― mike sperry (ghost nuts), Saturday, 2 April 2005 04:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 2 April 2005 04:15 (eighteen years ago) link
― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Saturday, 2 April 2005 04:18 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Saturday, 2 April 2005 04:30 (eighteen years ago) link
― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Saturday, 2 April 2005 04:31 (eighteen years ago) link
― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Saturday, 2 April 2005 04:34 (eighteen years ago) link
― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Saturday, 2 April 2005 05:36 (eighteen years ago) link
― nathalie doing a soft foot shuffle (stevie nixed), Saturday, 2 April 2005 05:38 (eighteen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Saturday, 2 April 2005 05:54 (eighteen years ago) link
Please don't read this as a defense of Billy Joel, but it's hard to be smug when you've crashed four or five consecutive cars and checked yerself into rehab. He's many irritating things, but I've never found him smug. Boring, overwrought, cliched, annoying -- yes, but not smug.
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 2 April 2005 05:55 (eighteen years ago) link
― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Saturday, 2 April 2005 06:00 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 2 April 2005 06:01 (eighteen years ago) link
― nathalie doing a soft foot shuffle (stevie nixed), Saturday, 2 April 2005 06:03 (eighteen years ago) link
elton john was pretty damn good for much of the 70s, w/ a few good songs thereafter. this isn't even close, really.
― Eisbär (llamasfur), Saturday, 2 April 2005 06:06 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 2 April 2005 06:08 (eighteen years ago) link
― musicjohn73 (musicjohn73), Saturday, 2 April 2005 10:09 (eighteen years ago) link
I'd probably still take Elton regardless, but just wanted to even things out a bit here.
― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Saturday, 2 April 2005 10:27 (eighteen years ago) link
So, by this logic, would I like Weird Al Yankovic more if I played the accordion?
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 2 April 2005 10:27 (eighteen years ago) link
― Ferlin Husky (noodle vague), Saturday, 2 April 2005 11:12 (eighteen years ago) link
― shookout (shookout), Saturday, 2 April 2005 14:43 (eighteen years ago) link
― nathalie doing a soft foot shuffle (stevie nixed), Saturday, 2 April 2005 14:58 (eighteen years ago) link
― m coleman (lovebug starski), Saturday, 2 April 2005 15:04 (eighteen years ago) link
Wuh? 70's Tom Waits-by-numbers, maybe.
― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Saturday, 2 April 2005 15:04 (eighteen years ago) link
― Dadaismus (Dada), Saturday, 2 April 2005 15:06 (eighteen years ago) link
― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Saturday, 2 April 2005 15:07 (eighteen years ago) link
― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Saturday, 2 April 2005 15:11 (eighteen years ago) link
― Dadaismus (Dada), Saturday, 2 April 2005 15:14 (eighteen years ago) link
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 2 April 2005 15:15 (eighteen years ago) link
I kind of feel sorry for Joel these days. Even with (or maybe especially because) of his young girlfriend, he strikes me as a sad, lonely man struggling with alcoholism. Also, he lost one of the most beautiful women on the planet, and that's gotta smart forever.
― shookout (shookout), Saturday, 2 April 2005 15:16 (eighteen years ago) link
Since when did getting caught by the police for having gay sex in a public toilet become "smug"? ;)
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 2 April 2005 15:16 (eighteen years ago) link
― Dadaismus (Dada), Saturday, 2 April 2005 15:20 (eighteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 2 April 2005 15:25 (eighteen years ago) link
― -the-night-watch- (-the-night-watch-), Saturday, 2 April 2005 15:26 (eighteen years ago) link
― Pashmina (Pashmina), Saturday, 2 April 2005 15:28 (eighteen years ago) link
― Pashmina (Pashmina), Saturday, 2 April 2005 15:29 (eighteen years ago) link
― Dadaismus (Dada), Saturday, 2 April 2005 15:31 (eighteen years ago) link
― mike sperry (ghost nuts), Saturday, 2 April 2005 15:44 (eighteen years ago) link
TS: Elton's opera VS Billy's symphony
― m coleman (lovebug starski), Saturday, 2 April 2005 15:47 (eighteen years ago) link
first off, he's married. its not his girlfriend. if you have the rolling stone with pictures from his wedding, look for the guy in the tan suit. thats my friend!
secondly, the women he dates are not the reasons for his ensuing problem with alcohol and depression. most people dont like chuck klosterman, but his essay on bill is OTM, so do yourself a favor and read it.
― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Saturday, 2 April 2005 17:21 (eighteen years ago) link
I object to Elton John's existence on a more fundamental level. He has made exactly two indispensible songs ("Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters" and "Tiny Dancer"). The rest of his career is campy theatrics, insufferable bombast, and embarrassing excess. Disneyfying himself has only made things worse: first it was bad soft rock songs; now it's bad soft rock songs with schmaltzy string sections. No. I cannot forgive the completely stupid "Levon," I cannot forgive his glasses; and I most certainly cannot forgive "Crocodile Rock."
