Search And Destroy: Billy Joel

Search: Anthony's Song. Probably You May Be Right, too.

Destroy: Uptown Fucking Girl. And Westlife too.

But two Johnnie Walker Saturday Sequence Artists in one day on ILM - shurely shome mishtake :) ?

I'll allow for a glimmer here and there. I no longer actively loathe the man, but that's because he's so conveniently disappeared.

As for that Westlife cover, the Focus Group standings will say it all, I'm sure.

"Uptown Girl" = Reaganite ? How so ?

Everything else is really vile, almost as disgusting as 90's Bryan Adams. Let's review... Piano Man is so pompous and overblown it's hysterical (so it is good in a weird way). Still Rock and Roll To Me sounds like Jann Wenner's personal manifesto, which means it is automatically a tool of Satan. You can imagine backward masking in there urging the listener to stick to AOR. Westlife saw fit to record Uptown Girl -- enough said. We Didn't Start the Fire is just a very poor rip of REM's It's the End of the World as We Know It, which is not that great a song in the first place -- just a gimmicky review of World Events that's not constructed very well. In the Rhythm of the Night is the kind of thing that Starbucks patrons wank to in their bathrooms. And thankfully he's not been heard from much since then.

And he's the ugliest man to ever work in pop music to boot.

Lemmy (as Beavis & Butthead noted) has a cocoa puff on the side of his face, but other than that he's just hairy.

Shane is butt ugly, but I would argue that Billy is uglier. It's that pushed in pig snout that seals the title up for him. Plus you get the feeling he thinks he's attractive, whereas Shane is too drunk to ever take note either way.

Billy - my THEORY is that if you'd had been french, pissed yourself and done more reggae we'd forget the bags beneath your eyes

However, I'm sure I remember seeing a pic of a sub-vanilla fudge duo BJ used to be in, IIRC, the cover was BJ and the other guy (a drummer? or was BJ the drummer?) standing in an abbatoir - I think it was called "attilla the hun" or something like that. I'd like to hear that.

x0x0

"Uptown Girl" is just whingeing nostalgia, not openly reactionary politics, but the kind of thing said politics legitimise.

For the record, the only Billy Joel songs which will not cause me to lunge in fury at the radio/stereo are "Allentown" and "Pressure".

Destroy that.

But, okay, now the best part (rubbing hands):

Destroy: Piano Man for being the inescapable modern version of "Oh My Darling Clementine", Keeping the Faith (Bruce S = we gotta get out of the streets of New Jersey because your dad don't like me, Billy J = I once hung with the tough crowd and made my share of mistakes but hey look at me I'm doing all right now and do you mind if I get a bit preachy on ya?), We Didn't Fucking Start the Fire (great editorial I once read around the time of its release saying how shallow the song was and suggesting we could use its goofy template to teach Science classes: "E = MC squared, mammals are the ones with hair, ozone, pheremone, fiber optic telephone"), Still Rock and Roll To Me, Only the Good Die Young, Captain Jack (UGH!), River of Dreams, You're Only Human (see comments for "Keeping the Faith"), Tell Her About It (see comments for "Keeping the Faith"), Working to Hard can Make you a Music Hackackackackack..., She's Only a Woman to Me, She's Got a Way, the one with the video where's he posing with the electric guitar (A Matter of Trust?), Goodnight Saigon, Allentown, Pressure, An Innocent Man, Angry Young Man, Baby Grand, Running on Ice, The Stranger, lesser known schmaltzy crapola like You're My Home (see comments for "Captain Jack")...

Have to admit, listening to BJ interviews is a guilty pleasure of mine. There is no more ideal voice of boomer "self-discovery," motivated by that sort of continual "no one ever felt this emotion before me." I am in awe of his sheer inpenetrable solipsism, and recommend watching the "Making of River of Dreams" video as a sociological exercise.

Rock and roller cola wars? I can't take it anymore!

frontenac, fondelac, bivouac

CHILDREN OF THALIDOMIDE!!!

He shouts and curses in it.

You have to learn to pace yourself
PRESSURE
You're just like everybody else
PRESSURE
You've only had to run so far, so good
But you will come to a place
Where the only thing you feel
Are loaded guns in your face
And you'll have to deal with
PRESSURE

You used to call me paranoid
PRESSURE
But even you can not avoid
PRESSURE
You turned the tap dance into your crusade
Now here you are with your faith
And your Peter Pan advice
You have no scars on your face
And you cannot handle PRESSURE

All grown up and no place to go
Psych 1, Psych 2, what do you know?
All your life is Channel 13
Sesame Street, what does it mean?

(I'll tell you what it means)
PRESSURE
PRESSURE

Don't ask for help, you're all alone
PRESSURE
You'll have to answer to your own
PRESSURE
I'm sure you'll have some cosmic rationale
But here you are in the ninth
Two men out and three men on
Nowhere to look but inside
Where we all respond to PRESSURE
PRESSURE

All your life is Time Magazine
I read it too, what does it mean?

PRESSURE!!!!!
I'm sure you'll have some cosmic rationale
But here you are with your faith
And your Peter Pan advice
You have no scars on your face
And you cannot handle PRESSURE
PRESSURE PRESSURE
One, two, three, four
PRESSURE!!!!!

