The Worst Pop Singer Ever. Why, exactly, is Billy Joel so bad?

Slate ^ | Jan 23, 2009 | Ron Rosenbaum

[SeekAndFind]

This may seem an odd moment to bring up the subject of Billy Joel. But the recent death of the painter Andrew Wyeth revived a long-standing debate over whether his art is respectable or merely sentimental schlock. (Say it: good or bad?) It got me to thinking about the question of value in art and whether there are any absolute standards for judging it. It indicates the question is still alive, not relegated to irrelevance by relativism.

And then I picked up The Art Instinct, a new book by Denis Dutton, the curator of the Arts & Letters Daily Web site. The book strives valiantly to find a basis for judging the value of art from the perspective of evolutionary psychology; in it, Dutton argues that a certain kind of artistic talent offered a competitive advantage in the Darwinian struggle for survival.

Which brings me to Billy Joel—the Andrew Wyeth of contemporary pop music—and the continuing irritation I feel whenever I hear his tunes, whether in the original or in the multitude of elevator-Muzak versions. It is a kind of mystery: Why does his music make my skin crawl in a way that other bad music doesn't? Why is it that so many of us feel it is possible to say Billy Joel is—well—just bad, a blight upon pop music, a plague upon the airwaves more contagious than West Nile virus, a dire threat to the peacefulness of any given elevator ride, not rock 'n' roll but schlock 'n' roll?

I'm reluctant to pick on Billy Joel. He's been subject to withering contempt from hipster types for so long that it no longer seems worth the time. Still, the mystery persists: How can he be so bad and yet so popular for so long? He's still there.

[LucyJo]

Not me...I could tell it was him.

[Eric Blair 2084]

Yes.

I don’t understand your point though.

[BBell]

Reading this, Bruce Springsteen was the first person I thought about also.

[darkangel82]

Barf

[cva66snipe]

Musta been luv. This will really get me into trouble, but I never thought he was much of a singer either.

The Beatles had two good musicians Ringo {a great drummer not singer} and George Harrison who could both sing and definitely out play anyone in that band. Lennon and McCartney were good song writers though but IMO hearing his later works George is what really made The Beatles sound as far as the music goes.

A lot of bands best players didn't sing much. Like Don Felder formerly of The Eagles. One fantastic guitar player but did not sing. He also carried most of the actual playing when Walsh sang. Walsh, Schmidt {the Bass player} and Felder were the later years talent in that band. From what I understand Frey and Henley fired Felder a few years back.

[Eric Blair 2084]

See my post above about being careful what you wish for.

[B-Chan]

My feelings exactly. I’ve never met Mr. Joel — for all I know the man’s a saint — but the character he plays on his records is pompous, snide, and obnoxious. The only album he made that I liked was the ‘50s-themed one whose name escapes me.

Still, Billy Joel can make one boast that you and I can never beat: he got to bone Christie Brinkley.

[ThomasThomas]

Lawayne Gillmon was my high school band director. I thought he was trying to be funny when he sang Proud Mary at a school rally . Lucky for me I went to a new school the next year.

[melsec]

Thank-you Eric!

Wonder woman indeed.

A face like Mom and apple pie and a body that should be registered as a lethal weapon. As my friend would say T*ts like propellor hubs!

I am glad I was not old enough to imagine what she could do with that Golden Lasso!

Cheers

Mel

[Philo-Junius]

And I think you just located the source of the Slate writer’s resentment.

[melsec]

Here Mic - apicture I think you might enjoy LOL

[B-Chan]

I mean, seriously! How can ya top that?

[Captain Beyond]

Weird Al nails it. LOL

[Philo-Junius]

I don’t think one can, at least not in our lifetimes, but it’s a petty man who so palpably resents the good fortune, deserved or not, of others.

[LucyJo]

I agree about Ringo and George Harrison. They were always my favorites, but I wasn’t a big Beatles fan. I liked Harrison’s song “Something”.

I loved the Eagles...still do.

[cva66snipe]

The only album he made that I liked was the ‘50s-themed one whose name escapes me.

Sounds like Keeping the faith a song about the 50-60's. I like some of his stuff Piano Man is my favorite by him. Like most artist I might buy a CD to get a couple of songs off of it.

Music is personal taste I reckon. I still remember my nephew discovering Eric Clapton and asking me if I had heard the song Layla before. He showed me the Unplugged CD. I laughed and said yea now listen to this and popped in the original. He said who is that? I said Clapton and he thought I was joking. LOL But even Layla I actually like the second half of the song better.

[cva66snipe]

Do yourself a huge favor if you’re on broadband. Go to thetravelingwilburys dot com, click on video, and click End of the line. Then enjoy. The empty rocking chair is Roy's. The video was done after he died. The song was cut before he died. The forming of the group was more or less Georges idea that happened when they played on a record he did. George wrote the lyrics IIRC and Roy helped him on the music.

[L.N. Smithee]

Billy Joel?! Eh, shaddup. With the sad state of pop music in the 21st Century, nobody should be reaching back over two decades to call a legendary singer-songwriter-musician "the worst."

Wake up, idiot: There is a real possibility that the big winner in this year's Grammy Awards will be the execrable Li'l Wayne. That would be worse than the Dixie Chicks winning. It would be a sign of the Apocalypse.

There is help on the way, though. While the Jonas Brothers are superstars, there are two legitimately talented rock groups made up of teens: Tokio Hotel and Crooked X. While neither is Led Zeppelin (or even Def Leppard) yet, unlike the Jonases, you can't tell they aren't old enough to shave just by listening to them.

[Babalu]

I’m with you ... a classically educated pianist at that. I get tears in my eyes when I listen to “New York State of Mind” ... not because of the lyric, but because of the musicality of the piano work.

[L.N. Smithee]

Only to people who have never heard Woody Guthrie

I still remember my U.S. History class when we were shown a film about Woody Guthrie and his protest songs. My deskmates and I stared at each other in amazement. Absolutely BRUTAL. There are people who have been laughed off American Idol auditions that could outsing Woody Guthrie with socks in their mouths.