking Springsteen, despite having been to Asbury Park a few times.

Now Bon Jovi, that's another story.
 
A

Arttemis

Member
As someone who's played the piano for twenty years, I absolutely love Joel. Pressure, Piano Man, Movin' Out... Such good songs.

That's not what I would have listened to growing up, though. Baroque, classical, and romantic compositions were always high on my list, but that didn't stop me from loving Queen (my mom's favorite band) or The Doors (my dad's) and most other classic rock groups in middle school. A few years later, and Euro metal was added to the list, starting with In Flames after hearing Gyroscope my freshmen year. In community college, I couldn't get enough of DragonForce.

I've picked up genres along the way, but never really dropped any.
 
Z

Zona

Member
He's a dropout from the high school I went to.

Don't let him fool you in interviews, he's not from Levittown, he's from Hicksville.
 
T

The Salt Life

Banned
Zyae said:
Saw him in January at MSG. It was pretty great.
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That's what's so great about him, dude hasn't written new material in like 20 years, just keeps selling out shows with great performances. It helps that lead singer from Big Shot is his back up vocals and sounds just like him.
Zona said:
He's a dropout from the high school I went to.

Don't let him fool you in interviews, he's not from Levittown, he's from Hicksville.
Click to expand...
Yeah I heard him say Hicksville quite a few times. I know Allentown was originally going to be a song about Levittown but wtf happens there anyway besides the still relevant today economic anxiety.
 
J

jph139

Member
I've always found Billy Joel very relatable despite being 40+ years younger than him and growing up in Massachusetts suburbs. Dude's just universal. My parents always had the radio on the "greatest hits of the 60s, 70s, and 80s!" growing up, and it wasn't until I was older and started exploring that I really noticed how huge his library is.

Like, you take a song off of Cold Spring Harbor, then off of Piano Man, then off of Turnstiles, then off of River of Dreams... he sort of gets pigeonholed as "guy who did Piano Man" but he's got a ton of variety.

Some of my favorites:

Tomorrow is Today - I heard this is an adaptation of the note he left before a failed suicide attempt. I buy it. Super depressing!

Miami 2017 - Like, who writes a retrospective dystopian song about the fall of New York? Crazy.

Everybody Loves You Now - One of those deceptively energetic songs, that's really about spiteful loneliness.

Summer, Highland Falls - Definitely shows off his lyrical strength here. Straight up poetry, flows beautifully. "But as we stand upon the ledges of our lives with our respective similarities" - like, that lyric shouldn't work, you know?

The Ballad of Billy the Kid - But only the live versions from the 70s, like the one linked. It sounds good when it's fast and peppy, sort of bland on the album version.
 
J

Joe Shlabotnik

Banned
I'm right around your age OP and grew up on Long Island. Never saw him live. I don't think so, anyway. His music was so omnipresent maybe there was a concert in there somewhere.

Loved him as a kid and I think the first album I got all on my own was Storm Front (yeesh, besides Downeaster Alexa). Pretty much grew out of him by the time I was in high school though. Thought he was cornball as a young adult and have come halfway back around to thinking he's pretty good overall in my old age.

Never really got obsessed with him though.
 
B

BumRush

Member
Long Island here as well so obviously I love Billy with a fiery passion. Best live show I've ever seen, too.

Favorite song? Miami 2017
 
M

Mikef2000

Member
Huge Billy Joel fan also.. Besides the obvious songs already mentioned, one fo my favorite Billy Joel song is Matter of Trust. I can remember the first time I saw the video for that song on MTV, and it just stuck with me. I feel that it's a very underappreciated song.


Also, yes, I'm old.
 
T

The Salt Life

Banned
Mikef2000 said:
Huge Billy Joel fan also.. Besides the obvious songs already mentioned, one fo my favorite Billy Joel song is Matter of Trust. I can remember the first time I saw the video for that song on MTV, and it just stuck with me. I feel that it's a very underappreciated song.


Also, yes, I'm old.
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See I recently watched that documentary by the same name about him being one of the first US rockers to go over to the Soviet Union and perform there. I always wondered what is the appeal of Joel to people who can't even understand English and any words in his songs. Regardless the people still loved it.

Gallbaro said:
Honestly, Jersey has it better with the boss...
Click to expand...
Going to have to politely disagree with you there.
 
V

Vincent Grayson

Member
Billy Joel is the first music I remember knowing was music my dad liked, but that also appealed to me. Ain't nothing wrong with liking Billy Joel.
 
F

Frank the Great

Banned
I love Billy Joel since I was young. My musical tastes have changed so much, from punk to hip hop to metal and now I mainly listen to progressive rock/metal. But I've always liked Billy. His lyrics and themes really grab me.


My favorite songs are Vienna, Downeaster Alexa, Miami 2017, and Matter of Trust.
 
J

Jive Turkey

Unconfirmed Member
The Salt Life said:
If you were italian you were instructed to hate the irish, if you were irish you were instructed to hate the italians...
Click to expand...

