Billy titled his next album after the street which served as world headquarters for CBS/Columbia--52nd Street.
Although Joel has always been a consummate live performer, work in the studio was a bit of a challenge. "To help Billy find the right voice when he was recording," Ramone toldMix Online, "I made him a control box with Echoplexes, MXR phasers and flangers. We labeled the buttons: "Elvis', 'Doo-wop', 'R&B', etc. and put it right on the piano so he could switch the effects around until he hit one he liked. "My Life" rose to #3 in the U.S. and also is included in The Top 500 Songs of the Rock Era*.
52nd Street has topped seven million in sales in the U.S. alone, giving Billy 17 million in sales in these amazing back-to-back albums. This is "Big Shot".
Joel was recognized for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male at the Grammy Awards. "Honesty" also stalled well short of the Top 10 at #24, making it yet another early Joel song to be included among The Top Unknown/Underrated Songs of the Rock Era*. People still didn't get how amazing this man was.
The album reached #1 in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, four countries with some of the sharpest music fans in the world. Joel performed at the Havana Jam festival in Cuba in 1979, with footage of his show featured on the documentary Havana Jam '79.
This is another gem on the album, never released as a single but nevertheless got heavy FM radio airplay. Billy used the knife and cutting imagery as a metaphor for emotional manipulation, and the great piano riff was inspired by Stevie Winwood's playing on Traffic's "Shanghai Noodle Factory". "Stiletto" is another Top Track*.
Billy has said that this song should have been written by his father Howard to his mother Rosalind. Howard lived in Cuba after leaving his native Germany to escape the evil Nazis, before emigrating to America. Here is "Rosalinda's Eyes".
Joel was nominated for Favorite Pop (Rock) Male Artist at the American Music Awards. "Zanzibar" is a song that has been building momentum and airplay over the last few years. It's very sound pays homage to fellow New Yorkers Steely Dan, and features a great trumpet solo from Freddie Hubbard.
Billy featured New Wave on his 1980 album Glass Houses. That album, recorded at Ramone's A&R Studio, was the first ever released on compact disk. We hear the sound of shattered glass at the opening of this song, which matches the cover of the album in which Billy is pictured about to throw a rock at an all-glass house.
In that respect, Joel is making fun of the saying that people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones and this is Billy's reply to critics. "You May Be Right" was the first single, and it jumped to #6 in Canada and #7 in the U.S., another of Billy's million-sellers.
Glass Houses was another #1 album in the United States and Canada and hit the Top 10 nearly everywhere else. "In my neighborhood, somebody hits you, you hit them right back," Joel said about this song. The former boxer landed a knockout punch with this one. "It's Still Rock And Roll To Me" gave Billy his first #1 song in both the U.S. and Canada, which was not only one of The Top 10 Songs of 1980* but also one of The Top 500 Songs of the Rock Era*.
The album leaped to #1 and stayed there for six weeks, and has cleared six million in sales. That's an incredible 24 million in sales for three consecutive albums. The Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male is mostly given for one song, but once again, Billy was recognized for the entire album. Although this one soared to #1 on the AC chart and #4 in Canada, it mysteriously stalled at #19 on the Popular chart. Joel said the Spanish feel to "Don't Ask Me Why" was influenced by time he spent in Madrid.
Joel had made the jump to superstardom, as evidenced by his five sold-out performances at New York City's Madison Square Garden, which recognized him with the Garden's Gold Ticket Award for selling more than 100,000 tickets. "Sometimes A Fantasy" became a Top Track*, and, although the record company was finally persuaded to release it as a single, by that time momentum had faded and it stalled at #36.
Billy won an American Music Award for Favorite Pop (Rock) Album and was nominated for Favorite Pop (Rock) Male Artist for a second straight year. This is another great song from the album about two lovers not taking chances and "Sleeping With The Television On".
Another of Joel's gems is "All For Leyna", about a man's obsession with a woman after having a one-night stand with her.
Joel has given us an incredible collection of songs over the years, and Inside The Rock Era has much more--stay tuned!
Joel moved back to New York City in 1975 and released the album Turnstiles, a turning point in his career as he decided to assert his control over his music. Never released as a single, Billy wrote this the day he moved back from California in a Greyhound bus. "It's the one I wrote in like 15 minutes," he said in a 2010 interview. "I'm sitting on the bus (to Highland Falls)...and I started scribbling in a notebook. I got to the house where my wife was waiting. I said, 'I got to write this song right now.'" It was later brought to its current prominence after the 9/11 murders when Billy performed it on worldwide television in a benefit concert ("America: A Tribute to Heroes") for the victims (and yes, we will feature that later as well!).