Do not even fucking get me started on "Nikita."
And while we're allowing some extramusical data into the discussion of suckage (ugliness, girlfriends, drinking), the faux-toughguy black-leather-jacketed Joel is much more in keeping with a rock and roll aesthetic than is the faux-fur-caped Englebert Humperdinckian monstrosity that is yon Elton.
― The Mad Puffin (The Mad Puffin), Saturday, 2 April 2005 18:14 (eighteen years ago) link
And musically, you have to keep in mind that Joel at least wrote all of his songs himself. Joel did duets with Ray Charles and Itzak Perlman. Elton John did duets with Kiki Dee. They both recoreded some horseshit in their careers, but at least I haven't heard any rewrites of "We Didn't Start the Fire" like John did with his songs.
You know, the worst songs in Joel's library, like "Get It Right the First Time" are so bad precisely because they sound like Elton John songs.
― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Saturday, 2 April 2005 23:51 (eighteen years ago) link
this just solidifies his suckage.
― j-dizzle, Saturday, 2 April 2005 23:52 (eighteen years ago) link
― Russell (Russell), Sunday, 3 April 2005 01:35 (eighteen years ago) link
― Ben Dot (1977), Sunday, 3 April 2005 02:34 (eighteen years ago) link
― keith m (keithmcl), Sunday, 3 April 2005 03:06 (eighteen years ago) link
― peter smith (plsmith), Sunday, 3 April 2005 03:38 (eighteen years ago) link
"Hey, We Didn't Start the Fire!" But I will!
― Lord Custos Omicron (Lord Custos Omicron), Sunday, 3 April 2005 03:58 (eighteen years ago) link
BJ: Album titled Piano ManEJ: Album titled Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player
BJ: Formerly married to some supermodelEJ: Currently married to some (male) non-supermodel
BJ: Tried to commit suicide by drinking furniture polishEJ: Tried to commit suicide by swallowing a bottleful of Valium and Quaaludes and jumping into his swimming pool
BJ: Reacted to baldness by growing a beard as a distractionEJ: Reacted to baldness by employing insane glasses as a distraction, later switching to transplants when technology allowed.
BJ on baldness: "When it comes to baldness, it's not about losing more hair, it's about getting more head."EJ on baldness: "I'd rather have the hair - the hair transplant and the weave - than look at myself being bald."
Quite a pair. But in the end, it's easier to defend Elton's Greatest Hits and Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 than Billy Joel's Greatest Hits Volume I & II. (All of which I quite enjoy and are even filed right beside each other, in between Joan Jett and Spike Jones.) I'll never buy anything else of BJ's, not even Hits, Vol. III ("We Didn't Start The Fire", yeesh), whereas I've at least CONSIDERED buying EJ's 3rd best-of. And I've already got Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.
Elton John sucks less!
― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Sunday, 3 April 2005 08:03 (eighteen years ago) link
http://www.raw-tcsd.com/images/joelatt.nl.26282.jpg
Is there a better scan of the cover somewhere online?
― Pashmina (Pashmina), Sunday, 3 April 2005 12:54 (eighteen years ago) link
― Pashmina (Pashmina), Sunday, 3 April 2005 12:55 (eighteen years ago) link
― o. nate (onate), Monday, 4 April 2005 19:26 (eighteen years ago) link
A phrase that is now being turned over and over inside my head.
― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Monday, 4 April 2005 19:41 (eighteen years ago) link
― Pete Scholtes, Monday, 4 April 2005 20:59 (eighteen years ago) link
― Eisbär (llamasfur), Monday, 4 April 2005 21:01 (eighteen years ago) link
If I'm not mistaken, even HE thinks -- nay, KNOWS -- "Uptown Girl" is crap.
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 4 April 2005 21:25 (eighteen years ago) link
― miccio (miccio), Monday, 4 April 2005 21:32 (eighteen years ago) link
― miccio (miccio), Monday, 4 April 2005 21:33 (eighteen years ago) link
― miccio (miccio), Monday, 4 April 2005 21:35 (eighteen years ago) link
liberthy devitto, doug stegmeyer (r.i.p.), richie cannata, david brown, russell javors. it pains me that i actually know this. but they were nothing to write home about.
― fact checking cuz (fcc), Monday, 4 April 2005 21:48 (eighteen years ago) link
― Lyra Jane (Lyra Jane), Monday, 4 April 2005 22:41 (eighteen years ago) link
one of the more perceptive mark prindle comments re ziggy stardust -- that it sounds like an elton john record. guess what, he's right!
― Eisbär (llamasfur), Monday, 4 April 2005 22:47 (eighteen years ago) link
However, the ballads, back in the 70s, were first class McCartney-esque melodies. Really classy stuff. A few of his best ballads were singles, a lot more of them are found on his albums. Particularly "Captain Fantastic" is a wonderful album, with hardly a weak track at all (and also, "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" is not only his best ever single, but in fact one of the best singles of the entire 70s)
Starting with "Island Girl", he lost it somewhat, and has mainly been making bland and boring MOR after that, "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word" being his last ever classic song.