I don't have anything to add to the conversation, I like Billy Joel but I need to be in the mood to listen to most of his songs but this bit is incredibly true. I'm from California and I have a very Irish name. My wife is 1st generation Italian American, grew up in an Italian enclave in NJ, and boy did her family hate me (many still only mildly tolerate me).

Now that you have me thinking about Billy Joel, I think I'm going to sing Lullaby to our son.
 
Jag

Jag

Member
I laughed when I saw Christianos. Syosset kid here, so yeah big fan of Billy. Met him when I was working at the Cinema 150 movie theater. He came in with Christie and baby Alexa.

Seen him live lots of times, but the most powerful was his benefit Concert for the Baymen at the Jones Beach Ampitheater.

Vienna is my all time favorite.

Zona said:
He's a dropout from the high school I went to.

Don't let him fool you in interviews, he's not from Levittown, he's from Hicksville.
Click to expand...

Grew up right down the (South Oyster Bay) road from you.
 
T

The Salt Life

Banned
Jive Turkey said:
I don't have anything to add to the conversation, I like Billy Joel but I need to be in the mood to listen to most of his songs but this bit is incredibly true. I'm from California and I have a very Irish name. My wife is 1st generation Italian American, grew up in an Italian enclave in NJ, and boy did her family hate me (many still only mildly tolerate me).

Now that you have me thinking about Billy Joel, I think I'm going to sing Lullaby to our son.
Click to expand...
I'm sure her grandmother was the biggest hater
 
A

adamsappel

Member
My best friend in senior year of high school (a pianist) was a huge Billy Joel fan, so it was a constant soundtrack when cruising around. This was 1984, so the latest album was An Innocent Man. Up to then is the only Billy Joel era I enjoy. The only songs after that I can even remember are Nor'easter (edit: Downeaster) Alexa, which I think is a weak riff on Gordon Lightfoot's Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, and We Didn't Start the Fire, a lazy, awful effort from an often-great songwriter. Radio plays too many of the same hits, but I usually sing along. I saw him in concert in 1986, I think, and it was a good show. I'd wager he still plays the same setlist. The Stranger is my favorite song of his.
 
F

Friend of Sonic

Member
I grew up in Arizona and fell in love with his music a couple of years ago. Ironically, I was speaking to my friend in Long Island and happened to mention this. He scoffed and said I would fit in perfect in Long Island
 
T

taco543

Member
as a 20 something in California, I can happily say I love Billy Joel. We didn't start the fire is a revolutionary track and always on my top playlist.
 
D

Doodis

Member
When I was a senior in high school, I went to see him in concert. That same week, Nirvana was playing in my city but my dad wouldn't let me go because "two concerts in one week is too many."

A couple weeks later, Kurt Cobain died. To this day, I'm pissed my dad didn't let me go. And it was all because of Billy Joel.

But now that I'm older, it's pretty obvious that Billy's music is much more timeless than Nirvana's. Thanks for the post, OP.
 
X

XGRaViSmOrSX

Member
I dig Billy Joel. I still live on the Island so I grew up on his music along with a bunch of other stuff. I used to like him a lot more when I was younger, not huge on him now but I don't hate his music.

One of my fav songs is Billy Joel - Stiletto
 
T

The Salt Life

Banned
XGRaViSmOrSX said:
I dig Billy Joel. I still live on the Island so I grew up on his music along with a bunch of other stuff. I used to like him a lot more when I was younger, not huge on him now but I don't hate his music.

One of my fav songs is Billy Joel - Stiletto
Click to expand...
Yeah see when I hit high school that was my chance to break away. Long Island has a whole host of some of the best hip hop artist to ever touch a mic so I got into that heavy for about 15 years, DJing at house parties, mixtapes whatever whatever. But once I hit my 30's and hip hop became a shell of its former self I came back around to the goodness. Just in time too, got to see him and Sir Paul McCartney close out Shea Stadium.
 
Hoya Destroyer

Hoya Destroyer

Member
I grew up in the 80's in Australia and both my parents were fans of Billy Joel. I became a fan too, because his music really is great.
New York State of Mind, Scenes from an Italian Restaurant, Big Shot, Its Still Rock and Roll to me, Shades of Gray, The Down Easter "Alexa", Leningrad and Summer, Highland Falls are all songs I love.
Billy Joel is a legend to me.
 
T

The Salt Life

Banned
Hoya Destroyer said:
I grew up in the 80's in Australia and both my parents were fans of Billy Joel. I became a fan too, because his music really is great.
New York State of Mind, Scenes from an Italian Restaurant, Big Shot, Its Still Rock and Roll to me, Shades of Gray, The Down Easter "Alexa", Leningrad and Summer, Highland Falls are all songs I love.
Billy Joel is a legend to me.
Click to expand...
See those are the stories I wanted to hear, outside of this bubnle I'm stranded on, how is he perceived, it's nice to know that the stories of Brenda and Eddie traveled that far.
 
Charles Brandon

Charles Brandon

Member
I'm English and vaguely familiar with the works of Billy Joel. The only one I really like "We didn't start the fire" though. I have that on my Spotify "family time" playlist. A prestigious accolade.
 
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