This is another Top Track*. Billy said the rapid-fire riff at the beginning was meant to be an homage to the great surfing song "Wipe Out" by the Surfaris. He could have been semi-autobiographical here, but out of that anger grew a gifted performer for the ages. Here is "Prelude: Angry Young Man".
The album is loaded with prime cuts. One of his best ballads ever, be it largely undiscovered by the general public, is this fantastic song written about the place in upstate New York that he stayed at after moving back to the state from California. It features one of the great piano intros of all-time that sounds like a cascading falls. Enjoy "Summer, Highland Falls", another of The Top Unknown/Underrated Songs of the Rock Era*.
This Top Track* is another of Billy's hidden treasures; essentially a farewell to a lifestyle that was tempting but impossible to sustain--"I've Loved These Days".
"James" is about a friend of Billy's in his early days.
So much great music that most people don't know about. Billy wrote this song after U.S. President Gerald Ford refused to give federal assistance to New York City, which was on the verge of default, prompting the famous Daily News headline, "Ford to City: Drop Dead." "As soon as I saw that headline," Billy said, "'I said, wait a minute. If New York's going down the tubes, I'm gonna' go down with it.'" This is the great song "Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway".
With his first few albums, we saw what Joel could do. The only missing ingredient was a solid producer, and Columbia remedied that when they hooked Billy up with Phil Ramone, who would be Joel's go-to producer for the next nine years and who would produce two of The Top 100 Albums of the Rock Era*. It was a major coup for Billy--Ramone was a superstar producer, having already worked with Barbra Streisand, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Kenny Loggins, Astrid Gilberto and Stan Getz, John Coltrane, and many others. Ramone was a brilliant South African prodigy who began playing violin at age three and performing for Queen Elizabeth II at 10.
The first album with Joel was his breakthrough, The Stranger. Billy wrote this song for his wife Elizabeth, and it catapulted Joel into stardom. Although it was an important song to him personally, Billy credits Ramone with convincing him it was a great song. Ramone brought Linda Ronstadt and Phoebe Snow to hear it in the studio, and when they both loved it, that was good enough for Billy.
"Just The Way You Are" won both Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the Grammy Awards. The classic reached #2 in Canada, #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart and #3 overall in the United States, #6 in Australia and New Zealand and #7 in Ireland, and has sold over two million copies. It is also one of six of Billy's tunes to make it to the book The Top 500 Songs of the Rock Era*.
Joel's historic album hit the Top 5 in nearly every country in the world, helped by another Top Unknown/Underrated Song*. The screeching tires sound was achieved when bassist Doug Stegmeyer hung a microphone out the rear end of his '60's-era Corvette and started burning rubber as he raced away from his house."Movin' Out" is a million-seller that somehow stalled at #17. The stage production of Movin' Out, featuring Billy's songs, opened on Broadway in 2002 and continued for three years.
The Stranger has sold 10 million copies in the United States alone, one of The Top 100 Albums of the Rock Era*. "Only The Good Die Young" became Joel's third consecutive Gold record, and this one went Platinum.
All The Stranger did was reach #2 on the Album chart and become the top-seller in the history of Columbia Records, outpacing even Simon & Garfunkel's masterpiece Bridge Over Troubled Water. This song is another about his first wife Elizabeth, who was married to drummer Jon Small at the time he met her. Billy was so troubled by the affair that he drank furniture polish in an attempt to kill himself.
"She's Always A Woman", another of The Top Unknown/Underrated Songs of the Rock Era*, #17 on the Popular chart although it did rise to #2 among adults. Pink, a big fan of Billy's, walked down the aisle to this song at her wedding.
Here is the title song, which also got considerable airplay.
This tasty track ranks high on our list of Top Unknown/Underrated Songs of the Rock Era*. If you aren't already familiar with it, it could become one of your favorite Billy Joel songs. The Italian restaurant Fontana di Trevi ( now closed, but once at 151 West 57th Street in New York City, across from Carnegie Hall) inspired this song. "It was for the opera crowd," Billy told USA Today in 2008, "but the Italian food was really good. They didn't really know who I was, which was fine with me, but sometimes you would have a hard time getting a table."
Here is the wonderful "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant", in four movements (1--"Italian Restaurant", 2--"Things Are OK With Me These Days", 3--"The Ballad Of Brenda And Eddie" and 4--a reprise of "Italian Restaurant"). Beautifully done.