D: the list is long but not quite as long as y'all would like to think.

right

Party Rock Anthem has the same bpm as Uptown Girl pic.twitter.com/vt7B1mQIqA

— Stan Lewis (@StanLewis_) October 4, 2018

which means by extension that "uptown girl" has the same bpm as "cruel angel's thesis"

what a time to be alive

the inlay of the glass houses lp has a picture of the band. the drummer, liberty devitto, is wearing a watch on his ankle for some reason

http://bp0.blogger.com/_K5vOM2unmkw/Rf6HsBnY8oI/AAAAAAAAAPs/aH3mFvE4k_s/s1600/liberty+devitto.jpg

Just keepin' time.

glass houses is a pretty good album also. a bit front loaded though.

i really like the song "don't ask me why" which is like mccartney doing a brazilian influenced number

• Why would you wear it on your right ankle?

• Why would you wear it with the face facing out?

He just smiled and wouldn't say why.

the original shoegazer

Safety pins holding together clothes, Vaseline in the hair, flowerpots on the head, wristwatch on the ankle: time to get New Wave!

are we sure he isn't wearing a shoe on his hand and doing a little yoga?

Have you guys seen the thing on Instagram?

“thing” may need elaboration

Not insta, but something to do w/this?: https://finesoutherngentlemen.com/products/my-life-ships-week-of-2-14

Sorry.
https://www.instagram.com/rachellichtman/?hl=en
VG always trying to get me to communicate more clearly.

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CY6i4PQqtEs/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

DO U SEE?

That thing is some kind of insane earworm time warp time loop.

Ha that is excellent

DEE DEE: No, he isn't in the office yet... I'll give him your message.... Thank you.

BILLY suddenly appears through the door

BILLY: Holy cow, traffic was horrible! Anyone trying to buy the Brooklyn Bridge – it's definitely a seller's market!

DEE DEE: Billy...

BILLY: Not now, Dee Dee! I know I'm already late. Just make sure Big Ol' Bartlesworth doesn't know I was late!

DEE DEE: Billy...!

BILLY: What now?

MR. BARTLESWORTH: William? In my office. NOW!

BILLY: I admit, I told the client, "go ahead with your own life, leave me alone"!

MR. BARTLESWORTH: You had to be a big shot, dincha?!?

Loool!

Trying to think of alternate casting for Mr. Bartlesworth but it’s too perfect.

Totally forgot about Calucci’s Department.

I believe it is actually Mr. Balesworth.

Anyway came to say one of the things that really makes it for me is the harmonica near the end.

Have to admit, listening to BJ interviews is a guilty pleasure of mine. There is no more ideal voice of boomer "self-discovery," motivated by that sort of continual "no one ever felt this emotion before me." I am in awe of his sheer inpenetrable solipsism, and recommend watching the "Making of River of Dreams" video as a sociological exercise.

Rock and roller cola wars? I can't take it anymore!

― Keith Harris (kharris1128), Sunday, 25 August 2002 13:46 (nineteen years ago) link

this is on YouTube and I’m not even a fan really but I’m finding it strangely entertaining

BJ interviews: entertainment’s last stand

I seen the lights go out on YouTube

Set list from last week in Las Vegas. Not half bad for an outdoor show in February!

Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)
Pressure
The Entertainer
Vienna
Don't Ask Me Why
Zanzibar
Allentown
Just the Way You Are
Say Goodbye to Hollywood
The Longest Time
New York State of Mind
The Downeaster Alexa
She's Always a Woman
My Life
Only the Good Die Young
A Whiter Shade of Pale (Procol Harum cover)
Sometimes a Fantasy
The River of Dreams (with 'Tush' by ZZ Top interlude)
Nessun dorma (Giacomo Puccini cover) (Mike DelGuidice Vocals)
Scenes From an Italian Restaurant
Piano Man

Encore:
We Didn't Start the Fire
Uptown Girl
It's Still Rock and Roll to Me
Big Shot
You May Be Right (with “Rock & Roll” by Led Zeppelin interlude)

I’ve listened to a bunch more songs—Zanzibar, Stiletto, Summer HF—and I have a new theory about the appeal of the classic Billy Joel character: Naïve Guy Acting Cynical.

(Will listen to 20 more songs to confirm.)

— Emily Nussbaum (@emilynussbaum) March 24, 2022

damn that’s a great setlist

search : "say goodbye to hollywood", "matter of trust"

destroy : pretty much anything else, & especially "piano man"

i may have answered this already 20 years ago - haven't got time to read whole thread right now - & if i did i bet my answer back then was exactly the same

Apparently there really is a William Joel Show - and channel! – on Sirius-XM.

That diner now seems even less impressive than the food has made it seem.

Just saw Fred Hersch - great jazz pianist - and after a performance involving his trio and a string quartet, for an encore he told the audience he was going to play “an ‘80s pop tune…by Billy Joel.” I can’t say I’ve ever been a fan and others in the audience snickered, but Hersch said (not angrily) “don’t laugh, he’s a great songwriter, and this is called ‘And So It Goes’” to which a few people applauded. I didn’t realize Hersch had already recorded and released his own interpretation, but he made a solid case for it - without knowing the words, there were times where I could picture Ella Fitzgerald singing the melody beautifully.

Here’s the studio recording he made:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYo-5QSAwzM

(applauded as in to the announcement of the song’s name, but of course everyone applauded afterwards too)

Wait, where did you see Fred Hersch?

92NY

https://www.92ny.org/event/fred-hersch

Nice