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 4 April 2005 23:57 (eighteen years ago) link
― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 00:12 (eighteen years ago) link
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 08:11 (eighteen years ago) link
― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 16:46 (eighteen years ago) link
― dave225 (Dave225), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 16:52 (eighteen years ago) link
question- i understand that Joel is a special Long Island fave, but how is he an "ethnic" act? does he sing some songs in hebrew?
― mike sperry (ghost nuts), Sunday, 10 April 2005 13:50 (eighteen years ago) link
― Ken L (Ken L), Sunday, 10 April 2005 14:15 (eighteen years ago) link
Does this mean that the Four Tops are better than Stevie Wonder?
― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Sunday, 10 April 2005 16:26 (eighteen years ago) link
????
(i currently work in and live around NYC myself. i don't think that he's played all THAT much more than any other pop musician of his stature.)
― Eisbär (llamasfur), Sunday, 10 April 2005 17:16 (eighteen years ago) link
― m coleman (lovebug starski), Sunday, 10 April 2005 17:23 (eighteen years ago) link
-- Ken L (lauter...), April 10th, 2005.
Yooo ha' too beee-ahhh BEEEEG shot', DINNN'cha!
― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Friday, 23 December 2005 06:26 (eighteen years ago) link
― retrogurl, Friday, 23 December 2005 06:48 (eighteen years ago) link
― retrogurl, Friday, 23 December 2005 06:51 (eighteen years ago) link
― retrogurl, Friday, 23 December 2005 06:53 (eighteen years ago) link
― Wesley Alexander, Sunday, 1 January 2006 02:21 (eighteen years ago) link
The thing with Billy Joel is best described by my friend Lee. Billy Joel is way too Broadway for rock and roll. His phrasing and his lyrics sound like they would best be delivered on a stage set. It sort of de-rockifies any attempts he makes to rock.
Elton could rock, and his lyrics and delivery are far less self-important and pretentious.
― Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), Sunday, 1 January 2006 19:14 (eighteen years ago) link
― DR. O. RLY? (eman), Sunday, 1 January 2006 19:31 (eighteen years ago) link
― DR. O. RLY? (eman), Sunday, 1 January 2006 19:32 (eighteen years ago) link
Give me any Elton John banality over really bad "supposed to be funny even though I really knew it wasn't funny" any day.
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 1 January 2006 19:42 (eighteen years ago) link
― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Sunday, 1 January 2006 22:32 (eighteen years ago) link
― John Bullabaugh (John Bullabaugh), Monday, 2 January 2006 00:49 (eighteen years ago) link
― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Monday, 2 January 2006 05:25 (eighteen years ago) link
EJ has the advantage; he did a credible job, for a little while in the 70s, of extending Little Richard's flamboant piano rock; never as vitally as Bolan's reworking of rockabilly guitar, say, but it worked. Billy Joe-El (as my dad called him) protests his cred too much; he's a fan of rock, but it will forever be a second-rate form for him. It's something he dabbles in, not something that he can't hold back.
― bendy (bendy), Monday, 2 January 2006 07:00 (eighteen years ago) link
But Elton is so much better. And willing to take the piss.
― ESTEBAN BUTTEZ~!!! (ESTEBAN BUTTEZ~!!!), Monday, 2 January 2006 07:03 (eighteen years ago) link
― Mike Coletta, Friday, 13 January 2006 19:36 (eighteen years ago) link
― TRG (TRG), Friday, 13 January 2006 19:50 (eighteen years ago) link
― Donna Bedbury, Tuesday, 24 January 2006 18:45 (eighteen years ago) link
― o. nate (onate), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 19:07 (eighteen years ago) link
Who would notice if Billy died? He just sold out 12 concerts at Madison Square so I guess someone would notice.
I'm obviously in the minority here but The Stranger and 52 nd Street Albums are among my favourites. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is too.
Yeah both have released some shit but who hasnt? The stones have put out anything decent in 30 years.
― Bill muller, Saturday, 29 April 2006 13:14 (seventeen years ago) link
― xgurggleglgllg (xgurggleglgllg), Saturday, 29 April 2006 15:37 (seventeen years ago) link
― Man Man (kenan), Saturday, 29 April 2006 15:52 (seventeen years ago) link
― Man Man (kenan), Saturday, 29 April 2006 15:53 (seventeen years ago) link
― Emily B (Emily B), Saturday, 29 April 2006 16:56 (seventeen years ago) link
ps. this site is like... dun wurry.. il not go into that..
bye bye
― brittnay (sexxi), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 04:48 (seventeen years ago) link
So definitely Elton wins.
― scnnr drkly (scnnr drkly), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 14:37 (seventeen years ago) link
― Kjle Risch, Tuesday, 23 May 2006 14:52 (seventeen years ago) link
― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Tuesday, 23 May 2006 15:08 (seventeen years ago) link
― Dan Heilman (The Deacon), Tuesday, 23 May 2006 15:09 (seventeen years ago) link