Billy first went to Vienna, Austria when he was 23 years old to meet his father, who had moved there. The song, therefore, is the foundation of a very emotional relationship with the city. "Slow down, look around you and have some gratitude for the good things in your life," Billy told Vienna Now--Forever. "That's what Vienna represented to me," he continued. "When I wrote 'Vienna waits for you', I meant that it is a place where you close the circle. By going to Vienna, suddenly things started to make sense in the world for me. Here is another amazing track--"Vienna".
The Stranger, like the fine wine Billy sings about in "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant", seems to get so much better with time. Highly regarded at the time, it's stature has only grown through the years, to the point where it was ranked #21 for the Rock Era in 2011. And perhaps it has grown since then.
Although he had already shown his tremendous talent to this point, as you have already heard, for most of the public they were just starting to listen to him. Joel was on his way to being a legend. Join us for Part Three, exclusively on Inside The Rock Era!
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"Billy Joel is so amazingly talented."
"A man of immense genius."
"A great, great songwriter and uncanny vocals that always relate to the material."
"Billy Joel will always be my favorite singer."
"He’s a music genius—composition, lyrics, arrangements, piano, AND VOICE! One of the greatest musicians of our time."
"Billy Joel can sing, write, and play piano wonderfully. He really is one of the world's most talented musicians."
"His piano composition ability/training/talent is off the chart."
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"He is a class act and a terrific entertainer."
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"Billy Joel is one of the best, always has a song for each mood, brilliant entertainer."
"Billy's epic story songs are my favorites!"
"He's a genius....the melodies and phrasing of Billy s tunes are very pleasing to the Gods for sure."
"Billy Joel is to my ears what a glass of fine wine is to my mouth."
"I love the way he tells deep stories in his song lyrics. What a great musician! His songs just never get old."
"He's s musical genius...the Mozart of the 20th century."
"A brilliant storyteller."
"Billy Joel’s piano is a certified illegal weapon of mass destruction, the destruction of war and violence. Billy Joel has brought so much happiness into my life, without him I would still be in the dark horrible place I was in."
"I can't believe one man is so talented. He has an awesome voice, he's extremely good at playing piano, he's a great song writer, a great lyricist, and he can compose."
"Billy was so good at capturing the struggle of those who did hard labor for a living."
"Billy Joel definitely my #1 artist, what a talented person!"
"One of the greatest storytellers ever."
"Billy Joel is such a talented musician. He paints these intricate pictures in your head, and it's hard not to enjoy his songs."
"I could not possibly love a musical artist any more than I love Billy Joel. He's not just a musical artist. He's a singer, songwriter, composer, pianist......a modern day master!!!!"
"Billy you will always have a place in my heart. Your music is beyond legendary. 💕"
"One of the two greatest piano men of our time. Blessed are we."
"What enormous talent. Billy Joel is the best!"
"One of things I've always appreciated about his music is the truthfulness and life experiences that are portrayed in his music!"
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"Wonderful. Amazing."
"Billy Joel is one of the best, always has a song for each mood, brilliant entertainer."
"Billy is pure talent and emotion."
He is (very quaintly) known as "the piano man". But he is so much more than that. Always the innovator, Joel is so expert in his songwriting that, more so than almost any other artist, no two of his songs sound alike. Joel's catalog includes poignant, biting songs, always on the cutting edge.
William Joel was born in The Bronx, New York, on May 9, 1949. The family moved to nearby Oyster Bay when Joel was one. His father was a classical pianist and businessman, but to escape the evil Nazi regime, he and his family emigrated to Switzerland. The family then emigrated to the United States via Cuba.
Joel began taking piano lessons at age four--among his teachers was Morton Estrin. When he was a teenager, Joel began training in boxing, originally so he could defend himself. He got so good at it that he boxed in the Golden Gloves tour, winning 22 bouts, but left the sport after his nose was broken in his 24th match.
Joel went to Hicksville High School until 1967 but did not graduate on a normal timetable. When he was 16, he joined the Echoes, which played British covers. The group began recording, and Joel played on several records on the Kama Sutra label and on recordings produced by Shadow Morton. Billy played on an early version of "Leader Of The Pack", and on a recording of "Remember (Walking In The Sand)", both recorded by the Shangri-Las, although Billy doesn't know if he played on the demo or the final version of the latter.
After the divorce of his parents, he played at a piano bar to help support the family, which caused him to miss a crucial English exam after playing one late-night gig the night before. After seeing the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show, Joel decided to pursue a career in music. As he was lacking enough credits to graduate, Billy decided to begin that music career rather than go to summer school. In 1992, he submitted essays to the school board in lieu of the missed exam in 1967. The board accepted them, and Joel was awarded his diploma at Hicksville High's graduation ceremony 25 years after he left.
The Echoes changed their name to the Emeralds and then the Lost Souls. Joel left the group in 1967 to join the Hassles, a nearby group which had signed a recording contract with United Artists Records. The group released two albums which didn't catch on, so Joel and drummer Jon Small left to form the duo Attila, which released a self-titled album in 1970.
Joel signed a solo contract with Family Productions and recorded his debut album, Cold Spring Harbor, but according to owner Artie Ripp, the album was mastered at too high of a speed and the album wasn't technically sound nor did it sell well. The album does contain this gem, a story of success going to one's head that he would revisit in his career. Enjoy "Everybody Loves You Now".
On "Got To Begin Again", the protagonist has just broken up with his love, and now he must start anew.
Billy opened for acts such as the Beach Boys and Badfinger on a tour of the U.S. in 1971. In 1972, Columbia Records executive Herb Gordon heard one of Joel's songs on the radio and invited him to meet Columbia leaders. Joel signed a recording contract with Columbia and moved to Los Angeles, California. He played at the piano bar at The Executive Room under the name of Bill Martin. He wrote a famous song based on his time there that we'll hear shortly.
Despite moving to Columbia, Artie Ripp at Family Productions still owned the rights to Joel's songs. Walter Yetnikoff, president of CBS/Columbia, later bought back the rights to Joel's songs and gave them to Billy as a birthday gift.
In 1973, Joel released the album Piano Man, with the title track being the first single released. As referenced above, it is a collection of experiences Billy had at The Executive Room. The wisdom of radio station music directors at the time has become severely questioned, for the song peaked at #25 in the U.S. Canada, to their credit, recognized the talent and took it to #10. The strength of the song is evidenced by the fact that the album has now sold over four million copies and the single itself has sold over six million in the U.S. alone. Not too bad for a #25 song, eh? "Piano Man" is not only one of The Top Unknown/Underrated Songs of the Rock Era*, but one of The Top 500 Songs of the Rock Era* as well!
Joel toured North America, where concert goers began to catch on to the enormous potential of the man they were seeing. If you were one of the lucky ones to see Billy during the 1974 tour, that's a special experience to see one of the all-time greats so early in their career. Joel's great piano playing highlighted on his performance on The Midnight Special television show, is a Top Track*. Few in history have tickled the ivories as great as Billy Joel. With a great banjo solo from Eric Weissberg, here is "Travelin' Prayer".
Never take art too seriously. Another Top Track* is "Billy The Kid". "It's about a bartender from Oyster Bay, a guy named Billy who used to tend bar at a place called Uwe's...right on South Street," Joel told Newsday. "We all ended up at the pub at the end of the day and were entertained by the bartender. He was a very personable guy. It was just an exercise in Western-sounding things--completely historically inaccurate."
Joel then recorded and released the album Streetlife Serenade, which in its 10 songs reflects the pressure Billy felt--pressure from his label to follow up on the success of "Piano Man", pressure to write songs to get that album out, all the while not exactly being wealthy or even successful at that time. Plus, he wasn't really happy being in L.A. Streetlife Serenade contains the minor hit "The Entertainer". Joel wrote it in response to being forced to edit "Piano Man" so it could become a single; hence the lines "If you're gonna' have a hit, you gotta' make it fit, so they cut it down to 3:05."
"Root Beer Rag" is a great instrumental from Billy. Ragtime music had enjoyed a resurgence with its inclusion in the all-time classic movie The Sting, which featured music from Scott Joplin.
"Streetlife Serenader" is the sequel to "Piano Man" and a concert staple.
Billy is a rare breed--an artist for which no two songs are alike. One cannot say that about too many artists. We can all relate to "Weekend Song".
Billy Joel fans know this, but if you haven't heard his early material, most will agree that it is some of his best. Here is "Last Of The Big Time Spenders".
"The Great Suburban Showdown", while it would be a positive nostalgia experience for most (including most artists), finds the protagonist reminding himself of the bored and mundane life he had.
Joel has always written songs with an edge to them--he has never been about the basics or about neatly fitting him into a mold. "Souvenir" is another early Joel tune that he played often live.
He is one of the most successful, and certainly one of the most unique, singer/songwriters of all-time. Much more Billy Joel awaits you in Part Two!
"Billy Joel’s piano is a certified illegal weapon of mass destruction, the destruction of war and violence. Billy Joel has brought so much happiness into my life, without him I would still be in the dark horrible place I was in."